Essentials Part 6

Teaching #6. October 29, 2006.

I am posting my notes on Pastor Mike’s teaching from Sunday, October 29th. These are MY notes. Not a transcript. Not his notes. Any misquotes, mistakes, or mystifications are my fault (or something like that). All verses are from NASB 1995 unless noted.

Essentials #6: Salvation (part 1)

Salvation has 2 key components. What do you need for salvation to happen ?

1) Need a savior. This is Jesus
2) Need a “savee.” The “savee” is me (all of us “me’s”).

Observation: We do not use the words salvation or savior in everyday conversation. Unless one is talking about life guards or the Lord Jesus.

Matthew 1:20-21
20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
21 “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

"Jesus" [Bill's concordance - Yehoshua or "the Lord (Yhvh) is salvation"] was named Jesus because He was meant by God to save Israel from their sins. But Israel was looking for a political savior. A person who would end the wars, and save them from the oppression that they suffered.

Matthew 8:25. And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!”
And
Matthew 14:30. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Both times the disciples were “perishing.” And they asked Jesus to save them.

Luke 1:46-47
46 And Mary said:
“My soul exalts the Lord,
47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

Mary was exalting in God because He was her savior.

Luke 1:67-71
67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:
68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,
69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of David His servant—
70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old—
71 Salvation from our enemies,
And from the hand of all who hate us;

God has “accomplished redemption.” Redemption is a form of salvation. Zacharias prophesied that God, through Jesus, would save His people.

John 3:17. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”

When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, He was declaring salvation.

John 4:22. “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.”

John 4:42. And they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”

Both of these are from the Samaritan woman at the well. Salvation was from the Jews, but it was meant for all people.

John 1:1-4
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

Genesis 2:7
7 Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Genesis 1:26a. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image...”

"In Him (Jesus) was life.” Life was breathed into us, man. And this life was breathed through Jesus. The plurality of God, creating man and breathing life into us. Jesus was and is a life bringer.

John 1:5. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Jesus is light, but man does not comprehend Him, the light, because we are in the dark.

John 1:6-9
6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.
8 He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.
9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.

John the Baptist bore witness to the light that was coming. All of us are filled with darkness; but the light illuminated all men.

John 1:10-11
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.

The Light came into the world, but the world did not comprehend it or acknowledge Him. Even though He was the bringer of life, coming to those who were His, they still did not receive Him.

John 1:12-13
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

“But...” “s many as received Him...;” so some did recognize Him. How?

All of the nation of Israel was the blood of Abraham. But that blood was not enough. (Example: there are problems in all families. The members of a family are related by blood, but there are still divisions and disunity). Jesus came to His “blood” (His family, Israel) and they did not receive Him.

“The will of the flesh” is normal procreation; flesh begetting flesh. “The will of man” is the attempt to be righteous by the law. The ones who operated this way could not see/comprehend/recognize/receive Jesus.

Only those who are “born of God” could receive Jesus.

1 Peter 1:1-2
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen
2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

Three steps to salvation:
1) “Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God.” [Mike gave a demonstration. Three children volunteered/were chosen by Mike to receive a gift, by redemption. That is, by redeeming a worthless thing for a “valuable” thing (an Oreo cookie). Mike knew before hand what the gift would be, and what he would redeem it for. However He did not know which 3 children out of the church would get the gift.]

2) “Sanctified by the Holy Spirit.” Sanctified - set apart, made holy, consecrated. God did it. There is a difference between God’s choice and our decision to participate. That comes later. Even the faith to believe comes from the Holy Spirit.

We are in total darkness. We did not have any light in us, nor any desire for light. The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit was predetermined. We did not seek Him first. But He chose us.

3) “Sprinkled by the blood” [for the remission/cleansing of sins.]. An Old Testament reference. The high priest, after killing the sin sacrifice, sprinkled the blood on and around the altar. This cleansed the sinner.

Romans 5:12-21. Read this on your own. It shows the link between sin and death. In the Garden of Eden, Satan said, “Surely, you will not die.” The sin of disobedience brought death to Adam and Eve. But what kind of death. The survived eating the fruit.

Genesis 2:7. Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

The word “life” there is plural in the Hebrew. “God...breathed...the breath of lifes.” There was a physical life breathed into man and a spiritual life breathed into him at the same time. When Adam and Eve sinned, the spiritual life was the one that died. The physical life endured on, but without God.

