CREDO 9

Resurrection: God Saves

Welcome, especially if you are joining us for the first time. We are working our way through a series that we’ve titled CREDO. We’re going through the entire story line of the Bible, from creation to new creation.  12 studies in theology.

THIS MONTH — 9^th study in CREDO series — we’re dealing with the issue of the resurrection, that Jesus is alive

We will start by saying that apart from the resurrection of Jesus, there is no Christianity. The sequence of events that form the Christian faith is

The Incarnation (God become man in the person of Jesus)

His sinless life

His death on the Cross

His burial

And resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Jesus was a great teacher, but Christianity is not based on his teachings — the teachings of Jesus can’t save us.  Jesus was a great miracle worker, but Christianity is not based on His miracles — His miracles can’t save us. Jesus was the perfect servant.  He reached out to the outcasts of society, fed the poor and cared for the marginalized and the weak. But — Christianity is not based upon those things. We don’t mean to minimize or trivialize any of those. All of those are incredibly important because they teach us a great deal about Jesus and the heart of God for man.

BUT — Non-Christians believe that Jesus was a great teacher, that he performed miracles and that he helped people. Many of them ask —What does it matter?  Everything! This is really the heart of what it means to be a Christian.

To be a Christian means that you believe that Jesus is God who became man – lived a sinless life — died for your sins — and rose from the grave.

Resurrection is the doctrine which states that after dying on a cross as the sacrifice for our sins, Jesus physically rose to life‚ conquering Satan, Sin, Death and Hell. It is impossible to overstate the importance of this doctrine. Without the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ Christianity would have to take its place alongside the rest human philosophy and man-made religious speculation. Simply stated — Without the resurrection of Jesus, the life-giving power of the Gospel is eliminated, the deity of Christ is eliminated, salvation from sin is eliminated, and eternal life is eliminated. A massive segment of humanity worships Jesus today as God — Without the resurrection of Jesus they are fools and their hope for a resurrection life after this life ends is the hope of silly fools. Paul the apostle said as much in 1 Corinthians 15:14; 17And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain….¹⁷And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. ¹⁸Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

If Christ did not live past the grave, then surely we who trust in Him have no hope beyond the grave. Without the bodily resurrection of Jesus salvation could not have been provided, and without belief in the resurrection salvation cannot be received.

We’ll walk through the doctrine of the Resurrection by setting forth a few essential points.

1.) The Christian faith is an objective faith.

2.) Christ is the OBJECT of our faith.

3.) The object of our faith is a “HISTORICAL” person.

4.) Our faith in the historical person Jesus Christ is based upon the accounts of eyewitnesses of the events of Christ’s life, or recorded first hand accounts. (To get your head an heart around the reliability of those accounts please reference our 2^nd Credo study — REVELATION: God Speaks)

5.) Jesus was a Man of History – But He claimed to be more than a man! Jesus made direct claims to deity

John 5:18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

He claimed to be the “I AM”

John 8:56 ⁵⁸Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” ⁵⁹So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

He received worship — when He had Himself said —

Matthew 4:8-10 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ”

He claimed to be THE SOURCE OF LIFE!

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, ²⁶and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

John 14:19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.

So there is no getting around the fact that Jesus claimed to be MORE than a man.  The PROOF that He is indeed “God manifest in the flesh” hinges upon His physical death and His bodily resurrection from the dead.

QUESTION #1 — WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT THE RESURRECTION

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

When Paul says I delivered to you, he means he brought authoritative teaching. He did not design it. He only delivered what God had authored.

1.) It was prophesied in advance. I’ll read this to you from Isaiah Chapter 53.  By the way — Isaiah has been called by many the 5^th Gospel because 700 years before Jesus He gives to us virtually the entire life of Jesus.  His virgin birth, his sinless life, his betrayal, his death, his crucifixion between two thieves, his burial in a rich man’s tomb, and his resurrection — all 700 years in advance.

Isaiah 53: — beginning in Verse 6.

v. 6 All we, like sheep — that’s you and me;

have gone astray — we’ve all wandered from God.

We have turned everyone to his own way — that is sin. And the Lord that has laid on him — that is Jesus — the iniquity or the sin of us all.

So, Jesus went to the cross and died in our place, for our sins. We looked at that in our last Credo study.

v. 7 He was oppressed and he was afflicted — beaten and falsely accused and flogged and harmed.

yet he opened not his mouth — he didn’t defend himself.

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

v. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

Jesus endured several false trials Jesus endured.  Virtually every rule of Jewish jurisprudence was broken.

and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living — That’s dead.

stricken for the transgression of my people? — he died in our place for our sins.

v. 9 And, they made his grave with the wicked — Jesus was crucified between 2 thieves.

And, with the rich in his death —it was prophesized that Jesus would be buried in a rich man’s tomb, though he himself was poor.

although he had done no violence, And there was no deceit in his mouth — he was sinless and perfect.

v. 10 Yet, it was the will of the Lord to crush him.  He has put him to grief.  When his soul makes an offering for sin — After Jesus died on the cross for our sins

he shall see his off spring — Resurrection.  He’ll come back.

He shall prolong his days.  He’ll still live again, after he dies.

the will of the Lord — that is salvation — shall prosper in his hand.

v. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied —After he dies, he’ll come back, he’ll see the effects of his work and he’ll be satisfied.  Resurrection.

And, by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous for he shall bear their iniquities —pay the penalty for their sin.

AMAZING — Isaiah says 700 years in advance — Jesus is coming.  He won’t sin.  You will kill him.  He will be crucified between 2 thieves.  You will bury him in a rich man’s tomb.  Then, he will return to life and be satisfied with the salvation that he provides.

2.) Jesus Himself repeatedly speaks of His own death, burial and resurrection.

Matthew 12:38

John 2:18

In Mark’s Gospel we find several instances of this

Mark 8:31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man— that’s a title that he adopted for himself from the Old Testament —  must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³²And he said this plainly.

Mark 9:31 ³¹for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, — again, this is a common theme in his instruction — “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” ³²But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.

Jesus keeps talking about this.

Mark 10:32b-34 And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, ³³saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. ³⁴And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

So we have Isaiah foretelling the death and resurrection of Jesus 700 years BEFORE Jesus.

Then we have Jesus telling His followers ahead of time — “They are going to kill Me — but I’ll see ya again in three days!” He was absolutely clear that He would not only die, but that He would be in the grave for three and then come back to life!

QUESTION #2 — WHAT IS RESURRECTION

It is not resuscitation. It’s not life after death.  It’s not  somebody dying and “being in a better place.”

Here’s what Resurrection is.

1. You’re alive — Brain waves, heart beats.
2. Then you die. No more brain waves, no more heart beat — Dead. Not for a few minutes, and then you are resuscitated. You’re dead for awhile.
3. You are fully restored to physical life. Not the same condition of physical life — but a perfected physical life.  Though He still bore the marks of His death by crucifixion, He had a glorified resurrected body.  Jesus was able to walk into rooms where the doors were locked.

QUESTION #3 — WHAT ARE THE FACTS SURROUNDING THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS

1.) The FACT that Jesus died on the cross.

REMEMEBER who Jesus was scourged before He was crucified. Many men died from that horrific form of interrogation.  We discussed it our last CREDO study.  Then He was crucified by men whose job was to execute criminals — THAT was their profession! Their job was to kill people.  That’s all they did! An eyewitness to the crucifixion of Jesus tells us that in order to ensure that Jesus had died, a Roman soldier thrust a spear through his side, under his rib cage, into side — and there came forth from that huge wound an issue of water with blood. Medical science says that such an issue from the pericardial sac means that the heart has been ruptured. The point is — Jesus was most assuredly dead.

2.) The FACTS surrounding His Burial

QUOTE: Wilbur Smith — “We know more about the burial of the Lord Jesus than we know of the burial of any single character in all of ancient history.  We know infinitely more about his burial than we do the burial of any Old Testament character, of any king of Babylon, Pharaoh of Egypt, any philosopher of Greece, or triumphant Caesar.  We know who took His body from the cross; we know something of the wrapping of the body in spices, and burial clothes; we know the very tomb in which this body was placed, the name of the man who owned it….. We know even where this tomb was located.  We have four records of this burial of our Lord, all of them in amazing agreement, the record of Matthew, a disciple of Christ who was there when Jesus was crucified; the record of Mark, which some say was written within ten years of our Lord’s ascension; the record of Luke, a companion of the apostle Paul, and a great historian; and the record of John, who was the last to leave the cross, and with Peter, the first of the Twelve on Easter to behold the empty tomb.”

WHAT WE KNOW about the Tomb

Matthew 27:57-61 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. ⁵⁹And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud ⁶⁰and laid it in his own new tomb…. ⁶¹Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

Mark 15:46 ….. a tomb that had been cut out of the rock.

Luke 23:53 Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid.

John 19:41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. ⁴²….. they laid Jesus there.

Joseph of Arimathea was a very well known political and religious leader.  He knew exactly where his tomb was.  The 2 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses knew where his tomb was.

WHAT WE KNOW about the burial of Jesus

Jesus was then prepared for burial by Nicodemus and Joseph of Aramathea —

John 19:40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

QUOTE: Merril Tenney (1904-1985) was an American professor of Old Testament and Greek. He was the general editor of the Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary, and served on the original translation team for the New American Standard Bible — explains the graveclothes as follows:

“In preparing a body for burial according to Jewish custom, it was usually washed and straightened, and then bandaged tightly from the armpits to the ankles in strips of linen about a foot wide. Aromatic spices, often of a gummy consistency, were placed between the wrappings or folds.  They served partially as a preservative and partially as a cement to glue the cloth wrappings in to a solid covering…

That’s upwards of 100 pounds of linens and spices. He’s then laid without any medical attention in a cold tomb out of rock.

WHAT WE KNOW about the Stone

Dr. Frank Morison (Harvard Law Professor) calls the stone at Jesus’ tomb  “the one silent and infallible witness in the whole episode – and there are certain facts about this stone which call for very careful study and investigation. Let us begin by considering first its size and probable character… no doubt… the stone was large and consequently very heavy.  This fact is asserted or implied by all the writers who refer to it.

Matthew 27:60 And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.

Mark 16:4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large.

Structural Engineers from Cal tech calculated that in order to cover the entrance of the garden tomb, the stone would have had to weigh 1.5 – 2 tons (3,000-4,000 pounds)

3.) The FACT that steps were taken to PREVENT a resurrection.

Matthew 27:64-66 ⁶⁴Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” ⁶⁵Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” ⁶⁶So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

WHAT WE KNOW about the Seal

A.T. Robertson says that the method of sealing the stone at Jesus’ tomb was probably by a cord stretched across the stone and sealed at each end as in the case of Daniel in Babylon.

Dan 6:17 And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.

To break the seal of Rome was an offense punishable by death as it was considered an offense against Caesar.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT the guard

These men were particularly motivated to carry out their duty. The penalty for falling asleep on guard duty was death. The ENTIRE unit would be punished.

4.) The FACT of the eleven cowards.

We know that all the disciples left him and fled. Matthew 26:56

We are told in Matthew 26:69-75 that Peter denied Jesus THREE TIMES out of abject fear for his own personal safety. The third time he denied Jesus with a curse — he essentially said “may God curse me if I know this Jesus.”

5.) The FACT of the empty tomb.

To suggest that the tomb of Jesus was not in fact empty is utterly ridiculous!

The Tomb didn’t become a shrine

The FACT that the tomb of Jesus was empty is seen in the fact that it didn’t become a shrine! Even in our culture when someone famous dies the grave site becomes a memorial. When a loved one is buried we leave flowers at the grave. After a few days, no one visited Jesus’ tomb.  There were no flowers.  There were no cards. There were no memorials.  There were no candles. Why?  Because you could go have lunch with him. The tomb was not enshrined because the body was not there.

Christianity could never have survived its infancy if the tomb of Jesus was not empty

It’s a matter of history that Christianity was BIRTHED — people first came to faith on Christ – IN JERUSALEM — the very city that cried “Crucify Him.” Christianity began in that city a result of the apostles proclaiming the message that Jesus — who had notably been crucified by Pontius Pilate — had risen from the grave. They did this within a short walk from His tomb. The enemies of Christ could have said — “Right! Follow me.” And then walked to the tomb and pointed at the rotting remains of the crucified Jesus. It is INCONCEIVABLE that the Christianity would have survived if the Body of the One they proclaimed to be risen was all the while rotting in the tomb.

Even the enemies of Jesus acknowledged that the tomb of Jesus was empty.

Matt 28:11-15 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. ¹²And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers ¹³and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ ¹⁴And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” ¹⁵So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

The FACT that the tomb was empty is a given.

This leads us to our fourth question

QUESTION #4 — IN LIGHT OF THE FACTS — WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS FOR THE EMPTY TOMB

1.) The Swoon Theory

A CLASSIC example of the lengths that people will go to deny the facts is The Swoon Theory. It goes something like this. Jesus did not actually die on the cross! To take that position you have to discount the EYEWITNESS account of John.

John 19:34-35 NLT One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out. ³⁵This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account; it is presented so that you also can believe.

Here’s what you HAVE to believe in order to explain the empty tomb by way of The Swoon Theory.

After suffering Hematadrosis, being beaten beyond recognition, enduring the Roman Scourge, His beard plucked out, crowned with thorns, nailed to a cross and a spear thrust through his side, Jesus did NOT actually die. Instead, He just passed out! Being medically ignorant, they wrapped the yet-alive Jesus in 100 pounds of burial spices and linen; placed Him in a cold tomb; and rolled a 2 ton stone in front of it and left him to rot.

BUT — Those 3 days in the cool air of the tomb were therapeutic! Jesus was resuscitated! Wrapped in the 100 pounds of burial materials He hopped over to the stone — rolled the 2 ton stone away from the opening — beat up the Roman guard unit — and proclaimed Himself as the Risen Lord!

2.) The Disciples Stole the Body

The Gospel accounts have already informed us about the cowardice of these followers of Jesus Christ. It is hard to picture them fearlessly sneaking up on a Roman guard (the fiercest fighting men in the world – who wouldn’t think falling asleep) who fell asleep…. Tip toed over them — broke the Seal on the tomb at the risk of the death penalty carried the decaying body of Jesus away   and announced to the world that Jesus was living.

By the way — There are also holes in the story from the side of the enemies of Christ.

Mat 28:12-15 NLT A meeting of all the religious leaders was called, and they decided to bribe the soldiers. ¹³ They told the soldiers, “You must say, ‘Jesus’ disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body.’ ¹⁴ If the governor hears about it, we’ll stand up for you and everything will be all right.” ¹⁵ So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today.

The STORY that the Roman guards were told to tell does NOT make sense.

FIRST — How can sleeping guards be able to identify the necronappers?

SECOND — Could 11 COWARDS have tip-toed over sleeping guards and without making a sound roll away a 2 ton stone?

HERE IS THE BIG ONE —   Let’s assume that the apostles did steal the body — and then LIED about Jesus having conquered death.

Would you die for a lie? All but one did!

3.) The Jews Stole the Body

To this next possibility we must ask the question — WHY would THEY do that?

Even if they were dumb enough to do it, they could have produced the body at any time to disprove the claims that Peter made when he preached the first sermon of the Church on the day of Pentecost —

Acts 2:23-24 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. ²⁴God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

4.) Everyone Hallucinated

Before we can conclude that the story of the resurrection was born out of a hallucination we must ask the question – What is an hallucination?

QUOTE: Wilbur Smith “An apparent act of vision takes place for which there is no corresponding external object. The optic nerve has NOT been stimulated by any outward waves of light…. At the same time one fully believes that the object of his vision is actually before him.”

Hallucinations are noted for VARIABILITY and INCONSISTENCY. They are INDIVIDUALISTIC and extremely SUBJECTIVE. It is highly unlikely that any two persons would have the same hallucination.

Hallucinations also involve expectancy! However, The post-resurrection appearances of Jesus were NOT accompanied by the EXPECTATION of seeing Jesus alive.

EXAMPLE #1 – The disciples on the road to Emmaus — “We had hoped….”

EXAMPLE #2 – Mary came to the tomb on the morning of the first day of the week with spices in her hand. WHY? To anoint the DEAD body of Jesus.

EXAMPLE #3 – When the disciples first saw Jesus they were FRIGHTENED.

QUOTE: John Stott — The disciples were NOT gullible, but rather CAUTIOUS and SKEPTICAL and SLOW OF HEART TO BELIEVE. They were NOT susceptible to hallucinations.

QUOTE: R.J. Thornburn — Hallucinations have NEVER stimulated people to undertake a work of enormous magnitude and while carrying it out, to lead to lives of the most rigid and consistent self-denial and even suffering. We are constrained to agree with Dr. Sanday, who says, ‘No apparition, no mere hallucination of the senses, ever yet moved the world’

5.) Everyone Went To The Wrong Tomb

To buy into this as a possibility would mean that you must concede that even Joseph could NOT find his own tomb; and that the two Mary’s that watched them place Jesus in the tomb forgot where it was.

That brings us to the LAST and ONLY possibility in light of the evidence!

6.) JESUS IS RISEN!

If Jesus is NOT risen, then we have to answer some hard questions.

Why did the family of Jesus — all of whom were devout Jews —

worship Jesus as God

Jesus had two brothers — James and Jude. We just saw James mentioned in 1 Corinthian, 15. Think of this — I have two brothers as Jesus did — and neither of them has ever worshipped me as God — and I don’t think they ever will.  Neither of them would ever dream saying — Hey our brother Richard died and rose and we worship him as Yahweh. They would never say that because I constantly worked them over. They know, I’m not the sinless Lord, God, Savior and Christ.

What would it take for your siblings to worship you as God — particularly if they are devout — monotheistic Jews. For a devout Jew to take that step is radical because they know that if they were wrong, they would spend forever in hell.  It would take something as amazing as the resurrection to win their hearts and faith.

During His own life, the brothers of Jesus didn’t worship him as God — they thought that he had lost his mind.  They were going to bring him home (Mark 3:31).

How many of you would ever be able to get your mom to worship you as God and savior?  I mean — if anyone knows that you’re a sinner, your mother knows.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, worshipped her son as God. She knew that she would be breaking one of the 10 Commandments, damning her soul to eternity if Jesus was not the God of Israel become man. But she worshipped her own son as God, because of the resurrection.

How did the arch-nemesis of Christ, Christians and the Christian faith come to worship Jesus?

1 Corinthians 15 — the great theological passage of Scripture on the subject of the resurrection was written by a man named Paul. Paul was the last man you would think would ever worship Jesus as God! Relative to the first Christians — he was like Hitler. He wanted to exterminate ALL followers of Jesus. He’s totally opposed to Jesus — Christians — and the Christian faith. In the Book of Acts we are told that he “wreaked havoc” upon the first believers. The original language was used of wild beasts tearing their prey to pieces. Paul described himself before meeting the risen Jesus in these terms

1 Timothy 1:13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.

Acts 26:9-11 “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. ¹⁰And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. ¹¹And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

He was overseeing the murder of the Stephen — the first martyr in the history of Christianity

He is absolutely not predisposed in any way to believe Jesus is God.  Then (Acts 9) he meets the risen Jesus. He becomes a worshipper of Jesus, a pastor, and author of the major part of the New Testament. In the end he is beheaded for his faith in Jesus as the risen Lord.

How do you explain countless millions of men and women who have worshipped Jesus over the past 2,000 years? How do you explain their transformed lives? How do you explain that 6 million of them would die for their faith in the first 300 years of Christianity alone?

Critics have denounced the resurrection as a hoax and fabrication, but they have never explained how such a hoax could produce men and women who gave up everything, including their freedom and even their lives to love and to follow a dead Lord!

Quote: H. D. A. Major — former principal of Ripon Hall, Oxford —Had the crucifixion of Jesus ended his disciples’ experience of Him, it is hard to see how the Christian Church could have come into existence. That Church was founded on faith in the Messiahship of Jesus. A crucified Messiah was no Messiah at all. He was one rejected by Judaism and accursed of God. It was the Resurrection of Jesus, as St. Paul declares in Rom. I:4, which proclaimed Him to be the Son of God with power (The Mission and Message of Jesus [New York: Dutton, 1946], p.213).

Quote: Kenneth Scott Latourette (Church historian) in History of the Expansion of Christianity — It was the conviction of the resurrection of Jesus which lifted his followers out of the despair into which his death had cast them and which led to the perpetuation of the movement begun by him. But for their profound belief that the crucified Lord had risen from the dead and they had seen him and talked with him, the death of Jesus and even Jesus himself would probably have been all but forgotten (vol. 1 [New York: Harper & Row 1970], p.59).

By contrast, a follower of Buddha writes of that religious leader —

“When Buddha died it was with that utter passing away in which nothing whatever remains.” Mohammed died at Medina on June 8, 632, at the age of 61, and his tomb there is visited yearly by tens of thousands of Muslims. But they come to mourn his death, not to celebrate his resurrection. Christians celebrate the victory of Jesus Christ over the grave, not just on Easter Sunday; but at every water baptism.  

If Jesus didn’t rise from the grave  — then how do you explain all of this?  What other possible answer could there be?

QUOTE: Thomas Arnold – Professor of Modern History at Oxford.

The evidence for our Lord’s life and death and resurrection may be and often has been shown to be satisfactory. It is good according to the common rules for distinguishing good evidence from bad. Thousands and tens of thousands of persons have gone through it piece by piece as carefully as every judge summing up on an important case. I have myself done it many times over, not to persuade others but to satisfy myself. I have been used for many years to study the history of other times, and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them, and I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is better proved by fuller evidence than the great sign that God has given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead.

We absolutely believe this at Metro Calvary.

The fact of the Resurrection of Jesus is the basis of our hope.  That is why our preaching is not in vain. That is why our faith is not in vain. That is why you can know that your sins are forgiven. That is why you can have hope.

This is not something that you can remain neutral on.  This is something that we hold in the closed hand — non negotiable — won’t ever give it up.

You must decide — Do I believe Jesus is alive?  Or, do I believe that Jesus is dead?  This is the distinguishing feature of what it means to be Christian

FINAL QUESTION — WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE RESURRECTION?

FIRST and MOST IMPORTANTLY — The resurrection of Jesus from the grave GUARANTEES that His death on the cross actually satisfied the justice of God and can save me from the POWER and PENALTY of my sin!

Romans 4:24b-25 Jesus our Lord, ²⁵who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

1 Corinthians 15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

SECOND — Only Jesus has gone to death and come back to tell us what awaits us on the other side of death.

No other major world religion has as its founder or leader anyone who is resurrected from death.  There is no religion that could tell you what happens to after you die, but Christianity. Jesus alone has died and come back to tell us what awaits us on the other side of death.

There is a real heaven and a real hell. Jesus speaks of hell more than anyone in the bible.

Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died for our sins and rose from the grave will live forever in God’s eternal kingdom in a glorified body that will never die, wear out or get sick.

Non-Christians will have likewise live forever — only for them it will be an eternity of just punishment for the sins they committed — Eternal conscious physical torments of hell with a body that will never die.  I’m not supposed to tell you this because it’s not popular.  But, it’s true.  This is what Jesus says.  You may say – but other religions disagree.  Those who disagree are with the dead founders and proponents of those religions who are being tormented right now.

Be very careful who your God is.  Be very careful what your religion is.  Be very careful what your eternity is.  DO NOT be short sighted in your thinking. LISTEN — Forever is a long time.  You will spend it with Jesus in blessing, or apart from Jesus in torment. You will live forever as a friend of Jesus or a foe of Jesus.

I want you to contend with this — Do you  belong to Jesus or not?  Have you given him your sin, or not?  Will you rise to be with him or not?  Have you trusted in him, or not?

THIRD — The Resurrection of Jesus radically transforms the way I perceive death.  Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, that apart from Jesus, death is an enemy. I’m not afraid to die.  I’ve got a beautiful wife, 4 kids, I love this church, and I love what God has me doing. But I don’t worry about dying. I have asked God, let me out live my wife so I can look after her all the days of her life and so I can preach her funeral.  But, if I should die first  — I know exactly what’s going to happen. I’ll stand before Jesus.  I know that he died for my sins and I belong to him.  And, I know that I will spend forever with Him in perfection. And, I know that I’ll see my wife.  My kids love Jesus.  I know I’ll see my kids.

Death is not the big deal that it once was because of Jesus.  The Resurrection of Jesus means that you can actually live your life with freedom and joy and passion — knowing that because of the Resurrection Jesus death is the entrance to life in the presence of God where there will be no sickness, no pain, no disease, no cancer, no injustice, no evil, no tyranny, no war.  Jesus ruling and reigning over a new creation with no curse, with none of the effects of sin, a perfect creation.  Not polluted or contaminated in any way.  People living together in harmony and love, across racial lines, across generational lines, across socio-economic lines, across gender lines, across political lines, across national lines, across linguistic lines, across cultural lines. The Resurrection of Jesus guarantees that the world that everyone wants is ahead of us — and it’s with Jesus.

But, if all of your hope is here, you will be disappointed. The world will still have the effects of sin and the curse.  And, you will be angry, bitter, disappointed and frustrated — and THEN YO DIE — with NO HOPE! Unless you know Jesus.  Then, you will die in hope.  You will die in faith.  You will die to a resurrection life.  You will experience the world as God intended it forever, with Him and His people.

Our hope is that you would trust in Jesus and that we would see you there. Our hope is that you would trust in Jesus and that beginning today, you would start to live as a citizen of that place.

EXTRA STUDY MATERIALS

NON BIBLICAL EVIDENCE of the resurrection of Jesus

“Testimonium Flavianum” says:
Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day. (Flavius Josephus, “Jewish Antiquities” in The New Complete Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel, 1999), 18.63–64)

Suetonius (AD 70–160) Suetonius was a Roman historian and annalist of the Imperial House. In his biography of Nero (Nero ruled AD 54–68), Suetonius mentions the persecution of Christians by indirectly referring to the resurrection: “Punishment was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a new and mischievous superstition [the resurrection].”(Suetonius Vita Nero 16.11–13)

Pliny the Younger (AD 61 or 62–113) Pliny the Younger wrote a letter to the emperor Trajan around 111 describing early Christian worship gatherings that met early on Sunday mornings in memory of Jesus’ resurrection day:
I have never been present at an examination of Christians. Consequently, I do not know the nature of the extent of the punishments usually meted out to them, nor the grounds for starting an investigation and how far it should be pressed. . . . They also declared that the sum total of their guilt or error amounted to no more than this: they had met regularly before dawn on a fixed day [Sunday in remembrance of Jesus’ resurrection] to chant verses alternately amongst themselves in honor of Christ as if to a god . . .(Pliny the Younger Letters 10.96.1–7)

The Jewish explanation The earliest attempt to provide an alternative explanation for the resurrection of Jesus did not deny that the tomb was empty. (Matt. 28:13–15) Instead, Jewish opponents claimed that the body had been stolen, thus admitting the fact of the empty tomb. But this explanation is untenable for the following reasons. One, the tomb was closed with an enormous rock and sealed by the government, and there is no explanation for how the rock was moved while being guarded by armed Roman soldiers. Two, if the body were stolen, a large ransom could have been offered to the thieves and they could have been coerced to produce the body. Or, if it had been taken by the disciples, then the torture and death they suffered should have been sufficient to return the body. Third, even if the body was stolen, how are we to account for the fact that Jesus appeared to multiple crowds of people, proving that he was alive? In conclusion, the theft of the body is unlikely and still fails to account for it returning back to life.

For further study on the resurrection:

A brief but good article from Dr. Normal Geisler can be found at: http://www.equip.org/site/c.muI1LaMNJrE/b.2548567/k.FFA4/I_Believe_In_The_Resurrection_of_the_Flesh.htm

A very helpful and lengthy article from N.T. Wright can be found at: http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Jesus_Resurrection.htm

A thorough book by a solid evangelical apologist is The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona

And, ambitious book readers will enjoy, N.T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God by N.T. Wright

QUESTION: Didn’t Christians “steal” the idea of resurrection from other pagan religions?

QUOTE: N.T. Wright — From “The Resurrection of the Son of God.”

In so far as the ancient, non-Jewish world had a bible, it’s Old Testament was Homer.  And, in so far as, Homer had anything to say about resurrection, he is quite blunt.  It doesn’t happen.  The idea of resurrection is denied in ancient Paganism from Homer all the way to the Athenian dramatist Aeschylus, who wrote “once a man has died and the dust has soaked up his blood, there is no resurrection”.

According to Wright, neither in Plato, nor Aristotle, do we find any suggestion that resurrection, the return to bodily life of the dead person was either desirable or possible.

In Greek thought, man was comprised of the physical and the spiritual. The spiritual is good; the physical is bad.  The whole goal is to leave the physical and go into the spiritual. The last thing they longed for or was a resurrected, physical body.  They considered that (wrongly considered ) to be the problem; not the solution.

Wright goes on to say –

Christianity was born into a world where its central claim was known to be false.  Many believe that the dead were non-existent.  Outside of Judaism, nobody believed resurrection.

Wright concludes

Nobody in the Pagan world of Jesus day and thereafter actually claimed that somebody had been truly dead and then come to be truly and bodily alive once more.  In summary, death in ancient Paganism is a one way street.

SO — This concept that we stole the idea is erroneous on two fronts.

1.) Christianity had a unique claim to the resurrection of Jesus that Paganism never held.

2.) Secondly, we did not take the idea from Paganism, but even if we did, that still doesn’t deal with the evidence regarding the resurrection of Jesus.  Did he die?  Did he rise?  It still doesn’t address the main issue of the resurrection of Jesus.

Did Jesus spend time in hell between the time of death and resurrection due to having all the sins of the world on His shoulders?

Jesus did not spend time in hell because of our sins. Hell — or more accurately “The Lake of Fire” is where unrepentant sinners will be punished for eternity along with Satan and the other fallen angels (Rev. 19:20; Rev. 20:14-15).

Just before dying on the cross Jesus said, “It is finished.” The sacrifice for our sins was paid in full. The full wrath of God against sin poured out on Him in our place. There was therefore no need for Jesus to spend time in hell.

Is Jesus still being crucified?

Emphatically no.

1 Pet. 3:18 ¹⁸For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.

Hebrews 9:26 ²⁵Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, ²⁶for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

What happened to Jesus between His death and resurrection?

Jesus led those who had died in faith, looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, into heaven

Jesus proclaimed His victory to two possible groups in Hades (which is the “holding tank” for those who have died outside of faith and are waiting to stand before the Great White Judgment Throne of God to be proclaimed guilty and cast forever into the Lake of Fire Rev. 19:20; Rev. 20:14-15).

1 Peter 3:19-20 ¹⁸For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, ¹⁹in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, ²⁰because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.

From the ESV Study Bible – There is much debate about the identity of these spirits. The Greek term pneuma (“spirit”), in either singular or plural, can mean either human spirits or angels, depending on the context (cf. Num. 16:22; 27:16; Acts 7:59; Heb. 12:23; etc.). Among the three most common interpretations, the first two fit best with the rest of Scripture and with historic orthodox Christian doctrine. These are:

(1) The first interpretation understands “spirits” (Gk. pneumasin, plural) as referring to the unsaved (human spirits) of Noah’s day. Christ, “in the spirit” (1 Pet. 3:18), proclaimed the gospel “in the days of Noah” (v. 20) through Noah. The unbelievers who heard Christ’s preaching “did not obey . . . in the days of Noah” (v. 20) and are now suffering judgment (they are “spirits in prison,” v. 19). Several reasons support this view: (a) Peter calls Noah a “herald of righteousness” (2 Pet. 2:5), where “herald” represents Greek kēryx, “preacher,” which corresponds to the noun kēryssō, “proclaim,” in 1 Pet. 3:19. (b) Peter says the “Spirit of Christ” was speaking through the OT prophets (1:11); thus Christ could have been speaking through Noah as an OT prophet. (c) The context indicates that Christ was preaching through Noah, who was in a persecuted minority, and God saved Noah, which is similar to the situation in Peter’s time: Christ is now preaching the gospel through Peter and his readers (v. 15) to a persecuted minority, and God will save them.

(2) In the second interpretation, the spirits are the fallen angels who were cast into hell to await the final judgment. Reasons supporting this view include: (a) Some interpreters say that the “sons of God” in Gen. 6:2–4 are angels (see note on Gen. 6:1–2) who sinned by cohabiting with human women “when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah” (1 Pet. 3:20). (b) Almost without exception in the NT, “spirits” (plural) refers to supernatural beings rather than people (e.g., Matt. 8:16; 10:1; Mark 1:27; 5:13; 6:7; Luke 4:36; 6:18; 7:21; 8:2; 10:20; 11:26; Acts 5:16; 8:7; 19:12, 13; 1 Tim. 4:1; 1 John 4:1; Rev. 16:13–14; cf. Heb. 1:7). (c) The word “prison” is not used elsewhere in Scripture as a place of punishment after death for human beings, while it is used for Satan (Rev. 20:7) and other fallen angels (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6). In this case the message that Christ proclaimed is almost certainly one of triumph, after having been “put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1 Pet. 3:18).

