Comments and Peace Church Events

Comments:

All comments to this blog are welcome. To publish a comment to any article, go to the end of the article and click on the "Comments" link. All articles can be found in the archive section to the right.

If you would like to receive any article as an mp3 audio file, send me an e-mail to that effect. I'll be happy to send that to you by e-mail.

To send me an e-mail, click on the envelope with an arrow which is to the right of the "Comments" link.

Peace Church Events:

Men's Prayer Breakfast -- June 2, 2007

Preparation – Wayne and Caleb Schoonover

Devotional – Wayne Schoonover

Vacation Bible School -- June 18-22, 2007, 8:30 to 11:00 AM
Summer Camp -- July 20-23, 2007
Fall Retreat -- September 28-30, 2007

Interpreting Paul (6-3-07)

Interpreting Paul
Bible Study Time 6-3-07

We have been talking for the past few weeks about the importance of accurate Bible interpretation. In Acts, Chapter 6, when the apostles were confronted with problems regarding the distribution of food to the assembly of believers, they said that other men should be appointed to serve the tables because they, as the leaders of the assembly, needed to devote themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.

After the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, the proper interpretation of the Old Testament scriptures became the focal point of the ministry of the apostles. They would turn to one passage after another in the Old Testament to show that Jesus had fulfilled every prophesy in regard to the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of the Messiah. The preaching of the word along with the performing of miracles shaped the ministry of the apostles.

When the Apostle Paul came along, he too turned to the Old Testament scriptures to confirm that Jesus was Israel’s promised Messiah. Then, when God called him to preach to the Gentiles, he turned to the Old Testament once again to justify his ministry. In Romans, Chapter 10, he said:

Romans 10:8-12, 16-21 (NKJ)
8 . . . "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our report?"
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
18 But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: "Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world."
19 But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says: "I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation, I will move you to anger by a foolish nation."
20 But Isaiah is very bold and says: "I was found by those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me."
21 But to Israel he says: "All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people."

So Paul’s ministry among the Gentiles was strictly in accordance with the prophesies of the Old Testament. The salvation of the Gentiles had always been predicted as a part of the New Covenant.

The New Covenant gave the promise of an earthly kingdom in which Israel would rule the world under the authority of the Messiah. It predicted the salvation of the Gentiles. And then, it gave the hope of the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, which was to be the spiritual power behind the kingdom and the salvation of the Gentiles.

Well, all of these things regarding the New Covenant were in the back of Paul’s mind as he went out preaching to the Gentiles during the Acts period. In Romans, Chapter 9, he said:

Romans 9:3-5 (NKJ)
3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,
4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;
5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

In Romans, Chapter 11, Paul said:

Romans 11:26-27 (NKJ)
26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
27 For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins."

During this period of time, Paul was certainly an able minister of the New Covenant. However, when Paul came to the end of his third missionary journey, he was arrested in Jerusalem and sent to Rome to stand trial. When he got to Rome, he called for the Jewish leaders of that city, and when they refused to believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah, he said:

Acts 28:28 (NKJ)
28 "Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!"

Shortly after that Paul wrote his letters to the Ephesians, the Philippians and the Colossians. In these letters, Paul went in a new direction. He no longer spoke about the Messianic prophesies of the Old Testament. He no longer spoke of Israel’s New Covenant. He never once mentioned Abraham’s name.

In these letters to the Ephesians, the Philippians and the Colossians, Paul plainly declared that he was revealing something that had never been revealed to or through any of the Old Testament prophets. In Colossians, he said:

Colossians 1:24-26 (NKJ)
24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,
25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,
26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.

Here, Paul reveals the mystery concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ, and in Ephesians, he said:

Ephesians 3:8-9 (NKJ)
8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;

This mystery concerning the Church was hidden in God from the beginning of the ages, while the mystery of the Acts period concerning salvation by grace through faith was hidden in the prophetic scriptures according to Romans, Chapter 16.

Today, we study Paul in much the same way that the apostles studied the Old Testament scriptures. For them, the key to understanding what God was doing in and through them was to be found in the Old Testament scriptures. Likewise, if we are to understand what God wants to do in and through us, we must understand what Paul wrote to and about the Church which is the Body of Christ.

This does not mean that all we need to study are those books of the Bible which were written directly to us. Certainly not. All scripture is profitable for us. The apostles were primarily interested in the passages of the Old Testament which related to the Messiah, but they also needed to know all that was in the Old Testament.

They needed to know about the creation. They needed to know about Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood, and the complete history of the nation of Israel. Peter wrote about the apostasy of Noah’s day, and he told how Jesus went to preach to the imprisoned spirits who were disobedient during the days of Noah. He told how eight souls were lifted up above the judgment waters even as we are lifted up by the resurrection of Christ.

In order to truly understand the message concerning the Messiah, the apostles needed to understand all of the scriptures. Some people today question the value of studying the Bible. They say that all we really need to know is that Jesus died for ours sins and that God has given us eternal life.

Well, of course, that’s the most important thing for us to know and believe, but God wants us to know all of the great truths of the Bible. If the gospel was all we needed to know, God could have just given mankind a tract explaining the fact that Christ died for our sins.