John 3:1-7
1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;
2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

1) “God is with You.” A testimony to what this man saw in Jesus
2) “You must be born again.”
3) This confused Nicodemus (actually it “amazed” him). One cannot enter a second time into a mother’s womb? Nicodemus was thinking of being “born of the flesh,” not “born of the spirit.” He did not see that he needed to be spiritually alive.

“Again” - there are two words meaning “again in Greek
1) “palin” - “again,” “back,” or “further.” It means “again” in the sense of “to repeat an act.”
2) “anothin” - this can be translated as “again” and as “from above.” It means “again” in the sense of “the same as the original act.” In other words, to be “born again” means the way we were in the Garden, both physically and spiritually alive. We need to be born from “above,” and born “anew.”

John 3:5. Born of water and the Spirit. What does this mean?
1) “Water” could mean “Washing with the water of the word. Or it could mean the water of baptism. Or it could mean the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is often likened to water (John 7:37-39 and Isaiah 44:3).

2) The word “and” usually is a conjugation meaning “both.” But here, the Greek word means “and” or “even,” They had to be born of ‘water, even the Spirit.” In other words, it emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit in the being born of God

Being born of flesh, begets more flesh. Being born of the Spirit begets spirit.

Jesus is spelling this out to Nicodemus. We can be born again, from above, by the action of the Holy Spirit.

Why was Jesus saying this to Nicodemus? Nicodemus was a respected teacher. But he was stunned, marveling. He did not get it.

John 3:7 “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

The “you” here is plural. ALL of the rulers, all of the ruling elite of Israel needed to be born again. In talking to Nicodemus, Jesus was talking to the heart of the Jewish nation.

Nicodemus had snuck out, in darkness, because the elite had rejected Jesus. But the Holy Spirit was working in him, and he had to ask, had to find out who Jesus was and what He was doing.

Why was Jesus talking about being “born again” here? He could have said anything to Nicodemus. He said all kinds of things in response to the questions He got. Even other questions from the elite. He was telling something new to Nicodemus.

To be continued, next week.

Essentials, Part 5

Teaching #5. October 22, 2006.

I am posting my notes on Pastor Tom’s teaching from Sunday, October 22th [Update - I originally had the date wrong.]. These are MY notes. Not a transcript. Not his notes. Any misquotes, mistakes, or mystifications are my fault (or something like that). All verses are from NASB 1995 unless noted.

The Holy Trinity

“Lord, open Your word to us. We need You.”

If God is th way He is, in the ways that He has revealed Himself, the who is He?

Genesis 1:1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

“God” (Hebrew is “Elohim”) is a plural, masculine noun, but the verb is singular. “In the beginning, Gods is creating...” This is the first of His names that God revealed. This name is used throughout Genesis 1 and is used over 3000 times in the Old Testament.

Deuteronomy 6:4. “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!”

This is the “shema.” It is repeated everyday by devout Jews.

In other words, in the 4th word of the Bible, there is a conflict. How can God be one and also be more than one? Can I understand that? No. Can I believe that? Yes. It is a faith thing.

Who is Elohim?

In the fourth word of the Bible we are introduced to the Trinity, the plurality of God who is one God. There is a plurality, but there is also such a unity in love that They are one.

Elohim - the strong God, three strands woven together (Ecclesiastes 4:12b. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.). The One who swears by Himself a covenant oath.

Trinity: Immutable, unchanging, from eternity to eternity.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All three separately identified as deity. (An example from nature might be water. It can be solid, liquid and gas all at the same time.

God as Father. This is the most widely used and understood version of God in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Isaiah 64:8
But now, O Lord, You are our Father,
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all of us are the work of Your hand.

Matthew 3:17
17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

In John 5:17-47 (end) there is a weaving together between Father and Son.

17 But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”
18 For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.
20 “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.

And so forth.

26 “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;
27 and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.

And so on.

Romans 1:1-7.
1 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures,
3 concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh,
4 who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,
5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake,
6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;
7 to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

“God our Father” and “His Son,” “Jesus Christ our Lord.” Separate, yet united.

One Son, identified as God.

John 10:30. “I and the Father are one.”

This is the “shema,” re-spoken and re-emphasized. Greek is more literally: “I and the Father, one We are.” Also, “I and the Father, are one in essence.”

Jesus made clear His oneness with God the Father, that He and God were one essence. This is why “the Jews” tried to stone Him.

John 14:7-11
7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”
8 Philip *said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
9 Jesus *said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
10 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.
11 “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.