(3) In a third view, some have advocated the idea that Christ offered a second chance of salvation to those in hell. This interpretation, however, is in direct contradiction with other Scripture (cf. Luke 16:26; Heb. 9:27) and with the rest of 1 Peter and therefore must be rejected on biblical and theological grounds, leaving either of the first two views as the most likely interpretation. « Less

Do we have to believe that we are forgiven in order to be forgiven?

The example of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus, and the miracles of Jesus cannot save us. It is only the death of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection from the dead that can save. It is on believing that His death and resurrection is the ONLY way to be made right with God that we are saved.

Romans 10:9 ⁹because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Are Christians subject to God’s wrath… passive or active?

Absolutely not. We are subject to His divine discipline / correction, but NEVER His divine wrath. The PUNISHMENT for our sin was poured out on Jesus in the sacrifice of the cross.

Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

I’ve been told by a Roman Catholic that we need confession and other catholic religious ceremonies to be sure of our salvation. Are they correct, or is Jesus enough?

Jesus is not merely enough — He is the ONLY way to God.

John 14:7 ⁶Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus said — “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.

Acts 4:12 ¹²And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

CROSS: God Dies

In our last time together we studied the INCARNATION — the amazing and radical truth that God became man in Jesus Christ. This evening we are going to study the REASON for the Incarnation — We are going to humbly study THE CROSS of Jesus Christ — the most important event in the history of the world. We are going to see how the death of Jesus made possible for us the beginning of our new life.

Tonight we will be asking and answering FOUR QUESTIONS

1. What is Crucifixion?
2. How did Jesus die?
3. What was accomplished by way of His death on the cross?
4. How do we reconcile the brutal murder of the innocent Son of God with the Love of God?

As we study THE CROSS — It is the great desire of my heart that those of us that do not know Jesus would understand with great clarity the purpose of his death— and in a life changing way see the love of Jesus for us and our need for Jesus.

For those that do know Jesus — and maybe we have lost sense of the magnitude and majesty of the crucifixion of Jesus — that tonight God would completely captivate our hearts — and that by way of THE CROSS reignite within us a deep passion to know — love — serve — trust and obey the Lord Jesus!

QUOTE: Evan Roberts — The great Welsh Revival of 1904-05 had it’s beginnings in an otherwise obscure prayer meeting on October 31, 1904. A visiting evangelist by the name of Seth Joshua prayed publicly, ‘O God, bend us.’ A 26 year old Welshman named Evan Roberts went forward and prayed with great agony, ‘O God, bend me.’ He was overwhelmed by Romans 5:8. He wrote of that moment — “I felt ablaze with a desire to go through the length and breadth of Wales to tell of the Savior; and had that been possible, I was willing to pay God for doing so.”

What followed touched the entire world.

Romans 5:8 ⁸but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Evan Roberts was BENT and SENT by THE CROSS

May the Holy Spirit reveal the CROSS of Jesus Christ to each of us tonight in a way that would forever change us.

QUESTION #1 — What Is Crucifixion?

Crucifixion was invented by the Persians, 500 years before the birth of Jesus Christ.

Ashurbanipal used crucifixion in it’s primitive form as a means of expanding the Persian Empire. PRIMITIVE = Impalement on the end of a sharp stake. He conquered entire cities by taking the leading figure of the city and impaling him on the end of the stake — Entire city would surrender.

It was later perfected by the Romans in the days of Jesus. And, it continued until it was ended by the Roman Emperor Constantine circa 300 AD.

Crucifixion was the most barbarous, shameful, painful way to die. The ancient Jewish historian, Josephus called it “the most retched of deaths”. The Roman philosopher Cicero said that – decent Roman citizens shouldn’t speak of the cross because it was unfit for them to even ponder that kind of murderous death. Orthodox Jews understood from the Old Testament Scriptures that the cross was indicative of one who was cursed of God (Deuteronomy 21: 22-23). This was such a horrific mode of execution that it was against Roman law for any of its citizens to be executed by way of the cross. Only foreigners and those guilty of high treason and the most heinous of crimes were to face capital punishment by way of crucifixion.

Death by crucifixion was so horrific and painful that a word was invented to describe the pain of crucifixion — EXCRUCIATING. Excruciating literally means – from (ex) the cross (cruciate). Those who were crucified died by painfully slow, excruciating death by asphyxiation.

Crucifixion was common practice within the Roman Empire. 10s of 1000s of people were crucified. Including 6,000 people in one day when Spartacus fell in battle, his followers were lined up along the shoulder of the highway for 120 miles. 6,000 people were crucified in a day. The modern day equivalent would be getting in your car and driving along the freeway (say from here to San Francisco) and for 120 miles seeing 6,000 people baking in the heat of the noon day son. Being picked out by birds, being mourned by family and friends. Bleeding, suffering, dying, weeping.

QUESTION #2 — How Did Jesus Die?

Jesus suffered multiple forms of physical trauma prior to His crucifixion.

HEMATIDROSIS — Luke the physician is the only Gospel author to record that while in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus began to sweat as it were great drops of blood. This is a medical condition known as Hematidrosis. A condition that can occur as a result of extreme emotional duress in which the capillaries near the surface of the skin, bursting and the blood oozing through the pores of the skin.

BLINDFOLDED AND BEATEN — Following the Agony in the Garden Jesus was brought bound before the high priest where he was blindfolded and beaten.

ROMAN SCOURAGE — A form of interrogation. Jesus’ hands would have been chained above his head to expose his back and legs to an executioner’s whip called the FLAGRUM — a series of long leather straps. At the end of some of the straps were heavy balls of metal intended to tenderize the body of a victim. Some of the straps had hooks made of either metal or bone that would have sunk deeply into the shoulders, back, buttocks, and legs of the victim. IF the victim began to confess his crimes the intensity and force of the blows would be lightened. IF no confession was forthcoming the blows intensified. Jesus had NO CRIME to confess. The scourging He endured was the most violent of scourgings.

The first blows caused bleeding from the capillaries and veins. But as the blows continued in frequency and intensity the back was torn to shreds and there would be arterial bleeding. Once the hooks were sunk deeply into the tenderized flesh, the executioner would rip the skin, muscle, tendons, and even bones off the victim as he shook violently, and bled heavily. History records that upon occasion, this was so violent and the hooks would go so deep that a rib would literally come flying off the body of a living man. He went into shock. His body was covered in blood. The Lictor would then untie the hands of the victim and he would collapse in a pool, of his own blood and flesh. 700 years before the scourging of Jesus the prophet Isaiah predicted the results of Jesus’ scourging: “many were astonished at you—his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind.”(Isa. 52:14)

CROWN OF THORNS — Jesus was taken to the Praetorium where the Roman soldiers made a crown of lengthy thorns and pressed it into his head as onlookers mocked him as the “King of the Jews.” (Matt. 27:29) With that, blood began to flow down Jesus’ face, causing his hair and beard to be a bloodied and matted mess, and his eyes to burn as he strained to see through his own sweat and blood. It was most likely in the Praetorium that they plucked out His beard.

Isaiah 50:6 I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.

CARRYING THE CROSS BEAM — Jesus was then forced to carry his own cross bar out of the Antonia fortress — out the Damascus gate, some 650 yards to the “Place of the Skull.” This cross bar — the PATIBULUM — was a rough cut piece of wood that weighed upwards of 100 pounds. It was often used for the execution for other men prior, so it was covered with sweat and tears and blood. It was laid across the shredded and traumatized shoulders and back of Jesus. But He is experiencing utter physical exhaustion. He has been awake for over 24 hours — has suffered Hematidrosis in the Garden of Gethsemene — has walked miles across the city of Jerusalem — Experienced the severe beating at the house of the high priest — the Scourging and Crown of Thorns. Exhausted — Jesus collapsed under the weight of the cross, unable to carry it alone. A man named Simon of Cyrene was appointed to carry Jesus’ cross.

CRUCIFIED — Upon arriving at his place of crucifixion, they tore the clothes off the back of Jesus and threw Him in the dirt.

Jesus the carpenter, who had driven many nails into wood with his own hands, then had five- to-seven-inch rough metal spikes driven into the most sensitive nerve centers on the human body in his hands and feet. Jesus was nailed to his wooden cross.

The Soldiers took his hand, laid it on the Patibulum — felt for the space between the radius and ulna and drove a wrought iron nail through His wrist — fastening Jesus to the cross beam. Then they would have coldly done the same to the other wrist. Then they would have lifted Jesus up from the ground — The weight of His entire body held by the nails in his hands. They would then drop the cross beam into a notch in the vertical piece of wood — known as the stipes. They would then turn His feet sideways and with one nail fasten both of them to the Stipes.

It is AT THAT VERY MOMENT that Luke records

Luke 23:34 THEN said Jesus — Father forgive them!

Jesus looked not just at those soldiers. They were our proxies. The force that drove the nails through His hands and feet was not merely the biceps and triceps of a Roman soldier. It was YOUR sin and MY sin — Isaiah 53 He was wounded for OUR transgression!

At this point Jesus was in unbearable agony.

EXCRUCIATING pain shooting up his arms as the nails pressed upon the radial nerves.

EXCRUCIATING headaches.

PARTIAL SUFFICATION — Contrary to what one would naturally think — Death by crucifixion was not by way of exsanguination — extreme loss of blood. Crucifixion killed its victims by way of asphyxiation. The posture of the body and the incomprehensible toll that pain took on the strength of the victim — made it difficult for the victim to breath. In order to take the next breath that would keep him alive — the victim would have to inflict upon himself EXRUCIATING PAIN by pressing down on his feet in order to stand erect and gulp in a breath. This would and could go one for days.

The body underwent such a brutal, devastating, series of sufferings that often times, at the foot of the cross would be a pool of feces and urine — because the man would become incontinent — mixed with sweat, tears and blood.

I’m not giving these details for shock value. I tell you this because too often there’s not a full appreciation for what he endured. Particularly in light of the fact that he’s God, become a man.

I give these details to show the OBSCENITY of making the cross an EMPTY ICON. It is OBSCENE that the cross has been reduced to a fashion statement. It is OBSCENE that on her “Confessions” tour, Madonna laid on a cross. It’s OBSCENE for men and women who live in absolute opposition to Jesus to wear the icon of His sacrifice for their sins which they refuse to repent of.

We NEED to understand and appreciate what Jesus endured for YOU and for ME!

SO there is Jesus — Nailed to a cross — Nearly naked, striped and dishonored. He sees those who have falsely accused him. He sees His disciples who have abandoned and betrayed him. He hears false accusations — he hears mockery. What kind of God are you? You cannot even save yourself. Jesus does not retaliate. He tells John, his dearest friend, to look after his mother. All of his words from the cross are of love and grace and mercy.

THE CAUSE OF DEATH for Jesus was NOT suffocation!

John 19:34 ³⁴But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.

Physicians know that such an issue from the pericardium tells us that Jesus died of a Ruptured heart!

THAT’S HOW Jesus died

Which leads to the next question –

QUESTION # 3 — Why Did Jesus die?

How in the world could Christians call the crucifixion of Jesus good news? How could we possibly celebrate it every year on Good Friday? Furthermore, why would we celebrate it every month at communion here at Metro where we tell you repeatedly that the bread represents the broken body and the cup represents the shed blood of Jesus?

Isaiah 53:5 “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”

Isaiah 53:12 “. . . he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

Romans 4:25 “[He] was delivered up for our trespasses . . .”

Romans 5:8 “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

1 Corinthians 15:3 “Christ died for our sins . . .”

Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us . . .”

1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God . . . “

1 John 2:2 “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Here’s why the crucifixion of Jesus is good news. It is FOR us.

In theological terms, it means that Jesus’ death was substitutionary (or, as some used to call it, vicarious). His death was in our place solely for our benefit and without benefit for himself. Jesus took the penalty for our sins in our place so we do not have to suffer the just penalty ourselves. The wrath of God that should have fallen on us — and the death that our sins merit — fell on Jesus.

As incomprehensible as the physical suffering of THE CROSS seems to us — THAT was NOT the greatest suffering Jesus endured. The physical suffering of THE CROSS is not why Jesus sweat great drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane.

We read in Hebrews 2:9 — because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

In Mark 15:34 — “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” At that moment Jesus tasted the WAGES OF SIN FOR us

This is why Jesus willingly became man, why He willingly went to the cross (John 10:18; Phil. 2:8; Heb. 12:2).

Theologically, we call this penal substitutionary atonement. Big words, I know. But, very important.

There is no right understanding of Jesus. There is no true gospel. There is no forgiveness of sin and salvation apart from penal substitutionary atonement.

Let’s break down the phrase word by word.

Penal — There is a penalty for sin. In Genesis, God told our first parents, if you sin, you will die. That’s the penalty. Paul says that – the wage for sin is death. So, the penalty for sin is death. Spiritual death, separation from God. Physical death, sensation of life. When Jesus went to the cross, he did so to pay our penalty. He suffered and died in our place for our sins to pay our penalty.

Substitution — That Jesus went as our substitute, Jesus went in our place. Jesus endured what we should endure, Jesus suffered what I should suffer. He’s my substitute. I love Jesus so much because he took my place. Some will say – no, no, no, the cross is not about substitution, it’s about the fact that Jesus is a great example and he shows us how to suffer well and how to love our enemies, all of which is true. But, the big idea of the cross is substitution. The rest are simply implications.

Atonement — Penal substitutionary atonement. Atonement is a word that you will start hearing early on in the Old Testament. You will see God’s people in the Old Testament celebrating Yom Kippur, annually, the day of atonement. The point of atonement is that sin has separated us from God and that sin must be taken away so that we can be forgiven and reconciled to God. The day of atonement was the day that God’s people would come together to individually and collectively confess their sins and deal with them according to the Old Testament sacrificial system which was all foreshadowing the coming of Jesus Who lays down his life as the sacrifice in our place, for our sins; all of it was preparing people for the coming of Jesus. Atonement means at-one-ment. Through sin we are separated from God, and by Jesus taking away our sin, we are forgiven and reconciled with God and we can be one with God again through Jesus Christ.

You need to know that at Metro penal substitutionary atonement is absolutely central to all that we believe. I would go so far as to say – it is at the crux, literally the cross of what we believe. We do not believe that Jesus was just a decent moral teacher or enlightened example. We believe Jesus is God, who lived the life we have not lived, who died the death we should’ve died and who gives the gift we cannot earn. We believe that Jesus is our penal substitutionary atonement. Jesus died in our place for our sins — that’s why we love Jesus so much. No one has done for us, or could ever do for us, what Jesus, God become a man, has accomplished at the cross.

QUESTION # 4 — What Did the Death of Jesus on the Cross Accomplish?

1.) Jesus is our justification.

On THE CROSS Jesus became our JUSTIFICATION.

What does JUSTIFICATION mean? It’s a word that you can and should study. Justification is a word in the Bible. Atonement is a word in the Bible. And, because we love the Bible — because we trust the Bible — because Jesus said that every word of the Bible would come to pass— because Paul says that all scripture is God breathed —— we pay close attention, not to just the ideas of scripture but the very words which articulate them because we believe every word of scripture is from God.

This word JUSTIFICATION appears repeatedly in your Bible, particularly in the New Testament. One particular example: Galatians 2:16 “a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

What’s Paul talking about?

The word Justification articulates the fact that you and I, one day, will stand before God and give an account of our life. It implies that God is a just judge. And, because God is just — he cannot declare us just in His sight. We are all by nature and choice guilty sinners. We sin by omission, not doing what we ought. We sin by commission, doing what we ought not do. We have sins of thought, word and deed — and as such — we have no right to stand before God and be declared righteous.

THINK ABOUT THIS — Let’s say for example that there was a judge — and before him was someone who was accused of a heinous crime. The judge asked the question — how do you plead? The accused declared – Guilty. How would you respond if the judge then said – I find you not guilty, you are free? You would call it a gross violation of the judges responsibility to maintain and administer justice!

You and I are guilty as sinners and God is just. God is not evil, he is good. God cannot look at us and say – Not Guilty — I declare you to be justified.

The question then is – how can we be justified in the sight of God? Paul says that the proclivity of sinful human nature is to justify one’s self through what he calls works of the law. It is natural for fallen man to try to make himself good enough for God. That’s the basic definition of works of the law.

Works of the law come in two forms. There’s a religious form and a moral relativism form.

The religious form is that you try to be a devoutly good and religious person so that God will love you. The false assumption underlying all religion is that the only way to be justified in the sight of God is to earn it — by doing your best and obeying the rules. So, religious people make lists of things they will and will not do. They seek very hard to do what they should do, not do what they shouldn’t do. Anticipating that one day, the day of judgment where they stand before God and then sharing with him their resume and saying — God, here’s my life. I did a good job, please justify me. Declare me to be righteous and allow me into your presence forever.

The moral relativism form assumes that what you are presently doing — the way that you are presently living — is good enough. This was my basic position before I met Jesus at the age of 22. I thought — I’m sure I’m in the good people list. I’m a pretty good guy, I’m sure that all will be fine when I stand before God.

PROBLEM — The scriptures which say that we are to be perfect as God is perfect. And, God doesn’t grade on a curve. God sees people as perfect or imperfect. On God’s grading scale I am most assuredly imperfect.

The problem with religion is this — it leads to pride or despair. Religion never leads to hope, confidence, joy and peace. Because the assumption is – you need to do something that God will love you.

Likewise — moral relativism which carries the assumption that you are good enough is nothing more than pure pride. It assumes an absolute sense of overriding self-righteousness — in that you look at all the people around yourself and assume that you are better than most. That is the epitome of arrogance.

Now, in the Bible, God does speak of these things using some very stark terminology — He uses these terms in order to dissuade us and discourage us from being religious or vaguely spiritual.

The first comes from Isaiah 64:6 — There God speaks of the works of the law and thinking that you are a good person and trying your hardest so that God will love you. God says that your righteousness — your human attempts at being a good person apart of relationship with him through Jesus — are as filthy menstrual rags — bloody tampons.

THINK ABOUT THIS — If God is the Father… this is the equivalent of showing up to His birthday party and when he unwraps the box — bloody tampons.

THIS IS SO CRITICAL — Coming before God at the end of time and saying to him – well, I think I’ve got a few things that you’ll really appreciate — and I just know that when you see what I’ve brought to You that you will justify me — and we will be even. He opens the box — and there they are — your righteousness — filthy menstrual rags — bloody tampons. That’s not gonna do!

THERE IS MORE STARK IMAGERY — Philippians 3:8

Paul is talking about his religious life before meeting Jesus and Paul declares that all of his religious efforts to be righteous were as dung. It’s very stark word in the Greek. Some of our translations get a bit skittish. I don’t have a dog — well I do — but not really. He doesn’t leave much when he poops. But occasionally a REAL dog gets in my yard and leaves a huge, steaming pile! The next time you see one of those huge steaming piles I want it to remind you of the spirituality of Oprah, and the Dalai Lama, and Jehovah Witnesses, and Mormons, and Islam, and vague spirituality and Goddess worship, and WICCA. Paul says – in the sight of God — it’s a huge steaming pile.

HERE’S THE POINT — When you stand before God — and we all will stand before Him — and if you come with a handful of bloody tampons and a warm, steaming pile — you will not be declared justified in his sight. You see — Religion is disgusting before God. Vague Spirituality is disgusting before God. Trying to earn or merit God’s favor is disgusting. Assuming that you are good enough for a holy, righteous, perfect good God, is disgusting. That’s why the Bible uses disgusting imagery.

The ONLY alternative to RELIGION and Moral Relativism is Jesus. That righteousness that God demands — we do not possess. BUT — the righteousness that God demands, and we don’t possess — He will provide for us in Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul says it this way

²¹For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Martin Luther rightly called this the great exchange. My sin was imputed or reckoned to Jesus. God made him who knew no sin to become sin. All of my sin, past, present and future, is put on Jesus. God did this to Jesus THE CROSS so that we might become the righteousness of God. By faith in what Jesus did on THE CROSS the perfect righteousness of the sinless Lord Jesus is then imputed or reckoned to my account. My sin goes to Jesus — His righteousness comes to me. It’s the great exchange.

This is pure GRACE. We don’t merit it, we don’t earn it, we don’t deserve it. It’s a gift. It doesn’t lead to the kind of pride or despair that religion does. It does not lead to the kind of self-righteousness that morality, spirituality does. It leads to humility. I did nothing, Jesus did everything. It leads to joy. Everything He did is sufficient.

The only way that God can maintain His Divine justice and declare us to be justified is if we have faith in — and grace from — Jesus Christ alone.

At Metro we believe that to be justified you must have trust in the promise of the Gospel that your sin was dealt with at the cross of Jesus and that because of that the righteousness of Jesus can be given to you so that you can stand before God and be justified, declared righteousness in his sight.

2.) Jesus is our propitiation.

Another big word.

1 John 4:10 says it this way – in this is love. HUGE CONCEPT HERE! We can not begin with a false concept of love and then try to define God and His love by that definition. Instead, we start with God — who is love — and then we interpret the rest of life in light of the character of God. In this is love. Not that we have loved God. Not that we are seeking God, pursuing God, crying out to God, yearning for God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

This word propitiation appears four times in the New Testament. Many translations will not give you the full understanding of the word. They will use the word — sacrifice or atonement. A handful will use an even less accurate translation and use the word expiation.

When the Bible uses the word propitiation, it’s a very important word.

Let walk through it. David says in Psalm 51:4. God, against you only have I sinned. You and I sin — and our sin is against one another to be sure. But, ultimately, our sin is against God.

The question then is – How does God feel about our sin? The Bible says, repeatedly, that God is angry because of sin. That though he loves us, God hates sin. All of that is summed up in the term — the wrath of God. MANY churches and pastors will NOT speak or do not ever address the reality of the wrath of God. We must! Because the Bible does.

In speaking of the wrath of God some of you will say – God’s not a God of wrath. God’s a God of love. God doesn’t get angry, God’s the God of love.

REALITY — If you compile all of the times and ways that the Bible speaks of the love of God — and compile all of the ways that the Bible speaks of the wrath of God — the number of times that it speaks of his wrath is greater than the number of times it speaks of his love. He is both, loving and filled with wrath.

According to conventional wisdom — No pastor in his right mind is supposed to talk about the wrath if God anymore. In fact — in a growing church it is tantamount to suicide. It takes a lot of overhead and money to run a church that is growing. The pressure is to pull back from declaring truths that are unpopular or uncomfortable to potential givers. Don’t talk about sin, don’t talk about hell, don’t talk about wrath, don’t talk about blood, don’t talk about the cross — make a little list of things that people don’t like and conveniently ignore them.

As we address the doctrine of propitiation — you need to know that God is very angry with sinners and their sin — and that His wrath burns against them.

I don’t say that to be mean — I say it to be truthful. I will continue to say it because when it comes down to it — whether we grow or don’t grow — make budget or don’t make budget — at the end of the day — I’m not concerned about your opinion! I have to give an account before God for all of us.

1 Thes. 2:2-4 we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. ³For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, ⁴but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.

I want you to know the truth — and the truth is — You and I are far worse than we think — and God is far better than we think. The distance between you and God is far greater than you hope it to be.

God’s wrath against sinners is the outworking… not of impetuous, emotional tirade — But, his just, righteous, holy indignation.

God has to be angry at sin, because he’s good. God has to do something with sinners because he’s just. That’s the doctrine of propitiation.

Now, some of you are here and you would say – this sounds like nonsense. I’m sinning all the time and God hasn’t poured out his wrath on me.

God’s wrath is exercised in two ways. There is the active and the passive wrath of God. Let me make sure that I terrify all of you because I love all of you. The active wrath of God is where God strikes you — rebukes you — kills you. He sends you to hell. You reap what you sow. It’s bad. When we think of the active wrath of God, we think of a lightening bolt out of heaven, right? As soon as you are going to download porn, touch your girlfriend, yell at your kids, steal money from your employer; the expectation is that a lightening bolt comes out of heaven, you get fried and everyone comes out of their cubicle and says – that was the wrath of God, right there. That’s the active wrath of God.

There is also the passive wrath of God. Romans 1 says that the passive wrath of God is when God simply gives you over to your unbridled desires. God lets you go do whatever it is that you want to do. If God hasn’t shown up and stopped you, your are experiencing the passive wrath of God. The passive wrath of God. And please know this — you won’t get away with anything. You say – well, God didn’t throw a rock at me. No, he didn’t, but he put it on the pile.

The Bible says that those that are unrepentant of their sin are storing up for themselves judgment on the day of wrath.

Romans 2:4-8 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? ⁵But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. ⁶He will render to each one according to his works: ⁷to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; ⁸but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

That means every time you sin, God may not in active wrath throw a rock, but that rock goes on a pile and at the end, that mountain falls on you. There is complete and total justice, for all people, in the end.

the doctrine of propitiation declares that Jesus substituted himself and died in our place for our sins. It’s the ultimate love, mercy and grace. Jesus dies in my place for my sins — and the wrath of God that I deserve is poured out on the son of God — and by the death of Jesus on THE CROSS the wrath of God is propitiated, diverted, taken away from me.

AGAIN — The suffering of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemene is tied to this

Matthew 26:38-44 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” ³⁹And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” ⁴⁰And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? ⁴¹Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ⁴²Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” ⁴³And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.

WHAT is this cup Jesus is talking about?

Rev. 14:9-11 ⁹And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. ¹¹And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

THAT is this cup that Jesus was talking about?

It was NOT possible for us to be saved from the wrath to come UNLESS He endured it! IF it were possible — Jesus would not have died on THE CROSS.

THIS IS HUGE! People ask — Why does this matter? Here’s why it matters.

In Jesus — God is not angry with me. He loves me.

In Jesus — I know God is not punishing me when I sin. You need to know this. Some of you still falsely believe that when you sin, or if you suffer, that God is punishing you — he’s making you pay Him back. There are many teenage girls taking razors and cutting themselves so that they suffer and bleed because something deep in them says – I’ve done wrong and there needs to be suffering and blood so that God will be appeased.

Teenage girls should put down their razors — and religious people should put down their efforts to pay God back — and humbly and joyfully embrace the doctrine of propitiation. Jesus has propitiated the wrath of God. Because Jesus has become the propitiation for my sin I can KNOW that when I suffer, I do not have to assume that God is punishing me. Because that would be unjust. He already punished Jesus in my place. Hebrews and Proverbs do say – God is a father and he disciplines his kids, but he doesn’t punish them. He’s not angry at them, he loves them. He’s not making them pay him back. He’s using their sin as an opportunity for correction to grow them in holiness.

The propitiation of Jesus is beautifully summed up in the final words of Jesus from THE CROSS — it is finished. We don’t need to pay God back — we don’t need to suffer. We don’t need to make it up to Him. We need to trust in his son. On THE CROSS the wrath of God is propitiated, diverted, taken away from us and placed on Jesus.

This was foreshadowed every year on Yom Kippur — the day of atonement —

On that day a sacrificial goat was brought forward. The High Priest would then confess the sins of the people over the animal — and slaughter it. Its blood would be shed and it would die as a substitute for the sins of the people. This was all foreshadowing and anticipating the coming of Jesus and the PROPITIATION of THE CROSS.

THIS IS HUGE — On Yom Kippur there was an additional goat — The Scapegoat. The Scapegoat was not slaughtered — but rather sent away from the people — showing how God alone removes our sin. The Scapegoat was significant because it foreshadowed the expiation of Jesus.

3.) Jesus is our expiation.

Again, this is a word that is important. Expiation.

When we sin and are sinned against — the Bible says (particularly in many Old Testament ceremonies, cleansings, and metaphors) that we are defiled, dirty, filthy, polluted and unclean.

But on the cross Jesus took away our sin so that we could be cleansed from the presence and power of defiling sin.

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son — there’s the cross — cleanses us from all sin.

In that passage sin is depicted in it’s defiling effects.

Isaiah says this — in Isaiah 6 — I’m a man of unclean lips, I come from a people of unclean lips. That’s a clear articulation of the defiling effects of sin. This defilement happens whether you have sinned or been sinned against.

THIS IS HUGE — Without an understanding of expiation — we have a partial understanding of the Gospel. We fully grasp and embrace the part of the Gospel that declares — Jesus died for all your sins. If you confess your sins to him, you will be forgiven. We totally believe that. But — what about those who have been sinned against? What about the person who was abused as a child, or raped as an adult, or beaten, or betrayed, or abandoned, stolen from, lied to, cheated on? Their lives have been polluted — made filthy — defiled. What are they to do?

Even though they are not the person who has sinned — they are the victim of sin. And, whether you sin or are sinned against, you are still defiled.

There are countless women who always end up with the loser boyfriend / husband. So many of them when asked – why do you settle for that guy? — respond — well, that’s what I deserve. Why do you feel that you deserve that? Well, I’m damaged goods. This is what I’ve done, or this is what has been done to me. This is as good as I deserve. Our identity is polluted / defiled — by either what we have done or what has been done against us — rather than what Jesus has done for us.

On the cross Jesus not only endured the wrath of God in our place (PROPITIATION) — slaughtered like the first goat of Yom Kippur. Jesus EXPIATED our sin — He REMOVED the polluting and defiling power of our sin — like the second goat on Yom Kippur that had the sins of Israel confessed over it and was sent away.

As a pastor it is devastating to hear people who see themselves as defiled. So many women who have been raped say that after being raped the first thing they did was take a shower. It is an attempt at cleansing — more than just the body. Her soul, has been stained. It’s been defiled. That filth has occurred in the depth of her being. The bathing is an attempt to clean more than just the body, it’s an attempt to get down to the level of the soul. The truth is – only Jesus gets down to the level of the soul.

Zechariah 13:1 so beautifully promised this provision — “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.

In Jesus a cleansing fountain is opened up. It is imagery of cleansing. It’s the same imagery we use in baptism as well. Cleansing. Expiation.

I find it beautiful as well that the church — which is referred to as the bride of Jesus Christ is spoken of in the Book of Revelation — Revelation 19:8 KJV ⁸And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

That’s symbolic of expiation.

IF some of you have been defiled by sexual sin you need to grasp the reality of PROPITIATION and EXPIATION

Last question

QUESTION #5 — Does the Cross Contradict God’s love?

There have been some incredibly erroneous — ignorant — heretical and blasphemous things said about this.

This is among the most stupid.

Steve Chalke and Alan Mann, The Lost Message of Jesus use the term “cosmic child abuse” to describe the idea of penal substitutionary atonement.

QUOTE: “The fact is that the cross isn’t a form of cosmic child abuse—a vengeful Father, punishing his Son for an offense he has not even committed. Understandably, both people inside and outside of the Church have found this twisted version of events morally dubious and a huge barrier to faith. Deeper than that, however, is that such a concept stands in total contradiction to the statement: ‘God is love’. If the cross is a personal act of violence perpetrated by God towards humankind but borne by his Son, then it makes a mockery of Jesus’ own teaching to love your enemies and to refuse to repay evil with evil.” (See Steve Chalke and Alan Mann, The Lost Message of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), pp. 182-183.)

Chalke mocks the God of Jonathan Edwards (Lost Message of Jesus, page 56) and argues that the Bible “never defines him [God] as anything other than love” (Lost Message of Jesus, page 63). This is simply false as revealed in both 1 John 1:5 (“God is light”) and Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4 (“God is holy”).

Brian McLaren used the term “cosmic child abuse” on the lips of one of his most attractive characters in his book The Story We Find Ourselves In. In this book, fictional characters have theological discussions. On page 102, a character name Kerry is talking about the atonement, saying: “I know that’s supposed to mean something to me, and I suppose I can see it, but it raises so many questions. . . . For starters, if God wants to forgive us, why doesn’t he just do it? How does punishing an innocent person make things better? That just sounds like one more injustice in the cosmic equation. It sounds like divine child abuse.”

Here are the arguments —

1.) A loving God could not possibly pour out his wrath on Jesus.

Yet this is precisely what Scripture says: Isaiah 53:10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief.”

2.) A loving God would never sanction the bloody, brutal, unjust murder of Jesus.

But again they argue in the face of the plain teaching of Scripture. Jesus himself said in no uncertain terms that THE CROSS is where the love of God for us is most clearly seen.

John 15:12-13 ¹²“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.

So when people ask or even argue — How will people see the love of God at the cross of Jesus? The answer is — THE CROSS IS the love of God.

The world outside of Jesus defines love in terms of sentiment and emotion. Love is seen in general as a feeling. A feeling that you fall into and fall out of. THAT is NOT the meaning of LOVE. It is a tragic perversion of love to think that love is just words and feelings and not actions and devotions.