But God wants us to grow in grace in our knowledge of Jesus Christ. He wants the eyes of our understanding to be enlightened so that we might know the hope of our calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. He wants us to know the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. (Ephesians, Chapter 1)

God has given us the whole Bible because He has so much that He wants to tell us. But when it comes to studying the Bible, many people get frustrated because they see what they think are contradictions. Then they see the many different ways that different groups try to reconcile these apparent contradictions with their established doctrines.

But if we simply let the Bible speak for itself, we will find that there is no reason for all of the confusion. The Bible is such a great source of joy and enjoyment when we simply rightly divide the word of truth.

Most of the confusion clears up when we recognize that most of the Bible was written to and about the nation of Israel, while the prison epistles of Paul were written specifically to us as members of the Church which is the Body of Christ.

All of the things that Paul wrote during the Acts period regarding the gospel of grace and the righteousness that flows from the Holy Spirit into the heart of every believer is something that we have all experienced as believers from the time that the Holy Spirit was given in Acts, Chapter 2. Kingdom saints and members of Church have all enjoyed these marvelous spiritual blessings. That’s why Paul’s Acts-period epistles are so precious to us today.

But today, there are no believers who have the hope of the New Covenant Kingdom as many of the believers did during the Acts period. All believers today are waiting to be caught up into heaven with a new, glorious, immortal body. Those who are waiting for or trying to establish the kingdom of God on this earth are trying to force what was intended for Israel into God’s program for us today.

The Lord Jesus made it clear when He was on the earth that what was intended for Israel was not to be given to the Gentiles. When Jesus went into the region of Tyre and Sidon:

Matthew 15:22-28 (KJV)
22 . . . a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.
27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.
28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

Here we see a Gentile woman seeking the blessings of the kingdom. She called Jesus the Son of David, which is the title by which Jesus will sit upon the throne of David and rule the earth during the kingdom. In response to her plea for help, Jesus said, “No. The blessings of the kingdom belong to the nation of Israel, not to the Gentiles.”

When this woman addressed Jesus as Lord, however, Jesus agreed to let her partake of the left over crumbs that fell from table that was being prepared for the Jews. Now this agrees with all of the prophets of the Old Testament that many Gentiles will be saved to enter into the New Covenant Kingdom under the rule of the nation of Israel.

Many Bible students see the church of today as a Gentile church, and they say that in this passage the Lord was giving the world a clue that the blessings which were promised to the Jews would ultimately be given to the Gentiles. Well, first of all, the Church of our present age is not a Gentile church. It is neither Jew nor Gentile. Paul said that in the Church which is the Body of Christ, Gentiles are fellow heirs and of the same body with the Jews.

Secondly, the kingdom program which anticipated the Son of David sitting upon the throne of David is no longer being offered to either Jews or Gentiles. If we try to read ourselves into this passage, it will result in real confusion. But if we distinguish what belongs to Israel from what belongs to us, the confusion disappears and the Bible becomes such a source of joy and encouragement.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, the prison epistles make no mention of Abraham or the New Covenant. They reveal that the Law of Moses was actually nailed to the cross when Christ was crucified so that the Law has no claim on us.

The prison epistles teach that believers are complete in Christ and that we truly can rest in the fact that we are saved by faith alone in Christ alone. We have no need of rituals or ceremonies to make us acceptable in the sight of God. We have been circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, and we are baptized by faith in the working of God who raised Christ from the dead.

It is in the prison epistles of the Apostle Paul that the world is first introduced to the idea that Jesus Christ was actually the creator of all things. Many years before John said that all things were made by Him and without Him nothing was made that was made, Paul said to the Colossians that:

Colossians 1:15-17 (NKJ)
15 (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16 (and) by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

The prison epistles are filled with glorious, heavenly, spiritual truths, and what a special blessing they become to us when we learn to rightly divide the word of truth.

Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning. I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Comments and Peace Church Events

Comments:

All comments to this blog are welcome. To publish a comment to any article, go to the end of the article and click on the "Comments" link. All articles can be found in the archive section to the right.

If you would like to receive any article as an mp3 audio file, send me an e-mail to that effect. I'll be happy to send that to you by e-mail.

To send me an e-mail, click on the envelope with an arrow which is to the right of the "Comments" link.

Peace Church Events:

Men's Prayer Breakfast -- June 2, 2007
Vacation Bible School -- June 18-22, 2007
Summer Camp -- July 20-23, 2007
Fall Retreat -- September 28-30, 2007

The Word from Paul (Part 2)(BST 5-27-07)

The Word from Paul – Part 2
Bible Study Time 5-27-07

In Acts, Chapter 6, the apostles set a priority upon prayer and the ministry of the word. Seven men were selected to help with the distribution of food to the assembly of believers so that the apostles could give themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.

In the Old Testament times, prophets would speak to the people on God’s behalf. When they spoke, they would say, “Thus says the Lord.”

When Jesus came, He did not say, “Thus says the Lord” for He was the “logos,” or the very expression of God. The Apostle John called Him the Word and said:

John 1:14 (NKJ)
14 . . . the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

After Christ’s ascension into heaven, the apostles focused on teaching the proper interpretation of the Old Testament scriptures because it was the scriptures that gave the evidence which proved that Jesus was the promised Messiah of the Jews.