Again, the interweaving of the Father and the Son. “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” They are united, sharing all things.

Colossians 1:13-18
13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16 For by Him (Jesus) all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

Jesus is the image of God; the worlds were created by Him, through Him and for Him; the kingdom of God is the kingdom of Jesus; etc.

Philippians 2:6. Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped...

Hebrews 1:3a. And He (Jesus) is the radiance of His (the Father’s) glory and the exact representation of His (the Father’s) nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.

Again, Jesus, the Son, interwoven with God, the Father.

The Holy Spirit.

"Father" is an easy and natural concept to get a hold of. We all had fathers, even if we did not have the same experience with them. Fatherhood is understandable. "Son" is also an easy concept to get a hold of. We can naturally see both fathers and son.

But we have a lot more problem with the idea of “spirit.” We can see the effect of the wind, feel it; but our senses (and understanding) falter with God the Holy Spirit.

John 14:16-17
16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

The Spirit that the world does not and cannot know.

Matthew 3:13-17
13 Then Jesus *arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him.
14 But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”
15 But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he *permitted Him.
16 After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,
17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; all here together, but all pictured in different ways.

John 15:26. “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me..."

John 16:13-15
13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
14 “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.
15 “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

Again, all three together. The Holy Spirit acting like Jesus did, revealing the Father and the Son.

Context: In John 16:7-15, Jesus identifies Himself 13 time, God the Father twice, and the Holy Spirit 15 times.

In all these places, the Holy Spirit is identified as a person, a “He,” and being. Not as an “it” or a thing.

Acts 2:32-33
32 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.
33 “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came upon the church. He was poured out. The Holy Spirit isGod.

2 Corinthians 3:17. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

The Holy Spirit is truly God.

Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

“In the name (singular) of the Father and then Son and the Holy Spirit...”

It is essential to hold the proper faith and doctrine about God: One God, three in one. All cults have something screwy, doctrinally, about the Trinity. They deny the divinity of one or another, or of two persons of the Trinity.

Essentials, Part 4

How does show His love for Man?

Teaching #4. October 8, 2006.

I am posting my notes on Pastor Mike’s teaching from Sunday, October 8th. These are MY notes. Not a transcript. Not his notes. Any misquotes, mistakes, or mystifications are my fault (or something like that). All verses are from NASB 1995 unless noted.

Also. There are several times in the notes below that Mike quotes a passage without necessarily giving the scripture. I put the scripture and/or scripture reference in.

How does God show Himself, and His love, to broken humanity?

Have you ever tried to convince someone that you love them, if they do not believe you? God is trying to reach out to us, to tell us of His love.

However, we are busy thinking about ourselves, and what others may be thinking about us. We do not believe them where they try to tell us that they love or that they approve of us. Yet we desperately desire their approval. We were designed to bask in the love and approval of God. But we are broken.

1 Corinthians 13:12. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.

We see “in a mirror darkly,” even on our best days. We only see little glimpses of Him. We have trouble seeing His love and approval. God desires us to see Him. We are like a person with very poor eyesight.

What are some of the ways that God has come to us and revealed Himself to us?

In Genesis 3:1-19, according to the story of the Fall, we exchanged the abundance and blessing of the Garden of Eden for hard-labor and the curse of the Fall. God commanded us to be fruitful and multiply, but we exchanged that for childbirth with pain and difficulty.

In the Garden, Eve was the perfect helpmate. On the other side of the Fall, we now remain married only with great labor. It is not labor to maintain a relationship, especially one such as marriage.

In the Garden, Adam and Eve had joy in their labor: tending the Garden, naming the animals, being with each other, being with God.

Also, Adam and Eve had a God-given purpose in life. Do we struggle with purpose? On the other side of the Fall, of the Garden, of the apple, we struggle with purpose. “Young people, what are going to do with your lives?”

Adam and Eve had a relationship with God that was easy and open. They talked with one another. On the other side, they (and we) hid from God. Fallen man hid, fallen man blame-laid, fallen man found fault with God and God’s creation.

So man falls headlong into total self-absorption.

Genesis 4:1-8. Cain and Abel. Cain envied Abel’s relationship with God. He envied God’s approval of Abel. All he had to do was to “do good.” But he killed Abel instead.

Genesis 6:5-6
5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

The knowledge of good and evil that Man had acquired did nothing to help man see God. It did nothing to help Man be good. And God grieved over His creation.