We can ONLY understand love in the light of God, who is love! God does not love in the realm of mere sentiment. God does not love in the realm of mere emotion. The Bible speaks of God’s love as being efficacious — successful in producing a desired or intended result. In other words — God doesn’t just feel loving — He does love. He acts. God doesn’t just send a greeting card — He goes to a cross and dies. He does something!

Some of you may come in here wondering — does God love me?

Look at THE CROSS!

It is ONLY at THE CROSS that you discover how sinful you are — and how sinful sin is

It is ONLY at THE CROSS that you discover how loving He is!

I’ll give you a few other Scriptures that define God’s love for you by way of THE CROSS is the place where love is most clearly seen in all creation.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

1 John 4:9-10 “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Rev. 1:5b KJV Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

LISTEN TO ME HERE — THE CROSS of Jesus is the clearest demonstration of the love of God in the history of the world.

God’s love for each of us is so GREAT — so PERFECT — so STRONG — that He

Came as a human being to identify with us.

Lived a life without sin.

Died the death in our place for our sins.

Rose to forgive us, transform us — and He lives to intercede for us — and He’s preparing a place for us.

And because of what Jesus did for us on THE CROSS He is going to come again to claim us and we’ll enter into His presence — that we might share in His Kingdom — Where sin is no more and Jesus is everything.

CLOSING — Have you come to the place where you understand that either your religion — your morality — your “spirituality” is insufficient to stand before the God of the Bible?

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Jesus is our Victor

Colossians 2:13–15 “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

Jesus is our Redemption —

Titus 2:13- 14“. . . our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”

Jesus is our Reconciliation —

Ephesians 4:31-5:2 – “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Jesus is our Example —

1 Peter 2:21 – “Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.”

OPEN – Questions
Incarnation: God Comes – October

1. Is it true that Mormons believe that Jesus was a man that BECAME God? If it is, how do they back that belief with scripture?

They don’t back it with Scripture and the CAN’T back it with Scripture. They use the Book of Mormon to explain their heretical beliefs.

2. Was God unable to relate to humans before the incarnation?

We begin with the understanding that God is omniscient — that is he knows all things — He never LEARNS anything. Thus, He knows everything about our humanity. In the incarnation He added humanity to His divinity — not to primarily for the sake of understanding us — but to be to be our kinsman redeemer, to stand as a man in the place of sinful man to endure the wrath of God that we deserve. Having said that, as a man, Jesus entered time and space and was also joined experientially with life in these tents of flesh — and thus we read in Hebrews 4:14-15

14Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

3. If Jesus became fully man, but without our sinful nature, how then could He fully understand what it is like to be tempted?

Before man’s original sin everything about his nature was “good.” In fact, God said that it was “very good.” Neither Adam, nor Eve, had a sinful nature when they were tempted. Jesus was conceived and came into this world without sin — even as our first parents came into the world without sin. He experienced temptation as fully as did Adam and Eve, yet without sin.

4. When Jesus became flesh and he was given a body, was he given a sinful nature?

The answer is no. Before man’s original sin everything about his nature was “good.” In fact, God said that it was “very good.” Sin did not cause Adam and eve (and us) to cease to be human. We are not less than human — we are still image bearers of God. But, the image of God is marred and stained and tainted. In our study of the Fall we learned about the concept of “Total Depravity.” Total depravity means that sin has affected the totality of a person; our thoughts — our feelings — our will — our emotions — our body. Every man and woman born into this world comes into the world in that spiritual condition. Jesus is the only exception. Jesus did not inherit Adam’s sinful nature, because He was born of a virgin and conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.

5. Was the census that Caesar ordered illegal according to Jewish law?

No — because they were

6. Is our sinful nature our basic human instincts? Was Jesus tempted because of those instincts?

Before man’s original sin everything about his nature was “good.” In fact, God said that it was “very good.” Sin did not cause Adam and Eve (and us) to cease to be human. We are not less than human — we are still image bearers of God. But, the image of God is marred and stained and tainted. In our study of the Fall we learned about the concept of “Total Depravity.” Total depravity means that sin has affected the totality of a person; our thoughts — our feelings — our will — our emotions — our body. Every man and woman born into this world comes into the world in that spiritual condition. Jesus is the only exception. Jesus did not inherit Adam’s sinful nature, because He was born of a virgin and conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore the humanity of Jesus was not stained and tainted by sin. That did not exempt Jesus from things like fatigue, huger, or emotions. When Satan Tempted Jesus the temptations appealed to those very real human feelings.

7. What was Jesus’ way of getting through His temptations?

When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness He constantly answered the suggestions of Satan with “It is written.” In response to the first temptation Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 to defeat Satan. Feeding on and obeying God’s Word is more important than consuming physical food. In fact, it is our food (John 4:32-34 ). IN response to His second temptation Jesus replied with Deuteronomy 6:16 : “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” We tempt God when we put ourselves into circumstances that force Him to work miracles on our behalf. We tempt God when we try to force Him to contradict His own Word. It is important for us as believers to read all Scripture, and study all God has to say, for all of it is profitable for daily life (2 Tim. 3:16-17 ). In the third temptation Jesus replied with Deuteronomy 6:13 : “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” Satan had said nothing about service, but Jesus knew that whatever we worship, we will serve. Worship and service must go together.

8. What’s an easier way to describe God in three parts to non-believers?

Actually, there is no EASY way to explain the Trinity. AUGUSTINE said – If you deny the Trinity you lose your soul — If you try to explain it you lose your mind!

So let’s take what the doctrine of the Trinity states, and then break it down

The doctrine of the Trinity states that: There is ONE God – Who eternally exists as three distinct persons – Father, Son and Spirit – Each FULLY and EQUALLY God

The Trinity is ONE God (monotheism)

Who eternally exists (never a time when the Father, Son and Spirit didn’t exist)

He exists as three distinct persons

“Person” does not mean that God the Father or God the Spirit became human beings. (God the Son did)

Rather, it means that each member of the Trinity thinks, acts, feels, speaks, and relates because they are persons as opposed impersonal forces.

And each member of the Trinity is equally God

Which means that they share the divine attributes, such as eternality — omniscience — omnipotence — and omnipresence.

Three distinct persons — Father, Son and Spirit — who are each FULLY and EQUALLY God

FULLY = Each possesses the fullness of Divine Attributes.

EQUALLY = One is not more God than the other

9. What is Jesus’ current state? Things like The Shack allude to a Jesus that is still human and God? Is his humanity currently gone?

First — The depiction of God in “The Shack” is Modalism (which is heretical). This heresy essentially says that there is one God who puts on three masks. It essentially states that in the OT he acts like the Father — In Gospels He acts like Jesus — From the Book of Acts forward He acts like the Holy Spirit.

In “The Shack” Papa says – “I am truly human in Jesus”. THAT is not true. THAT is Modalism. The Father was NOT born of a virgin — did not die on a cross. The Son did. The Doctrine of the Trinity declares that they are distinct persons

The Father SENT the Son.

The SON died for sin.

The Spirit was sent to regenerate and indwell us.

They are working together.

But they are distinct.

Second — Jesus is forever united with us in our humanity.

10. If Jesus was tempted as a man than why in James 1:13 does it say that God cannot be tempted? I know the bible does not contradict itself so can you explain?

Remember how we learned about the concept called the Hypostatic Union issued in the Chalcedonian Creed in 451 A.D. Hypostasis meaning that Jesus is one person with two natures. Jesus was not being tempted as God — rather as a man.

INCARNATION: God Comes

Tonight we are continuing in our series titled Credo: I Believe. Tonight we are in our 7th study in the series and it deals with the Incarnation, God coming into human history as the man Jesus Christ.

My wife Valerie was just 22 years old when she gave birth to our first child, Deborah. I remember the very first time I saw Valerie holding Deb — It was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen. And then I remember how absolutely blown out I was when she handed Deborah to me for the very first time. In time it began to dawn on me that THIS is how God came — frail, fragile, needy, helpless, and vulnerable. SONG: “Infinite One, come as an infant. Maker of everything fashioned as man. Holder of heaven now held by His mother. See this is God with us.”

The Birth of Jesus is the most important birth in the history of the world — so important that History is divided BC and AD, Before Christ and Anno Domini the Year of our Lord. EVERYTHING revolves around the birth of this man, Jesus Christ. History is HIS – Story.

Here at Metro this Jesus is The Object of our adoration and worship — The focal point and exalted One of every sermon — He is the point of every area of ministry. We exist individually and corporately to exalt HIM!

It is my sincere prayer that this evening God will truly overlook my inadequacies as a man and a teacher and enable me to summarize in a succinct way what we believe about Jesus and in particular the Doctrine of the Incarnation.

For some tonight this may be the first time you have heard about this thing called the Incarnation. For others who have met Jesus — I pray that you will hear it again in a fresh way and ponder the depth.

QUESTION #1 — What does incarnation mean?

I hated taking Latin in High School — But in hindsight I’m glad I did because it is so helpful in regards to the meaning of words.

INCARNATION comes from two latin words — IN (into) and CARNARE (flesh) = Into Flesh

We know that carne means meat. There are two kinds of chili — there is regular chili and there is chili con carne — chili with meat!

In Christian theology it is used to describe the embodiment of God the Son in human flesh as Jesus Christ.

Jesus is God coming to human history in flesh. The Bible teaches us that God is Spirit. Yet He was packaged in meat. He was given glands, bone, muscle, skin, teeth, hair.

CRUCIAL: At the Incarnation nothing was subtracted from Jesus’ divinity – His deity was not diminished in anyway… but Jesus added to His nature. He added humanity to His deity.

CRUCIAL INSIGHT: The Incarnation does not mean that a human being became God. That is the first lie that Satan told our parents in the garden and some religions like Mormonism still perpetuate that lie. It is not that someone became God

The Incarnation is not about an enlightened humanity graduating or rising to
the level of deity. It’s about a compassionate God diving into our mess.

ILLUSTRATION: By Sandy Adams — It reminds me of a Decatur man and his friends who visited a barbeque house in North Georgia… They drove over an hour to get there. It was “All you can eat rib night.” And it didn’t take long for the mound of bones and dirty napkins to pile high. Long after they should have, the men admitted they’d had enough. They paid their bill and started to leave. But the driver couldn’t find his car keys… He checked his pockets… nothing but lint. He looked through the car window to see if the keys were still in the ignition… nada. Suddenly, it hit him. When he sat down to eat he had laid his keys on his tray. Evidently, they got covered with napkins, and were still on the tray when he emptied his trash into the wastebasket. The man’s keys were at the bottom of all you can eat rib night. It was a long walk home, and none of his friends wanted to hail a cab, so there was only one thing to do… dive in! And for the next fifteen, long agonizing minutes this man fished through rib bones, half-eaten corn cobs, barbeque sauce, baked beans, slushy coleslaw, pools of backwashed tea, and gobs of saliva-soaked napkins… until finally he grabbed his keys. When he pulled out his arm it was coated with a layer of BBQ slime.

This is what God did at His Incarnation. Jesus’ humanity testified of His humility.

We were lost in a slime called “sin” – yet rather than cry for help, or drive home without us – Jesus dove into our filthy world to pull us out.

I say this with all due respect, I am thankful I serve a dumpster diving God. The Incarnate God dove into the trash.

And here’s the key… Jesus loves you and me. He doesn’t leave us at the bottom of the can.

Nobody likes to stick their hand into a trash can of scraps, slobber, and spit. Your hand becomes vulnerable. Along with a set of keys, who knows what else you’ll find!

In the INCARNATION we get an amazing insight into the heart of God.
The Incarnation made Him vulnerable. We cannot begin to fathom the infinite SELFLESSNESS and LOVE of Jesus to leave the glory of heaven and dive into
the dumpster of a fallen world.

QUOTE: GK Chesterton — “Alone of all creeds, Christianity
adds courage to the virtues of the Creator.” Jesus didn’t have to enter our madness – but He did!

SO — The Incarnation means that God became someone — God became a human being.

John Calvin — a very famous theologian — says that in the Incarnation God accommodated us. Jesus is God accommodating us in the same way that a good mom accommodates her kids. Valerie accommodates our kids from how our home is organized to our schedule to our diet to the kind of vehicle. Valerie is all about accommodating our kids. When our kids were little and we went for walks at Newport Beach she would walk at their pace. She picked the path that best accommodated their age and balance. INFINITELY MORE SO — God as creator, needs to accommodate us. In His infinite wisdom He sees the need to work within our limitations and our parameters. HE DOES THAT by coming as Jesus Christ.

As a parent one of the ways that you accommodate your infant/toddlers is to get down on the floor — be at their eye level, speak to them and relate to them in a language they can understand.

INFINITELY MORE SO — God does that for us in Jesus Christ! THAT is what incarnation means.

Let’s do a little bit of historical exercise,

QUESTION # 2 — How did people know God was coming?

There was a longing — an anticipation — an expectation.

It all started in Genesis 3. In Genesis 1 and 2 we looked at the fact that God created everyone and God created everything — and we sinned against God separating ourselves from God — experiencing physical and spiritual death.

Amazingly — following this absolute and utter betrayal and rejection God comes in Genesis 3.15 and makes the first Gospel proclamation! This is called the Proto-Evangelion. 4000 years before the birth of Christ — the Incarnation — God preaches the Gospel to our first parents. He speaks to Satan who was the one who instigated the original sin. I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.

God says — Someone is coming, a male son. He will come through the line of the first woman Eve and He will do battle with Satan. Satan will physically hurt him but He will ultimately destroy Satan.

Furthermore — in this, we are getting the first inference of the Virgin birth. In the rest of Genesis, in the Old Testament, the genealogies are given in a way that is patriarchal. This man had these sons, this man had these sons. But here in Genesis 3 there is no mention of a father — instead there is this sudden inference of the virgin birth — God only mentions the mother.

So now we are waiting for a particular son to be born of a woman who will crush Satan — overcome sin and death — and right everything that went wrong with Adam.

The Old Testament moves forward.

Isaiah 7:14 sheds additional light on the coming of Jesus — the incarnation.

IT SAYS — therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. A SIGN IS something people look for. Behold the virgin shall conceive. THAT IS BEYOND UNUSUAL! WE call that a miracle when a virgin conceives and bears a son. Isaiah goes on —you shall call his name Immanuel which means God with us.

So the first clue is we are looking for — a male child

The second clue we are looking — the mother would be a young virgin woman.

The third clue comes in Micah 5:2 written about 700 years before the birth of Christ — before the incarnation. This prophecy is given showing that God is sovereign over history — but you oh Bethlehem. Bethlehem is a small rural town not a big deal — think Browns Valley — but not too long because you will be sad. but you oh Bethlehem Ephratah who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, little tiny dumpy rural hick town doesn’t even have a fair not even that big, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler or king over Israel whose origin is from old from ancient days — in the Hebrew it literally means from eternity past. So we are looking for a son — born of a virgin — and He is to be born in the town of Bethlehem.

Finally — the fourth clue — Malachi 3:1
The final book of the Old Testament. This prophecy is given 400 years before the birth of Jesus Christ — the incarnation. Behold I send my messenger — that will be John the baptizer the very odd cousin of Jesus and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek (that’s the Lord Jesus Christ) will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant (that’s the new covenant which we dealt with in our last Credo Study) in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. This is an hugely important historical time stamp! When was the temple destroyed? 70AD! There has been no temple for almost 2000 years since 70AD. That means that this man that they were waiting for had to have come before 70AD.

SO — FOUR FACTS —

A son

born of a virgin

in the town of Bethlehem

before 70AD.

Most Jews today say that Christianity takes these prophecies and change their meaning to fit Jesus — They say that the Jewish people never understood that that God was coming in human flesh. Our response to that is twofold.

First — Who else was a man — born of a virgin — in Bethlehem — before 70AD?

If it’s not Jesus, who else is there?

Secondly — You can reference a man named Jacob Neusner, considered by many to be the leading scholar in Judaism today. He does not worship Jesus as God, he is an orthodox Jew. He wrote a book called “The Incarnation of God.” He says that the Old Testament does speak of God entering human history as a human being. When asked about the implications, he will basically admit in the book that this does crack the door open for belief in Jesus as the one everyone was waiting for and God was promising, God coming in the human flesh. He also says that many rabbis in the era of the Old Testament did teach that God was coming in human history as a man. That’s why when Jesus came, many did worship Him as God and as the one they had been waiting for — God come into human history born of a woman who was a virgin in the town of Bethlehem before the destruction of the Temple.

QUESTION #3 — HOW did God come in human flesh?

A word to those who have been Christians for a while — Sometimes we can become so familiar with this great passage that we cease to be amazed by what God has done. As we revisit these verses that are familiar to us — I pray that we will reconsider them and remember the extraordinary nature of what the Bible says about Jesus.

Matthew Chapter 1 — For those of who are not Christians, this is account of the birth of Jesus. We love you — we are glad to have you with us — we are really excited to tell you about this man Jesus.

Matthew Chapter 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his Mother Mary

Ladies — I need you to try go there with me as only you women can. Mary is a teenage girl maybe 14, 15, 16 years of age. She loves God. She is a virgin. She saved herself for marriage. She is engaged — betrothed to a man named Joseph. Have you ever wondered what she was thinking? She was just like any of you would be — Thinking of her wedding day — making all of the same preparations that you would make — probably overwhelmed by the same things you would be overwhelmed by.

Mary’s at that day where her wedding day is imminent and approaching and she is excited.

18 …When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together

she was still a virgin.

In fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14

she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

Imagine how shocking that was — to MARY and to JOSEPH.

In that day — betrothal was legally like marriage. If you had sex before the wedding you would be disgraced, maybe even put to death

Betrothal was so legally binding that to extricate yourself required a legal divorce.

19And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

Over in Luke 2 we are given details that compliment Matthew’s account. We see clearly that she loves God — She worships God — She trusts God

You men need to try to put yourselves in Joseph’s place.

Joseph loves God — He loves Mary. He believes Mary to be a virgin. He has probably never even kissed her at this point — and she is pregnant! He feels utter betrayal — the girl of his dreams has now become his worst nightmare! Imagine — Mary comes to you and says — Joseph honey — I have some BAD news and some GOOD news. Bad news is — I’m pregnant! What could possibly be good news? Well the good news is — I didn’t have sex with anyone — God is the dad!

Rather than putting her to shame or potentially putting her to death, he resolves to divorce her quietly, to leave her dignity intact and find a way just to get out of this very painful situation.

20But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

It’s a miracle! You are part of God’s plan! The Old Testament is being fulfilled in the womb of your teenage fiancé.

Imagine the FAITH exercised by Jospeh!

Imagine the pressure on Joseph! He is going to need to adopt God!

BY THE WAY — If you are adopted you are in good company — you are in the company of Jesus.

It goes on.

21She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: (Isaiah Chapter 7:14) 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25but knew her not until she had given birth to a son.

No sexual intimacy until she had given birth to a son

And he called his name Jesus.

Joseph stood up as a man of God — a man of faith.

He was a bit of an earthly savior to Mary and Jesus. He married this woman, who would be the subject of accusation and insults over this pregnancy (Jesus would even be called illegitimate by the religious leaders)

No doubt Joseph was scorned throughout the course of his life as well — oh you married her, you think she is a good gal, you are a fool.

He endured that scorn — he served God faithfully — he married the single mother, he adopted Jesus, raised him

REMEMBER — God had declared that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. HOW do you get a woman in her late term of pregnancy to make a donkey ride 70 miles through the Jordan Valley to Browns Valley — I mean Bethlehem?

Imagine that men. Your wife is in her 9th month and you say — Hey love — I have a super idea. Let’s load up the donkey and go to Bethlehem!

Seems like God has a problem! Not really.

In Luke 2 we are told that Augustus Caesar gave the command that the whole world was to be registered for the purpose of taxes. Everyone had to go to the town of his ancestors to register. Because Joseph was from the family line of David he had to go to the town of Bethlehem to register. Caesar speaks and the world moves! POWER!!

DON’T MISS THIS — God had foretold that the world would be saved by a son, born of a virgin IN BETHLEHEM before 70 AD.

Mary has now — by the power of the Holy Spirit — conceived a son without sexual relations. God needs to move this couple 70 miles south at a time when no expecting couple in their right mind would travel 70 steps from their front door — let alone 70 miles on the back of a donkey.

No Problem for God — He gets his little puppet, Augustus Caesar to command them to travel to Bethlehem.

Mary gave birth to Jesus in the town of Bethlehem at just the right time — Fulfilling all of the Old Testament prophecies that pointed to the Incarnation

QUESTION #4 — Is Jesus fully God and fully man?

Christianity’s critics like to suggest that the deity of Jesus is an invention of the Church. This is the thesis of Dan Brown’s hugely popular movie and novel, “The Da Vinci Code.” Jesus was a mere man – with a wife and kid. Never in His wildest dreams did Jesus intend to be worshipped as God.

Yet that’s not the picture we glean from the Bible or from history.

Jesus was condemned to death not because of His pithy parables, or even His scathing rebuke of the religious leaders of His day. Jesus was executed for one reason – He claimed to be the one, true God to a people that were fiercely monotheistic!

Jesus made statements like, “I am the bread come down from heaven.” He didn’t say, “I’m the bread come from Nazareth… or from Bethlehem (His birthplace)…” Heaven, God’s domain, was Jesus’ home address.

Jesus’ favorite name for Himself was “Son of Man.” This was a Hebrew label for the Messiah. Daniel 7:13 says the Son of Man has dominion over all people and nations. He rules forever over a kingdom that will never end. For Jesus to be the “Son of Man” made Him more than mere human.

When Jesus told the lame man, “Your sins are forgiven you” — The Pharisees were appalled. They whispered, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” They knew the implications. Jesus claimed to be God. And it was difficult to argue with Him when He backed it up by healing the man’s paralysis.

Jesus also called Himself the “Son of God.” Actually, lots of people called Him by this name. Disciples, demons, the Devil, even a Roman Centurion recognized Jesus as “the Son of God.” Here’s how this works from a Hebrew mindset… the son of a cow is a cow… the son of a man is a man… thus, the Son of God is God… For a Jew to be Son of God was to be God Himself.

John 3:16 takes it further. Jesus is “the only begotten Son of God.” The Jews understood that to be the the only begotten son of God meant that Jesus possesses the nature of His Father.

Hebrews 1:3 calls Him “the express image of God’s person.” He’s an exact imprint of God – not just in shape — but in substance. Jesus isn’t just a look-a-like. He doesn’t just reflect God, He is God in essence. As we’ll see in a moment, the Christian Creeds made a big deal out of Jesus not just being in the form of God, but being the same substance.

And, there were many occasions when Jesus came right out – made no bones about it – and said very matter-of-factly that He was God. Once, He told the Pharisees that He had personally seen Abraham. They scoffed. How can a 30 year old claim to have seen a man who lived 2000 in the past. Jesus answered, “Before Abraham was, I am.” “I am” was the name for God given to Moses at the burning bush.

In John 10:30 Jesus said, “I and My Father are one.” And His audience knew what He meant. Verse 31 reads “The Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.” These people weren’t dense.

Jesus was a man who claimed to be God. Yet ever so often the History Channel runs a program that suggests Jesus never made such claims. They say His deity was a myth – an exaggeration promoted by Christendom long after His death.

The Church believes Jesus is God because He said He was.

In fact, Jesus is the only leader of a world religion to make such a claim. Bhudda, Krishna, and Muhammed never said they were divine. Jesus did – and we believe Jesus – that’s why we worship Him as God.

ERRORS COME when you say that Jesus is only God or only man.

Fast-forward with me about 300 years from the time of Christ. It’s May 20, 325 AD,

300 Christian leaders have gathered together at Emperor Constantine’s lake house near the Turkish town of Nicaea. If we could have been in that room we would have seen giants of the faith. Many of the men present at the council, carried in their bodies proof of the great sufferings that they had endured during the years of persecution. Eusebius tells of a pastor from Egypt with one-eye. The Romans plucked it out of its socket when he refused to deny his loyalty to Jesus. A few of the pastors limp on one leg. Most everyone in the room has lost an arm, a hand, a finger, an ear. A lot of the pastors have burn marks from scalding hot oil. And there’s probably not a man in the room whose back isn’t a crisscross of scars. These men have weathered decades of persecution. Members of their church were slaughtered by the gladiators and fed to the lions. Funerals were their frequent duty. They were constantly ducking Roman tribunals. But recently the tide shifted. Emperor Constantine had made Christianity the official the state religion. Official hostility had ended. Overnight Christians had gone from persecuted to privileged. Christians were now praying in public – pastors teaching — Bible Studies in the streets – suddenly, all of Rome was abuzz about Christianity.

In the midst of all of this a man named Arius was teaching that Jesus was less than God – that he was created by God. And this Arius was a gifted communicator. Folks liked to listen to him.

The men at that council had suffered for Jesus sake. These men endured persecution, but now in a time of peace they face a greater danger… And these men are not about to allow anyone to steal the truth for which they and their friends had sacrificed so much to protect.

The council of Nicaea didn’t create new doctrine. It recognized what the NT had taught, the Church believed, and the saints died to maintain.

The participants at Nicaea constructed a statement of faith that has endured the test of time. To this day all three branches of Christianity Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant – adhere to the Nicene Creed. Here’s the statement the church fathers drew up, “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of His Father, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.”

Of the 300 bishops who attended the council only three refused to sign the creed… Arius, and two of his buddies — They were excommunicated.

INTERESTING — The Nicene Creed was so successful in supporting the deity of Jesus it didn’t take long before people began to neglect His humanity. So the church met again, 125 years later, in 451 AD, at Chalcedon to draft another creed which further clarified the nature of Jesus.

They issued something called the Chalcedonian Creed in 451 A.D. They came up with a concept called the Hypostatic Union, hypostasis meaning that Jesus is one person with two natures the humanity, the divinity, fully man, fully God joined together in the person of Jesus Christ.

Historical Christianity knows nothing of a Jesus who is not God Incarnate. Jesus is God and the reason that a few billion Christians on the earth today worship Him as God is because He said He was God. It’s not something that we made up it’s something that He stated.

And this is important as well because the first of the Ten Commandments is that there is only one God and you should worship no one but the God of the Bible alone. By saying He was God, Jesus was either telling the truth or He was a blasphemous liar who should be put to death.

John Chapter 1 is another very important section of Scripture relative to the INCARNATION. It illuminates the incarnation of Jesus as fully God, fully man. It is written by Jesus’ dearest friend, a man named John, who was one of His disciples. John witnessed first hand the miracles, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus. John was the last living among the apostles. The others died bloody tortured deaths. They tried to murder John by boiling him in oil. God spared John and they ended up exiling him to Patmos which is modern day Turkey. He live to a ripe old age and he wrote 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, the Book of Revelation, and the Gospel of John. He too, never recanted that his friend Jesus was God

This man wrote his account of the life of Jesus to tell us that Jesus is God. In what is called the PROLOGUE to John’s Gospel, John declares the Incarnation in terms that brought together the Theological culture of the Jews and the Philosophical culture of the Greeks.

The Jewish culture possessed a deeply held conviction concerning the concept of the Word of God — they saw it as preeminent and powerful. They understood that in Genesis 1 alone God spoke 10 times. God’s word is so powerful that by it He created the heavens and the earth. They believed from Isaiah 55:11 that God’s word accomplishes what He sends it out to do — it does not in any way return to Him void. God’s word is powerful, it accomplishes what He desires and decrees.

The Greek culture was very philosophical at heart. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great — all traced the history of their philosophy back to a man named Heraclitus. He was so influential that his face was on the coin in the Greek day — not unlike George Washington for us. He said that the most important essential powerful thing in the world was the word or the logos. He held that the logos created and held the world together. He held that the logos reconciled the realm of the spirit and the realm of the physical.

John takes this concept of the logos — the word — and in so doing he take the essence of Jewish thinking and the essence of Greek philosophy and he brings it all together in Jesus Christ. He does so beginning of John 1.

John 1:1 1In the beginning

An echo of Genesis 1:1

1In the beginning was the Word

So before creation — in eternity past — was the word — the logos.

and the word was with God.

So the word is eternal and with God. Literally it means face-to-face with God

and the word was God

So this eternal word — that was from eternity past face-to-face with God — is God.

2He was in the beginning with God.

We are getting a picture here of the Trinity. Jesus was in the beginning with God

3All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Now John tells us that the Word is the creator — we are his creation.

This logos — this word — Jesus — was face-to-face with God — is eternal — is creator — and is God.

4In him was life,

The Logos — the Word — JESUS — is the source of all life — and apart from him there is no life

and the life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Again — John harkens back to Genesis 1 where God separates light and darkness. Here he’s talking in a moral and spiritual sense ‘ the moral and spiritual darkness that is the result of the Fall — result of the world being filled with with sin

This light refers to the coming of Jesus to illuminate to this fallen world God — truth — and holiness.

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness is not able to overcome the Light of Jesus.

John then goes on to speak of the forerunner of Jesus, the cousin of Jesus named John (John the Baptist) John is the Fulfillment of Malachi 3:1

6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

John came preaching repentance and pointing to Jesus.

9The true light (that is Jesus the logos, the word), which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him

God the Creator came into creation — as the man Jesus Christ — and the world He created did not know Him.

11He came to his own,

That is the Jewish people

And His own people did not receive him. 12But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

This is a spiritual birth — being born again. We are born physically but we need to be born again spiritually. We are born physically alive — but spiritually dead. To be born again is to receive from God a new heart — new life — new — new passions.

14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us

THE INCARNATION! This Logos — eternal — creator — eternally in face-to-face relationship with the Father — who was Himself from eternity Divine — became a human being. He took upon himself flesh and dwelt among us

and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The glory of God is manifested in the person of Jesus. There is no knowledge, no understanding of God apart from Jesus.

Here is the big idea — There is no right knowledge of God apart from the person of Jesus Christ.

15(John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”)

John essentially says — He is eternal, He is God, he pre-exists me.

16And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

God took on flesh — became INCARNATE — to give grace upon grace —unmerited favor — undeserved love.

17For the law was given through Moses;

As we read the law — God’s Law — we have to acknowledge that we have failed to keep His Law — we have sinned and we have fallen short. That sin has created an infinite and absolute distance between us and God. There is NO WAY for us to make ourselves RIGHT before Him. For us to be saved will require God doing for us something that we do not deserve and could not earn! What we need is GRACE!

grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

The GRACE that we NEED comes through Jesus.

18No one has ever seen God;

No one has ever seen God — that’s the point of His coming. Apart from Jesus, all we have is philosophical and religious speculation!
the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

In Jesus — we have the revelation of God.

John tells us that this revelation of God to man was accomplished in the incarnation — in the birth of Jesus. Jesus is fully God and fully man — coming to human history in human flesh to live a human life without sin.

Jesus was fully human. Isaiah 53:2 he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. If you saw Jesus, he looked very normal, very normal. In virtually every movie ever made about Jesus you can always pick Him out — He’s the one that looks radioactive or speaks with with an echo! Jesus didn’t glow in the dark — there wasn’t a halo over his head — he looked like a regular guy. He had a mother, he was born, he had to learn to walk and read and write. Luke 2:42 says that he grew in favor and stature and wisdom with men and God. Jesus had friends. He was betrayed. He was happy. He was sad. He had to go to the bathroom. He was fully human, and fully God. And this is the great mystery of our faith! It is a mystery that is revealed to us in the Bible. But it is also a mystery that God has chosen to not further reveal in the Bible. Paul put it like this — 1 Tim. 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh,

QUESTION #5 — How could God become a man? How could this work? How could this happen?

Here at Metro we have stated that we have a passion to reach the World for God. The reason we have that at the heart of who we are is because THAT is the passion we see lived out in Jesus! Jesus came as a missionary! God is a missionary and sends us to be missionaries in culture.

CRUCIAL: The culture Jesus lived in before he was born on the earth was very different. We get a glimpse of it in Isaiah 6 — Isaiah is given a glimpse at the scene around the throne of God in heaven. He says — I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exulted, the train of his robe filled the temple and around Him were angels crying out holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, heaven and earth are full of his glory.

Fast forward to John 12:41 — There John writes that Isaiah saw the pre-Incarnate glory of Jesus and spoke of His glory. Isaiah got a glimpse into the majesty and the glory of the presence of Jesus seated on a throne, ruling over all people’s, times and places — and being worshipped as God.

In his INCARNATION — Jesus came off his throne — humbled Himself and physically entered into human history through the womb of Mary the young virgin, and He came as a man. In so doing, he went from one culture to another — He went from glory to humility — he went from a throne to a manger — He went from honor to dishonor — He went from extravagance to poverty — He entered into human history as a missionary.

He entered into a culture — He came into history into a culture with the people speaking a language, eating certain food, wearing certain clothes, enjoying certain holidays, reading certain books. THAT is God — and He is giving us an example of how we are to live our lives in culture — getting to know the world that we are in to bring the truth of God to the world.

