Sunday Night, July 22, 2018 PM

Yes, you have to get to know the story. Rightly divide the Word of God. It takes a little bit, you got to study it.

But yeah, that's a good point that James brings up. Sometimes you need to be a little bit careful and read read closely, right?

Good question. Yes, Joel.

Hmm, Y10 in particular. So when we look at the plagues and we think of the gods of Egypt and we read closely in Exodus it was the intention of God to show the the falseness, the deadness of the

Egyptians gods by targeting each one in successive order with these plagues.

Dwight, I know it's been many many weeks since you've taught in Exodus, but did you all go over the plagues? Did did did did did did did did

Norm ask you why there was 10? Yes Well, and you think about you think about just you know an orderliness and an ease of memory and just how often do we see 10 in the scriptures, the the 10 words, the

Decalogue, the 10 commandments, the 10 plagues and so on. It, you know, it's a nice round number for those of us who have all our fingers left.

Sorry but we but certainly you can see you can sense a completeness, right?

A completeness. Isn't that the idea of the 10? It's a it's a fullness. There's a completeness to it that God completely defeated the gods of Egypt.

There was a finality to it. And you know,

Israel never never hoisted a spear, never shot an arrow, and they plundered

Egypt because of the completeness with which God defeated Egypt and their false gods.

They knew it wasn't

Israel. That's right.

To help Joel. Yes, Miss Wiley. Yeah, there is.

There is. In Jewish apocalyptic literature, numbers are often adjectives in the completeness and the fullness and those things.

So but you see that God is a God of order and you see in the way that he accomplishes things how thorough he is.

All right. Oh, Norm. Oh, Norm and Jeff. Tygo's the runner.

I Right, but it's about it's about acting in conscience and people can tell that and so the notice it says in verse 28 of 1st

Corinthians 10 But if anyone says to you this meat is sacrifice to idols do not eat it or in this case norm

Don't continue to eat it if you find out For the sake of the one who informed you For the sake of the one who informed you and for conscious sake

Part of this is okay idols This meat offered to idols

Paul says You know it if you eat this meat offered to idols, is it going to poison your bloodstream?

No, this is just this is just cooked meat but It will it will go against conscience to stumble someone

In thinking that you are participating in the worship of idols which

Paul says is demon worship so for the sake of the clarity of the gospel for the sake of a clear distinction between the church and the world there are some things that If you if you understand that this is going to stumble someone

Then you don't do it So that's I think that's what the the idea is.

Yes, Jeff Yeah, what we have here is probably have here a couple of different issues, right?

so one's going to be a pastoral issue and one's going to be A theological issue if we have someone who?

Has Believed in Christ and they're born again. Okay, and You know

They what they know of Christ and is essential of who he is he's the Son of God He's he died on the cross for their sins

So they could be saved They may have you know a week later a really bad day and Like this isn't working

Okay, and they may not understand what's going on. They may feel unsteady spiritual infancy in the

Bible talks about instability That there's just this, you know,

I you know, don't feel very stable and that's what we're called to grow out of spiritual infancy into maturity

So obviously someone who is Who is a Christian can have some issues about assurance.

Am I still saved? Okay, as they as as their understanding of the gospel is continually sanctified as they come to know more and more of who

Christ is That that lack of assurance is going to go away But you think about first John How often in first John does the

Apostle try to help? his parishioners understand their assurance

Okay, that's that's that's a needful thing as part of our sanctification not just our behaviors, but also our beliefs

Not only what's uh on the outside externals But also the inside that we that we are we grow in that assurance and that confidence

That he will hold us fast Okay um Remember talking to a man who was a new christian

Um, and he talked about how he felt like he was falling in and out of grace Okay, uh, so we had to take some time and talk about that and talk about and clarify for him

You know what it meant to be saved And that that's a helpful conversation to have. Okay Now that's that's one thing.

That's one thing. But the other thing is this Why is someone saying Why is someone saying?