Jesus was born of a virgin in Bethlehem. He was a descendant of King David. He was despised and rejected. He was beaten. His hands and His feet were pierced, and the Roman soldiers cast lots for His garments. Jesus had fulfilled all of these prophesies.

After the Apostle Paul got saved, he too went to the Jewish synagogue to preach the good news that Jesus was the Messiah and that He was waiting in heaven for Israel to accept Him as their Messiah. Paul was confident that when Israel accepted Jesus as their Messiah, Jesus would return to the earth to establish the kingdom.

Paul’s letter to the Romans was Paul’s last epistle of the time period covered by the book of Acts. By that time many Gentiles had accepted Christ as their Savior, but even at that late date Paul was anticipating the conversion of the nation of Israel and the kingdom of the New Covenant. In Romans 10 and 11, Paul wrote to the Gentiles and said:

Romans 10:1-3 (NKJ)
1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.
2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

Romans 11:1-2 (NKJ)
1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew . . .

Romans 11:13-14 (NKJ)
13 . . . I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,
14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.

Romans 11:25-27 (NKJ)
25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
27 For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins."

Well, God never promised to take away Israel’s sin by the power of the Old Covenant Law, but He had promised through Jeremiah and Ezekiel that He would cleanse Israel of her sin through the power of the New Covenant. Ezekiel said:

Ezekiel 36:26-29 (NKJ)
26 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
28 "Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.
29 "I will deliver you from all your uncleanness . . .

Ezekiel 37:26 (NKJ)
26 "Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore.

Jeremiah said:

Jeremiah 31:31-33 (NKJ)
31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah--
32 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.
33 "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

This New Covenant promised Israel a clean heart through the power of the Holy Spirit. Ezekiel said that when that happens, God will set his tabernacle in the midst of the children of Israel. Jeremiah said that when that happens:

Jeremiah 31:34 (NKJ)
34 "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

The earthly kingdom of the New Covenant was always in the back of Paul’s mind as He went out preaching to the Gentiles during the Acts period. In Romans, Chapter 8, Paul said:

Romans 8:18-23 (NKJ)
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;
21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

Paul delineated a progressive redemption. First would come the redemption of the souls of believers, then the redemption of their bodies. By this the Sons of God will be revealed. Then will come the redemption of the earth, and even the creation knows that it will not be redeemed until after the Sons of God have been revealed.

These were things that were all predicted in the Old Testament, and that’s why Paul quoted from so many Old Testament passages during this phase of his ministry. As I mentioned last week, Paul referred to over 70 Old Testament passages in the book of Romans alone.

Paul taught the New Covenant and its kingdom in his second letter to the Corinthians, saying:

2 Corinthians 3:5-6 (NKJ)
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,
6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The Corinthian believers knew that when Paul spoke of the New Covenant, he was anticipating the kingdom of the New Covenant. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul had encouraged them to judge for themselves the issues that would arise among them because, he said, someday soon you will judge the world. He said that the form of this world is passing away.

In Galatians, Chapter 4, Paul went to the New Covenant to confirm his doctrine of salvation by faith apart from the works of the Old Covenant Law. He said that Hagar was a picture of the Old Covenant of Law while Sarah was a picture of New Covenant grace. He pointed out that Hagar and her son, Ishmael, had been cast out because the inheritance of God would go only to those who receive it by grace through faith.

Paul insisted that this doctrine of salvation by grace had been given to Him by the Lord Jesus. He said:

Galatians 1:11-12 (NKJ)
11 . . . I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.
12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Some Bible students are confused by the fact that Paul called this revelation a mystery. In Paul’s salutation to the Romans, he said:

Romans 16:25-26 (NKJ)
25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began
26 but now has been made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith--

This mystery concerning salvation by grace through faith was being made known by the prophetic Scriptures. Therefore, it had to have been hidden in the scriptures, but it was hidden so well that Paul could say that it was a mystery which had been kept secret since the world began.”

This mystery stands in contrast to the mystery which Paul revealed in his prison epistles to the Ephesians, the Colossians and the Philippians. In these letters, Paul revealed the mystery concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ. Paul said that this mystery was a mystery which had not even been hinted at in the Old Testament. In Ephesians 3, Paul said:

Ephesians 3:8-9 (NKJ)
8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;

Paul says that this mystery was not hidden in the Old Testament scriptures, but it was hidden in God from the beginning of the ages. Paul said that this mystery was a mystery:

Ephesians 3:5 (NKJ)
5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:

This mystery had been revealed to Paul, and Paul was charged with revealing it to all men, including the other apostles and prophets.

Well, what exactly was this mystery? It was the mystery concerning the church of our present age, the Church which is the Body of Christ. In this church the Gentiles are fellow heirs and of the same body with the Jews. Jews and Gentiles now come to God without distinction as equal participants in the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul confirms this mystery of the Church which is the body of Christ in the first chapter of Colossians, where he says:

Colossians 1:24-26 (NKJ)
24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,
25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,
26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.

Here Paul says that the mystery concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ was revealed to him as a special stewardship of truth. He was charged with getting out the word to complete the word of God.