We need to understand that Jesus is a missionary — and when he became a missionary he did not cease to be God. Augustine — the Great Church Father — framed it in this way — Christ added to himself, which he was not, He did not lose what he was! Jesus was fully God — He didn’t lose His divinity as God. He added to His Divinity humanity and became a human being. This means that Jesus retained all of His rights and His divine attributes — but He did not continually avail himself to them. He became very humble.

In fact — Philippians 2 uses that specific word to talk about the incarnation of Jesus. He came in humility not glory — not glory but humility.

Philippians 2:5 have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus.

So we are to think like Jesus, approach life like Jesus, see the purpose of our life as similar to Jesus

6who, though he was in the form of God,
That’s Paul’s way of saying He was God — He was the same as God, He of the same essence and nature as God.

did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Jesus didn’t hold on to his rights and his privileges as God to express Himself in all of His divine glory.

7but made himself nothing,

Literally — He emptied Himself of His right to express His divine majesty. He should have been worshipped not cursed at and spat upon — but He let that go.

He should have been paraded around as a king — not disrespected as He was. Jesus let go of that.

Jesus should have been obeyed — not disobeyed. But He let that go.

taking the form of a servant,

Jesus let go of His rights and He humbled himself but made himself nothing. Jesus was poor, Jesus was homeless, Jesus was single, Jesus did not experience many of the pleasures and possessions that you and I enjoy, He made himself nothing.

He set aside his right to be worshipped and obeyed and took upon Himself the very form of a servant — or literally a slave. God willingly became a humble slave.

THIS IS HUGE — Deep down — don’t you want a God who’s humble, a God who is gracious, a God who will suffer, a God who can relate, a God who has been there, a God who when you are struggling and hurting the most is not far away and un-relatable. Don’t you deep down in your heart want a God who emptied Himself to identify — that’s Jesus. There is no one like Jesus!

being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form,

He was in the form of God. No one could take his rights, take his glory, He gave it in love and came in human form — fully divine, fully man.

he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

He came to live without sin — He came to die for sinners. And he speaks here of the cross.

THIS IS HUGE — Jesus did not come not just to be an example for us — but to be a substitute for us. His example did not save us. We will deal with this more thoroughly in the coming weeks but here’s what happened.

Our God became a man — Our God lived without sin though, He was tempted in every way that you and I are (Hebrews 4). He then went to the cross and willingly took upon Himself all of our sins and endured the punishment and penalty that we rightly deserve for all of our sins.

You and I — we deserve to die, be sentenced, judged, and tormented forever in hell! BUT — through Jesus we get what John 1 calls grace upon grace.

HUGE CONCEPT — Religion is about what you do for God — Christianity is about Jesus and what he does for us. It’s totally different and it’s better because religion always leads to pride or despair. You try hard and if you do good, you are arrogant you are not humble like Jesus and if you fail to live up to the expectations you are grieved and sad because you are not good enough for God.

Jesus alone gives us joy and humility — humility knowing that we cannot save ourselves — joy knowing that when He said it is finished, it was. That’s why we love Jesus so much. It is not cliché for us to say it’s always — solely — only — totally about Jesus.

Your sin is real, God’s judgment is real, and the cross of Jesus is real.

He takes away sin and He forgives sinners and He reconciles us to God.

That is why Paul continued in Phil 2:9 9Therefore God has highly exalted him

HERE IS THE GREAT NEWS — After He died — Jesus rose 3 days later and then He ascended into heaven — TODAY Jesus is alive and He is highly exalted. In the Book of Revelation we find time and again the declaration that seated on a throne ruling and reining as king of kings and lord of lords — over all peoples, times and places, over all nations, all genders, all races, all socioeconomic backgrounds, all political parties, all sexual preferences, all employment vocations. He rules and reins over everyone and everything.

He is high — He is exalted — He is back in the position that He was prior to His incarnation. He was in glory — came in humility — now He is back in glory.

and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

The name of Jesus is the most important name in all the world. Your name, my name, the name of Metro — the greatest names in human history are nothing in comparison to the name of Jesus.

The name of Jesus is absolutely what we live for, it is our hope, our goal and our joy to live in such a way that the name of Jesus is made much of.

If you are new, you may notice that at Metro we don’t say God a lot — we say Jesus. We believe in God — but we believe He is Jesus and we want you to know that just talking about God is sometimes insufficient because people will misdefine who God is. God is Jesus — Jesus is God. So — we say Jesus a lot — we sing to Jesus — pray to Jesus — love Jesus — serve Jesus — honor Jesus — follow Jesus, want to be like Jesus — Look forward to seeing Jesus — and read the Bible to know more about Jesus.

If you forget everything but ONE thing tonight — don’t forget this one thing — IT IS ALL ABOUT JESUS.

10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

There are only TWO kinds of people in the world.

There are those who willingly bend their knee — surrender — submit to Jesus!

Those who not only willingly bends their knee to Jesus — they also and willingly proclaim with their mouth that Jesus is Lord!

Christians are ones who say that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ to live the life I cannot live, to die the death I should have died and to give the gift I cannot otherwise obtain!

I am totally enthralled with this man Jesus.

The other kind of person is one who is unwillingly bends their knee to Jesus — unwillingly proclaims that He is Lord.

Here’s REALITY — EVERYONE will bend their knee. Some of you will do it in this life for salvation, some of you will do it after this life for damnation, some of you will do it today as a friend of Jesus, some of you will do it eventually as a foe of Jesus.

Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess Jesus is lord.

Our hope, our prayer for you is that you would come to your senses in this life that you acknowledge that your sin is real, that God’s just, wrath, and judgment is real and the love and the grace and the mercy of Jesus is equally real and that God has gone to such great lengths to come into human history to save us from our sins and from death and from judgment and from hell.

Since we are all going to bend our knee to Jesus, wouldn’t it be wise to do it today, to confess your sins, to repent of them, to give them to Jesus, to have his finished work on the cross be applied to your life so that you can begin your reconciled relationship with God today.

Some of you may say God has no right to judge me and hell seems cruel.

Let me remind you of the depth of love that God has demonstrated.

God promised that He was coming

God came as a man

God was humbled, God became a slave

God endured temptation

God suffered

God died

God is willing to forgive anyone of anything

God is good and only a fool would reject His hand of friendship.

Our hope and our prayer today would be for all of us to meditate on the person and the work of Jesus and to perhaps even literally bend our knee and to raise our voice — to demonstrate with our posture and with our voices proclaim with great passion that Jesus Christ is the Lord — God in human flesh, come to rescue you and me.

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OPEN

Covenant: God Pursues – Questions

1) Why was Noah considered righteous? Why would it say that Noah was righteous unless it was significant in some way to the favor he received from the Lord?

Noah is called righteous because he FOUND FAVOR with God. That is the only way that ANY of us can be made righteous. Abraham is called the father of those who believe. He received righteousness – NOT by works or by the act of circumcision – but by faith.

Genesis 15:6 6And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Galatians 3:6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”

Roman 4:11-12 11He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

2) Who is Brian McLaren?

He is one of the leading influences in the “Emergent” movement.

3) How does God’s choosing and blessing of Abraham and Noah reconcile with New Testament verses which say there is no partiality with God?

Partiality in the context of the New Testament has do to with giving special attention to someone on the basis of social, economic, political, or cultural status.
James 2:1-4 My Brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

With God – there is no such partiality. He is willing to save ANYONE who would come to Him through Christ. Jesus died for sinners – whether they are losers or winners in the eyes of man.
God’s choice of Abraham and Moses had nothing to do with any human measurement of status. God sovereignly chose these men – that is – He made the decision in and of Himself without any influence outside of Himself.

4) How does Brian McLaren rationalize having a problem with God’s so called favoritism if it is so clearly illustrated in Scripture?

He is the classic example of 2 Peter 3:15-16

15And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

5) What does ‘covenant’ mean?

A Covenant is a life and death relationship with God on His terms.
In the covenants of Scripture, God sets out the terms of that relationship.

6) Can you address dispensationalism a little more? (Gal 3:28-29)

Dispensationalism is a system of interpretation that seeks to establish a unity in the Scriptures through its central focus on the grace of God. Although dispensationalists recognize differing stewardships or dispensations whereby man was put under a trust by the Lord, they teach that response to God’s revelation in each dispensation is by faith (salvation is always by grace through faith). Dispensationalists arrive at their system of interpretation through two primary principles: (1) maintaining a consistently literal method of interpretation, and (2) maintaining a distinction between Israel and the church.
The Moody Handbook of Theology

7) How much of an old covenant is valid when God initiates a new covenant?

Each of the covenants build upon each other. The next covenant does not do away with the previous. For example — the Mosaic covenant does not cancel the promise of God in the Noahic covenant (to never again destroy the earth by a flood.) Neither does the New Covenant, established in the blood of Jesus, do away with the Davidic Covenant and the promise of a king to sit on the throne of David and rule the world in righteousness.

The conditions of the Mosaic covenant (the Mosaic Law) are binding upon the nation of Israel.

EXAMPLE: Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread

Ex. 12:14-17 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. 15Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. 17And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever.

Example: The Sabbath

Ex. 31:16 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. 17It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”

NOTICE — These are binding upon ISRAEL and not the gentile world.

It is interesting to note that Ezekiel references sacrifices being offered in the Temple during the Millennium. Under the Old Covenant, the sacrifices prescribed by God through Moses POINTED FORWARD to the FIRST COMING of Jesus and how He would be “the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the World by the sacrifice of the Cross.

However, in the Millennium (1,000 year reign of Jesus upon the earth Rev. 20:6) these sacrifices are not offered looking FORWARD to the coming of Jesus as the lamb of God; rather they POINT BACK to the suffering of Jesus in His FIRST COMING, in order to identify the One who is seated on the throne of David, ruling in righteousness for 1,000 years, as the One who died for the sins of the world, who must even then be trusted for salvation.

COVENANT: God Pursues

If you are joining us for the first time we want to welcome you to Metro and this gathering that we call OPEN.

As a part of Open we have been going through a series we have titled “CREDO.”  In this series we are working through the story line of the Bible in order to set forth and examine the MEGA themes of the Bible.

It is our desire that by the end of this series you will have a solid grasp of the Bible, Jesus, history, your life, our church.

It is not the kind of content that you have a 4¼  x 5½ piece of paper with five blanks to fill in. You are going to need to think through these studies with me these because they are huge themes and big concepts.

A bunch of you guys have been here from week one      — and you have been stellar. For those of you that are joining us in this series I want to say thank you.  I hope it is a benefit to you.

This evening we are going to look at the Doctrine of Covenant and we’re calling it “COVENANT: God Pursues”

This is a HUGE Biblical concept. We find the word COVENANT 293 times in ESV

SO let’s pray and dig in

Let’s start with a question

QUESTION #1 — Who has most painfully betrayed you? Perhaps a parent — a friend — a spouse — a partner. You loved this person and you believed they loved you. But their betrayal was so massive that even today — the pain is still there — when you recall this person’s voice, or touch, or face, or hands it sends shivers down your spine.

You were honest, and humble, and giving, and reliant towards them. In return, they were deceptive, and abusive, and selfish, and manipulative towards you. You gave — you cared for them — and they absolutely betrayed you.  I want to ask you for a moment to try recall the pain you felt – or you’re feeling. At first there’s shock and shame – then confusion, how could they? – That’s followed by disappointment, anger, loneliness.

I want you to go there with me emotionally for a moment.  Who is it that comes to mind? Who is that person you don’t want to think about, the person that you don’t want to remember who has absolutely betrayed you?

And how did you respond? What did you feel?  What did you say?  What did you do?

I want you to go there emotionally with me because as we deal with this Doctrine of Covenant I think what can so often happen is that we absolutely neglect to look at things from God’s perspective.

You and I we have betrayed him. We have spent hours together in the first 3 chapters of Genesis. You know the story. God made the heavens and the earth — then he carefully prepared the earth for you and I to live on. Then God made our first parents in His image and likeness. God blessed them — God spoke to them — that God honored them — that God gave them tremendous freedom.  He cultivated a garden for them to live in.  He said they could eat of any tree except one.  They were naked without shame — he brought the man and the woman together — He created marriage so they could know love and intimacy and pleasure and joy. 

THEN — our first parents — in every sense — absolutely, utterly, completely betrayed God.  They disrespected him — disregarded him, — disobeyed him — dishonored him.

NOW — As sons and daughters of Adam we walk through life licking our wounds — the cause of which can be traced to the effects of man’s betrayal original of God — and all the while we are oblivious to the way that each of us have betrayed God.

The betrayal that God has endured is worse than any betrayal that anyone will ever endure.  Put yourself in the position of God.  If you had done all of this for man and then were betrayed, sinned against, how would you respond?

What is amazing is how God responds.

Most of the time when you and I are betrayed and wounded our response is either fight or flight.  We are going to get revenge or we are going to remove ourselves — distance ourselves from our betrayer so that we can’t be hurt again.  Amazingly — God draws near to deal with sin — He loves and seeks to enter into relationship with us.

God’s response to mankind’s unspeakable betrayal is not fight or flight is described in the Bible by the word COVENANT.

That leads us to our next question

QUESTION #2 — What is a covenant?

A covenant is an agreement that sets out the terms of a relationship. From the beginning God created man for fellowship. God wants to know and enjoy man. God wants men and women to know and enjoy Him. Yet real fellowship doesn’t just happen – and can’t be sustained

without a covenant. Terms are needed to govern, guide, and glue it together. Without a covenant, a relationship has no definition. It lacks substance, and meaning, and backbone. Covenant defines a relationship. It adds value and stability.

Again — If you just grab a concordance you will find the word COVENANT 293 times in ESV. This is a huge mega theme of the Bible.

There are covenants between human beings.  There are covenants between people and God.  Tonight we are only concerning ourselves with a covenant between God and us.

CRUCIAL INSIGHT: When the Bible speaks of God being in covenant with us it reveals to us something of His nature and attributes.

First — These covenants reveal that God is gracious.

God owes us nothing. He could have responded to Adam and Eve’s betrayal by simply saying — you sin, you die, you go to hell, the race is over, that’s it. He could do the same with us.  God is gracious! He owes us nothing — yet He pursues us for the purpose of relationship.

Second — These covenants reveal that God is sovereign.

God initiated the covenants — initiated relationship. We respond.  We didn’t ask him to pursue us.  We didn’t ask him to love us.  We didn’t ask him to care for us.  He of this own accord, sovereignly initiated the covenant relationship.

Third — These covenants reveal that He is the Lord

He establishes the terms of the covenant and relationship. He gets to define the terms and the relationship because he is the Lord. He is God — He is the creator — and we are created. Time and again we read in the Old Testament — “Behold, I establish my covenant with you” — I establish my covenant with you, I am the Lord, I define the terms of the relationship.

Fourth — These covenants reveal that God is holy.

The literal language often times used in the Old Testament is a cutting of a covenant. In Old Testament cultures when covenants were established between individuals the parties of the covenant would take and animal — sacrifice it — split it in two — and lay the separate halves in a way to create a path between them. There would be blood everywhere. Then person entering into the covenant would walk between the two halves and in so doing declare that if he did not fulfill the obligations of this covenant he would accept the same fate as this animal — he should be put to death.

A covenant is “a bond in blood that is sovereignly administered” (O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ of the Covenants, p. 4). When God enters into a covenantal relationship with humanity, God sovereignly institutes a life-and-death bond. Thus, a covenant is a life and death relationship with God on his terms.

Fifth — These covenants reveal that God is loving that he blesses us even though we don’t deserve it and he loves us even though we don’t deserve it and he wants our hearts in our lives and our minds to change.

Sixth — These covenants reveal that God is just — that in the covenant He deals with the problem of sin. In the covenant has conditions.  And in that he is saying this is right — this is wrong — I will discipline you if you sin — I will also continue to pursue you so that you can learn to be obedient.

Seven — As the story of God’s pursuit of man develops throughout the Old Testament — as each successive covenant is established by God — we see the reality of covenant love. There is one particular tem used to describe this covenant love.

QOUTE: Vine’s Expository Dictionary, “The entire history of God’s covenantal relationship with Israel can be summarized in terms of hesed.”

Hesed is God’s loving kindness—the consistent, ever-faithful, relentless, constantly pursuing, lavish, extravagant, unrestrained, one-way love of God. It is often translated as covenant love, loving kindness, mercy, steadfast love, loyal love, devotion, commitment, or reliability. Hesed turns up regularly in the Old Testament, particularly in the Psalms. It is typically translated “love” and sometimes translated as “mercy” (Ps. 23:6). However, hesed has a much narrower definition than the English term “love” conveys. In the Hebrew Scriptures, hesed refers to a sort of love that has been promised and is owed—that is, covenant love.

And again God is doing this to his enemies.

God is doing this for those of us who have through sin betrayed him.  God is responding to us in a way that I am assuming none of us have responded to our worst enemies.

So let’s walk through these covenant

As we walk through the covenants in the Old Testament we don’t want to miss how one builds on the next — and the one is still binding and then there are additional benefits of blessings and obligations that are added to the covenant.

Some call it the drama of redemption.

If you look at the story of the bible that there are key figures people who step out on to the stage of history Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David — and finally Jesus.

They come out to be participate in covenant with God as representatives of those who can also can be in covenant relationship with God.  And one after the next we see through a very long period of history God’s hesed covenant faithfulness to undeserving sinners.

So let’s move to our next question

QUESTION #3 — What is the Adamic Covenant.

Let me preface this by saying that there is a debate as to whether or not Adam was in a covenant with God.  In Hosea 6:7 we are told that we all through sin have broken our covenant with God as Adam did. We can reasonably conclude from the statement that Adam was in covenant. What is unquestionable is that Adam was in relationship with God — that God loved Adam — blessed Adam — had a relationship with Adam.

Go with me to Genesis Chapter 1 where we will see this very special relationship that Adam had with God.

SIDE NOTE: We live in a day when so many people talk about community.  Community is great.  Really the Bible word for community is covenant which is more than just I know you or we have a friendship. Christians are in a very real way bound one to another in a very deep and enduring way.

Genesis 1:27 — here is the covenant that Adam had with God.

²⁷So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. ²⁸And God blessed them.  Here we see that God is a blessing God.

And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ²⁹And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. ³⁰And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Now we are getting ready for the very first Sabbath.

One last thing

Chapter 2:16-17

¹⁶And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

CRUCIAL INSIGHT: There are SIX consistent elements found in each of covenants we will cover.

1.) There is a mediator — the head of that covenant

In the Adamic covenant the mediator — the head that represents humanity — is Adam.  He is standing there in our place as our father and our mediator and our representative.

2.) There are blessings

How did God bless Adam? Well it says that God blessed him. God gave him life — gave him the earth — gave him the  garden — gave him food to eat — gave him a wife to love. God blessed them absolutely.

3.) Conditions/Consequences

What was the condition?  Don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

What was the consequence? If you do you will die. Spiritual death, immediately — separation from God. Eventually physical — cessation of life.

4.) The sign of the covenant

What was the sign of the Adamic Covenant? The Sabbath — that he was to work for 6 days and he was to rest on the Sabbath following the creation pattern of God.

What is the metaphor here for covenant community?  Marriage. Adam marries Eve.  Marriage here is the metaphor for God’s covenant community.  It’s the way that the man and the woman are in relationship together.

5.) There is a promise of Jesus.

Well ultimately they sin in Genesis 3 in that sin they violate the covenant.  They betray God in every way. They did so by believing the lies of a serpent Satan.

The promise is made in Genesis 3:15 — that Jesus would come as the Dragon Slayer — that Satan would hurt him but Jesus would crush Satan.

That’s the Adamic covenant.

Imagine at this point you are God.  Do you bless anyone, do you pursue anyone, do you love anyone, do you try again?

God does.  God is good, he keeps loving, he keeps pursuing, he keeps caring.

This leads us to our next question

QUESTION #4 — What is the Noahic covenant?

Turn to Genesis 6.

Adam and Eve sinned, they betrayed and rebelled, God blessed them and pursued them for covenant relationship.  They had children, their children had children — generations ensued from his family. How does the human race respond to God? Do they see the goodness of God towards man following the fall and say we should love him? Here is how they respond.

Genesis 6:5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

God’s Covenant is met with betrayal on a GLOBAL SCALE!

Genesis 6:6-7 And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

God is in a relationship of pain. God is in a relationship where he continually is betrayed.

⁷So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

God says, “I am going to flood the earth, I am going to kill everyone and everything, we are going to start over.”

Verse 8 is HUGE!

⁸ but Noah found what in the eyes of the Lord?

FAVOR — that’s the Hebrew word for grace — unmerited love, affection and devotion.

Genesis 6:9 “These are the generations of Noah, Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation, Noah walked with God.”

MOST professing believers misunderstand the account of Noah. They usually think that God entered into covenant relationship with Noah because Noah was a good man — That God spared Noah and his family from the flood because he is a good guy and everybody else was a bad guy. Most who are familiar with the story of Noah and the flood assume think of the moral of the story as  — be a good guy, be holy, obey God, walk with him and then you don’t need to drown.

It DOES say that Noah was a righteous man — that he walked with God. But what does it say before that? It says that he was saved by grace.  That he found favor or grace in the eyes of the lord.  Noah was not a great guy.  Noah was a sinner just like everyone else just like you and just like me. God looked at the earth and said everyone is only doing evil all the time — everyone has betrayed me — no one deserves love —  I will love this guy.

WHY Noah? Not because Noah is good — but because God is.  Not because Noah deserves it — but because he found favor or grace in the eyes of God.  This is a picture of election. God looks at the earth and says no one deserves anything — I will be good to this person even though they don’t deserve it.

The point here is that we enter into covenant relationship with God by finding favor or grace in his eyes.  If you are Christian there should is NO POINT for boasting.  We are no better than anyone.  We just found favor grace that’s all.

The flood then comes — everyone dies on the earth except for Noah and his family.

Go forward to Genesis 9 —

Genesis 9:8-17 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ⁹“Behold, I establish my covenant with you (there is our word) and your offspring after you, ¹⁰and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. ¹¹I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹²And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: ¹³I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, ¹⁵I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Again — there are 6 aspects to the Noahic covenant.

Who is the mediator of this covenant? Who stands between God and humanity as the representative or the head?  It’s Noah.  He is the man that God has shown favor to.

How does God bless him? Well he gives him children and he makes a promise I will never flood the earth again.  There will not be a global flood that kills everyone.  There may be occasional natural or God ordained disasters but there will not be a global flood where everyone will die.

Well what is the condition of the covenant? Well God tells him no murder — respect human life.  That God’s people are to honor the sanctity of human life.

What is the sign of the covenant? Let me add this thought regarding this aspect of the covenant — The sign of the covenant is internal and external.

What’s the internal sign of the covenant? How do we know that Noah is in covenant relationship with God?  Well internally he has faith.  He trusts God.  So how do you know?  It had NEVER rained before and yet he invests spends years of labor and massive resources — and while he undertakes this massive undertaking everybody mocked him.  He was like a man building a boat in the middle of Saudi Arabia and when asked why saying It’s going to rain.  That’s a guy with a lot of faith.  He trusts God. God said it’s going to rain a lot you better build a boat — he trusted God and built the boat. His internal sign is faith — that’s the sign that God sees.

What’s the external sign of the covenant? The rainbow. It’s God way of saying when you see a rainbow be reminded I am not going to destroy the earth no matter how bad it’s raining. Alright that’s the sign of the covenant.

What is the covenant community? Well it’s Noah and his family.

What is the promise of the coming of Jesus?

Just as Noah and his family found favor and grace on the eyes of the Lord and were saved from judgment and death — Jesus will give us favor and grace from in the eyes of the Lord and that he will save us from judgment and death.

The Adamic covenant

The Noahic covenant

Following God’s promise to never again destroy the world by a flood you would think that the descendants of Noah would responds by loving and worshipping the true and living God.

There arose a man named Nimrod who makes war against God

and a worldwide revolt. God had told the flood’s survivors to spread out and reproduce. Nimrod gathers the tribes together in the plains of Shinar, near the city of Babel. Genesis 11:3 tells us Nimrod builds a

tower to the sky that he coats with pitch – a waterproofing material. Nimrod does NOT believe the promise of God at all — and in his rebellion against God safeguards against God being a liar and flooding the earth again. Nimrod convinced mankind that God is a liar. He can’t be trusted. God is the bad guy, and he’s the good guy. IN SHORT — man failed to embrace the covenant God offered.

CRUCIAL : Did God give up His pursuit? Amazingly — NO! .

Satan chose a man, Nimrod – a place, Babel – and a means, fear.

God in His relentless pursuit of sinful man counters Satan’s plan with His covenant plans and purposes. He chooses a man — Abraham; a place — Canaan; and a means — faith – by which He would provide salvation to all generations.

QUESTION # 4 — What is the Abrahamic covenant.

Turn to Genesis 12

As we look at this covenant we want to remember that the first thing we learned about Noah is that he wasn’t a great guy.  We see it later well one of the first things he does after the flood gets drunk, passes out naked in his motel 6 room like a redneck after a Lynard Skinner concert. He is not the best guy.  He is a sinner saved by grace.

When we first meet Abraham we find that he was not a great guy either.  He was from a region that was godless — his dad was godless — initially he doesn’t know or worship the true and living God of the Bible initially.  He comes from an area called the Ur of the Chaldees. This is the birth place of every false relgious system of the world. It is the same region where they came together to build a godless society that functioned without God — the centerpiece of which was the Tower of Babel.  He is from the same area. Abraham would become the progenitor of the Jews — but initially, he was a Gentile.  He was just a regular old pagan worshipping false gods.

That’s how he started — Until Genesis 12

Genesis 12:1 ¹Now the Lord said to Abram

NOTICE — God is the intiator — God is pursuing a pagan idlator.

“Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ²And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God is going to do this out of a barren old man and an elderly barren wife who are way beyond child bearing years.

You have to trust Me here — Leave everything you know — go to a place you’ve never been or seen — but I will show you. And on top of that — Trust me — you are going to have a baby and from that baby will come a nation.  I will bless you — make your name great so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse — and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.  NOTE WELL: You are a nobody — I am going to make you a somebody.  You are going to be the head of a brand nation that will be a blessing to the nation’s of the earth.”

Go forward to Genesis 17

Here is Abraham and the covenant of circumcision.  When Abraham was 99 years old, he is not a likely candidate to be making babies and founding nations.  The Lord appeared to Abraham

Genesis 17:1 ¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, ²that I may make my covenant — there is our word again between me and you

and may multiply you greatly.” — give you kids and grand kids and great grand kids.

³Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, ⁴“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. ⁷And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. ⁸And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

QUOTE: Brian Maclaren — The need to confront the terrible, deadly, distorted, yet popular theologies associated with Christian Zionism and deterministic dispensationalism. These systems of belief — so common among my fellow evangelical Christians — too often lead people to act as if Jewish people have God-given rights but Palestinians do not. They use a discredited hermeneutic (way of interpreting the Bible) to imply that God shows favoritism — HELLO — nothing to interpret here — just READ the promise! — that God is concerned for justice for one group of people and not for others. HOW does God promising the land to Abraham and his descendants = injustice. They create bigotry and prejudice against Muslims in general … and in particular against Palestinians, many of whom are Muslim but many of whom are Christian too. These doctrinal formulations often use a bogus end-of-the-world scenario to create a kind of death-wish for World War III, which — unless it is confronted more robustly by the rest of us — could too easily create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

CRUCIAL: Turn to Daniel 9:24 — “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.

God has determined a TIMELINE that is exclusive to His dealings — NOT with the Palestinians or Arabs (Christian or Muslim) — but with Daniel’s people and the city of Jerusalem.

Maclaren clearly falls into the category of those spoken about by Peter in 2 Peter 3:15-16 just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, ¹⁶as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

Genesis 17:9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹²He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, ¹³both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

Go forward last one Chapter 22.

God does bless and does give him a son named Isaac.  Abraham and Sarah have a boy named Isaac his name means laughter.  Because when they were told they were going to be making babies they laughed. They love Isaac he is their only son — the promised son through whom is to come the nation and the blessing to the nations of the earth. But in Genesis 22 God tells Abraham to sacrifice his only son on Mount Moriah (The highest point of Moriah is in the city of Jerusalem

The Bible says New Testament that he had such a great faith that he knew that even if Isaac died God would resurrect him from death.

By Genesis 22 Isaac is young and healthy man — just like Jesus was.  He is the beloved only son as Jesus was.  He is the first born son as Jesus was.  He carries the wood for his own slaughter on his back as Jesus did.  They go to a place where Jesus was ultimately crucified.  Isaac willingly like Jesus lays down his life at the hand of his father.

And just as his dad Abraham has the knife in his hand and he is ready to slaughter his son God speaks from heaven and says — “You have trusted me, no need to slaughter your son.  One day it will be provided.  Jesus is coming and he will fulfill this anticipation, expectation for shadowing of the son who caries his own wood to his place of slaughter to die and love.”

Genesis 22:15 ¹⁵And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven

The phrase THE angel of the Lord is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus (Theophany)

¹⁶and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, ¹⁸and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

Let’s summarize the six aspects of this covenant

1.) Who is the mediator, who is between humanity and God?

Well it’s Abraham.

2.) What is the blessing?

The Abrahamic Covenant consists of a three-fold blessing that shapes the rest of history and the Bible.

God promises land, nation, and blessing.

God gives Abraham a chunk of land – not just Israel, but most of the Middle East

Vast descendents that will form the Hebrew nation

And through Abraham’s distant heir, Jesus, all the nations will be blessed.

QUOTE: Sandy Adams — Here’s a shorthand version of God promise – sod, seed, salvation.

3.) What are the conditions?

Well you are supposed to obey me.  He showed that in the willingness to sacrifice his son.

4.) What is the sign of the covenant?

The internal sign — it’s faith — you trusted the Lord. Abraham BELIEVED the Lord and the Lord accounted to him as righteousness.

The external sign of the covenant for Abraham — Circumcision of the male son on the 8^th day.

5.) What is the covenant community?

Well it’s the family and it’s also the nation that would come from the family.

6.) What the promise of Jesus?

You go to Galatians 3 — and there the apostle Paul says

Gal. 3:16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.

Because through Abraham would come one man who would be the blessing to the nations of the earth.  Who is that?  Jesus, Jesus.

This is why the New Testament starts with genealogies in Luke and Matthew. They trace His lineage back to Abraham. Jesus is the fulfillment of this Covenant.

We have covered the Adamic; the Noahic and the Abrahamic Covenant.

What is the next book of your Bible? Exodus.  We are going to look at another man named Moses. That leads us to the next question

QUESTION #6 — What is the Mosaic Covenant?

AGAIN — From one generation to the next — over the course of many years — God keeps pursuing, keeps loving, keeps blessing, keeps speaking.

AGAIN — Moses was no great guy — he was a murderer saved by grace.

Exodus 3:1 ¹Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ²And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. ³And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” ⁴When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

God hearkens all the way back to the Abrahamic Covenant

⁶ ….And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

⁷Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters

This is many years later, The descendants of Abraham’s went down to Egypt numbering 70 souls (along with the family of Joseph) now they are a nation of a few million some 400 years later.  Only they are slaves at this point, God’s people are mistreated.

⁷…I know their sufferings, ⁸and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁹And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Exodus 6:7-8 — we will read one more section then we will go to Chapter 19

⁷I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. ⁸I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’”

There’s that pesky “favoritism of God” that so bothers Maclaren and his ilk.

Exodus 19

At this point God crushed Pharaoh — liberated the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob —  and parted the Red Sea. They are freeand at the base of Mount Sinai where God is going to give them the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 19:5-6 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; ⁶and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

1.) Who’s the mediator?

Moses — He stands as the representative and head between God and the people

2.) What is the blessing? Well they were redeemed out from under bondage to Pharaoh so that they would be free to worship Him.  That’s the blessing, slaves get freed.

3.) What is the condition of the Covenant?

God gives His Law through Moses.  We get the first five books of the Old Testament, it’s called the Pentateuch (= book in five parts). There are over 600 laws in the Pentateuch.  So they are in Covenant with God — God gives them laws for their well being.

4.) What is the sign of the covenant?

What is the internal sign of the covenant?  Again — it’s faith. Trust in God — leaving Egypt — obeying the law — trusting God’s provision and leading.

What’s the external sign of the covenant?

The Passover.

God had sent successive plagues and judgments upon Egypt because they refused to release the descendants of Abraham from bondage and slavery so that they might be free to worship Him.  The last plague is found in Exodus 11-12

Exodus 11:4-6 “Thus says the Lord: About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, ⁵and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. ⁶There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again.