That you can be A christian alive in christ united to christ through faith and then one day

You're not You're no longer united to christ Therefore you're no longer spiritually alive and everything that was said of a christian said of you as a christian can no longer be said

Of you because you're not a christian anymore And that these people also think that at some point they can jump back on the boat

And at some point jump back off the boat Why are they saying that so you gotta you gotta you gotta dig a little bit

Because some people live by experience and this goes back to And this these people may not even be christians, but they just live by experience when

I feel very spiritual I'm a christian when I don't feel very spiritual. I'm not a christian I just live by experience and everything they believe about god and the bible is only experience ratified

If I don't experience it, it's not true Okay Um, so again, that's going to be more of a clarifying the gospel for someone

But again what i'm trying to say is that now you get to the point where someone Is going to start talking about the work of jesus christ

Uh in a way That is, uh, not true and is another gospel

Okay, and this may be the reason why they're believing yeah, right

What we have what we have at a certain point is people are going to be talking about the gospel and talk about salvation but somewhere over here

There are going to be some presuppositions About what it all means

Okay, so they're going to be interpreting The scriptures through an already fixed idea of how it all works

Okay, and we have to be aware of that even in our own our own study of the scripture um

Uh, let's pick on charles finney because he's easy to pick on Charles finney was a a lawyer who decided to become a preacher

And in his i've read his i've read chunks of his systematic theology and his lectures on systematic theology

Um, but his assumptions were all based on the legal system that he had learned

Okay, how everything fit together for him theologically was based on his legal training

Okay Um, and thus he said It is impossible for god

To accept a sinner unto himself Who is not yet?

Fully holy and sinless Okay so your

Your acceptance before god your justification is based on whether or not you're holy

Because that's how it works in the court You can't tell someone they're not guilty if they're guilty and if they're guilty

And and and finney called this an abominable idea that their guilt or their sins would ever be placed on anybody else

Now that's his presuppositions as his legal presuppositions he was trained as a lawyer So when he comes to the bible he comes to these these doctrines that are taught

He is informing everything that he's looking at and engaging with as he was at one point a presbyterian

Uh, then left that became a congregationalist, but he is informing all of what he's studying and preaching by his background

Okay Okay Um, well, mr. Finney doesn't think like I don't think anybody's gonna get saved then.

Oh, no, no, no You make yourself a new heart

You make yourself a new heart Uh when when you decide to do that and you make yourself completely holy

By deciding to be completely for for god And that's the power of your that's the power of your will it's the power of your choice that you make yourself completely holy

When you decide And that clears it all up That's right, yeah revival is um

In order to have revival you need excitement in order to have excitement. You have to have something new

And there's a formula for it it's a scientific formula Uh, and if you don't use it then you don't really care about lost people um

So anyway, that's just an example of presuppositions now He comes to the bible and then looks at the text and and he reads everything through his he's already his grid

He's already got in place. You see so I've sat down with a church of christ, uh preacher

And had this conversation okay, he has a false gospel because um, he he's already dialed in On works of obedience are absolutely essential for your salvation

Okay, so he's dialed in on that so everything he reads is interpreted through that grid Okay.

Now that's a false gospel. Um the stuff that he was proposing Like, you know proper church membership in a right church and baptism and so on and so forth

That was a heck of a lot more added to the gospel Than what was added to the gospel in the book of galatians

Which is circumcision That's a whole lot less than what he was proposing And yet paul calls that Another gospel and those who preach it are anathema cut off from god

Uh, so in that case, yes now in the church of christ model. Yes, of course because it's about good works

Um, then you can definitely lose your salvation and that's what I asked him, you know diagnostic questions Are like these, you know, if you're sitting next to a person on their deathbed in the hospital

And they're looking to you for some kind of assurance of salvation What are you going to tell them? They could die in a week

What are you going to tell them? How will they know that they're saved or not? And that's a good diagnostic question to ask anybody when it comes to matters of the soul, you know matters of the gospel

Well, he said well Uh, you have to you have to believe in jesus.

I agree, you know, um, Confess your sins Okay, ask for forgiveness.

Okay Um, you need to be baptized in the church of christ church and continue in obedience I said well, what if this guy had a rough time?

Uh, what if his wife died and he got depressed? And sick because he was depressed and he hadn't been to church in a year

But he did everything else that you said it's like oh no, he's not going ahead He didn't keep up his works

He didn't keep up his works and the works are essential to be saved, right? um

It's not about the work of christ. It's about And when people start talking about jesus made it possible

Jesus opened up a way They're they're already confused about the gospel one of the hymns said jesus paid it all um

So it you know, this isn't potentiality. This is actuality what christ has done

He's already done it In his full perfect obedience So in that case, yes, we have we have a different gospel

So some people believe you can lose your salvation because they have another gospel not the real gospel And then some people believe they can lose their salvation just because they're just living by experience

You know or they just don't they haven't been discipled they haven't been trained so I Kind of a it can be either one.