Genesis 6:7-8
7 The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.”
8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

God grieved, but...

But what? “Noah found grace...”

Genesis 9:1-2
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
2 “The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given.

Again, “be fruitful and multiply.” God’s purpose had not changed.

Genesis 9:9-17
9 “Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you;
10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth.
11 “I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations;
13 I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.
14 “It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud,
15 and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 “When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

God establishes His covenant with Noah and Man. God’s rainbow is the sign of that covenant.

A covenant is a promise with some sort of sign or exchange.

Why didn’t God wipe out everyone and start over? Because of His love and because he found one person, Noah, who would listen to Him. So he made an agreement, a covenant, with him that Man and the whole earth would live. God locked Himself into an agreement to love the whole earth.

Since then, he has chose to pusue us with His love. He has pursued all of Noah’s descendents with His love. He could have wiped us out, but He has chose to love us.

The Promise (#1).

Genesis 12:1-3
1 Now the Lord said to Abram,
“Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
2 And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
3 And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Abram had a promise that God was going to bless the whole earth through him.

The Promise (#2)

Genesis 15:4
4 Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.”

The promise of a son to carry who will carry out the first promise.

The Covenant

Genesis 17:1-5
1 Now when 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.
2 “I will establish My covenant between Me and you,
And I will multiply you exceedingly.”
3 Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,
4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you,
And you will be the father of a multitude of nations.
5 “No longer shall your name be called Abram,
But your name shall be Abraham;
For I will make you the father of a multitude of nations.

Abram becomes Abraham.

Genesis 17:15-16
15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
16 “I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

Sarai becomes Sarah.

God comes to people. He makes agreements with them. He makes exchanges: new names, fruitfulness for barrenness, promises for despair. He reveals Himself to people and blesses them.

Another Covenant

Exodus 6:1-4
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land.”
2 God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord;
3 and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, Lord, I did not make Myself known to them.
4 “I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned.

God had given Abraham land and promises. Here, He is exchanged His own names. He had been known to Abraham as “God Almighty.” Now, He was revealing Himself to Moses as “the Lord” (YHWH). He reveals Himself by revealing His names.

Did He do this because God has trouble revealing Himself, or because Man has trouble seeing Him.

God gave Israel a sign, circumcision. But not all who received the sign obeyed God or looked for His blessing.

Deuteronomy 6:1-3
1 “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it,
2 so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.
3 “O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

God revealed Himself to Israel by giving them His laws. “If you live this way (according to the commandments, etc.) you will be blessed.” These commandments, etc., came from God through a man, Moses. God showed His love for His people by blessing them with the Law.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9
4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!
5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
6 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.
7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
8 “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.
9 “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

In other words, “Do as I say.” Why? Because God orders it? No. Because He reveals His love for them, showing that He is concerned about all of the details of their (and our) lives.

This is just the old covenants. Not the new covenant that we live under.

The New Covenant

Jeremiah 31:31-34
31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.
33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
34 “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

The new covenant (the one that Jesus made). He “took them by the hand” is a statement of His love and His tenderness for Israel. He was like a husband to them, which is another picture of tenderness.

Under the new covenant, he would show Himself and His love for His people.

Essentials, Part 3

Teaching #3. October 1, 2006.

I am posting my notes on Pastor Tom’s teaching from Sunday, October 1st. These are MY notes. Not a transcript. Not his notes. Any misquotes, mistakes, or mystifications are my fault (or something like that). All verses are from NASB 1995 unless noted.

Also. There are several times in the notes below that Tom quotes a passage without necessarily giving the scripture. I put the scripture and/or scripture reference in.

The Heart of Man

Review of Essentials #2 on evil.

We do not like to look at ugliness, and that includes evil. I do not like to look at these things. But it is important to understand these things.

Evil is not the opposite of good or God. Evil is the absence of God Himself. Sin is the action of evil on the goodness of God’s creation.

The satanic question, “Has God said?” [Genesis 3:1] is really, “Does God love?” “Does He really have my best interests at heart?” It is the accusation, the question that separates and divides.

The arena of our battles is in our heart.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ...

Ever try to change your thoughts? To stop thinking certain thoughts? We can’t. We are immune to change.

The goal of evil was to divide our heart, to separate us from God.

Where does evil act? Where does it actually happen? I can learn about all of this, but it is not enough. I do not need more information, I need a revolution.

We are born in sin, divided, separated from God.