In the prison epistles of Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, Paul never once referred to Abraham. He never once referred to Israel’s New Covenant. Rather than emphasizing the redemption of the earth as he did in Romans, Chapter 8, he now said that members of the Church, the Body of Christ, should set their affections on things above and not on the things of the earth. He said that our citizenship is in heaven for we have been raised up to sit with Christ in the heavenly places where we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ.

It’s obvious then that if we are have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, we have to conclude that we now enjoy all of the spiritual blessings of the Old Covenant and all of the spiritual blessings of the New Covenant. It’s just the things that relate to this earth that don’t belong to us.

We are saved by God’s grace apart from the works of the Law, and we have been made new creations in Christ just like the kingdom saints of the Acts period. After all, it was in Ephesians that Paul said:

Ephesians 2:8-10 (KJV)
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

All of the spiritual blessings of Israel’s covenants flow through to us today. That’s why all scripture is profitable for us today. We can claim all spiritual blessings as our own, but of course, the richest spiritual blessings of the ages belong to us. If you don’t believe that, just review the blessings of Ephesians, Chapter 1, and see if you don’t agree that God has blessed us exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ask or think.

Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time. It’s been a pleasure studying with you, and I’ll look forward to studying with you again next week at this same time.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Comments and Peace Church Events

Comments:

All comments to this blog are welcome. To publish a comment to any article, go to the end of the article and click on the "Comments" link. All articles can be found in the archive section to the right.

If you would like to receive any article as an mp3 audio file, send me an e-mail to that effect. I'll be happy to send that to you by e-mail.

To send me an e-mail, click on the envelope with an arrow which is to the right of the "Comments" link.

Peace Church Events:

Men's Prayer Breakfast -- June 2, 2007
Vacation Bible School -- June 18-22, 2007
Summer Camp -- July 20-23, 2007
Fall Retreat -- September 28-30, 2007

The Word from Paul (Part 1)(BST 5-20-07)

The Word from Paul (Part 1)
Bible Study Time 5-20-07

Recently we have been looking at the ministry of the word of God. From the beginning, God has had a desire to communicate with man. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were apparently accustomed to walking and talking with the Lord. The Bible says that after Adam and Eve sinned, their eyes:

Genesis 3:7-8 (NKJ)
7 . . . were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day . . .

This appears to have been a routine thing for the Lord. It wasn’t at all uncommon for the Lord to come strolling through the garden to talk with Adam and Eve. But on this occasion:

Genesis 3:8-10 (NKJ)
8 . . . Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?"
10 So (Adam) said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself."

Adam recognized the voice of the Lord. Why? Because Adam was used to talking with God. He was used to the sound of God’s voice.

Sadly, this beautiful fellowship was broken when Adam and Eve sinned. God could no longer communicate freely with Adam and Eve. They had passed from the realm of life into the realm of death. They had passed from the realm of light into the realm of darkness, and God can have no fellowship with darkness. John said:

I John 1:5-6 (NKJ)
5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

This separation between God and man was graphically illustrated at Mt. Sinai. When God was preparing to appear to the nation of Israel, He told Moses:

Exodus 19:10-12 (NKJ)
10 . . . "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes.
11 "And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
12 "You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, 'Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.

It was here at Mt. Sinai that God gave His first great revelation of Himself to man. It was in the Law that God revealed His perfect righteousness.

After the time of Moses, God spoke to the children of Israel through the prophets. When God called a man to proclaim the word of the Lord, that man would stand up in public and say, “Thus says the Lord.” And then that prophet would speak the very words that God gave him to speak. Peter said:

2 Peter 1:19-21 (NKJ)
19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

God could not speak directly to the children of Israel. God could have no fellowship with them because they lived in the realm of sin and death, but who were these holy men of God who were moved by the Holy Spirit to speak on God’s behalf. These were men who had come to God through faith and had met with God at the mercyseat where the blood of atonement is applied. At the time that Isaiah was called as a prophet, he said:

Isaiah 6:1 (NKJ)
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.

Isaiah met with the Lord in the Holy of Holies in the temple, and when Isaiah saw the Lord, he said:

Isaiah 6:5 (NKJ)
5 . . . "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."

Then one of the seraphim which stood above the throne touched Isaiah’s mouth with a live coal from the altar and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.”

Then the Lord said, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?"

Isaiah said, “Here am I! Send me.”

So the Lord said, “Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.'”

There at the mercyseat in front of the altar, Isaiah’s iniquity was taken away and by this means he was made righteous and holy so that God could speak to him and he could speak for God.

When Jesus came into the world, He did not speak in the same manner as the prophets who preceded Him. He did not stand up and say, “Thus says the Lord.” No, Jesus simply spoke, as a member of the Godhead. The writer to the Hebrews said:

Hebrews 1:1-2 (NKJ)
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;

Jesus Christ is in and of Himself the greatest revelation that God has given of Himself. John said:

John 1:14 (NKJ)
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus didn’t say, “Thus says the Lord.” He just spoke, and His words pierced the hearts of the people. Four times in the book of Matthew we read that the people were astonished at His teachings. The teachings and the miracles of Jesus were given to the children of Israel as proof of the fact that Jesus was their promised Messiah.