The was only ONE WAY to avoid that plague —

Exodus 12:3-4; 5; 7; 13 ³Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household….. ⁵Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old.…. ⁷“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it…. ¹³The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

There was tremendous faith involved for them — and ALL OF THIS is pointing to Jesus — who would shed his blood in our place for our sins.

1 Corinthians 5:7 For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

When John the Baptist sees Jesus he points at Him and says — behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world

All of that is connected to the Mosaic Covenant which is connected to and builds upon the Abrahamic Covenant! Without God’s unique and selective covenant with Abraham and his descendants the corss of Jesus is without origin and meaning.

Passover leads all the way up to the new covenant with Jesus and Communion. At the Last Supper Jesus was celebrating Passover that’s the sign, the external sign, that we belong to God and we are covenant people.

5.) What is the Covenant Community?

It’s a holy nation — and a kingdom of priests — all belonging to God to serve him and do ministry.

6.) What is the promise of Jesus?

Well the Passover shows Jesus coming to die in our place, for our sins, to cover us by his blood from wrath, judgment, and death. Because of the shed blood of Jesus God would literally pass over us.

It is Jesus who liberates us from bondage to our Pharaohs — satan, sin and death. Jesus is the one who provides for us a new life and a new way of life as worshipers. All of these foreshadow the coming of Jesus

Adamic Covenant — Noahic Coveant — Abrahamic Covenant and the

Mosaic Covenant

That leads us to leads to our next question.

QUESTION #7 — What is the Davidic Covenant?

2 Samuel 7

NOTE: In this passage you will not hear the word covenant. We do find it used in relation to David in Psalm 89:3

³ You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;

I have sworn to David my servant:

⁴ ‘I will establish your offspring forever,

and build your throne for all generations.’”

2 Samuel 7:8 Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts — that’s the God who rules over all the angels and demons

⁸….I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep,

Again we see this recurring theme regarding the mediator of these Covenants — David — was a nobody! He was the runt of the litter. His Dad — a man named Jesse — never even thought to call David into the house when the prohet Samuel came to anoint a king from among Jesse’s sons.

DON’T MISS THIS — God picks for covenant people who are sinners and nobodies because it’s all of grace.

8 …I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel.

QUOTE: One guy put it like this — Nice upgrade — from shepherd to king — that’s grace — grace is always cuts to the front of the line.

all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. ¹⁰And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, ¹¹from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. ¹²When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³He shall build a house for my name — that’s the temple — , and I will establish the throne of his kingdom — for how long —  forever. ¹⁴I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son — he is talking about Solomon here. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, ¹⁵but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. ¹⁶And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure —— for how long — forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” ¹⁷In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

¹⁸Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? — What’s the answer?  By grace he was in covenant with God. — ¹⁹And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God!

The Davidic Covenant!

1.) Who is the mediator, who is the head, who comes as our representative between us and God?

David.

2.) What’s the blessing?

An everlasting throne

And everlasting kingdom,

An everlasting king to sit on that throne, and rule over that kingdom.

3.) What are the conditions?

If you sin — there are consequences. Concerning Solomon God says— if he commits iniquity I will discipline him though I will remain steadfast in my love, I will still love and bless him but there will be consequences.

BY THE WAY — That is true for those in covenant with God through faith in Christ. God’s steadfast love never ceases but if you sin there are consequences, you get disciplined.

4.) What is the sign of the Covenant?

Internally — Again it’s faith.

What’s the external sign?

THE TEMPLE — They trusted God’s presence with them and obeyed God by building the temple he would command through Solomon.  There God manifested His glory in tangible way in the Holy of holies.

THE THRONE — There would be a king who would rule over his people.

5.) What is the Covenant Community?

It’s a kingdom.  God’s people Israel.

6.) What is the promise of Jesus

God’s presence in the temple is a foreshadowing of Jesus who would come Tabernacle among us.

Jesus is the king of kings.  There is the throne of David that would be established — and in His Second Coming Jesus will sit upon the throne of David. From Jerusalem He will rule the earth in righteousness for 1,000 years — and then He will usher in a New heaven and a New earth over which He will reign forever.

For the LAST of these covenants lets turn to Jeremiah 31

QUESTION #8 — What is the new covenant?

This brings us full circle to the front end of our study!

God has been betrayed throughout human history. Yet He pursued Adam — He pursued Abraham — He pursued Noah — He pursued Moses — He pursued David. Each of those men represented people that God wanted to be relate to in loving Covenant Community.

In Jeremiah 31:31-33 God speaks of a NEW COVENANT.

³¹“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, — That’s northern and southern kingdom — ³²not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, — that’s the Mosaic Covenant —  my covenant that they broke, — God’s people disobeyed Him, wandered for forty years in unbelief and didn’t get to enter into the land of promise, the next generation with Joshua and Caleb gets to occupy the promised land — though I was their husband, declares the Lord. ³³But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. — The Old Covenant or Mosaic Covenant was written on stone tablets. In contrast God promised to write the New Covenant on men’s hearts. Here’s the ultimate covenant… Rather than provide us some external standard, that can be lost, or neglected, or misinterpreted – God embeds or implants godly desires within our nature. He “writes it on our hearts.”— And I will — covenant promise — be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

God says I have been HESED — loving — patient — steadfast — with people who continue to sin against me, betray me, and violate me. But I will be their God and I will love them and I will bless them and I will be good to them and I will do this in spite of them.

That’s the new covenant. This NEW COVENANT is the fulfillment of God previous covenant relationship with man.

Last section of scripture — Matthew 26.

By the way — We’ve just covered most of your Bible

Matthew 26:26-29 Now as they were eating,

Jesus and his disciples are eating the passover meal, the sign of the Mosaic Covenant. This is RADICAL — Luke 22:15 KJV And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:

Jesus took bread, and after blessing it

Here God incarnate (next months subject) is doing the same thing we found Him doing in the opening pages of Genesis — He starts blessing

broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”

RADICAL — This breaks with thousands of years of Jewish tradition.  Every year at Passover, the head of the family would have certain words to say taken directly out of Exodus. Here Jesus breaks from tradition, and says this is my body.  What he is saying is that the Mosaic covenant is now fulfilled in Him.

²⁷And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, ²⁸for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

God became a man to die in the place of sinners like you and me. He did this to save us, He did this to forgive and love us, He did this so we might be in covenant with Him

²⁹I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

That’s the referring to the Davidic Covenant.

1.) Who is the mediator of the new covenant?

Jesus Christ

He is our representative — He goes in place of us all.

2.) What is the blessing of the new covenant?

Salvation — forgiveness of sin — indwelling power of God, the Holy Spirit — reconciled relationship to God — imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ — all spiritual blessings in heavenly places — eternal life that begins with a having transformed life on earth the blessings were almost too many to note.

3.) What are the conditions of the new covenant?

Repentance from sin and faith or trust in Jesus.

4.) What is the sign of the covenant?

The Internal Sign — it’s faith.

I love Jesus, I belong to Jesus, I trust Jesus.

I know that Jesus died on the cross in my place for my sins and that my covenant relationship with God is only made possible through Jesus.

The external Sign — Baptism and Communion.

Baptism — Signifying that my life is identified with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. The old life lived after the flesh is buried with Christ and I now walk in the newness of life.

Communion — At the last supper Jesus established what we call the Lord’s Table or communion.  At Metro you are not supposed to partake of communion unless you are in covenant with God through faith in Christ.  It is the visible way by which I show that I am in covenant with God through Jesus Christ.  His body was broken — His blood was shed for my sins so that I could be a member of God’s new covenant people.

You should never partake unless you are a Christian in covenant with God — otherwise Paul says we bring judgment on ourselves.

5.) What is the covenant community? The NEW COVENANT radically transforms relationships.

First, it transforms the way we see marriage. Do you know that marriage is a covenant?  Twice in the Old Testament the marriage is a covenant.  Christians are to approach marriage as a covenantal union not a contractual convenience.

Secondly, this transforms our view of parenting.  No matter what my kids do — I am their dad. If they should wander when they grow up I need pursue them.  It doesn’t mean that I accept their sin. I need to deal with them as God deals with my sin. But it means that my children are always my children and my love to them is not conditional. I will be their dad and they will be my kids just like God says I will be your God and you will be my people.

Third — It affects the way we should view our relationship to church.

I don’t come just to take, to take goods and services and doctrines and information, I come to be part of a covenant people, I come to live out my covenant obligations to God and one another and I am willing to sign on the dotted line and say I am willing to be part of the covenant people.

There should be a covenant to love Jesus to do good for this church financially, prayerfully, serving. Because of our covenant relationship with Jesus we should commit to do covenant good for the whole community — not just what best serves me or what is convenient for me.

CLOSING

God has pursued rebellious, stiff necked, hard-hearted, self righteous, unfaithful mankind — and we are numbered among that mess.

We are betrayers like Adam, we are undeserving sinners like Noah who have found grace, we are godless idolaters like Abraham, we are murderers at least in our hearts like Moses, we are physical and spiritual adulterers like David and God you have invited us in the covenant relationship, unbelievable.

And Jesus is the One who has fulfilled all of the covenants and expands them into the new covenant so that God could your God and my God and that we could be His people!

THE ONLY RIGHT RESPONSE to the covenant love of God is repentance from sin and faith in Jesus.

Saying from your heart — God all of my sin, my betrayal is treasonous and Jesus I trust you to take away my sin to make me a new person to give me a covenant relationship with God and to connect me to His covenant people.

Do you know Jesus? Do you love Jesus? Do you belong to Jesus?

Have you confessed your sins to Jesus? Are you in covenant with Jesus?

Jesus is a better head than Adam — in that he did not sin and he regained all that Adam lost.

Jesus is a better Noah — Because he brings judgment on sin, salvation by grace and a whole new world.

Jesus is a better Abraham — Because He is the blessed seed of Abraham who is the blessing to the nations of the earth.

Jesus is a better deliverer than Moses — Because He has conquered our Pharaoh of Satan — liberated us to worship Him and He fulfilled the law in our place. The Law came by Moses but grtace and truth came by Jesus.

Jesus is a better king than David — Because He is seated at the right hand of God the Father far above all principalities and powers and he is coming again to establish his eternal kingdom.

DOWNLOAD QUESTIONS / ANSWERS PDF

July OPEN Text Questions // the Fall //

1. If Adam and Eve were perfect why did they sin? Do perfect people sin? More importantly why did God put the dumb tree there?

Remember — One of the things that makes men (and angels) morally perfect is freedom. God made us that way so that we could be like Him and love freely. God created the FACT of Freedom — as free moral agents we perform the ACTS of Freedom. God made Evil POSSIBLE — Men made Evil FACTUAL. Imperfection came through the abuse of our moral perfection.

2. Since original sin was when Satan rebelled against God, where did Satan’s sinful nature come from?

Essentially you are asking – What made Satan sin? That is like asking what caused the first cause. Nothing outside of his own free will caused him to sin. Satan himself was the first cause of his sin — and you can’t go back any farther than that. When WE sin — ultimately we (by our wills) are the cause of the evil we do.

3. Many people, even Christians, interpret the fall in mythological terms. Why is it important for us to interpret Genesis 3 literally and how do we defend this?

Jesus was very clear in referencing a literal Adam and Eve. Jesus was very clear in saying that EVERY WORD was inspired by God. The New Testament references the temptation deception of Eve in the Garden. Shame on professing Christians for not taking God at His Word. They have already fallen pray to the CHALLENGES of Satan in the Garden – Did God really speak?

4. Could Adam and Eve have possibly gotten saved?

We know that men and women of the Old testament were saved. Their salvation was on the same basis as ours – Believing God for salvation. As the history of the world progressed their was progressively more revelation concerning the coming of Christ and His saving work on the cross. Old testament men and women were saved by believing with their heart the promises of God concerning the coming of Christ. Adam and Eve were given the “protoevangelion” – the first Gospel message – by God himself. It was very general – but very clear – the seed of the woman would slay the dragon! Other Old Testament men and women were given more details concerning the coming Savior – He would be a descendant of Abraham —  His saving work pictured in the Levitical offerings. Their salvation depended solely on believing the promises of God concerning the coming of Jesus.

5. Why did God allow Satan to dwell on the earth with humans?

God created the FACT of Freedom — as free moral agents we perform the ACTS of Freedom. God made Evil POSSIBLE — Men made Evil FACTUAL. Imperfection came through the abuse of our moral perfection. The same is true of Satan. Some believe that Satan was permitted on the scene to become the agent whereby man would be given choice.

6. Did Eve sin when she felt the temptation, or, was it simply the act of eating?

Being tempted is not sin. Sin is choosing to give in to temptation to gratify ourselves at the expense of disobeying God.

7. When discussing God’s creation with my friends, a question I often encounter is, “How can God’s perfect creation do anything that is imperfect?”

One of the things that makes men morally perfect is freedom. God created the FACT of Freedom — as free moral agents we perform the ACTS of Freedom.

QUOTE: “A free choice leaves the possibility of a wrong choice.”

QUOTE: J.B. Phillips. “Evil is inherent in the risky gift of free will

Imperfection came through the abuse of our moral perfection.”

God made Evil POSSIBLE — Men made Evil FACTUAL.

8. Just to clarify, did you really say God doesn’t endorse blended marriages?

Incorrect. I was referencing the great pain and difficulties that exist in blended FAMILIES. I said that blended families are not what God intended. A “blended family” is not an ethnically mixed marriage – it is a family comprised of a husband and wife from a failed marriage(s) with parents dealing with children from their spouse’s failed marriage(s).

9. Are we born as sinners, or only with the potential to sin?
If the latter, at what point can we fall into sin, and what about those who die in infancy?

We are sinners by nature and sinners by choice (Romans 5). There is what is called the “age of accountability.” This is when an individual understands the moral consequences of his behavior. I believe that any child who dies before that goes to heaven. See 2 Samuel 12

10. Did Adam sin when he blamed Eve for eating the apple?

Yes – it was a sinful response to sin. It was also an accusation against God – essentially blaming God.

11. If Adam and Eve had free will which caused them to fall, what’s to keep this from happening again in heaven?

People will end up in heaven or hell because God has preserved freedom of choice. Each person will make his own free choice that will determine their eternal destiny. Evil is overcome once those who reject God are separated from all those who trusted Christ – everyone’s choice will be made permanent. Those who choose God will be confirmed in it and sin will cease. Those who reject God will be in eternal tormented quarantine and cannot upset the perfect world that has come about. Norman Geisler “When Skeptics Ask” p. 73

12. Where is the tree of good and evil now? Shouldn’t there be a sword going through it?

Good question. I don’t know. But the sword was not going through the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. Gen. 3:24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. We do see the Tree of Life again – Rev. 2:7; 22:2; 22:14; 22:19

13. How do we resist temptation?

1.) By the Word of God. Jesus — when tempted by Satan in the wilderness countered every temptation with ”It is written….”
2.) By the power of the Holy Spirit — Eph. 6:10 forward “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might that you might be able to stand…..”
3.) Prayer 2 Cor 10:4

14. If men are called to responsibility, what are women called to? And how should we respond when we sin, especially in a relationship?

Eve was called to HELP Adam. She was to support Adam in his role as head and leader. That is a HIGH thing. God is often referred to as our HELPER in the Psalms. The Holy Spirit is given the name “Helper” by Jesus. It was her sin that ruined that relationship and every woman since Eve has had a desire to rule and lead. When a woman sins she needs to do the same thing a man does when he sins – confess – repent and forsake the sin.

15. Why would God create man knowing that he would sin, knowing that so many terrible things would happen through sin?

Great question. The question you are asking is essentially: Couldn’t God have made a world without evil?

The Inference – God could have done a better job designing the world in the first place

The argument

God knows everything
So God knew evil would occur when He created the world
God had other non-evil possibilities. God could have

not created anything – this implies that nothing is better than something. What has no morality attached to it can neither better or worse.

created a world without free creatures – creatures without free will are nonmoral. A nonmoral world can not be a morally good world.

created free creatures that would not sin – It is conceivable that free creatures would never sin. Getting that to happen is another matter. If God tampered with those creatures in any way so as to prevent them from sinning they would no longer be free. Even if a sinful action is averted wasn’t there already an evil motive. Such a world is conceivable but not actually achievable. Beyond all of this – a world of freedom from evil would be morally inferior to the present world. The highest virtues and greatest pleasures are impossible to achieve if there is not opposition. Example: Courage can only exist in the face of fear or danger.

created free creatures who would sin but would all be saved in the end – God will not save men at any cost. He respects their freedom and concurs with their choice. He will not force men to believe or love Him. Forced love is rape. and that is not God.

Norman Geisler – When Skeptics Ask p.71-73

16. If we, being “post-Adam” have a proclivity to sin at birth, how do you explain Adam & Eve’s sin if they were living in complete and perfect harmony with God?

Great question. They were not born with the proclivity to sin. God created the FACT of Freedom — as free moral agents we perform the ACTS of Freedom.

QUOTE: “A free choice leaves the possibility of a wrong choice.”

QUOTE: J.B. Phillips. “Evil is inherent in the risky gift of free will

Imperfection came through the abuse of our moral perfection.”

God made Evil POSSIBLE — Men made Evil FACTUAL.

17. Does this mean that when we feel the Holy Spirit that it isn’t true?
My point is that everything that we FEEL is not necessarily true. Saying that I FELT the Holy Spirit does not mean that it WAS the Holy Spirit. It very well might be the Holy Spirit. For example – Mormons teach you that if you feel a burning in your chest it is proof that the God of Mormonism is true. We must always measure our FEELINGS against the Word of God.

18. So if adulterers, for example are saved the same as other “Christians”, why are they not Christians? Is saved not saved? Is a new nomenclature needed?

I’m not sure I’m getting the heart of your question. Adulterers CAN be saved. SO can MURDERERS or LIARS. By faith in Jesus they are SAVED from the penalty of sin and the power of sin. Upon believing with your heart on the Lord Jesus you are not just forgiven — you are also TRANSFORMED by the power of the Holy Spirit and given the power to live for the One who loved you and died for you. SAVED is SAVED!
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19. I had a father that was just as you described, had a job, wife, and kids and then left. On the other hand that has made me want to be the best husband/father to my wife and kids. Do you have any advice for me when things get tough or rough besides praying to God?

Never use your failed dad as your excuse for failure. Remember what is NORMAL and NORMATIVE. Jesus is what we should look like. No doubt we can all say we had a bad father figure — Adam! We must look to the perfect example of Jesus as Groom and our Heavenly Father as dad.

20. What was the first sinful response to sin?

In our Credo study the first one listed was
1.) Some people love to minimize their sin number. It’s not that big of a deal, you totally are overreacting.

In Human History it was blameshifting. “The woman you gave to me….”

21. What is a Theologian?

Someone who studies theology
Theology is the study of God.
From theos which = ‘god’ and -logia = study

22. Was satan in chapter 3 a literal snake or figurative like the dragon?

It would appear that he possessed a serpents body.

23. Are demons utterly depraved? If not, why are they unredeemable?

1.) The Bible says that they believe in God – but they tremble. They are more convinced of the existence of God than any human – but they refuse to bow before Him.
2.) Jesus did not shed His blood to “redeem” fallen angels. He can redeem fallen man because He became a man – became our “kinsman redeemer” so that He might purchase us back to God with the price of His own blood.

24. If King David died the night he committed adultery with Bathsheba, would he have gone to heaven?

The bigger question would be — “On what basis can anyone go to heaven?” The Bible is consistent from cover to cover that we can only be justified (made right with God) through faith. “Abraham BELIEVED God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” You are not kept out of heaven for dying before confessing sin. You are kept out of heaven by not trusting in God to justify you.

25. If God separated Adam and Eve into two fleshes then wouldn’t God himself have initiated the first divorce.

God never divided them — Genesis tells us that God brought the woman to the man and the two became one.

26. I hear Christians excuse our mistakes by saying “it’s ok you’re only human.” Is this an unacceptable excuse if to be humans means to be in the likeness of God?

There are those who try to excuse their sin with “well I’m only human” – i.e. What else can you expect me to do since mankind is fallen?
Genesis 5:1 and 9:6 along with James 3:9 say that we still bear the image of God after the fall. Sin does not make us LESS than human. It makes us LOST and FALLEN humans in need of a Savior. In reality — part of what defines us as human is moral responsibility and accountability.

27. Thanks for the WORD Richard! :)

FALL: God Judges

We are continuing in our CREDO series.  Tonight we are looking at Genesis 3 — The record of the fall, human sin, and the resulting depravity and the curse. It is one of the most significant days in all of human history — If you do not understand that day the rest of human history makes no sense whatsoever.

Before examining the fateful day that forever altered the course of human history — we want to scroll back to the preceding events in order to frame that day.

In Genesis 1–2 (and related biblical texts) we have learned a great deal about God through the doctrines of Trinity — Revelation — Creation —and Image. We have learned that

God is our Creator. He is separate from His creation and we (along with the rest of creation) are dependant upon him.

When He originally made humanity and everything else it was  “very good.” In that we saw that God is holy and altogether good.

God made us male and female in his image and likeness — and in that we witnessed the loving and kind nature of God.

God made creation for us and then with infinite attention He  prepared it (including a beautiful garden) for human occupancy. In that  we saw the humility of God to serve us.

God speaks to mankind. In that we saw that God is personal and initiated a relationship of love and communication with us.

God blessed creation and our first parents. In that we saw the generous nature of our gracious God.

In sum, God is perfectly perfect.

THIS IS SO CRUCIAL — Every sin — all the way back to the first sin — is an act of treachery against an infinitely kind God.

QUESTION: How many of you look at the world in the global scheme of things and find yourself despairing or discouraged or bewildered or perplexed? How many of you look at your immediate world — your own life — the people you know — the people you love — and you see suffering and injustice — you see evil — you see death and sickness — moaning in loss and pain?

It is NOT coincidental that Christian and non-Christian alike simply cannot accept that the world is the way that the world should be.  Something has gone terribly wrong.  EXAMPLE: “My Sister’s Keeper”

And it’s not that there haven’t been sincere efforts to fix things.

We fought wars to kill the bad guys. There have been incomprehensible sums of money spent on social services — governmental and non-profit agencies — in hopes to alleviate hardships that are believed to be the root causes of war and crime. Education has been encouraged and invested in with belief that ignorance is the root of mans condition — and if we just learn more we will do better.  Some have said that if we just give it enough time we will evolve beyond the present wrecked state of humanity. Others believe that advances in medicine will help us to diagnose and treat deadly illness — and prolong life and over all well being.

It seems like every possible effort has been made and nothing has improved the essence of life for people on earth.

PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE — As a pastor I would tell you that this is the most excruciatingly painful part of the job.  As a pastor along with the other pastors of this church and pastors all over the world one of the primary things we do is we deal with sin.  We have a front row seat to sin and it’s resulting carnage.

We deal with people who are in sin — some repentant — some unrepentant.  We deal with the victims of sin and we deal with the consequences of sin and sometimes — as we deal with all of those things together — we sin and we contribute to the problem we are supposed to be helping.

The result is a lot of very dark moments — sadness and grief.  Not hopelessness — but a deep painful awareness that something has gone terribly wrong.

As a pastor there is no running or hiding from sin.  You have to constantly live in the reality of sin and its effects with people — and sometimes it’s devastating.  You hear too many times people saying

“I’ve been abused” — “I was raped” — “I was molested” — “My dad beat me” — “My spouse cheated on me” — “Someone said they loved me, they slept with me and dumped me” — “My spouse said that they were faithful and they weren’t and now I have contracted a disease from them.”

You get calls as a pastor late at night — While pastoring in Grass Valley a young adult in our fellowship was driving his dads new Corvette on a road up in Grass Valley — hit the gravel on the shoulder and flew off the road killing himself and a passenger. His dad and mom were out of town. I’m called by the law enforcement agency on the scene and I have to make the phone call. Then there were numbers of times when you got the call from the parents or girl friends of young men and women who died accidents

I am a pastor, I am a husband, I am a father and I am a sinner and this is painfully real continually.

HAVING SAID THAT — We will start with the question — where did sin originate

Genesis 3 is one of the most important chapters in the entire Bible because it explains the source of — and the solution for — sin and death.

There are many church-goers and professing Christians who can quickly respond with — I know this. I have walked with Jesus now for almost 36 years — and I know that I don’t fully comprehends the depth of Genesis 3.  I don’t believe that there is one person who would hear this message and truly be able to say I understand Genesis 3.  I know that I am capable of reading through Genesis 3 without being crushed by it.

Here is the story of Genesis 3.

¹Now the serpent

The entrance of the Serpent marks the beginning of chaos in creation. The Serpent is Satan according to Revelation 12:9 and 20:2.

KEY INSIGHT: Chapter 3 of Genesis is often thought of as recording the original sin. Genesis 3 is not the record of the original sin — It is the record of the original human sin. There was a sin that preceded the original human sin — and that was the sin of Satan and the angels that we now know as demons. Satan is a created being.  He is an angel.  He didn’t want to worship or love God.  He became proud in his heart — Isaiah and Ezekiel say he was cast out of heaven.  Jesus says that the third of the angels cast down with him. This is the original human sin.

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
We live in the information age! We are the most educated generation to have ever lived. Some of you think you are pretty smart. Some of you are way too confident in your own experience or your intellect.

KNOW THIS — The serpent is very crafty! He is smarter than you are.  He is more clever — he is more nuanced — he is more observant.  He is been around for a lot longer than you.  He has deceived and destroyed people who are far more gifted — brighter — powerful — influential — than you.

He comes to the women.

¹….He said to the woman — that’s our Mother Eve — Did God actually say, “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden”

QUESTION: Is that what God said?

Remember the story of Genesis 1-2. God made the earth — He said it was good — God made the man — He said it was not good for him to be alone.  God made the woman brought her to the man — they loved each other — they were married — they were naked and without shame — everything was “very good” —  everything was perfect.  God spoke to them and said — You can eat of any tree that I have given you with one exception — “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen. 2:16-17) Spiritual death initially — separation from God. Physical death eventually.  Did God say you cannot eat of any tree in the garden?  Not at all. God is a good God.  He said you can partake of any tree with one exception.

CRUCIAL OBSERVATION: The first human sin begins with Satan challenging and changing the Word of God.

In our 2^nd Credo study we looked at the doctrine of revelation. I told you that we at Metro take the Bible literally.  ADDING to or TAKING AWAY FROM the Word of God is Satanic.

Challenging the Word — Did God actually speak. Today that challenge is framed with — Do you really think the Bible is God’s Word?

Changing the Word — All he does here is change one word of God’s word.  It was such a little word — “any”. SO little that some ask — What’s the big deal?

LISTEN — you either take God at His Word or you add to or subtract from his word — and the result is devastation.

² And the woman said to the serpent

Ladies — I need you to really feel this — not feel as in mere emotion —but to lay hold of this — and let it lay hold of you!  She responds!

What Eve should have done is simply walk away. She could have and should have said — I do not want to participate in the conversation that dishonors God. She didn’t even need to say that. All she needed to do was to literally turn her back on Satan — turn her face toward God — and walk away.  How many of you right now are sucked into conversations — conflict — gossip — divisiveness — error and folly because you lack the courage to simply not respond?

But She engages in the conversation.  She hears him out.

Twice in the New Testament we are told that she was subsequently deceived by his crafty arguments (2 Cor. 11:3; 1 Tim. 2:14). By engaging the devil she would be deceived — become confused. She wasn’t confused when she was talking to God.  She became confused when she allowed conflicting voices to come into our life.

QUESTION: To whom are you listening?  What books are you reading?  What articles are motivating you?  What websites are you logging onto?  What radio and television programs are informing you?  What friends are whispering in your ear?

Are you involved in conversations right now that you should not be involved in?

She responded.

²The women said to the serpent we may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden ³ but God said you should not eat the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden neither shall you touch it least you die

That is NOT what God said.  God didn’t say they couldn’t touch it.

The woman is now adding to God’s Word.

Many like to do this.  They like to add to God’s Word with books, theologians, emotions, experiences, psychology, sociology, anthropology, history, tradition, preference, culture — Take God’s Word and add something to it — and in so doing alter it all together.

⁴ But the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die.

Second Challenge — God didn’t mean what He said.

Today that challenge is framed with — You can’t take the Bible literally.

⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be open and you would be like God knowing good and evil.

Here is what he is saying —

God doesn’t really love you!

He’s not allowing you to achieve your full potential

He’s not giving to you all that you deserve.

You are amazing.  You are wonderful.  You have great potential and God is the one who is not allowing you to achieve those things.

CRUCIAL INSIGHT: If you believe the lie that God is withholding on you — then you will sin in order to obtain that which you believe God is withholding from you.

It might be some relationship — a possession — an experience — an accomplishment.

This is the temptation to walk away from God — and in so doing exchange someone else — or something else for God — believing that that is a higher treasure.

⁶ so when the woman saw that the tree was

good for food

a delight to the eyes

that it was to be desired to make one wise

1 John  2:16 the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life

Three categories of sin.

The lust of the flesh — it would taste good, would feel good.

The lust of the eyes — it was attractive and looked good.
And the boastful pride of life — it would make me like God.

CRUCIAL INSIGHT: Sin is going to come in through

physical pleasure — visual observation — and it will always tempt and test you pride.

⁶ She took its fruit, she also gave some to her husband

MEN — this one’s for you!

WHERE was the man?  He was with her

…. and he ate.

MEN — need to feel this — lay hold of it — let it lay hold of you.

THAT is your father.

What’s he doing?  Nothing!

Most people think that Eve went astray because the man was a way. That’s not how it went down.

Where is Adam when all of this transpired?

What is Adam doing when Satan is lying about God tempting the woman, what is the man doing?

NOTHING!

Adam said nothing — Adam did nothing.

Some men abuse their authority and they become harsh and mean.

Some men avoid their responsibility.

Some abdicate and abandon their responsibility.

Some men abuse — some abandon — some avoid — and some abdicate responsibility.  And it starts with your father.

CRUCIAL INSIGHT: Adam’s sin is a sin of omission.  We could have gone up to Adam and asked —

Do you do drugs? No.
Do you drink? No.

Do you look at porn? No.

Are you stealing? No.

He could then conclude — I’m a good guy — right?

NO! Because you are not doing what you are supposed to do.  You are not rebuking Satan — you are not loving your wife — you are not defending your family — you are not taking responsibility.

MEN — You and I need to look at Adam and say — That’s our father, those are our proclivities —  to say and do nothing — To sit back and let sin happen — to let our wives and children suffer — and then to participate in sin

7  the eyes of both were open and they knew that they were naked. And they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves loin clothes.

REMEMBER — When God made us, He made us for four areas of relationship —

Relationship with Him

Relationship with one another

Relationship with creation

Relationship with ourselves.

Sin is going to WRECK all of those relationships.

Here there is distance between the man and the woman.

Previously they were naked without shame — Here they cover themselves

I don’t trust you, you don’t trust me.

We are no longer one — we are two.

There is distance.  You live your life I will live mine.  You cover your sin I will cover mine.

⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Now the relationship with God is affected by their sin.

Here is the insanity of sin — they are hiding from the one who MADE them — made and prepared the planet for them — loved them!

They became foolish. When you sin — you become foolish by attempting to hide from God — as if God can’t see behind a tree. They hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden

⁹ But the Lord God called to the man and said to him,

MEN — Don’t miss this!

He called to the man — Why?

Because the man is responsible — God holds you responsible for the well being of your family.

As a church we at Metro hold men responsible.

THAT is what God does.  He calls out to the man and said to him where are you? BY THE WAY — I don’t know how you hear the tone of God’s voice here. As I read the Bible I hear this NOT as the voice of an arresting officer — but as the voice of a heart-broken father.

where are you?  Great question — every man should wake up every day — look in the mirror and ask — where am I?

¹⁰ And he said

NOTE IT WELL: He is not saying we.

They are no longer are we

THAT is what sin does to a marriage.

They are not allies anymore — the two are now enemies

“I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

¹¹ He said — God does — who told you, you were naked.

CRUCIAL: God gets right to the point.

Bottom line — like God — you speak to men as men — you speak to them directly.

Here is God’s question nice and simple

¹¹Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

God makes it clear that he gave no suggestions as to what Adam and Eve were NOT eat.  Bottom line — did you do what I told you not to do?

¹² The man said, “The woman

NOTICE: The man doesn’t start with — yes I sinned God — he is immediately shifting the blame over to the woman.

¹² “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”

You made the woman — she is the source of all my trouble — she is responsible and I am a victim.

You have really complicated my life and I feel like I have some benefits coming my way here.

She gave me fruit of the tree — I am a total victim here.

13 Then the Lord God said to the woman what is this that you have done.

Notice the woman is equally responsible.  She is an image bearer of God.

¹³ ….The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Satan did it.  The devil made me do it.

¹⁴ The Lord God said to the serpent — here is judgment —because you have done this cursed are you above all the livestock, above the beast of the field, on your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. ¹⁵ I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed (or offspring) and her offspring.