You just got to kind of probe a little bit and see see where they're at But it's a good question, yeah um

You know, um when when jesus before he died on the cross he says it is finished It is finished

And and paul said in acts he purchased the church with his own blood you know, um so when the scriptures

Speak about the atone the atoning work of christ. There is something that is It's always a matter of what has happened.

Uh In in truth in actuality and and and definite not potentiality.

I was in a seminary class and the professor said Just because jesus christ died on the cross and shed his blood doesn't mean that anyone ever will be saved

And he got a few amens because it's all potentiality

It's entirely based on whether or not you work yourself up to it Not based on whether christ did it or not

And the good news is that acts drones on and on and on About repentance and faith being the gifts of christ that he has already won through his death on the cross

What what do you need to become a christian? Do you need repentance? Do you need brokenness over your sin christ won that for you on the cross?

Do you need faith to believe in christ and hold fast to him? He won that for you on the cross

What do you need? It's it's all there. It's all there And that's the that's why it's good news

Anything else yes, yes the wave offering

The the wave offering is interesting or I guess we're in leviticus i'm guessing Um 8 29, there we go leviticus chapter 8

And well, it does talk about a wave offering in 8 29 well, um

Uh, let's see here i'm going to see if we've got A thorough a description of it

Okay, okay ryan ryan found the answer so Okay, uh in leviticus 7 and leviticus 7, um

The Let's start with verse 28 Then the lord spoke to moses saying speak to the sons of israel saying he who offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings to the lord

Shall bring his offering to the lord from the sacrifice of his peace offerings His own hands are to bring the offerings by fire to the lord

Shall bring the fat with the breast that the breast may be presented as a wave offering for the lord Do you see how the wave offering?

Is under the heading of a peace offering? Under the heading of proper relationship of of shalom of being in right relationship with god, okay

Okay Verse 31 the priest shall offer up the fat and smoke on the altar, but the breast shall belong to aaron and his sons um well

He also says you should give the right thigh to the priest as a contribution from the sacrifices of your peace offerings But the but the wave offering goes to who the breast goes to who?

Aaron and his sons the priests Who stand between god and the people the mediators?

Okay So they've got they've got the breast for the wave offering Which is a kind of peace offering that we are in good relationship with one another with god, so Uh verse 33 the one among the sons of aaron who offers the blood of the peace offering and the fat the right thigh shall be

His as his portion this again is talking about the levites received no land They received some cities in the in the farmable areas around those cities

But they did not receive an inheritance of land among israel. They received this Portions of the offerings to sustain them

Verse 34 for I have taken the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of what i've got Contribution heave offering from the sons of israel

From the sacrifices of their peace offerings and given to aaron the priest and to his Uh sons as they're due forever from the sons of israel

The thigh is given to uh, one of the priests that's part of the that that inheritance that which sustains the priests

And then is later labeled as this heave offering. Okay, but again the heave and the wave are both

It says both from the peace offerings Okay, this is this is a more specific uh portion of a peace offering now the way in which this is conducted is is indeed the wave it's the taking the the

Offering the piece of the meat the breast and going like this Why the priests are mediating between god and man?

There is this sense That in this offering

Both god and his people are sharing in this offering That there is this there is this fellowship there is this even meal fellowship between God and his people

And this is being facilitated and mediated by the priests Who by the way the levites themselves?

Are called a wave offering? They are sanctified as a

Wave offering And I think the the intention of this odd Kind of thing is to emphasize

The the communion the connection that god has with his people Through the proper mediation and the proper sacrifice which tells us what?

That our fellowship with god Can be understood as As as intimate and as close as a meal

Sitting down with god. How can we ever sit down at god's table when we have the proper sacrifice and the proper mediator?

Which is why john talks about the marriage supper of the lamb that we're sitting at the table at a meal

Because we have the proper sacrifice and we have the proper mediator And then of course the levites themselves offered as a wave offering to god

Um christ himself is the lamb of god Who was suspended between heaven and earth our sacrifice and our mediator?

All right. Enjoy the fellowship enjoyed the questions and the discussion Um, let's go ahead and before we sing the doxology you want to remind those who are here for a truth group

Uh, we'll meet over in miss jill's classroom and then we'll come back here, uh for the meal afterwards