After the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ, God sent out the apostles to once again speak to the people for God, but the message of the apostles was quite different from that of the Old Testament prophets. The apostles spent most of their time teaching and interpreting the prophecies of the Old Testament. By doing this, the teaching of the written word became the central focus of Christian ministry.

Starting with the Day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter taught that David was talking about the resurrection of Jesus when he said, “You will not leave my soul in hell, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.”

Peter said that David was actually talking about the ultimate exaltation of Jesus Christ when he said,

Psalms 110:1 (NKJ)
1 The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool."

Peter told the Jewish religious leaders that they had fulfilled the word of God when they crucified Jesus, but he warned them that according to David:

Psalms 118:22 (NKJ)
22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

Peter was saying that the Jewish leaders were the builders who had rejected Jesus, but he warned them that this stone which they rejected had become the chief cornerstone in God’s plan and purpose for the nation of Israel and for the world.

So the apostles were given the task of speaking to man on God’s behalf, but their emphasis was placed on properly interpreting the scriptures of the Old Testament.

Now, the Apostle Paul was not one of the twelve apostles, but he was an apostle. Paul’s epistle to the Galatians is one of his earliest writings, and in the first verse of that epistle he said:

Galatians 1:1 (NKJ)
1 Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead),

Paul affirmed that he had been called to be an apostle by Jesus Christ just like the other apostles had been called by Jesus Christ. The twelve were called while Jesus was still living upon the earth, but Paul had been called after the Lord’s ascension into heaven. As we all know, it was on the road to Damascus that the Lord appeared to Paul and called him to be an apostle.

Paul’s early ministry was very similar to that of the other twelve apostles. Acts, Chapter 9, says that after Paul was saved:

Acts 9:20-22 (NKJ)
20 Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.
21 Then all who heard were amazed, and said, "Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?"
22 But (Paul) increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

Now, what do you suppose Paul used to prove that Jesus was the Christ? He used the Old Testament prophecies, just like the other apostles did. Since Paul was a Pharisee, he knew the Old Testament scriptures as well as anyone, and God put that knowledge to good use. Paul started his letter to the Romans by saying:

Romans 1:1-4 (NKJ)
1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God
2 which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,
3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh,
4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

Though Paul was called to be a great apostle, he viewed himself as a bondservant. He followed Christ’s example of humility. As Paul went out as the bondservant-apostle, he went out preaching the gospel of God which God had promised through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures.

It’s noteworthy that this statement by Paul was written in his letter to the Romans. It’s noteworthy because Romans is one of Paul’s Acts-period epistles. During the Acts period, Paul revealed truths which were in fact hidden in the Old Testament scriptures.

Like Peter, Paul taught that Jesus had been raised from the dead and exalted in heaven in accordance with Messianic prophecy. However, Paul went on beyond this message to reveal that the blood of Jesus was actually the blood of atonement which secures the salvation of all those who believe in Jesus. In other words, Paul revealed the mechanism by which God is able to forgive the sin of all those who believe.

Paul said that when Jesus went into the temple in heaven to place His blood on the mercyseat, God accepted that blood as the payment for all sin, and he said that any person who puts his faith in that blood is automatically justified in the sight of God.

This is the third great revelation that God has given to mankind. The first was the Law which was given through Moses. The second was the very person of Jesus Christ, and the third is that which was given to Paul regarding the grace of God.

This message of God’s willingness to save on the basis of faith was the basis for Paul’s ministry among the Gentiles. Paul could see that it would make no difference to God if a person was a Jew or a Gentile. He could see that it would make no difference to God if a person was circumcised or uncircumcised. Paul could see that God was willing to save all those who come by faith to meet Him at the mercyseat. When God sees a person’s faith in the shed blood of Jesus, He gives them eternal life.

Because this was such a controversial doctrine among the believing Jews as well as the unbelieving Jews, Paul used passage after passage from the Old Testament to prove his doctrine. In the book of Romans alone Paul referred to over seventy passages of scripture from the Old Testament. That’s an average of over four passages per chapter.

Paul’s extensive dependence upon the Old Testament to defend his doctrine was pretty much the case all the way through his Acts-period ministry. However, in the letters that Paul wrote after the Acts period, you may be surprised to know that he hardly used the Old Testament at all. In Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I and II Timothy and Titus, Paul referred to a total of six Old Testament passages. Four in Ephesians and two in his first letter to Timothy.

So what’s the point? The point is that at the end of the Acts period, God gave Paul the freedom to reveal things that had never been revealed or even hinted at in the Old Testament. Paul couldn’t use Old Testament passages to prove these points because these truths were hidden from the prophets. In Ephesians, Chapter 3, Paul said:

Ephesians 3:1-3 (NKJ)
1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles--
2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you,
3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery . . .

The word dispensation means a stewardship, and this was a stewardship of truth which was given to the Apostle Paul. This stewardship was given to Paul by the grace of God, and it was given to reveal the grace of God. It was the mystery concerning the Church of our present age in which anybody, anywhere, under any circumstance can come to God through faith and meet God at the mercyseat to be cleansed from all of their sin. This is the super-abounding grace of God.

Next week, we’ll compare Paul’s Acts-period ministry with his ministry after the Acts period so be sure to join us again next week at this same time. Thank you for being with us this morning for another broadcast of Bible Study Time.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

How To Post a Comment.