SEED — It’s singular not plural. Colossians 3 and 4 tell us that this is the promise of the coming of Jesus. This is called the Protoevangelion AMAZING — the first gospel proclamation is undertaken by God Himself. God is into evangelism —God preaches it.

the seed of the woman is an inference of the virgin birth because else where in scripture children always come from the father — here no father is mentioned — just the mother — that through Eve will eventually come a man and he will do war with Satan and Satan will harm him — but he will come as the great dragon slayer — and he will defeat the dragon.  It’s a promise of the coming of Jesus!

¹⁶ To the woman he said I will surely multiply your pain in child bearing and in pain you shall bring forth children.

Being a mother is a wonderful thing. But this explains why to this day women struggle with the pain of infertility and miscarriage. It also explains why when children are born it is with great pain that they are born — and that to some degree every mother experiences varying kinds of emotional pain throughout the rest of her life in the raising of the children.

As God is a parent — our Father — and has relationship with us — so now the mother experiences the pain of being in a parental role.

By way of the grief and pain brought to her by way of her children she begins to understand that she brings grief and pain to God.

16 ….And your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you.

The Hebrew term here translated “desire” (teshuqah) is rarely found in the OT. But it appears again in 4:7, in a statement that closely parallels 3:16—that is, where the Lord says to Cain, just before Cain’s murder of his brother, that sin’s “desire is for you” (i.e., to master Cain)

The ongoing result of Adam and Eve’s original sin of rebellion against God will have disastrous consequences for their relationship:

Eve will have the sinful “desire” to oppose Adam and to assert leadership over him — reversing God’s plan for Adam’s leadership in marriage.

The New Testament repeatedly uses the word “submit” — many women bristle when they hear that term.  God is saying  — The woman will not want to trust a man — will not want to follow your husband’s lead.

Adam will also abandon his God-given — pre-fall role of leading, guarding, and caring for his wife — replacing this with his own sinful, distorted desire to “rule” over Eve.

DON’T MISS THNIS — One of the most tragic results of Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God is an ongoing — damaging conflict — between husband and wife in marriage.

¹⁷ To Adam he said because you have listened to the voice of your wife

It’s not a sin to listen to your wife.  Proverbs tell us that a prudent wife is from the Lord.  Genesis 2 says the wife is to be a helper.  But when God says one thing — and your wife contradicts it — you are not supposed to listen to her then — you are supposed to listen to the Lord

and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you shall not eat of it, cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

Your work is going to be hard.

¹⁸ Thorns and Thistles it shall bring forth for

Now sin — the fall — has effected another category of relationship — the relationship between man and environment.

and you shall eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹ By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Everything under your dominion is cursed.

REMEMBER — we began with the observation — Something is very wrong — the world is not as it should be.

You say — why is it that everything I do is thorns and thistles — why is it that as soon as I feel like I have life in order it breaks again.

ANSWER — Genesis 3:17-19

ANSWER — Because God loves you.

God does that men to humble us and to cause us to identify with him when everything in our life breaks and falls apart — fights against us.

In the BROKENNESS of the world God says to us — I want you to see what you are like and I want you to see how difficult my job is and I want you to be humble and I want you to be repentant and I want you to see it as I see and I want you to feel as I feel it because I love you.

²⁰ The man called his wife’s name Eve because she was the mother of all living. ²¹and the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins and clothed them

That’s God’s grace and provision — picturing the cross of Jesus — innocent blood shed to cover our spiritual nakedness

²² Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” ²³ therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Why did God kick them out of the garden?  Because they would have eaten the tree of life.

What’s so what’s wrong with that? They would have lived forever separated from God.

Ladies — that’s your mom.  Men — that’s your dad.

That’s the worst day in human history.

That’s the day that’s affected every day since.  If you don’t understand that day, every other day makes no sense at all.

It leads to the next question

What is sin?

In Genesis 1:31 when God made everything he said it was what?  Very good.

In the Hebrew the Jews have a word — Shalom.

Shalom means — perfection — wholeness — everything is as it should be — beauty — glory — honor — love — reconciliation — no wars — no famine — no disease — no death — no tears — no suffering — no loss — no mourning — no funerals — no locks on doors — no police officers — no jails — no soldiers — — Shalom.

Everything that is not Shalom is sin and or the effects of sin.

Sin is the marring of Shalom.  It’s the vandalizing of Shalom —the assaulting of Shalom — war on Shalom.

Jesus comes as the prince of — what ? Shalom.

Sin shows up as

Death — suffering — injustice —  miseries — fears — illness

pain — sorrow — grief — despair — nuisance — tragedy.

The Bible uses a virtual library of words and images to talk about sin

Rebellion — folly — self-abuse — madness — treason — death —hatred — spiritual adultery — missing the mark — wandering from the path — idolatry — irrationality — pride — selfishness —  blindness — deafness — a hard heart — a stiff neck — delusion —unreasonableness — and self-worship.

It is crucial that we have a functional definition of sin because with out that — When you hear that Jesus died for sin it — it won’t mean anything to you.

There are sins of omission and commission.

Omission is not doing what you are supposed to.

James 4:17 ¹⁷So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Commission is doing what you are not supposed to.

Sin includes

our thoughts

our words

our deeds

And our motives — why we do what we do.

It’s godlessness — which is ignoring God

It’s idolatry — which is giving yourself to someone or something other than Jesus — trading Jesus for something or something else.

There are sins that are not crimes.  Lust — most lies

Sins also are the breaking of laws.

The breaking of Gods laws in the Bible.  1 John 3:4 KJV Sin is transgression of the Law

The breaking of human laws.

It’s also violating your own conscience when the spirit of God convicts you.  Romans 14:23 For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

It includes perversion — which is using a good thing for sin.
Technology is a perfect example.  You can send a prayer request via email or text message — or you can send gossip.

You can send Bible studies over the internet — or you can send pornography.

It includes pollution — which is infecting good things with evil.

It’s turning a good thing into a God thing — to where you live for money, sex, fame, power, glory, intelligence, achievement, comfort

It’s founding your identity on anything other than Jesus.

Is all sin equal?

In one regard, it is.

First — Jesus says in Matthew 5:48 that we are to be perfect, as our heavenly father is perfect —  Anything that misses that mark is sin.  God is absolutely morally perfect — anything less than His moral perfection is absolutely sin. 2 + 2 is absolutely 4.  To say that 2 + 2 = 3.99999999999999 is ABSOLUTELY wrong.

Second — James — Jesus’ brother — says in James 2:10 that if you violate one point of God’s law you violate all of it. Jesus said in Matthew 5 that lust and adultery are both equally sin. The wages of ANY sin is death.

But on another hand — though all sin is equal — not all sin is equally devastating in its effects. That’s why James says not many of us should presume to be teachers because teachers — like me — will be judged more strictly.  There are degrees of devastation from sin.

So we have answered the questions

1.) What is the ORIGINATION of sin?

2.) What is the DEFINITION of sin.

Now we are going to look at the imputation of sin — or

How does Adam’s sin affect me personally?

Romans 5:12-21

I will read this in its totality and summarize it for the sake of time.

¹² Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man —

What man was that?  Adam.

Who sinned first?  Eve.

Who is held primarily responsible?  Adam.

Who is responsible for the fall of humanity and sin?  Adam.

MEN — we MUST FEEL the weight of responsibility.  We should wake up everyday with our knees trembling — depending on the grace of God — wanting to do good — to help — to serve and to bless.

¹² And death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned —

Everyone is affected by Adam’s sin — we sin by nature and we sin by choice.

¹³for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. ¹⁴Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.¹⁵But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. ¹⁶And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. ¹⁷If, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.¹⁸Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. ¹⁹For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. ²⁰Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, ²¹so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Here is what he is saying.

There are two categories of humanity on planet earth!

Those who are under Adam — those who are under Jesus — that’s it.

We tend to see things in terms of nations and races — genders and cultures — social-economic backgrounds.

REALITY — There are ONLY TWO categories — those who are under Adam, those who are under Jesus.

Those who are under Adam receive Adam’s sin

Those who are under Jesus receive his sinlessness.

Those who are under Adam die

Those who are under Jesus live

Those who are under Adam are experiencing condemnation

Those who are under Jesus experience justification.

Those who are under Adam are unrighteous

Those who are under Jesus are made righteous by Jesus.

Those who are under Adam are disobedient

Those who are under Jesus are obedient.

To be under Adam, you need to be born.

To be under Jesus you need to be born again.

Outside of faith in Christ — Adam’s sin is imputed, reckoned, imparted to you

By faith in Christ — Righteousness and salvation are imparted to you through His Sinless life Substitutionary death Bodily resurrection And victory over sin and death

Adam was your father when he sinned — the whole family of the human race was involved.

Adam is our representative

When he made that decision he made it on behalf of all of us. You and I would have made the same decision had we been there

In 1 Corinthians 15:45 Jesus is called the last Adam

Jesus — like Adam — represented us

He died for our sin, rose for our salvation

CRUCIAL: You are under Adam or Jesus.

Death-life

sin-forgiveness

hell-heaven

TWO humanities

Adam’s sin affects us all.

That means today — we have a sin nature

You are not born as a good person with a blank slate.

Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Some of your translations will say — I was sinful from my mother’s womb.

Ephesians 2:3 — we are by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

KEY POINT: You are conceived with a nature of sinful, foolish, rebellion against God.

Your natural proclivities — because of your sin nature — are to repeat the sins of Adam and Eve.

That’s why Jesus needs to give to us a new nature.

To become a Christian is to receive a new nature — because in our first birth we are conceived with the sin nature.

QUESTION: What is total depravity?

It is the first point of what is called the five points of Calvinism.

CRUCIAL: We don’t believe in utter depravity.

When we sin, we are sinners by nature and choice.

When we sin, we don’t cease to be human, we are not less than human — we are still image bearers of God.

The image of God is marred and stained and tainted.

But even after sin — in Genesis 5; 9, 1 Corinthians 11, James 3 we are told that we bear the image of God.

So we are not utterly depraved — we are not as bad as we could be.  We could do more evil — more intentionally — more frequently

But we are totally depraved — meaning that all of our person is affected — stained — marred — broken by sin.

This includes our mind. We do not think as we are.  We do not think the thoughts of God. Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts

You can’t just trust your mind.

This includes our emotions — what we feel is not always right.  Some of you say — but this is what I feel. If you are an intense feeler — learn to doubt your feelings a little bit.  They could be wrong — because they are affected by sin.

If you live in your head and you are thinker, don’t always trust your analysis of the situation, you could be wrong.

Total depravity means the sin has totally affected the totality of a person — thoughts — feelings — will — emotions — our body

If we were utterly depraved we would have no conscience

But we still bear a conscience

Romans 2 says that because we are image bearers of God, we still have some semblance or echo of right and wrong.

The result is that we hate injustice and we want love

There are good things that we long for — even though we are sinners.

Marred — stained —bent and broken — but not utterly leaving us essentially animals.

NEXT QUESTION: What are some sinful views of sin?

Do you know that we are so sinful that we sin — and then we sin in how we see the sin.

The bain of contemporary church culture are pastors who actually say

I won’t talk about sin — death — judgment — hell — wrath —blood — — that’s negative.

IF we don’t truly understand our condition — then we don’t have a right diagnosis — and therefore we can’t then prescribe the right remedy.

Here are nine sinful views of sin.

1.) Thinking that sin is just breaking some rules.

CRUCIAL — The rules that God gives in scripture are representative of God — They come from God’s character.

Behind God’s laws is God.  And when you break God’s laws you are violating relationship with God.  Sin is the violation of a loving relationship.

2.) Jesus died for all my sins so I am forgiven no matter what I do so therefore I don’t need to take my sin very seriously because Jesus forgives it.

3.) Those who are paranoid of the possibility of failing to confess a sin and as a result lose their salvation.

Jesus died for all of our sins — past, present and future.

And if you fail to confess every sin — You must remember that the Blood of Jesus cleanses a man of ALL sin.

4.) Some say God knows my heart and it’s really what’s in my heart that counts

He does know your heart.  In Proverbs we are told that out of the overflow your heart, comes your life — it’s the well spring of life.

Jesus says that out of the overflow of your heart, the mouth speaks.

Your life is a reflection of your heart! You can’t say — my heart is good, my life is bad but God knows my heart.

All of life is an echo of the heart.

I CAN’T commit adultery or theft — or murder or greed — or lust or pride — or gossip or divisiveness with my mouth and with my hands, no and then say my heart is good — ALL of those things are connected to your heart.

5.) Sin is fun — I don’t want to live a dull life — I want to have a little of fun — So sometimes I allow myself to sin a little bit because I like to have a little of fun.

If you love Jesus, sin is not fun.

Before meeting Jesus I had fun sinning

But when Jesus forgives you of your sin and then comes to live within you — SIN is NO LONGER fun. It’s misery — you feel terrible — the holy spirit convicts you.

You realize that what you used to love you don’t love

You feel convicted — You feel terrible.

Sin is not fun — that’s the lie that Satan told Adam and Eve

God’s withholding something really cool, go get it.

6.) It’s not a sin if no one gets hurt.

I hear this all the time with singles who are living together — sleeping together

Well nobody is getting hurt, well both are consenting adults, nobody is going to hurt.

Really?  I guarantee it will effect

Whomever — whenever — however you marry

Those who are in the Church

Those family friends, coworkers who are observing you — it affects them.

It certainly affects your relationship with God because sin separates us from God.

Don’t say that nobody is getting hurt — lots of people are getting hurt.

7.) It’s only a sin if you get caught — secret sin doesn’t count.

You know what — God knows!

You know what — it does affect!

Secret sin counts and here is the truth — it’s not a secret

God knows

And those who are close may not know what the sin is but they see it’s effects.

8.) Well if it’s popular then it’s okay — everybody is doing it — and they make a cultural argument.

Well that’s just how we do it in our culture.

9.) Some Christians like to make everything a sin issue — even when it’s not.

Christians love to make everything into a sin issue.

Sometimes it’s a difference of opinion, sometimes it’s a difference of conscience.  You think this is right, I think this is right.

QUESTION: What are some sinful responses to sin?

1.) Some people love to minimize their sin number

It’s not that big of a deal, you totally are overreacting.

2.) I am the exception to the rule.  I know that’s true for everyone else but I have special circumstances.

I know you are not supposed to live with your boyfriend or girlfriend, but he lost his job, and we are going to get married, and we love each other, so we are going to live together and sleep together.

What I think is curious is everyone thinks they are the exception.

3.) Blame shifting.

It’s not my fault, it’s their fault.  We saw this on the heals of the very first sin —

Adam — It’s the woman you gave me Lord

Eve — No it’s the devil

Blame shifting.

4.) Changing the subject.

There are those people — who when they sin — and you confront them in their sin — they change the conversation to about how they feel about you confronting them about their sin.

You have really hurts my feelings — I feel like you are judging me — I thought we were friends

Don’t change the subject.  We are talking about your sin — not how you feel about me telling you you are in sin.

5.) Partial confession.

They give up just the amount of sin they feel they have to give up in hopes that the questions will stop — stop looking for the rest.

6.) Paul talks to the Corinthians about worldly sorrow = I feel bad about the consequences of my sin but not my sin.

I feel bad that people are hurt

I feel bad that people are upset

I feel bad that people are negatively affected
But I don’t really feel bad about my sin, I just feel kind of bad about the effects.

7.) Excuse making — and the excuses are innumerable.

I have a good reason, you don’t understand.  Let me tell you the whole story.
8.) Victimization

I am the victim I can’t help it.  My dad abused me, I was raped, I was molested, I can’t help it.

I grew up poor— grew up rich — without enough affection

All of that may be all true — But that doesn’t mean that for the rest of your life you act in certain ways because you were sinned against.

You may be a victim — but when you sin, you victimize others, and victims rarely think of that

9.) Confession without repentance.

I know it’s wrong — thank you for pointing that out — Then they do it again.

CRUCIAL — They are being honest but they are not being humble.
10.) One of the worst ways to respond to sin is just to tell people — you know you are a good person — don’t dwell on the negative — you need to find all the things in your life that you do well, you need to focus on those.

THAT is totally denying depravity — totally denying sin.

And so much self help and pop theology does that

CRUCIAL QUESTION:

How does God respond to sin?

We see it with our first parents and this is how God works.

First — he judges sin

He tells the man — here is your sin and consequences

He tells the woman — here is your sin and the consequences.

He tells Satan — here is your sin and the consequences

If you didn’t know — you know now — GOD JUDGES SIN!

If He didn’t, He wouldn’t be a good God — wouldn’t be just holy or good.

Secondly — God gives grace

he pursues them — they are hiding — he pursues them — he speaks to them, that’s really kind.

Additionally — God teaches them. Here is what you did — here is what you did — here is what you did.

When you hear God give the commands in Genesis don’t think of a judge giving out a law — think of a loving father

I love you, but what you have done is horrible and there are some serious consequences for this.

Because God is holy — he must deal with our sin

But because he is loving — he has chosen to deal with our sin

in a way so that we could be forgiven and restored to right relationship with him.

In so doing, God shows that we are made for more than sin and that He expects more from us.

A theologian named Plantinga has said that we should learn from God’s example: “We ought to pay evil doers, including ourselves, the ‘intolerable compliment’ of taking them seriously as moral agents, of holding them accountable for their wrongdoing. This is a mark of our respect for their dignity and weight as human beings” (Not The Way It’s Supposed to Be, 66).

In Genesis 3:15 God preached the first gospel to our first parents and promised the coming of Jesus, who would be harmed by Satan but would ultimately crush him and bring salvation to sinners.

God then cast our first parents out of the Garden in love so that they would not live forever in a state of sin.

Later in the storyline of the Bible we learn that Jesus did in fact come to save people from their sins, as Matthew 1:21 says. He did this by becoming the one who succeeded where the first Adam failed (1 Cor. 15:45). He died in our place for our sins and rose for our salvation. Amazingly, God not only judged sin in righteousness, but also bore its penalty himself as an act of love. He offers forgiveness and reconciliation by grace even though he is the offended person against whom we have all sinned.

In so doing, he remains perfectly perfect and we are more wicked than we ever feared yet more loved than we ever hoped.

The right response to sin is always complete repentance.

Please repent of your sin —

it is killing you — it is killing others

it is contributing to the horrific nature of the world

it is separating you from God.

It could cause you to spend eternity in the conscious internal torments of hell.

Repentance is the love of God in action.  Repentance is only possible because of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus

you and I, we are sinners — and Jesus came to save sinners.

CREDO 4 – IMAGE: God Loves

This is our FOURTH study in a series titled CREDO –

CREDO = Latin for I BELIEVE. In this series we are following the story line of the Bible to discover the essential beliefs of the Christian faith.

Tonight our topic is IMAGE: God Loves.

We are going to look at the doctrine of imago dei, which means “image of God” in Latin.

So let’s to turn to Genesis 1 and once again Metro — lets PRAY that God the Holy Spirit will REVEAL to each of us the glorious truth that God made us in His image for the purpose of relationship with God and with one another — and that He would reveal to us Jesus Christ as the PERFECT Image Bearer of God — and that we — by the power of the Holy Spirit might be conformed to the Image of Christ.

QUESTION #1 — What does it mean to be Human?

This is a question of HUGE consequence in virtually every thing area of life — from theology to sociology, history, biology, and psychology.

Bottom line — the world around us PROCESSES life and BEHAVES according to the way it answers this question!

Before we get to the text of Genesis we want to lay a bit of historical background as to HOW man has understood himself and his humanity.

Up until the time of Augustine (one of the Church fathers)
Man essentially understood himself and his humanity in terms of his relationships — You were a part of a family — a family lineage — part of a local place — part of a state/nation — part of a religious group — part of an ethnicity with a language.

Then came Augustine who wrote a book titled “The Confessions”. He started to look at himself as an individual and about his inner life. He began to define himself — NOT by his sphere of influence and circle of relationships around him — but by his INTERNAL and PERSONAL AUTONOMOUS IDENTITY. This led to the concept of human beings being AUTONOMOUS INDIVIDUALS.

Years later came another Christian — Rene Descartes

In trying to answer the question – What does it mean to be a human being — he came up with the saying — “Cogito ergo sum” = “I think, therefore I am.”

S Augustine said that we are autonomous individuals. Descartes said that we are more than that — We are autonomous individuals with rational minds.” Our mind is what makes us human.

Building upon that was another Christian named Jonathan Edwards — A very famous Puritan. He was a great thinker and academic. Some believe him to be perhaps the most brilliant mind in America’s history.

He said that we are individuals with reasonable minds who can be saved, transformed and improved by God’s grace to God’s glory.

Then came a man named Jean-Jacques Rousseau —

He said that you are an individual with a rational mind — But you don’t need God and His grace to help you — You don’t need to look outside of yourself to God — You need to look INWARD to SELF .

You’re not really a sinner  — you’re basically a good person. You don’t need to seek God’s love — you need to love your self. You don’t need to seek God’s acceptance through Jesus — You need to accept yourself as you are.

You don’t want to have the condemning self-assessment of calling yourself a sinner.

Then came a man named William James — One of the greatest psychologists in the history of America.

He said — Not only are you a pretty good person — and not only do the answers to life lie in you rather than in God  — — You don’t need God at all! What you need is a highly trained specialized psychologist. Leave it to a therapist to come up with THAT idea —You don’t need God — you need ME!

You don’t need GOD to walk with you — you need ME to walk with you! You don’t need GOD to speak to you — You need ME to speak to you! You con’t need GOD to assess you — You need ME to assess you!

The assumption is that man is that the human body is essentially a MACHINE and that through psychology and therapy you can fix people by reordering their psychological understanding.

We are not against ALL counseling, psychology or therapy. But in it’s MODERN FORM (from William James) it omits God who is the GREAT counselor. IN fact the Bible says that Jesus is called WONDERFUL COUNSELOR.

We are not opposed to wonderful counselor Jesus and those who counsel with, for, like through and to Jesus — We ARE opposed to those who counsel without Jesus — without God — and without an acknowledgment of human sin.

ULTIMATELY — This is looking to someone OTHER than  Jesus to be your functional Savior!

Then leads to a man named Abraham Maslow —

He came up with what is known as the Hierarchy of needs — and you greatest need is NOT to glorify God — but instead achieve Self-Actualization.

You want to be as healthy as you can be — As successful as you can be — as influential and affluential as you can possibly be.

This leads to our contemporary culture and a sociologist named Christian Smith

He calls it Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.

Moralistic — You want to be a good person.

Therapeutic — God is the big therapist in the sky

Deistic — God is not near on a regular basis. He is far removed from your everyday life. He might on occasion throw you a bone / bit of help

You need to fix yourself — save yourself — Transform yourself BECAUSE basically you are a pretty good person.

THAT is the world you live in and grew up in. You ARE on your own — God is more a fictional character who IF He does exist might love you — But He is not intimately involved in your life to help you.

THE RESULT is a CULTURE of PRIDE and Despair.

Pride because we think we are great. Despair because when we are honest we don’t know what to do.

QUESTION #2 — What does the Bible tell us about what it mean to be Human?

FIRST — The Bible tells us that we were created by God. Which is the exact opposite of atheistic thinking.

Ludwig Feuerbach (19th century) was an atheist who declared that God did not make us, but rather we made God as a figment of our imagination. Students of his thinking include

Karl Marx (who applied this politically)

Sigmund Freud (who applied this psychologically)

Friedrich Nietzsche (who applied this philosophically).

IN CONTRAST — the Bible tells us in Genesis 1–2 that we did not create God, but rather God created us

Gen. 1: 1 In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth.

From that we learned that God pre-exists and is separate from creation. He created everything.

Following from that is the 6 days in which He prepares the earth form man.

Gen. 1:26 ²⁶Then God said, —

He is the God who speaks

“Let us —

We see the Trinity — One God who eternally exists in three persons, Father, Son and Spirit

make man —

That is mankind — Adam — which includes woman

in our —

Again — the Trinity — One God who eternally exists in three persons, Father, Son and Spirit

image, after our likeness.

THAT is what we are going to talk about tonight —  What it means to be made in the image and likeness of God. We understand the terms to be essentially the same.

We are made in God’s IMAGE and LIKENESS.

And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

NOTE WELL: We read back in Verse 25 that God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds

But of mankind we are told that we were made in the image of God!

We are the IMAGE BEARERS of God.

Next week we will look at sin and the effects that it has on the world and mankind.

Some ask the question — “Is the IMAGE OF GOD still seen in mankind after the fall in the garden and after the curse pronounced upon mankind and the world because of the fall?”

The answer is YES — Genesis 5; Genesis 9; James 3 all tell us that though sinful we are still God’s image bearers.

Genesis 5:1-3

Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

James 3:9 With it (the tongue) we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

Sin does not make us LESS than human — it does make us FALLEN and LOST humans in need of a Savior.

²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

SOME ASK — IF God created us in His image — and SINCE He created man and woman — Is God male or female?

Jesus said in John 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

God is NOT gendered — He is NOT male or female.

Male and female PROCEED from God and are made EQUAL in the image and likeness of God.

This addresses the chauvinist and the feminist as to which gender is better?

The TRUTH is that men and women are EQUAL because they bear the image and likeness of God.

Well how do we explain this the emotionally?

It is not that there are male and female emotions — rather there are human emotions that are expressed in masculine and feminine ways. Men and women both LOVE  — get ANGRY — GRIEVE. We SHARE the SAME emotions but we work them out a bit differently according to GENDER.

SO — We are made in the image and likeness of God — MALE and FEMALE.

God does REVEAL Himself as FATHER in the Bible. Jesus referred to Him as FATHER. Jesus is worshipped as the SON of God.

NOWHERE in the Bible do we find God called MOTHER. SO he predominately REVEALS Himself in masculine terms. But God is NOT engendered! In His Incarnation Jesus came as a MAN. But God is NOT engendered. God is SPIRIT — But He made US male and female.

Then we read

²⁸And God blessed them.

Please note the LOVING relationship — Grace and kindness and affection towards the man and the woman.

And God said to them,

NOTICE — God speaks to them KNOWING that UNLIKE the animals He had created — the man and the woman were made in  His image and likeness — we can COMMUNICATE — He can talk to us and we can respond.

²⁸ “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ²⁹And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. ³⁰And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

God said — I’ve created and prepared all of this as a gift for YOU! The earth is YOURS — have dominion and be good stewards of it — take care of it.

³¹And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

SO — as He finishes His creative work it is VERY GOOD — There’s no sin — There’s no curse — no death — no tears.

GENESIS 1 is a PANORAMIC view of creation.

GENESIS 2 zooms in on the account with the focus on the man and the woman.

REMEMBER from our study CREATION: God Makes — we said that the Eastern form of storytelling is different from the Western method that is beginning — middle — end.

IN the Eastern form of story telling it is beginning — middle —beginning.

That’s why Genesis 1-2 is about the beginning. Then Genesis 3 onward is about sin— fall and the curse. Then at the end of Revelation (19-20) is about Judgment and then 20-21 is about a new heaven and earth — a new creation — the tree of life in the midst of it — a new forever with God as He intended IN THE BEGINNING.

So let’s look at Genesis 2 in which the close up is on the man and the woman.

⁷then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground

How did God make the rest of creation? He SPOKE.

How did He make Man? He FORMED man out of the dust of the earth.

and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

We are given a spiritual dimension that separates us from animal life.

⁸And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. ⁹And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁵The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

IMPORTANT OBSERVATION: BEFORE sin there IS work

We were MADE to work and GLORIFY God in it! When sin comes into the picture work takes on a much more complicated and difficult.

¹⁶And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,

CRUCIAL: Man is a MORAL being — We are not like animals or plants. God can SPEAK to us moral commands that imply moral action to be taken.

“You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

As a moral being God gave to man a moral choice with consequences. Obey and Live — Disobey and die.

⁸Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone;

INTERESTING: Genesis 1 ended in Verse 31 with God saying that everything was very good!

There is NO sin yet — But God says there is something that is NOT good! It was NOT good for man to be alone!

The man has God ABOVE him and creation BELOW him. But he does not have anyone along side of him — a friend — a peer —a helper. God is going to remedy that.

I will make him a helper fit for him

Many women bristle at this — to be referred to as man’s helper!

But this is no slight at all. It is a high compliment.

FIRST  — It implies that man NEEDS help!

Secondly — The term HELPER is used in reference to God. He is CONSTANTLY referred to as HELPER in the Psalms. Jesus calls God the Holy Spirit THE HELPER!

This is NOT a DENEGRATION — It is a DECLARATION of her NECESSITY and of the striking way in which the woman bears the image of God.

¹⁹So out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.

The man gave names (Dylan tune)

This is AUTHORITY — This is RULE.

But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. ²¹So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.

This BEAUTIFUL! Everything was spoken in to existence by the Word of God EXCEPT for man — He was FORMED by the “metaphorical hands” of God. And the woman is created from the SIDE of the man.

This shows us that the woman is not to be out ahead of the man — as feminism teaches

She is not to be behind the man — as chauvinism teaches

But she is to be along side of the man as an EQUAL IMAGE BEARER of God.

(Welcome Home — That’s where she comes from… that’s where she belongs).

²²And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

NOTE: God MAKES the woman and BRINGS the woman to man. God STILL works that way — He forms the woman in the womb and then BRINGS her providentially to the man for which she was made.

SO — God has FINISHED making the woman — It his her first day of existence. And He brings her to Adam. And we have recorded for us the FIRST SPOKEN WORDS in all of human history!

He looks at his wife and says

²³Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

In the Hebrew this is rhyme — It is poetry.

Then he makes a three-fold declaration on the binding relationship established by God which is still binding upon marriage today!

²⁴Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother

Grow up and be a man!

and hold fast to his wife,

Get married

and they shall become one flesh.

Enjoy the physical intimacy that is prescribed by God (and blessed by God) within the context of a life long — heterosexual —monogamous relationship

ONE is the same used for God in Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear O Israel —The Lord our God is ONE.

As the Father Son and Spirit are ONE — SO the man and woman in marriage and in the consummation of the relationship are ONE.

SO MARRIAGE pictures the loving community that is enjoyed by the Trinity.

THAT is why God said that it is not good for man to be alone.

WHAT ABOUT those who are SINGLE?

It doesn’t mean that single people DON’T bear the image of God.

THEY DO! It means that single people are NOT to be alone. They are to be found in a loving community — friendship — extended family — being committed to a church community.

THAT is how the SINGLE person acts in a Trinitarian way.

THE BIG IDEA is that RELATIONSHIPS are what God intended as a reflection of His image.

²⁵And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

No shame — There was just intimacy and pleasure in marriage.

Next study we will see how sin ruins all of this.

THE MAIN POINT is that we were made for FOUR categories of relationship

We are to relate to GOD — That is our THEOLOGICAL relationship.

We are to relate to OTHERS — That is our SOCIOLOGICAL relationship

We are to relate CREATION — that is our ENVIRONMENTAL relationship.

We are to have a relationship with OURSLEVES — I know I’ve been created by God — HE loves me — He speaks to me — There are things He wants me to do and other things He doesn’t want me to do. THAT is our PSYCHOLOGICAL relationship.

In our next study we will see how SIN mars ALL of those relationships

Ruins our relationship with God

Ruins our relationship with others

Ruins our relationship with the environment

Ruins our lives psychologically.

The world is a MESS because the individuals within it are marred by sin!

QUESTION #3 — Where does man fit in relationship to God and Creation?

Psalm 8 is like a mini-commentary on Genesis 1-2.

⁵ Yet you (god) have made him (man) a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor ⁶ You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,

⁷ all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, ⁸ the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

KEY INSIGHT: The Hebrew could mean the angels — or it could mean God himself (elohim).

The Bible defines our place relative to GOD and CREATION.

Mankind is BELOW God as a WORSHIPPPER — And ABOVE lower creation in dominion

CRUCIAL CONNECTION: Nearly every error in anthropology is the result of

shoving us UP TOO HIGH in relationship to God

we are basically good — we have the spark of the divine within — we are actually god.

or shoving us DOWN TOO LOW in relationship creation.

We are basically animals. THAT is too Low.

Many take that position as the excuse for every kind of sin

EXAMPLE: Talk show host to male caller who keeps committing adultery – his wife was angry with himTell your wife your just the male in a highly evolved animal species and as highly evolved males men we need to have sex whenever and with whomever – get over it.

QUOTE: Hugh Hefner — “Sex is a function of the body. A drive which man shares with animals. Like eating, drinking and sleeping. It’s a physical demand that must be satisfied. If you don’t satisfy it you will have all sorts of neurosis and repression psychosis. Sex is here to stay. Let’s forget the prudery that makes us hide from it. Throw away those inhibitions, find a girl who’s like minded and let yourself go.”

We are not just animals with a drivers license and a job!

We are HUMANS made in the IMAGE of God with moral responsibility and accountability.