Rightness vs. wrongness has to do with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Righteousness has to do with the tree of life. Righteousness is connected, throughout the Bible, with life. We ate from the wrong tree.

Ephesians 4:17-20
17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,

Futility, separation, ignorance, hardness. This is the way we are before we “learned Christ.”

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24. A benediction:
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24 Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

God will sanctify us entirely. He will do it. We cannot change ourselves.

“Spirit and soul and body” - we are 3-fold beings.
The body is the exterior visible part. It is the part called the “temple.”
The soul or “psyche” (Greek) is the mind, will, intellect, emotions, our personality, or character. It is who we are, our uniqueness.
The spirit.

Donut analogy: The outer ring of the donut is like our body, our flesh. It is easily damaged. The inner ring is the soul. It is sturdier, harder. The “hole” is where the spirit should be. This is what died in the Garden of Eden. The place of unity with God, of fellowship, of communion is dead and empty inside of us.

Ephesians 2:1-3
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

What we were like before we met Jesus. When you cry out, “Jesus, I want You to be Lord of my life,” the Holy Spirit comes in to live in us. It is then that our spirit comes alive.

Where does the heart fit into this? We live in the futility of our minds. “If it feels good, do it.” Have you ever heard that? Isn’t that they way we live without Jesus?

Hebrews 4:12. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The word of God shows us reality. It judges the thoughts and intentions.

The heart is the centrality of our psyche. The part that we cannot control, the innermost part of our soul.

How did the heart get this way? The action of “sin on the goodness of God’s creation.” We are evil before we met Jesus. We are corrupt, and no amount of “buffing us up” is going to make us acceptable in God’s eyes.

The damage to our heart is irreparable. It cannot be fixed. Our heart can only be exchanged.

Jeremiah 17:9.
“The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?”

Mark 7:17-23
17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable.
18 And He *said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him,
19 because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.)
20 And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.
21 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,
22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.
23 “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

Out the heart proceeds the evil things that defile man. Our heart is corrupt. We cannot change ourselves. We need to be changed by God.

We have a dead spirit. We have a soul that can see good and evil. And we have a hardened and deceitful heart. What is the result?

1 John 3:19-20
19 We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him
20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.

We have a process operating inside of us to condemn us. We do not need someone else to condemn us. We condemn ourselves because we know good and evil, and know that we are evil.

Psalm 73:7b. The imaginations of their heart run riot.

Hebrews 3:12. Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. (NASB)

Hebrews 3:12. [Therefore beware] brethren, take care, lest there be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart [which refuses to cleave to, trust in, and rely on Him], leading you to turn away and desert or stand aloof from the living God. (Amplified)

“An evil, unbelieving heart.” Evil is linked to unbelief. Unbelief is sin, grinding away at the perfection of God’s creation.

“Has God said?” Adam and Eve went from belief to unbelief. Belief and unbelief are not opposites. Unbelief is the vacuum, the emptiness that remains when one does not believe.

The unbelieving heart refuses to cleave to the living God. It rejects life, the tree of life. It stands aloof and refuses to trust in God. These are the symptoms of the unbelieving heart.

The bad news is that we have a damaged heart. The good news? Next week.

Jeremiah 17:9-10
9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?
10 “I, the Lord, search the heart,
I test the mind,
Even to give to each man according to his ways,
According to the results of his deeds.

The heart is sick and deceitful. And after God searches the heart, He will judge.

Ephesians 1:15-17
15 For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints,
16 do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers;
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

We need a spirit of wisdom and revelation.

Revelation happens at the level of the spirit. It is spirit communing with Spirit

Romans 12:2a. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind...

John 7:38. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’"

The squeeze play. We know and learn with our minds, and our minds are being renewed and transformed. And from the inside, the spirit begins to flow with living waters, out of our innermost places.

Ephesians 3:14-19
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Romans 10:9-10
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Despite all that is wrong with the heart, the only place that “saving faith” can occur is in the heart. The heart was created to believe. The tragedy of the heart is that it is believing the wrong things. The heart is going to believe whatever we fill it with.

Do you see why the heart is such a battleground?

The Lord has called us to the daily battle of giving our hearts to Him.

We do not what to get a little better. We were mastered by sin and evil. We need to learn, day by day, to triumph in the Lord.

1 John 3:1. See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

What great love You have that You would reveal all these things to us.

Update to Teaching #2

A friend of mine got this quote, which I missed: "Legalistic Christianity is man's attempt to regulate his sinfulness."