All comments to this blog are welcome. To publish a comment to any article just go to the end of that article and click on the "Comments" link. All articles can be found in the archive section to the right.

To send me an e-mail, click on the envelope with an arrow which is to the right of the "Comments" link. Thank you for your interest and your participation.

The Ministry of the Word (5-13-07)

The Ministry of the Word
Bible Study Time 5-13-07

In Acts, Chapter 6, Peter and the 11 made a decision to set some priorities for their ministry. When there arose a complaint about the distribution of food in the assembly of believers:

Acts 6:2-4 (NKJ)
2 (the) twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.
3 "Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business;
4 "but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word."

The apostles knew the importance of the preaching of the word. On the day of Pentecost, Peter had quoted Psalm 16 and Psalm 110 to show that the death, burial and resurrection of the Messiah was something that had been prophesied in the Old Testament. This gave solid evidence that Jesus was, in fact, the Messiah.

From that time forward, Peter’s message to the Jewish people rested upon the foundation of the word of God. This was true whether Peter was speaking to an audience of unsaved people or whether he was speaking to the assembly of believers. When he spoke to the unsaved, people repented and put their faith in Jesus. When he spoke to the assembly of believers, they grew in knowledge and they grew in faith.

In Acts, Chapter 3, we read Peter’s second recorded message. When Peter and John saw a lame man who was begging at the Beautiful Gate, Peter looked intently at the man and said:

Acts 3:6 (NKJ)
6 . . . "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."

When the man stood up and started leaping for joy, Peter began to preach the word, saying:

Acts 3:18-19 (NKJ)
18 " . . . those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.
19 "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

Clearly, Peter emphasized the prophesies of the Old Testament and challenged the people to repent so that they might experience the times of refreshing which come from the presence of the Lord.

Peter had experienced the physical presence of the Lord during the Lord’s earthly ministry, but by this time he had experienced the spiritual presence of the Lord through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. This was a time of refreshing for Peter, and he wanted to share that experience with all of his Jewish brethren.

Peter told them that if they would repent and be converted, they would not only experience the refreshing presence of the Holy Spirit, but they would experience the literal presence of the returning Christ:

Acts 3:21 (NKJ)
21 "whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

So Peter presented the promise of the times of refreshing, and he promised the times of restoration. Isaiah 51 says:

Isaiah 51:3 (NKJ)
3 For the LORD will comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places; he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD . . .

This is hard for us to imagine, isn’t it? The earth returning to its original beauty and glory, like that of the Garden of Eden! It’s hard to imagine, but Peter told them that that’s what the prophets said will happen when the Messiah comes to the earth to rule.

But Peter didn’t want to stray too far from the real issue that faced the Jewish people. Namely, was Jesus the Messiah? So Peter went to the words of Moses, saying:

Acts 3:22-24 (NKJ)
22 " . . . Moses truly said to the fathers, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you.
23 'And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.'
24 "Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.

In order to receive the times of refreshing from the Holy Spirit, in order for Jesus to return and restore the earth, the nation of Israel had to accept Jesus as the Prophet whom God had sent.

The healing of the lame man and the preaching of the word had a tremendous impact on the people who were there that day. But when the Lord works in a mighty way, we can expect to see the devil working as well.

When the Sadducees heard Peter speaking out about the resurrection of Jesus, they had Peter and John arrested and brought before the Jewish Council. But once again, Peter took the opportunity to preach the word. Being filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter said:

Acts 4:8-12 (NKJ)
8 . . . "Rulers of the people and elders of Israel:
9 "If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well,
10 "let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.
11 "This is the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.'
12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

Peter boldly declared to these men that they had actually fulfilled the word of God by rejecting Christ, and he warned them that they were treading on dangerous ground, because the very person that they had rejected had become the cornerstone of God’s plan and purpose.

But then, in an amazing display of mercy and grace, which came from God, Himself, Peter offered them an opportunity to have their sins forgiven so that they too could reap the benefits of God’s salvation. He said, “There is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved.”

Peter showed them the word of God, but they hardened their hearts and refused to believe. Thousands of people did believe the word of God, but these religious leaders did not. They continued on in their unbelief, and someday, when they stand before the Lord, they will be judged, not on the basis of their relationship to Abraham or on their ability to keep the Law, but they will be judged on the basis of what they did with the word of God.

Peter also taught the word to the assembly of believers, and it wasn’t long before the preaching of the word began to bear fruit. There was a man in the assembly who was full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. He was one of those who was selected to help with the distribution of food.

This man’s name was Stephen, and like all of the other believers at that time, Stephen would go in and out of the temple to pray and worship the Lord. But as time went on Stephen must have developed a real burden for the unsaved Jews who were also going in and out of the temple but without any understanding of God’s real plan and purpose. They were ignorant of God’s word even though they were very religious.

So Stephen began to teach them about Jesus, and he taught them that salvation can not be found by those who worship the temple or the Law, but it can only be found by those who put their faith in Jesus Christ.