It is ONLY by seeing ourselves between God and the animals do we have both our humility and dignity.

QUESTION #4 — What does it mean that we are God’s image?

We have MORAL LIKENESS to God.

We have the ability to make decisions that have an impact on others around us and the environment and ourselves

We have social abilities — we can communicate — we possess emotion.

We also have NON-MORAL LIKENESS to God.

We can reason — think — learn

We are immortal — We have a spiritual dimension

We have the ability to create

We have the ability to appreciate beauty and aesthetics

ALL of these come from what theologians call IMAGO DEI.
Having said that we must understand that there are certain of God’s attributes that are NOT shared with us — these are called the INCOMMUNICABLE ATTRIBUTES of God. These belong to God alone because ONLY He is God — and we are not!

Omnipresent — He is everywhere — we can not be

Omniscient — He knows everything — we do not

Omnipotence — He is all powerful — we are not

Immutable — He never changes — and we do

Eternal— He alone has no beginning — we were made

Sovereign — He rules over everyone and everything — and we don’t

There are ways that we are somewhat like God — These are Shared Attributes or COMMUNICABLE ATTRIBUTES that belong to God and us

God is Spirit — We possess a spirit

God is Holy — We can live — by God’s grace — a holy life.

God is Love/Good — We can know and experience and give the love of God

God is Truth — We can be truth tellers and truth receivers

God is Just/Righteous — We can love and fight for

God is Merciful — We too can be

God is Beautiful — We can create and appreciate beauty — music art — architecture — fashion — food

ALL of this comes out of the fact that we are the image bearers of God.

Whether Christian or not you still enjoy the benefits of being made in the image and likeness of God.

We will see next week that we are marred and stained by sin — but we are still blessed by being made in the image and likeness of God.

QUESTION #5 — What are some of the common ways that people misunderstand the concept of the image of God?

We are made up of multiple parts.

We have a mind that thinks.

We have what the Bible calls the HEART — the seat of our affections.

We have a soul — a spirit.

We have a body.

Errors are made when — in an attempt to define the essence of our humanity — what it means to be a human being — we reduce our existence to just ONE of those aspects of human existence.

EXAMPLE: The Materialist — We are just a body — a piece of meat. No soul — NOTHING beyond our last breath — Nothing SPIRITUAL about us

EXAMPLE: We are just the MIND — That alone makes us human. Descartes — “Cogito ero sum” — “I think, therefore I am.”

But what about the person that is in a comma? Is he LESS than human? What about the unborn child, and we are not sure what they are thinking? Is he less than human? What about the child born with a Mental defect? Does that make them less than human?

NO — They bear the image and likeness of God.

EXAMPLE: Others, Like B.F. Skinner — say that to be human consists in being acted upon by your environment.

IF THAT is what defines us as HUMAN — THEN our humanity is essentially a matter of VICTIMHOOD — You are a victim of culture and environment

If you grew up in a Bad family — It’s your parents/siblings fault.

If you grew up in a Bad country — It’s your country’s fault

If you grew up in a Bad neighborhood — It’s your neighbor’s fault

If someone sinned against you — It’s their fault.
You are a VICTIM.

SKINNER says we essentially a product of our environment rather than the product of the image and likeness of God.

FIRST — It ROBS us of our dignity

SECOND — Fails to take into account the fact that WE make culture. We CAN’T say people are good but culture is bad. Who made culture? People! Why is culture bad? Because people are bad!

It overlooks the problem of SIN! It creates a VICTIM mentality. If you didn’t have a dad you get a blank check to live however you want for the rest of your life. If someone has abused you — you assume your posture as VICTIM and NOT as an image-bearer of God and you get to blame everyone and if you’re really lucky you can get a big settlement along the way.

You are

NOT just a body.

NOT just a mind.

NOT just held hostage by your environment.

EXAMPLE: We are not just a soul

Hinduism and Buddhism make this error. The goal is to get the soul separated from their body.

Jesus came as a human being in a human body in order to show us that the ESSENCE of being human is to have a SOUL and a BODY.

When Jesus comes for the Church — and when we stand before God after death — is not to be merely a SOUL — we we live forever in a glorified body.

EXAMPLE: We not just emotions

The essence of humanity is to merely FEEL deeply. GO ahead and get angry — that makes you human — GO ahead and cry — that makes you human — Do anything to laugh — that makes you human.

Ultimately that is played out today in the mind set of — I can’t love God or others unless I first love myself.

THAT is NOT our problem,

Love others as you love (present active indicitive ) yourself

We love God — not because we have learned to love ourselves.

We love God because HE FIRST LOVED us. And THAT makes me want to love God and love others.

BIG POINT: You are NOT just a body — a mind — emotions — the product of environment.

You are a whole person made in the image of God.

HERE’S the OUTCOME of seeing yourself as just ONE of these things that collectively make us human.

If you think you are just the body — we just treat your body — you medication / diet /exercise.

If you think the problem is mental — we give you a counselor and some new insights and some encouragement.

If you think it’s just emotions — we want to get you to laugh or cry — be passionate — get you connected to your hopes your hurt your pain your mourning your poain your hopes and dreams.

If you think you are a product of your environment — then we work on changing your environment so uyou can THEN live a new life.

ALMOST ALL of our modern counseling is based upon the idea of REDUCTIONISM — treating only ONE aspect of their being.

You have to deal with the WHOLE person — That is what God does. God deals with us in such a way that we RESPOND to Him with all of our heart soul body and strength.

None of this is to say that all medicine or counseling is bad. But in and of themselves they don’t address the WHOLE person — and as a result they don’t give the MOST help.

By taking ONE aspect of our being over and above the rest, we are guilty of worshiping created things such as our body, mind, emotions, soul, or culture instead of the Creator God who makes all things.

QUESTION # 6 — Who BEST images God?

JESUS!

2 Cor. 4:4 speaks of Christ, who is the image — There’s the language of Genesis 1; 5; 9 — of God.

Col. 1:15 He is the image — there it is again — of the invisible God,

HERE WE COME TO THE APPLICATION OF THIS GREAT DOCTRINE OF IMAGO DEI —

You might say — HOW do I IMAGE God to a lost world? I don’t know HOW to live a life in light of the fact that I have been MADE by God with DIGNITY and VALUE — PURPOSE and HONOR. HOW should I LOVE my life — WHERE should I look?

One of the GREAT FLAWS of secular counseling (and sadly, many times “Christian counseling) is that there is NO FUNCTIONAL EXAMPLE of what NORMAL IS and DOES.

If you are going to help someone you have to say — HERE is NORMAL — compare yourself to that and see what changes must be affected. If we CAN’T do THAT — we are never going to help people.

JESUS is what a NORMAL human being is SUPPOSED to be like. JESUS is what you and I would be like without sin. We would love God — we would obey God — we would serve others — we would be humble — have complete on going trust in God — we would be compassionate — we would be generous with our stuff.

THE WORST THING we can do is to compare others to ourselves — say “I’M normal — and if people aren’t like me there is something wrong with them!”

THAT is what man does — and in that we attempt to define NORMAL humanity. And of course that is why you see the politically liberal defining the politically conservative as abnormal — the fashion conscious person defines the unfashionable as abnormal.

WHAT does a NORMAL person look like?

JESUS is NORMAL! HE is NORMATIVE!

ALL of US — ABNORMAL. We are SINNERS  — HE is NOT.

Had sin not come into the world, you and I would image God — reflect God — show God — like Jesus does.

ILLUSTRATION: John Calvin — “To image God means to REFLECT God like a mirror.”

God is LOVING — The earth should see that through us.

God is TRUTHFIUL — The earth should see that through us.

God is LOVING — The earth should see that through us.

God is MERCIFUL and COMPASSIONATE — The earth should see that through us.

God is JUST and HOLY and RIGHTEOUS — The earth should see that through us.

PROBLEM — Because of sin we DON’T mirror God well.

Jesus Christ is without sin — HE mirrors God perfectly.

If you want to know what you are supposed to look like — DON’T compare yourself to yourself — our your parents or your friends.

Compare yourself to Jesus — WHO is He? He is the One who has PERFECTLY imaged God.

QUESTION #7 — HOW do we do that?

In our everyday life this is worked out from two sides.

FIRST — it is the result of RELATIONSHIP with our creator.

Romans 8:29 For those whom he foreknew — he knew that He would make you and love you from eternity past.

he also predestined to be conformed to the image — there’s our word again — of his Son

For us to IMAGE God begins with the work of the Holy Spirit CONFORMING US into the IMAGE of Jesus — Who is THE perfect image bearer of God! Being made more and more like Jesus.

Our JOB is NOT to set up someone else as our normative example.

Neither is it our job to by our own strength TRY to act and talk and live more and more by Jesus.

Every day the Christian gets up and is seeking by the grace of God and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit to become more and more like Jesus — and bearing more fully and completely the image of God

SECOND — we make decisions to put off those things that hinder our life-changing relationship with God — and distort the reflection of the image of God.

Col. 3:9-10 ⁹Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices ¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

A Christian is someone who has PUT OFF an old way of living and has PUT ON a new way of living that has it’s source in the transforming power of the Gospel.

YOU PUT OFF lying and stealing because those things do not mirror God — God doesn’t lie! God doesn’t steal!

You might say — Well in my environment (inner city / third world / floor of the NY Stock Exchange) people lie and steal! WRONG environment! You should be in relationship with God.

You might say — Well my physical desires say… — WRONG desires! They’re corrupted!

Our GOAL — our HOPE is — to PUT OFF the old way of living and thinking, acting and feeling — and then LIVING OUT our NEW IDENTITY as God’s image bearers.

We are not gods — we are not animals — we are humans created in the image and likeness of God — to be in relationship with God and others and then mirror God to the earth.

LISTEN METRO — THIS TRUTH determines our moral decision making process!

Am I going to do this thing that God calls sin? THAT doesn’t mirror God! I shouldn’t do that.

Should I believe this — do this — feel this — think this — say this?

The real question is — Will that reflect God well to others? Will they see Jesus?

Or — Am I a broken mirror and don’t reflect God well — and when others see me they are getting a very distorted image of what God is like.

And when I make a wrong moral choice — when I sin — I need to REPENT of sin and TRUST in Jesus and ENJOY the process of Jesus putting together the proverbial broken mirror of my life so that more and more the broken mirror of my life can more accurately reflect the goodness of my God — that Jesus would be seen.

SIN is the equivalent breaking of the mirror — Salvation is the process where God by His grace puts the mirror back together so that people can see His image in us — so that our lives will be all about Jesus !

This reflecting of the image of God is culminated and perfected in death!

1 Cor. 15:49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust (The first Adam), we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven (Jesus — the 2^nd Adam).

In our next Credo study we will see how in our sin we reflect the image of father, Adam. But in Jesus we are able to image God better and better.

And then we will die (or be raptured) and we will rise be given glorified bodies and our minds and our hearts and our wills and our emotions will be fully restored to their intended state and we will we will forever be God’s PERFECT — non-corrupted image bearers forever.

All of life is enjoying the work of God enabling us to image Him in the earth.

HERE’S THE DEAL — When you make decisions ask this question: What will this reflect about Jesus?

What am I preaching with my life — my money —  my food — my sex — my drink — what am I preaching?

What am I preaching with my relationships — work ethic?

What am I reflecting and showing?

Is God pleased?

LAST QUESTION — What is a life that images God?

1 Cor 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

God made us in His image and likeness. Through sin the mirror was broken and we don’t reflect God well.

But through Jesus we see what it PERFECTLY looks like to reflect and image God.

By the power of the Holy Spirit we can be transformed so that we too can more and more reflect the glory of God on the earth.

THIS IS A GREAT LIFE. This IS LIFE.

It is LIFE when you are broke — when you are suffering — when failing hurting and dying. Because the question is NOT — how can I live a life that glorifies me? The question is — How can I act in such a way as to mirror Him? That means that the WORST parts of life can become the GREATEST opportunities to reflect the glory God. Not just love people  — but enemies. Not just forgive people for their minor wrongs against us — but the BIG ones. Not just fall apart into a pit of despair when suffering — but when suffering we can be like Jesus in His sufferings who brought glory to God the father.

The part of contemporary Christian theology that I hate most is that the JOY of the Christian life is to be rooted in someone or something other than the mirroring of Jesus!  That Jesus exists to give you everything you want and need! WRONG — We exist to give God the glory in everything and in every place!

THAT approach to the Christian life leaves Christians miserable because our joy is inextricably linked to mirroring Jesus and bringing HIM glory and honor!

Everything else is vanity — a chasing after the wind. It is a wild goose chase with no goose.

You are looking for something that can not be found — and that is joy and meaning and significance apart from doing what you were made to do — and that is to reflect the image of God to the earth and bringing glory to Jesus.

HERE is how we do image God

By submitting to God and to His authority — Admitting that He is God and you are not — do what He says.

BY worshipping God — He speaks and acts we respond.

We represent God — With truth and justice. We don’t simply accept people as they are

Some of you in the name of compassion and kindness say of your loved ones — well that’s the way they are. YOU SHOULD BELIEVE BETTER for them.

Why do you let your spouse live the way they are living? Well — that’s the way they are! THAT is not the way they were MADE to be. They were made to image God. So — lovingly and truthfully and respectfully speak the truth to them.

By serving God — By advancing His kingdom. By making  culture that glorifies Him as he commanded our first parents to do. By loving in your marriage. By living as a witness to the world. Jesus said — Let your light so shine that…..

By loving ALL people of ALL races — Racism says that some races are more like animals than humans. This is antithetical to the Bible. There are animals and there are humans. Humans bear the image and likeness of God — Animals do not. Racism is the logical extension of evolutionary thought. It is not Biblical thinking. In fact in Revelation 5 we see men and women before the throne of God who were redeemed from every tribe and language and people and nation

There is no place for racism or gender discrimination BECAUSE ALL People male/female — young/old — black/white — rich/poor ALL EQUALLY bear the image and likeness of God. Jesus died for ALL those people so that ALL of them could mirror Him and be with Him forever!

CHECK THIS OUT — We live in a world that cries out — we need racial harmony. QUESTION: WHY? If there is not God and we are the product of evolution — there is not guaranteed equality among the species.

REMEMBER the FULL title of Darwins book: The Origin of Species?

The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection; or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.

The cry for racial equality ONLY makes sense in the light of the Biblical account of creation! ALL men made in the image and likeness of God!

By respecting ALL human life — The weak — the powerless — the elderly — the unborn — the marginalized — those who struggle with disability.

WHY is that unborn kid — that elderly shut in — that person in a comatose state — worthy of my time energy money love concern and compassion? Shouldn’t we just leave them behind? NO — because they bear the image and likeness of God. And when extend compassion and mercy and care to them we are reflecting the image of God and we are honoring God who made them.

Look at a nation without Christian foundations or a nation that has abandoned Christian foundations — and they regard such as throw-aways.

THE ONLY WAY TO DO ALL OF THIS IS THROUGH RELATIONSHIP

FIRST — with God!

God is a loving Trinitarian community — and we have been made to experience loving relationship with Him!

You do that by repenting of sin and trusting Jesus.

Jesus is God, who became man.

He lived a life we should have lived and have not.

He died the death we should have died — and will not if we trust in Him.

Give your sin to Jesus — Have Him forgive your sin and send the Holy Spirit to make you into a new person who more and more — day by day — reflect the glory of God to the world. And when you die you will image and reflect the glory of God perfectly forever in your glorified body.

SECONDLY — You need to be connected to people because God said that it is NOT GOOD for you to be alone.

You need God and His people.

Before sin entered the world Adam had a perfect relationship and God still looked at Adam and said that it was not good for him to be alone.

So let us — as a church — come along side of you even as Eve came along side of Adam — that was his bride. The church is Jesus’ bride —let us come along side of you.

Be a part of the church family.

Don’t just come for goods and services (so-to-speak)

Church is the place where we reflect God’s image to others as a functioning community.

NEXT OPEN — FALL: God Judges

1. What about cavemen and dinosaurs? How do they fit in Biblically?
2. How do you explain the Biblical account of creation to an atheist who does not believe the Bible or in God?
3. How could there have been evening and morning on the days before the sun and moon were created?
4. How does one’s view of our origins affect our eschatology (view of the end times etc)?
5. What’s the explanation of the two different Genesis accounts of the creation of the woman? (ch 1 and ch 2)
6. What about those who say they are gay and are christian?
7. Is the Garden of Eden a real physical place?
8. Can you list or recap the 6 views of creation?

CREDO 3 – CREATION: God Makes

This is our third study in a series titled CREDO –

CREDO = Latin for I BELIEVE.

Tonight our topic is CREATION: God Makes.

We are going to look at HOW God made the heavens and the earth. We could spend 20-30 hours on the subject  — but we are going to try get our arms and hearts around it in about 1 hour! (BY THE WAY — You guys have been stellar in the first two studies as we have been dealing with TREMENDOUS truths and TREMENDOUS volumes of information — and you guys have been digging in to all of it! Last week someone said they felt like they were in a college class and loving it! Which blesses me as I have been so excited in my study and preparation for it.)

So once again Metro — lets PRAY and ask God for the work of His Spirit to ILLUMINATE these amazing truths to these finite and flawed minds to end that He will be exalted and worshipped and adored as the creator of the universe.
QUESTION #1 — What does the Bible say about creation?

FIRST — The Bible is a THEOLOGICAL HISTORY rather than a SCIENTIFIC TEXT BOOK.

This does not mean that the Bible doesn’t speak about scientific matters. It does — and when it does it speaks with absolute accuracy in those matters.

Here is what I mean — The Bible as a whole — and opening pages of Genesis in particular — are not an exhaustive scientific text book addressing every possible scientific concern or question involving creation

Instead — the Scriptures in general — and Genesis 1-2 in particular — are far more concerned with the questions of

WHO made creation

WHAT did He create — the heavens and the earth and all that is in them

HOW He made them

WHY he made creation —

Than it is concerned with the question of WHEN did He create them?
The Bible — and in particular our subject matter tonight concerning Genesis 1-2 — is a theological narrative written to reveal the God of creation. The account emphasizes God, not creation.

QUOTE: Galileo — “the Holy Ghost intended to teach us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go.”

The Bible opens with the words — “In the beginning God….” So it is a book about GOD and HIS WORK in the world throughout history.

As we dive in to the account of Creation we read “In the beginning God…..”

In our very first study in this series we learned about the Triune nature of God and we saw that each member of the Trinity was active in Creation.

We learned about the Targum Neofiti in which Jews in the 3^rd century BC saw Jesus in Genesis 1:1

Elsewhere the Scriptures declare to us that Jesus was involved in creation.

John 1:3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Col. 1:15-17 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. ¹⁷And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

We will also see in Genesis 1-2 God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit at work in Creation.

HERE is the OPENING verse of your Bible

¹In the beginning, God

Genesis 1:1 is absolutely amazing because it refutes all of man’s false speculations concerning the origin and meaning of the world

It refutes atheism — because the universe was created by God.

It refutes deism — Which says that God created and then removed Himself from all involvement in His creation

It refutes pantheism —  for God is separate from and transcendent to that which he created

It refutes polytheism — for one God created all things.

It refutes materialism — for matter had a beginning.

It refutes dualism (• the religious doctrine that the universe contains opposed powers of good and evil, esp. seen as balanced equals) — because God was alone when He created.

It refutes humanism — because God, not man is the ultimate reality.

It declares that God IS the ultimate reality.

(Morris, Henry. The Genesis Record Creation-Life Publishers Sand Diego, California)

CRUCIAL: The Bible is ABOUT God. History is ABOUT God. Life is ABOUT God.

We are now into our THIRD study and we haven’t even gotten to you and me. THAT is in total contrast to the course of this world in which man thinks that everything begins and ends with man (refutes humanism)  — And certainly — before coming to know Jesus — that was the way we viewed life — It was all about ME!

BUT — That is not what the Bible says. The Bible says first that GOD IS — (refutes atheism)
And then it says that GOD MAKES — and then it says that GOD MAKES US. God made us for relationship with Him — and apart from that we do not and can not understand ourselves or existence itself.

SO — FIRST we must know — who God is and about relationship with this God — because apart from that we can understand nothing about ourselves.

¹In the beginning,

rê’shı̂yth (ray-sheeth’) = the first, in place, time, order or rank

It is not about a defined or specified length of time — Rather it is a block of time which precedes an extended series of time periods.

It deals with the order or place that period of time occupies.

So in the beginning — over an indefinite period of time —

God created the heavens and the earth.

So — God is the CREATOR (refutes evolution)

CRUCIAL: Remember we said last week that God the Holy Spirit inspired not just ideas — but the very words of the Bible. So these words are very to our understanding of origins.

Created = bârâ’ (baw-raw’) means to create from nothing. It is different than the Hebrew word ‛âśâh (aw-saw’) translated as MAKE in verse 26

‛âśâh means to make out of existing materials.

Theologians call this “ex nihilo.” (eks ‘nē(h)əlō; ‘nī(h)əlō|)

ONLY God can create out of nothing. Man can only make things out of existing materials.

So —

In the beginning — the first, in place and time, the length of which is not specified

God created — made from nothing – “ex nihilo” (eks ‘nē(h)əlō; ‘nī(h)əlō|)

the heavens and the earth.

This is called a MERISM — A merism combines two words to express a single idea. A merism expresses ‘totality’ by combing two contrasts or two extremes”

EXAMPLE: In Psalm 139 the psalmist declares that God knows my downsitting and mine uprising. David is pointing to God’s knowledge of these two extremes — sitting down and rising up — to show that God knows everything about him. Since God knows David’s rising and sitting down, God must also know everything in between. Thus, “the concept of ‘everything’ is expressed by combining the two opposites ‘my sitting down’ and ‘my rising up’”

So God created from nothing the heavens = EVERTHING above — and He created the earth = everything below >>> the universe from nothing

QUOTE: The Genesis Record Morris p.38; 39 — “Thus, Genesis 1:1 can legitimately and incisively be paraphrased as follows: “The transcendent, omnipotent Godhead called into existence the space-mass-time universe.”

²The earth was without form

tôhû (to’-hoo) — It is used throughout the OT to speak of uninhabitable wilderness.

and void,

Jewish interpreters around the era 300-200 B.C. rendered tohu wabohu not as “formless and void” but as “desolate without human beings or beasts and void of all cultivation of plants and trees” Tohu wabohu conveys the idea of “uninhabitable wilderness” and not “formless and void chaos.”

So the earth is not viable to sustain human life at this point. God is not yet ready to create human life.

and darkness was over the face of the deep.

It is possible that the heavens and the earth were created before light.

Some think that God created at night. (The Jews marked their day from sundown to sundown. We will see the phrase The evening and the day)
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Here we see the Holy Spirit participating in creation —  preparing creation for human life.

QUOTE: If the universe is to be energized, the must be an Energizer. If it is to be set in motion, there must be a prime mover.” (Morris, Henry. The Genesis Record; Creation-Life Publishers Sand Diego, California; page 52)

So the Bible tells us about the BEGINNING of Creation.

It tells us that

God eternally exists

and that He created the heavens and the earth (everything above and everything below – all that is)

the land was not yet suitable for human existence — and so He prepares the earth to be a suitable habitat for mankind.

THAT is what the Bible says about ORIGINS.

That being said — we come to our next question

QUESTION 2 — What are the various Christian views on Creation.

In case you haven’t heard — there are differing opinions amongst Bible believing Christians on the subject of Creation.

Amongst those who believe that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” there are 6 basic views.
View #1 — Historic Creationism

This view holds that the earth is very old — older than human life. It holds that the earth was created at some point in eternity past and that over the course of 6 days He prepared the earth for human life and then as we will see in our next study that He created the man and the woman.

This view holds that the 6 days in Genesis 1-2 are literal. It says that the EARTH is old and that humanity is young.

It is called “Historic Creationism” — Because it traces back to Augustine.
View #2 — Young Earth Creationism

This view holds that God made EVERYTHING in 6 days INCLUDING the heavens and the earth. It holds that the earth did not exist for an indefinite period of time and then made the man and the woman and put them on the earth.

THEREFORE this position holds that the EARTH is very young and that human life is very young.

View #3 — The GAP Theory (a.k.a – ruin and reconstruction theory)

This view holds that the earth is very old and that there is a GAP between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2

Then, a catastrophic event — some postulate it to be the fall of Satan from heaven — left the earth in the destroyed condition of Genesis 1:2. God responded to this disaster by recreating the earth again a few thousand years ago in six literal days and repopulating the earth as is recorded in Genesis 1:3–27.

According to this view the earth is very old from the first creation and mankind is young because of the recent re-creation.

Those who disagree with this view do so on the grounds that nothing in the Bible speaks of two creations.

Those who hold to this view do so on the basis of Isaiah 45:18

¹⁸ For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!):

empty = tôhû (to’-hoo)

They argue that it is inconsistent for God to create chaos

The earth that was without form and void in Genesis 1:2 was not                                        so originally

When Satan was a sinless cherub, the earth was perfect. When he was cast out of heaven to the earth the earth then became a wreck and VOID.

View #4 — The Literary Framework View

In this view they say that the EARTH is very old and that HUMANITY is very young.

According to this view Genesis 1–2 are to be viewed, NOT as literal 24 hour days — but as a poetic — or literary framework explaining creation in a topical, not sequential, order.

The Literary Framework View is outlined here:

Forming

Filling

The MOST OBVIOUS PROBLEM with this view — Exodus 20:8-11 clearly states that the six days of creation are literal — it ties our seven-day week with one day of Sabbath to the six days of God’s work in creation and his one day of rest.

IF Moses — the author of Genesis — wanted to convey the idea of long ages — he could have done it far more clearly than he did. Moses is the author of both Genesis and Exodus. He is very consistent when making reference to literal days of creation.

(Exo 20:8-11) ⁸“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, ¹⁰but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. ¹¹For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

View # 5 — Day Age View

According to this view the EARTH is very old and HUMANITY is young. IN this view the days of creation are not to be taken as literal 24 hour days — but they are to be understood as AGES that conform to the geological ages postulated in the theory of evolution

Again — Moses in Exodus 20:8-11

NOTE: The geological ages are predicated on the fossil record. Fossils speak of suffering and death. THUS — The day-age theory would then accept the existence of death BEFORE sin. This contradicts the Bible which declares that death was God’s judgment upon sin (Romans 5:12; 1 Cor 15:21)

Following from that, the Day-Age theory assumes that suffering and death were an important part of preparing the world for man

Thus it pictures God as cruel and sadistic rather than gracious and loving.

View # 6 — Theistic Evolution

According to this view EVOLUTION is the correct view — only it is not the result of random occurrences taking place without the existence of God. Instead this view inserts God — as the creator of matter and overseer of the evolutionary process. This view also believes that species evolved over a long period of time, which requires an old earth.

PROBLEMS with this view

First — Genesis 1 repeatedly states that creation along with all of the species of life came into existence because “God said,” — not because of evolutionary processes. Genesis 1 also continually states that after God commanded creation to come into existence, “it was so” — thus, God’s commands brought about the instantaneous response of creation rather than a long evolutionary process detached from God.

Second — Evolution teaches that one species evolves into other species while Genesis 1 says that each species had offspring “according to its kind” (1:21, 1:24, 1:25) — NOT another kind — as the theory of evolution postulates.

Third — The rest of Scripture tells us that God is continually involved in the details of creation

including making the grass grow (Ps. 104:14; Matt. 6:30)

feeding the birds (Matt. 6:26)

feeding other creatures (Ps. 104:21, 25–30).

Scripture does not describe God as remote or only indirectly involved in creation.

QUESTION #3 — Which position does Metro take?

PREFACE: I am ALWAYS up for a lively discussion. Truth be told — I have been known to get heated in them! And truth be told — I HATE to lose a debate.

But we MUST be clear that there is a HUGE difference between debates WITHIN Christian theology and debates that are not Christian. Godly — Bible-believing — Jesus-loving people can and should graciously debate and discuss what Genesis 1 and 2 mean WITHOUT viewing one another as pagans if they don’t agree with their personal view. PLEASE KNOW — There is an enormous difference between discussing what the Bible says and ignoring it altogether. As we have just set forth —  Among Bible-believing — Jesus-loving Christians — there are 6 primary interpretations of the creation account in Genesis 1–2.

One guy uses this illustration that I find helpful. I will use it specifically as it relates to the subject of Creation.
Here at Metro there are things that we hold in a CLOSED HAND —while there are other things we hold in an OPEN HAND.

We are NEVER going to let go of what is in the CLOSED HAND. In that closed hand are for example— the Doctrines covered in our first CREDO studies

There is One God who eternally exists as three persons , Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Each fully and equally God. That is in the CLOSED HAND — NEVER letting that Go.

The Bible is true (the revelation of God to man – God breathed in its very words. That is in the CLOSED HAND — NEVER letting that Go.

There is One God who CREATED the heavens and the earth. THAT is in the closed hand — NEVER letting it go

There are some things that do not belong in the CLOSED HAND — they belong in the OPEN HAND — because they can be relinquished WITHOUT compromising anything in the closed hand.

In the OPEN HAND are things like “How old is the earth?”

We can DISCUSS those things and DEBATE those things in the OPEN HAND — but we will not divide on account of them!

One of the WORST things that can happen is for Christians who love Jesus and believe the Bible to take one of the six positions and make it their position — and say that if you don’t agree with their position, or have questions or doubts concerning their position, you are not truly a Christian.

I want to stress that Jesus-loving, Bible believing Christian brothers and sisters are welcome to fellowship with us here at Metro even if you do not hold to the position(s) we hold on this subject. Our only request is that you would not become divisive over this matter or seek to make your view the litmus test for Christian orthodoxy. REMEMBER — Paul says, we now see only in part and one day in Jesus’ presence we will know in full and be in complete agreement on this and all other matters.

Having said that — The answer is

NOT 4-5-6

I can safely say that the men in leadership here at Metro hold to 1-3 with a heavy leaning towards 1-2.

QUESTION #4 — What Does Creation reveal about God?

We have looked at the various views of what the Bible says — But here is the most important thing.

The Bible declares that IN THE BEGINNING GOD….

Psalm 19 — states that the heavens declare the glory of God and that ALL that God has made is like a sermon that day and night pours forth speech about the character of God.
Romans 1 — Paul says that the physical universe declares truth about the invisible nature and attributes of God (General Revelation)

1.) God is eternally UNCAUSED and PRE-EXISTS Creation.

2.) God is LIVING and LIFE comes from God.

3.) God is INDEPENDENT while creation is DEPENDENT upon Him.

4.) God is TRANSCENDANT from his creation

5.) God is IMMINENT and INVOLVED in His creation.

6.) God is PERSONAL and as He has made us (which is the subject of our next study) we have PERSONHOOD. We are not THINGS — We are people.

7.) God is POWERFUL and made EVERYTHING from NOTHING by Himself.

8.) God is BEAUTIFUL and creation reflects the beauty of God.

9.) God is ORDERLY and His creation reflects His order UNTIL sin enters in and mars everything that He made in an orderly fashion.

10.) God is GOOD — Everything that He made he declares as good. HE is not good AND evil — He is purely and perfectly good.

11.) God speaks (10 x in Genesis 1 “God said”) — God preaches His creation into existence by the shear force of His Word!

12.) God is good and everything that He makes is ORIGINALLY Good. (We will deal with the subject of sin two studies down the road.)

13.) God is GRACIOUS — He BLESSES His creation.

ALL of this is revealed in the creation account
QUESTION #5 — Are the 6 days of Creation literal 24 hour days?

Christians fight over this one like crazy!

As we read the creation account (Genesis 1:1-2:3) we do NOT see God CREATING on EACH of the 6 successive days — We do see him WORKING in ALL of them to PREPARE and ORDER life for human life on the earth.

Day 1 — v.3-5

God separated light from darkness and night

“Let there be light” — by the power of His Word He set electromagnetic forces into operation and completed the energizing of the physical universe

Day 2 — v.6-8

God separated the existing water by creating an expanse — the atmosphere between earth and outer space — Waters above the atmosphere and the waters below the atmosphere

God’s prepares the earth for habitation by man by a carefully designed atmosphere and hydrosphere
Day 3 — v.9-13

The waters under the firmament still constituted a shore less ocean.

On the 3rd day God prepared the land for human habitation by separating the waters on the earth (rivers lakes oceans)

God and then organized certain of the chemical elements of the earth into tremendously complex systems (plant life) — with an incredibly complex informational structure (DNA) that could replicate after it’s own kind

Day 4 — v.14-19

God creates the celestial sphere of stars planets and moons — serving the same purpose as the light of Day 1 — to divide day from night — with the added function of denoting time — seasons, days and years.

Day 5 — v.20-23

The first introduction of animal life — animal life in the hydrosphere and animal life for the lower atmosphere

Day 6 — v.24-31

God separated between wild and domesticated animals. Having fully prepared the earth for habitation of man God creates man.