The Bible says that God gave Stephen the ability to do great wonders and signs among the people, and it says that the people were unable to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which Stephen spoke. Eventually, however, Stephen stirred the ire of some of the religious leaders who conspired to charge Stephen with speaking out against Moses, against God and against the temple. They said:

Acts 6:14-15 (NKJ)
14 " . . . we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this (temple) and change the customs which Moses delivered to us."
15 And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at (Stephen), saw (Stephen’s) face as the face of an angel.

When Stephen finally spoke in his own defense, he followed the example of Peter by turning to the word of God. He reviewed Israel’s history from the beginning. From Abraham to Joseph and then to Moses. Then, Stephen addressed the charge which had been made against him.

He said, God gave Israel the tabernacle while they were living in the wilderness, and then He allowed the temple to be built under Solomon. But then Stephen concluded that God doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands because God, Himself, said:

Isaiah 66:1 (NKJ)
1 . . . "Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?

What a great defense! And straight from the word of God. Stephen said, you all love and worship this temple, but God doesn’t even dwell in this temple. God’s throne is in heaven, and all of the earth is His footstool. He said, God is much bigger than you think He is. He’s so big that all of the earth is no bigger than His footstool.

Stephen wasn’t the least bit intimidated by these powerful men. In fact, he went on to say:

Acts 7:51-52 (NKJ)
51 "You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
52 "Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,

Stephen was obviously a great student of the word of God, and he used his knowledge with great skill. He was truly a man who was full of faith. The word of God and faith go hand in hand because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Stephen was full of faith, and his faith was about to be tested once more. When these men heard what Stephen said:

Acts 7:54-59 (NKJ)
54 . . . they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.
55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
56 and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord;
58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

As the apostles went preaching the word, they saw the lost getting saved. As they taught the word, they saw the new converts growing in their knowledge and faith. These converts learned more and more about the Old Testament and about its promise of an earthly kingdom. They expected the Lord’s return and the setting up of the kingdom at any moment.

When Stephen was about to be killed, he looked up into the heavens and saw the Son of Man standing at the right and of God. This is interesting because most of the time, the Lord is pictured as sitting at the right hand of the Father. David said:

Psalm 110:1-2 (NKJ)
1 The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool."
2 The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. (As you) Rule in the midst of Your enemies!

When Stephen saw the Lord standing, he may have thought that the time had come for Jesus to return to the earth and make His enemies His footstool while ruling in the midst of His enemies. This makes sense because the title, Son of Man, is the title that the Bible uses for the Messiah when He comes to the earth to rule. Daniel was the first to use this title when he said:

Daniel 7:13-14 (NKJ)
13 "I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him.
14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.

Jesus also confirmed this title when he said that at His second coming, the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and the tribes of the earth will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Stephen probably knew all about these things because the apostles put a priority upon the ministry of the word. However, Stephen could not have known at that time that the return of the Lord was going to be at least 2000 years in the future. He didn’t know that God was going to temporarily set Israel’s kingdom program aside while calling out the church of our present age.

This revelation concerning the Church was still a secret in the mind of God, but when it was revealed, it was revealed to the young man who stood off to the side watching as Stephen was stoned. This young man was Saul of Tarsus who was to become one of the greatest preachers of all time. Next week, we will take another look at the Apostle Paul and the revelation which was given to him.

Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning. It’s been a pleasure studying with you, and I’ll look forward to studying with you against next week at this same time.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

How To Post a Comment.

All comments to this blog are welcome. To publish a comment to any article just go to the end of that article and click on the "Comments" link. All articles can be found in the archive section to the right.

To send me an e-mail, click on the envelope with an arrow which is to the right of the "Comments" link. Thank you for your interest and your participation.

Preach the Word (5-6-2007)

Preach the Word
Bible Study Time 5-6-07

In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he said:

2 Timothy 4:1-2 (NKJ)
1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:
2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

So Paul charged Timothy with the responsibility of preaching the word. He said to preach the word when it’s popular and when it’s not popular. Use it to convince, rebuke, and exhort.

Paul had been given many new revelations, but this was not something that was new. The word of God has always been the focus of God’s relationship with man. That’s why John called Jesus Christ the Word.

John 1:1 (NKJ)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Jesus Christ was to be the member of the Godhead who would communicate with man.

The Law was given through Moses at Mt. Sinai, but then forty years later, just before the children of Israel entered the promised land, Moses reminded the people of their experience at Mt. Sinai. He said:

Deuteronomy 5:4-5 (NKJ)
4 "The LORD talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire.
5 "I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD . . .

Then he said:

Deuteronomy 30:11-14 (NKJ)
11 " . . . this commandment which I command you today, it is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off.
12 "It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?'
13 "Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?'
14 "But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

Moses stood between God and the people even as did all the other prophets who followed Moses. When they spoke, they said, “Hear the word of the Lord.”

It’s interesting that when Jesus came, he did not stand up as the other prophets did and say, “Hear the word of the Lord.” No, He simply spoke, and as He spoke to the people, they sensed that Jesus was speaking the word of the Lord because He was the Lord.

The prophets of the Old Testament spoke on the Lord’s behalf, but when Jesus came, He spoke for Himself. And as He spoke, the people beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. With a meek and gentle spirit Jesus said:

Matthew 5:3-5 (NKJ)
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

When He spoke, the wind and the seas obeyed His voice, and when He spoke the demons obeyed as well. As Jesus spoke the people could sense that they were listening to the word of God. Rather than speaking as one of the prophets, Jesus quoted the prophets. When He went to the synagogue in Nazareth, he stood up and read from Isaiah 61, saying:

Luke 4:18-22 (NKJ)
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth . . .

After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus, and the Bible says that Jesus rebuked them, saying:

Luke 24:25-27 (NKJ)
25 . . . "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
26 "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?"
27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

In doing this, the Lord revealed the place that expository teaching would have from that time forward. After Christ’s ascension, the apostles went out preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and they spent much of their time teaching a proper interpretation of the Old Testament scriptures.

Time and time again Peter and Paul went back to Moses and the Prophets to prove that Jesus Christ really was the promised Messiah. Paul said that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

When Peter spoke on the day of Pentecost, he pointed first to Joel, Chapter 2, and said that the miracles of that day were a fulfillment of Joel’s prophesy. When the apostles spoke in tongues and some accused them of being drunk, Peter stood up and said:

Acts 2:14-21 (NKJ)
14 . . . "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words.
15 "For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.
16 "But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
21 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

Well, Peter used this opportunity to help people get saved, and he did so by giving an exposition on Psalms, Chapter 16 and Psalms, Chapter 110. He started by saying:

Acts 2:22-28 (NKJ)
22 "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know--
23 "Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;
24 "whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. (Now notice this.)
25 "For David says concerning Him: 'I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.
27 For You will not leave my soul in (Hell), nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of joy in Your presence.'

After quoting Psalms 16, Peter goes on to explain the true meaning of that passage. Peter tells them what Psalm 16 does not mean, and he also explains what it does mean. Then he compares it with Psalm 110. He says:

Acts 2:29-36 (NKJ)
29 "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
30 "Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,
31 "he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in (Hell), nor did His flesh see corruption.
32 "This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
33 "Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. (Now watch how he uses Psalm 110.)
34 "For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand,
35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool." '
36 "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

What a great job of expository teaching Peter did here! Under the direct influence of the Holy Spirit, Peter took two passages of scripture and interpreted them in the light of the circumstances of that day.

Some teachers today make the mistake of thinking that the Bible is too hard for the average person to understand. They say that all we really need to do is take verses of scripture and try to apply them to our lives.

But look what happened when Peter dedicated himself to the interpretation of Psalm 16 and Psalm 110. The Bible says that after Peter gave his message, the people were cut to the heart and about 3000 people got saved.

We know that the word of God is quick and powerful and shaper than any two-edged sword, but let me tell you that it’s greatest power can and will be made manifest as we dedicate ourselves to the proper interpretation of the scriptures.

Preachers, teachers and politicians will all from time to time quote the Bible simply to make a point. One such instance was June the 11th of 1963. On that day John F. Kennedy federalized the Alabama National Guard in Alabama to ensure that black students would be allowed to register for classes at the University of Alabama.

A few hours later, he pleaded with Americans from the Oval Office to live by the Golden Rule. He said, “The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated.”

I think this is a great example of making a point by using a verse of scripture. Jesus was not specifically talking about desegregation when He spoke those words, but it was certainly a good application of Jesus’ words.

Lyndon Johnson was a master of political compromise, and he believed in ruling by consensus. One of his favorite quotes was, “Come, let us reason together.” This was from Isaiah, Chapter 1, and I’m sure that Isaiah had no thought for the political processes of America when he wrote those words, but it was a good application of Isaiah’s words.

Obviously, applications such as these can be a very effective way of making a point, but the real effectiveness of these applications can only be realized after a proper interpretation of the passages. When Jesus gave the golden rule, He was discussing the two greatest commandments of the Law which were love God with all of your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.

In Isaiah, Chapter 1, it was the Lord who was pleading with the rebellious nation of Israel, saying,

Isaiah 1:18 (NKJ)
18 "Come now, and let us reason together," says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

As I mentioned earlier, Peter made sure that the people understood what Psalm 16 and Psalm 110 were really talking about. He wasn’t just using verses of scripture to drive home a point in his speech. He was teaching his audience what those verses were really talking about, and when the eyes of the people were opened to truth of God’s word, they were moved by the Spirit of God. They believed, they repented and their lives were changed forever.

So Peter and the apostles went out after the resurrection and ascension of Christ to teach the word of God to the children of Israel. They taught them that Jesus Christ fulfilled every Old Testament prophesy concerning the Messiah.

In Acts, Chapter 6, we see that the church in Jerusalem had grown into a large assembly of believers, and we also see that they were all living together as they waited for the Lord’s return. When a controversy arose concerning the distribution of food, Peter had to set some priorities. Let’s read what happened starting at verse 1:

Acts 6:1-4 (NKJ)
1 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.
2 Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.
3 "Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business;
4 "but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word."

Clearly, Peter understood the importance of teaching a proper interpretation of the word of God. Only with such an understanding can believers apply the word in a way that is accurate, appropriate and blessed by the Lord.

Well, it’s been a pleasure studying with you this morning during our weekly Bible Study Time. I trust that the Lord will bless you as you worship and learn about Him today.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/