Day 7 — God rested
THE question is — were these literal days — 24 hour periods?

There are those who would say NO — that it is poetry and as such can not be taken literally.

Well — There is poetry that is LITERAL and there is poetry that is figurative.

There are those who say NO — do so because they Hebrew word translated as “day” — YOM” — does not refer to a definite period of time. Which is true.

I do believe that they are literal days because

It says — On the first day — On the Second day — on the Third day. THAT looks like days to me.

It says that there was Evening and Morning — That describes a day!

In Exodus 20:11 we read this in the ten commandments

¹¹For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

The 10 commandments declare that God worked on SIX DAYS and then on the SEVENTH DAY He rested. And THAT establishes a SEVEN DAY WEEK for God’s people — SIX days of work and then a SABBATH day for rest.

THAT is why we have a SEVEN DAY WEEK!

You might say — We have a FIVE DAY work week. That’s because when our country was founded they couldn’t decide between the Jewish Sabbath of Saturday or the Christian Sabbath of Sunday (commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus) so they gave us BOTH.

ALL of that argues BIBLICALLY that these are literal 24 hour days.

QUESTION #6 — How old is the earth?

There are those who immediately say — “I know”

REALITY — The earth — unlike a can of Budweiser — did not come with a “born on” date!

There are those who hold to an OLD earth — and those who hold to a YOUNG earth. YOUNG — About 6,000 years — OLD — About 4.5 billion years — HUGE difference!

Those who hold to a YOUNG EARTH say they are trying to be true to the Bible. They follow the original work of a guy named James Ussher (1581–1656) Anglican Archbishop of all Ireland between 1625–1656.

He noticed in Genesis 5; 10; and 11 geneologies — each giving how long the people lived. So by way of geneologies he arrived at an age of the earth of about 6,000 years.

INTERESTING — Christians weren’t too interested in the age of the earth until the 17^th century — which is around the time scientists started trying to ascertain the age of the earth

There are those who hold to a young earth view because they disagree with the science. Examples — Dr. Henry Morris (Genesis Record); Dr. Gish (Evolution: The Fossils Say Know); Dr. A.E. Wilder-Smith (Natural Sciences Know Nothing of Evolution)

They say that the flood Genesis has so compressed the topography of the earth that it LOOKS very old.

They would also say that God made the earth MATURE — They look at Adam and say that God made man fully mature. On the first day he was made you would have looked at Adam and asked — How old are you? One day! WOW! You’re big for one day old.

Those who hold to an OLD EARTH say that Christians look funny when we say “we don’t believe science.”

They would also say that the Genealogies of the Bible were incomplete. Benjamin Warfield who was a Bible believing Christian scholar at Princeton said that he believed the genealogies were incomplete.

He held that they were lists of PRIMARY people through PARTICULAR generations.

Also — Those who hold to an OLD earth would say that in Genesis 1:1 — where it says that In the beginning God created   — that beginning is an indefinite period of time. They would say that it does not tell us the AGE of the earth and that the Bible is not concerned with the age of the earth. It is concerned about God the Creator and what He did to CREATE and then PREPARE the earth as a habitation for us.

Whether you think the earth is OLD or the earth is young is NOT the PRIMARY issue —

The primary issue is how old is human life on the earth!

I believe that the 6 days of Genesis 1:3-2:3 are literal and that mankind is YOUNG.

BY THE WAY — And I don’t say this to acquiesce with, or gain intellectual integrity with the atheistic evolutionists — But even atheistic evolutionists see man as YOUNG in an OLD earth. In fact, within the “scientific” community there has been a rapidly-descending “estimated age of the human race”, which starts at 10 million years in the late 1950s, and decreases to 43,000 in the mid 1990s. (Which, by the way, says something about the fluid state of scientific “fact”!)

Whether or not the earth is young or old — I’m not sure. You can hold to either and still be Biblical.
As for the 6 days of Genesis — I believe that they are LITERAL — And as we look in our next study at the creation of Adam and Eve I believe that that happened 6-7K years ago. We will see that human life comes from God.
QUESTION #7 — Where did creation come from?

Theologians use the term Ex Nihilo — Latin = From Nothing.

When my son Nathan was little — When God made the world where did He get all the stuff?

The Biblical answer is — He made it from nothing —  In the beginning God created — Barah — to make something from nothing.

We ask — HOW can you DO THAT? Well — you have to be God to do it? ONLY God can make something from nothing. We can Asah — make something FROM something (take wood and build furniture). We don’t SPEAK it into existence.

But this is exactly what is declared in Hebrews 3:11 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

QUESTION #8 — What are the problems with atheistic evolution?

You can see how we are talking a HUGE amount of information in a 60+ minute period of time.

CRUCIAL: By EVOLUTION we do not mean MICRO-evolution — evolution within a species. This is the ability of a SPECIES to genetically adapt itself to a particular environment. A reptile will adapt genetically to it’s environment — It will reproduce after it’s own kind but with necessary genetic adaptations for survival in a specific environment. We do accept MICRO-evolution. What we reject is MACRO-evolution — which says that one species evolves into an all together different species — that the reptile will evolve into a bird.

In school you were told that Charles Darwin spoke of this in his book ”The Origin of the Species.”

Did you know the FULL title of his book?

The full title of Darwin’s book (1859) is — The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection; or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. The underlying argument was that whites had out-evolved blacks and were superior. So the atheistic evolutionists are uncomfortable with and changed the title to hold on to their evolutionary position without the embarrassment of being called racists.

In our next study we will see that we all descend from Adam and that all races descend from the same father — thus there should be no racism.

Let’s look at the PROBLEMS associated with atheistic evolution.

PREFACE — As Christians we do not reject science — but we do reject Naturalism. Naturalism claims that

There is NO God. Nature is all that there is. The world is closed system. Everything is explained in terms of nature.

We reject Naturalism. Apart from a Christian world view you don’t even have the ability to do science BECAUSE without a Creator you can not have an orderly universe enabling man to use empirical science. ALL of that PRESUMES design.

PROBLEM #1 — Atheistic Evolution postulates that NOTHING made EVERYTHING.

THAT is the assumption of atheistic evolution. We understand this to be true in EVERYTHING we see. You walk into the den and see a bunch of empty snack wrappers and glasses with a bit of left over milk and you ask the reasonable question — Where did this mess come from? I don’t know — It just came from nothing!

Everything in your house — the car you drive — the stores you shop in. They ALL carry the assumption that they were made by someone. And the MORE COMPLICATED the thing is — the MORE INTELLIGENT we assume the designer to be! You see a lego building and you assume a child put it together. You see a skyscraper and you assume an architect designed it.

PROBLEM #2 — Atheistic Evolution postulates that Order came from Chaos

Explosions do not create order — they create chaos.

PROBLEM #3 — Atheistic Evolution postulates that there is NO designer behind things whose existence DEMANDS DESIGN.

The FINE TUNING argument is used by renowned physicist like Hugh Ross and biochemist Michael Behe that life on the earth — and the conditions for life on the earth are very finely tuned — that our bodies are finely tuned in an environment suitable for human life — and that if any of the variables for life were changed in the smallest of degrees — human life would be impossible. TO assume that such a finely tuned universe has no designer is antithetical to ALL logic and reason.

QUOTE: Who Made God p.58-59

“In the various fields of physics and astrophysics, classical cosmology, quantum mechanics, and biochemistry, discoveries have repeatedly disclosed that the existence of life depends on a delicate balance of physical constants and quantities. If these were to be slightly altered, the balance would be destroyed and life would not exist. Indeed, in many cases, not even stars and planets, not even chemistry, not even atomic matter itself, would exist, much less biological life. In fact, the universe appears to have been incomprehensibly fine-tuned from the moment of its inception to permit the existence of intelligent life.

For example, changes in the gravitational force or the electromagnetic force by only one part in 10 would have precluded the existence of stars like our sun, making life impossible. A decrease or increase in the speed of the expansion by only one part in a million million when the temperature of the universe was 10 degrees would have either resulted in the universe’s re-collapse long ago into a hot fireball or precluded galaxies from ever condensing, in both cases making life impossible. The so called cosmological constant, crucial to the development of our universe, must be inexplicably fine tuned to an accuracy of one part in 10 in order for a life-permitting universe to exist. These are just some of the many constants and quantities that must be fine-tuned if the universe is to be life-permitting.

And it’s not just each quantity that must be fine-tuned, but their ratios to one another must also be finely tuned. Thus, the situation is not merely like all the roulette wheels in Monte Carlo turning up with a certain set of numbers; it is more like all the roulette wheels in Monte Carlo turning up with a certain set of numbers—and those numbers also having to stand in certain ratios to each other. For example, the number on one wheel must be seven times the number on another wheel and one-third the number on another wheel. It is overwhelmingly improbable that a life-permitting universe should exist.”
PROBLEM #4 — Atheistic Evolution postulates that IMPERSONAL matter created PERSONAL humanity.

Our existence is MORE than just a brain (a biological organ). We have a MIND. We can THINK and REASON. How does that which is unconscious create consciousness?

PROBLEM #5 — Atheistic Evolution postulates that the UniNtelligent created that which is INTELLIGENT.

How can MATTER — which does not think — create life that does? More on that in our next study.

PROBLEM #6 — The ABSENCE of TRANSITIONAL fossils

The evolutionist explains the evolution of complicated, intelligent, personal life, from inorganic matter, by way of HUGE periods of time.

But if the process of evolution from GOO to YOU took billions and billions of years — the fossil record would include an inexhaustible record of TRANSITIONAL FOSSILS — fossils of long dead species that showed with unquestionable clarity what the transitional form between 2 species looked like. The fossil record is so VOID of such fossil forms that one guy came up with the “Hopeful Monster” theory. A reptile laid an egg an out came a bird!

PROBLEM #7 — No one has ever OBSERVED MACRO evolution

PROBLEM #8 — They assume that eternality of matter

2^nd Law of Thermodynamics says that the earth and the Universe are winding down to a conclusion.

QUOTE: Who Made God p. 25-26

PROBLEM #9 — The inescapable hopelessness and despair of Evolution

They say we come from no One and exist for no cause and when we die we go nowhere — and from that we are find a meaningful and purposeful life!

If you came from nowhere and you are going no where and you are here for no reason — and life is SHORT and NASTY — WHERE is the hope? What is the POINT?

QUOTE: Richard Dawkins — When Richard Dawkins was asked if his reductionist view of reality made him depressed, Dawkins replied, “I don’t feel depressed about it. But if somebody does, that’s there problem. Maybe the logic is deeply pessimistic; the universe is bleak, cold and empty. But so what?

PROBLEM #10 — It is bad science used to support biased opinions.

They FORCE science to fit a philosophical bias.

QUOTE: Dr. George Wald Professor of Biology @ Harvard University (Nobel Prize in field of Biology 1971) — One would think this is an objective man dealing withobjective scientific facts.

Scientific American, August, 1954 — ”When it comes to the origin of life, we have only two possibilities as to how life arose. (we agree with him on this) One is spontaneous generation arising to evolution; the other is a supernatural creative act of God. There is no third possibility…Spontaneous generation was scientifically disproved one hundred years ago by Louis Pasteur, Spellanzani, Reddy and others. That leads us scientifically to only one possible conclusion — that life arose as a supernatural creative act of God… (he keeps going — should have stopped there) I will not accept that philosophically (notice he said “philosophically — he didn’t say scientifically) because I do not want to believe in God. Therefore, I choose to believe in that which I know is scientifically impossible, spontaneous generation arising to evolution.”

He didn’t say — There is no God — He just said — I don’t want to believe in Him.

THAT is not conducive to drawing objective conclusions from indisputable facts!

When you say — I KNOW that God created the heavens and the earth the atheist will say you are basing your position on religious bias. REALITY — You are agreeing with the same scientific conclusion as a Nobel Scientist — Only you are doing what Wald WOULD not do — That is — YOU are submitting to objective fact and truth.

LAST QUESTION ( before your questions) — What is my alternative if I do not believe in Creation

Some might ask — WHY does any of this really matter. ANSWER —The question of ORIGINS is HUGE because where you come from determines where you are going and why you are here!

Paul says there are only TWO alternatives

Romans 1:18-31

¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

WHAT does is this “suppression of the truth?” We just saw that in Dr. Wald. “I know what the truth is but I don’t like it — It is an act of faith AGAINST God.”
⁹For what can be known about God is plain to them,

Well — How did He do that?

because God has shown it to them. ²⁰For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

When we see the creation we can learn something about the creator (REMEMBER — General Revelation)

²¹For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²²Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

²⁴Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵because

Here we come to the ALTERNATIVES

they exchanged the truth about God

THE truth = He is creator

for a lie

In the greek it’s THE lie — they exchanged THE truth for THE lie. There is ONE truth and ONE lie.

and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

WHAT HAPPENS when you do not worship CREATOR God, and instead worship CREATION as god?

You worship created things — Animals / environment. Ultimately you worship the human body because it is the apex of His creation!

WE WERE CREATED to be WORSHIPPERS. The question is NEVER “WILL we worship?” The question is always —

WHAT will we worship — To WHOM will we worship — pour our selves out — give ourselves?

HOW will we worship — pour ourselves out — give ourselves!

If we do not worship Creator God — We WILL worship our minds, our bodies, our emotions, our experiences, our possessions.

Sexual perversion is the result of rejecting the creator of the body!

²⁶For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. ²⁸And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. ²⁹They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, ³⁰slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³²Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

They make bumper stickers and have parades!

WHAT is the ALTERNATIVE to Creationism?

CRUCIAL: It is NOT the absence of spirituality — It is PAGANISM!

There is THE truth and there is THE lie!

QUOTE: Peter Jones — ONE-ism and TWO-ism

ONE-ism is THE lie. Satan comes to Adam and Eve and says — You don’t need God — YOU can be god!

Oneism says that ALL reality exists in one big circle — there is no distinction between creator and creation. This is the root of pantheism and panentheism. It eliminates distinctions.

The GOAL of One-ism is to do away with all distinctions! No God — just everything. THAT is why in Genesis 1-2 there are distinctions throughout. The Creator Himself remains separate and distinct from His creation. He distinguishes light from darkness – day from night. He divides the waters above from those below. He separates the sea from the land. He draws specific habitats. He engineers life to reproduce after its kind. God even creates humanity with distinction – male and female.
They work to have no distinction between mankind as the image bearers of God and the rest of creation (radical environmentalists — A tree has as much a right to live as a family — so they will burn down their homes — insist that scientific research on animals or plants aimed at saving human life are immoral) .

They work to have no distinction between right or wrong. There is no God outside of the circle Who says “That is wrong.” That drives post-modernism. There is no truth and error. There is no darkness and light. There is no truth and lies. It is all about perspective and ideology and culture.

QUOTE: Charles Manson — “If all is one, what is bad?”

They work to have no distinction between genders. Hence feminist agenda — the gay-lesbian-transgender-bisexual lifestyles.

They work to have no distinction between religions. So they have to do away with Jesus because He keeps saying that He is God! Let’s let Jesus be a nice guy/ good teacher — but NOT Jesus Who is God, the Savior. We need ONE religion. (Oprah and Friends)

They work to have no distinction between God and angels and Satan and demons. There is just spirituality! (Oprah – The Golden Compass)

They work to have no distinction in regards Divinity. We don’t have to look outside of ourselves for the divine. We look within to find the spark of the divine. My hope is not in God — My hope is in ME because I AM god!

QUOTE: Dali Lama — “The world use to believe there are two. We now know there is one.”

OTHER EXAMPLES:

Star Wars — Everything is connected to The Force which permeated all of the universe. The goal was not to know God but to be connected to The Force.

The Lion King — The award winning song “The Circle of Life.”

Man — trees — animals — ALL are IN the Circle of life. There is nothing outside of the Circle — no Creator — no Redeemer — no Savior — no Judge. No one is coming in to save us — fix us. It is ALL contained in the Circle of Life.

THIS is the lie behind the Native American drum circle — The way witches gather in a CIRCLE.

THE ALTERNATIVE IS Two-ism

THIS is the FOUNDATION for Biblical living. THIS is how we process reality! If you miss this you will not THINK as a Christian. You will think as a PAGAN. You will still be spiritual. You might still be religious. You might try to be moral. But you will NOT know the God of the Bible.

TWO-ism is the distinction between God and His creation.

THAT is the FIRST distinction!

How does the Bible begin? In the beginning God created.

We see as the FIRST declaration of the Bible that there are TWO things.

God and creation. God is eternal — creation has a beginning. God is INDEPENDENT — Creation is DEPENDENT upon God. TWO – not one.

DO you know that God made YOU?

You are NOT the result of an atheistic random process. You are made by a personal God.

DO you know that THAT God has a NAME — Jesus?

DO you know that THAT God saw that you and I sinned — that our first parents bought THE lie?

Yet He LOVED us and CAME for us. He did it SO HUMBLY by taking upon Himself our HUMANITY. Yet as a man he lived a sinless life. He NEVER EXCHANGED THE truth for THE lie. He went to the Cross where He suffered and died to PAY for your sins. Did you know that ONEism says there is no one outside of the circle? There is no one who cares — no one to save us!

If everything is the circle you have to say that NOTHING is evil! Murder and Rape are in the circle so they can’t be wrong.

Apart from THE TWO we are on our own! That makes every humanitarian cause a big joke! They are essentially a form of self-medication in the face of a belief system that says we’ve come from nothing and we are going to nowhere!

THAT is NOT reality. We come from the loving Trinitarian God of the Bible. We will see that we are made in His image and likeness. YES — we are to humbly exercise dominion over this planet that He prepared for US! But if we are driving down the road and we see in the middle of the road ahead of us a baby and a bird in cage and plant in a pot — we KNOW which one we are to try at all costs to miss. We see a distinction between the plant and the animal and the image bearer of God.

God the Creator entered into HISTORY because He KNOWS we have exchanged THE truth for THE lie.

He came to DIE in YOUR place — We want you to KNOW Him.

Revelation 4:11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

We were CREATED to worship Him. Jesus died on the Cross in order to REDEEMED us back to Himself — make a way for us to Worship Him.

CHRISTIANS — Please use this study and please use the reference materials you will find attached to this study at metrocalvary.org to lovingly — and humbly and prayerfully share with those who do not love Jesus and do not believe the Bible. Love them well and respect them when sharing with them or answering their questions/challenges.

QUESTIONS and ANSWERS

What are we to make of the TWO accounts of creation in Genesis?

There is one account of creation in Gen. 1 and there is another in Gen. 2

One of the reasons the western world has a hard time with the Bible is that we are accustomed to the way the west tells a story. We in the West are used to BEGINNING and then MIDDLE and then END.

Then we run into Gen 1 and Gen 2 where we find CREATION and then CREATION again. WHY is that? Because the Eastern way of telling a story is BEGINNING — MIDDLE — BEGINNING.

Look at your Bible.

Gen. 1-2 — Creation.

Revelation 21-22 — New Creation

Gen 3 — Judgment

Revelation 19-20 — Judgment

The Bible begins with God MAKING — Sin happening — Him judging sin. THEN it goes full circle to where He judges sin and then makes a new heaven and new earth.

EXAMPLE: Song of Solomon — Begins with her as a young girl. Ends with her as young girl. In the MIDDLE it talks of her courtship and marriage and life.

EXAMPLE: Judges is one big long run around a cul-de-sac.

Gen 1-2 gives the account of creation.

Genesis 1 is more cosmic and global —preparing the earth for man.

Genesis 2 — While revisiting some of the events of the first chapter makes the creation of man and woman the focus. We find the man alone — God bring the woman to the man — The first wedding — The first look of man at woman — The first speech of man.

How does Theistic Evolution undermine the idea that God created man in His image?

We will deal with this in great detail in our next OPEN.

But I will say this — Evolution says that over a long period of time man came into being — with consciousness and a mind and will and emotions. The Bible says in Gen 1:26-28 Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. ²⁸And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Very PERSONAL relationship! Genesis teaches that we did NOT come into existence by evolutionary process — chance or happenstance.

AMAZING — God SPEAKS everything into existence EXCEPT for the creation of Adam and Eve. With them He gets His hands dirty — if-you-would. (more on this next OPEN)

The Psalmist says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

By contrast — Theistic evolution makes man the result of impersonal processes — driven by God — but none-the-less detached and impersonal.

I think it ROBS God of His glory and diminishes the relational nature God with man.

How do we teach creation our children?

Jesus used TEACHABLE moments (Chuck on Mt. of Beatitudes)

The sun — the breeze — the stars: Let’s stop and thank God for it.

Zoo — God gave giraffes long necks to get the leaves from the TOP of the tree.

If the earth is 4.5 billion years old, what was going on until it was prepared for mankind?

REMEMBER — ¹In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ²The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

2 views

1.) GAP theory — There was a first creation that was wiped out — and then came a second creation.

Under that some think there was human and animal life that was wiped out.

PROBLEM — death is recorded before sin is recorded.

2.) The Bible doesn’t TELL us what was happening. Remember — Not a scientific text book but a THEOLOGICAL account of creation. That account sets the creation of man as the apex of God’s creation. Therefore it’s focus is NOT upon the AGE of the earth. It focuses primarily on Adam and Eve — and then speaks of the Fall of man and God’s promise to redeem mankind. Genesis then shifts fairly quickly on to the life of a man named Abram and God’s covenant with him pointing to the coming of the redeemer.

IF the earth is old — and IF something was happening it did not involve man.
Should we engage in debate with the atheistic evolutionist?

The Scriptures tell us that we are to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, MIND and strength.

We WORSHIP God when we study God’s WORD and study God’s WORLD. As you go into God’s WORLD you are to study it and understand it in light of God’s WORD!

EVERY believer is to be a MISSIONARY. We should be in ALL areas of culture bringing the love and truth of Jesus into every aspect of culture. Politics — Social Work — Arts — Applied Science (engineering/computer science) — the Sciences (chemistry / medicine). Those become the place where you WORSHIP God the Creator.

1 Cor 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

EXAMPLE: Isaac Newton —

ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA — In optics, his discovery of the composition of white light integrated the phenomena of colours into the science of light and laid the foundation for modern physical optics. In mechanics, his three laws of motion, the basic principles of modern physics, resulted in the formulation of the law of universal gravitation. In mathematics, he was the original discoverer of the infinitesimal calculus. Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), 1687, was one of the most important single works in the history of modern science.

Newton once said, “He must be blind… mad and senseless who refuses to acknowledge the Almighty Creator.”

In his home, Newton had built a replica of the solar system. He sized the planets and set

their distance to the sun according to scale. Isaac’s model had cranks, cogs, and belts – the planets moved in their orbits. One day an atheistic friend asked him, “Who made this brilliant replica?” Newton’s reply was abrupt, “Nobody.” The scientist laughed, “You didn’t hear me… Who built this amazing model?” Newton snapped back, “Nobody!” The visitor was offended, “Do you think I’m a fool?” Newton explained, “My solar system is a puny imitation of a grander system. If I can’t convince you this toy is without designer and maker, how can you believe the great original came into being without a designer or maker? What kind of reasoning draws such an absurd conclusion?”

Men like that can witness in the scientific realm —

Because we BELIEVE the Bible we want to ENGAGE the World.
What do we tell our biology teachers when they try to convince us that evolution is true?

FIRST  — Do your homework. By presenting an intelligent position for creation you will break down a lot of presuppositions about Christians.

They think that an Intelligent Christian is just like Grape Nuts —There’s no grapes and no nuts.

THEN — Ask questions to force them to defend their position (lovingly and graciously — not contentiously)

THEN — having done your homework you can build your position starting from their world and working towards yours — in that way you are not using the Scriptures as a battering ram to beat them up.

The Bible never speaks of the creation of angels. How did they come into existence?

We know a lot about the existence of angels — the ministry of angels — and the fall of some angels — But the Bible is SILENT on their creation! But they are created beings and we find those angels that remained loyal to God involved in the worship of God.
What about Dinosaurs? Where do they intersect the History of the Bible.

Those who want to find dinosaurs in the Bible go to Job and this creature named Leviathan. Those who want to explain their disappearance say that they perished in the flood. We don’t know because the Bible is silent.

Again — The Bible does not try to explain everything. It is very specific and very focused in it’s content. The Bible focuses in on God and His interaction with mankind and those people and histories involved in His plan of Redemption.

SO it doesn’t speak about dinosaurs because Jesus Christ did not come as a dinosaur. Jesus didn’t come to die on a cross to redeem dinosaurs. Jesus didn’t rise from the dead to invite all dinosaurs to live with Him forever.

THAT is why they aren’t center stage in the Bible’s account of God dealing with the problem of sin.

What does 2 Peter 3:5-7 suggests about the creation of the world? Does it speak of the earth’s destruction at the time of the fall — of Satan and Noah?

⁵For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, ⁶and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. ⁷But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the Day of Judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

The passage is dealing about a COMING and ULTIMATE day of judgment — that will include Satan and the demons. It says that the world got a taste of that back in the days of Noah.

The passage does agree with the Genesis account of creation.

The BIG point of the passage is that SOME escaped judgment in the day of Noah and many did not — and that SOME will escape the final judgment and many will not.

FOLLOWING from that  — HOW/WHY did Noah escape judgment  and how will some escape this future judgment?

WHY did Noah escape?

Genesis 6:5-8 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. ⁷So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Many think that in the days of Noah there were GOOD guys and BAD guys. You can tell the bad guys because they the ones who were swimming — and the good guys were the guys in the boat.

The moral of the story is “Be a good guy and when the final judgment comes Jesus will be like a boat and he will get you through the judgment.

THAT is not what the Bible says — it says — for I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

It is AFTER Noah experienced the grace of God that we read in chapter says that he was a righteous man. To prove Noah’s need for grace just look at the end of the story. He no sooner gets off the ark and we find him passed out drunk and naked.

The BIG point of the story is that EVERYONE DESERVES judgment and EVERYONE deserves to perish but God gives GRACE and because of that we are made righteous.

How does DEISM compare to Biblical creation.

Deism says that God made the world and left it. The world now is a closed system run by natural laws — and in such ruling out the supernatural and the miraculous. Jefferson went through the New Testament and literally CUT OUT all of the miracles (The Philosophy of Christ.)

The Bible gives a completely OPPOSITE few. The Bible says that there is not a bird that falls from sky that God doesn’t know about. The Bible says that God knows the number of hairs on your head. God causes the rain to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous.

The Deist says that God created and then abdicated His creation to nature.

Because God is removed from Creation and there is no supernatural they conclude that Jesus is NOT God incarnate and could not be born of a virgin — nor performed miracles — and there was no resurrection.

So the Bible says that God not only created — But He is graciously and intimately involved with His creation. He can and does over rule the physical laws of the universe because He is the Creator of them.

In that world view the supernatural and miracles are IMPOSSIBLE. IN that world view prayer is foolish because God is NOT personal and He is NOT involved and doesn’t care.

Deism has lost it’s prominence and has been replaced by pantheism and panentheism.
Does the Bible say WHY God created us and the earth?

The Bible tells us that we were made to glorify God — and THAT is all.

Paul said in Ephesians that we are to be to the praise of His glory.

As for the earth — It has been given to us to enjoy and be stewards over.

God does not NEED us — But He LOVES us! Isn’t that amazing!?

FOSSILS and EVOLUTION

Evolution occurred via Mutations. We understand that mutations are as a rule NOT favorable. Therefore the time required to have enough favorable mutations to transition from one species to another is begging the existence of countless failed mutations and countless successful ones. There are NONE.

QUOTE: Evolution: The Fossils Say No pg. 135 and 185

Who Made God?

QUOTE: Who Made God p.23; 25
EX NIHILO

SINGULARITY — QUOTE: Who Made God p. 54-55

“Then in 1929 an alarming thing happened. A scientist named Edwin Hubble discovered that the light from distant galaxies appears to be redder than it should be. The startling conclusion to which Hubble was led is that the light is redder because the universe is growing apart—it is expanding!

Therefore, the light from the galaxies is affected, since they are moving away from us.

This is the interesting part: Hubble not only showed that the universe is expanding but that it is expanding the same in all directions. To get a picture of this, imagine a balloon with buttons glued on it. As you blow up the balloon, the buttons get farther and farther apart, even though they are stuck in place. These buttons are just like the galaxies in space. As space itself expands, all the galaxies in the universe grow farther and farther apart.”

The staggering implication is that, as we go back in time, everything was closer and closer together. Ultimately, at some point in the finite past, the entire known universe was contracted down to a mathematical point, which scientists call the “singularity,” from which it has been expanding ever since. The farther back one goes in the past, the denser the universe becomes, so that one finally reaches a point of infinite density from which the universe began to expand. This initial event has come to be known as the “Big Bang.”

This event that makes the beginning of the univers3e becomes all the more amazing when one reflects on the fact that nothing existed before it. Nothing existed prior to the singularity, for it is the edge of physical space and time. It therefore represents the origin, not only of all matter and energy, but also of physical space and time themselves. Physicists John Barrow and Frank Tipler observe, “At this singularity, space and time came into existence; literally nothing existed before the singularity, so, if the Universe originated at such a singularity, we would truly have a creation out of nothing.” Such a conclusion is profoundly disturbing for anyone who ponders it.
For Further Study

For those wanting to study the issue of creation further, the following lengthy list of resources is intended to help guide your studies. By listing these resources I am not endorsing every single one but rather offering them as a breadth of perspectives that I have personally studied in an effort to come to my own conclusions about creation.

Detailed Studies of Genesis 1–2

Blocher, Henri. In the Beginning: The Opening Chapters of Genesis. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1984. Sailhamer, John. Genesis Unbound: A Proactive New Look at the Creation Account. Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah, 1996.

Commentaries on Genesis

Waltke, Bruce K. Genesis. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001. Sailhamer, John H. “Genesis.” In Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. Vol. 2 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, edited by Frank E. Gaebelein. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1990. Kass, Leon R. The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. Brueggemann, Walter. Genesis. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982. Ross, Allen P. Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1997. Calvin, John. Genesis. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2001. Moyers, Bill. Genesis: A Living Conversation. New York: Broadway Books, 2002.

Books Debating Views of Creation

Hagopian, David G., ed. The Genesis Debate: Three Views on the Days of Creation. Mission Viejo, CA: Crux Press, 2001. Moreland, J. P., and John Mark Reynolds, eds. Three Views on Creation and Evolution. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999.

Books on Creation and Intelligent Design

Strobel, Lee. The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005. Dembski, William A. Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science and Theology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999. Dembski, William A. The Design Revolution: Answering the Toughest Questions about Intelligent Design. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004. Woodward, Thomas. Doubts About Darwin: A History of Intelligent Design. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007. Witham, Larry A. By Design: Science and the Search for God. San Francisco, CA: Encounter Books, 2004. Morris, Henry M. Scientific Creationism. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2000.

Books Critiquing Evolution

Witham, Larry A. Where Darwin Meets the Bible: Creationists and Evolutionists in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Batten, Don, ed. The Answers Book: The Twenty Most-Asked Questions About Creation, Evolution, and the Book of Genesis Answered. Green Forest, AR: New Leaf Press, 1990. Johnson, Phillip E. Darwin on Trial. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993. Ham, Ken. The Lie: Evolution. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 1987. Denton, Michael. Evolution: A Theory in Crisis. Chevy Chase, MD: Adler & Adler, 1986. Wells, Jonathan. Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution Is Wrong. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2000. Johnson, Phillip E. Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997. Behe, Michael J. Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution. New York: Free Press, 2006.

Books on Particular Issues Related to Genesis

Ham, Ken, Carl Wieland, and Don Batten. One Blood: The Biblical Answer to Racism. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 1999. Whitcomb, John C., and Henry M. Morris. The Genesis Flood: The Biblical Record and Its Scientific Implications. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 1960. Lubenow, Marvin L. Bones of Contention: A Creationist Assessment of the Human Fossils. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2004. Jordan, James B. Primeval Saints: Studies in the Patriarchs of Genesis. Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2001. Johnston, Philip, and Peter Walker. The Land of Promise: Biblical, Theological, and Contemporary Perspectives. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000. Hubbard, Moyer V. New Creation in Paul’s Letters and Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Anderson, Bernhard W. From Creation to New Creation: Old Testament Perspectives. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2005. Robertson, O. Palmer. The Genesis of Sex: Sexual Relationships in the First Book of the Bible. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2002. Robertson, O. Palmer. The Christ of the Covenants. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 1981.

Books Seeking to Reconcile Science and Scripture

Ross, Hugh. The Genesis Question: Scientific Advances and the Accuracy of Genesis. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress Publishing Group, 2001. Ross, Hugh. The Creator and the Cosmos: How the Latest Scientific Discoveries of the Century Reveal God. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress Publishing Group, 2001. Ross, Hugh.