Text - Colossians 1:15-17 He is the image ofthe invisible God,the firstborn of all creation.For byhim all things were created,in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whetherthrones ordominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.Andhe is before all things, and in him all thingshold together.
We’re going to look at pretty much a list of commands today. The Bible is ingeniously written, using parables, poems, narratives (stories), principles and sermons to teach us many points without having to be a list. Such as, “Do do this, don’t do that, do not speed, do drive safely, do not cheat on your homework, do study hard for tests…” It would get tedious quickly, so the Bible gives us principles rather than instructions for the most part and that is how it is authoritative on every thing it talks about.
The Bible isn’t a science book, but when it talks about science, it is authoritative and correct. It isn’t a history book, but when it talks about history it is flawless. It isn’t just a list of morals, but the morals it describes are impeccable.
There are very, very few absolute truths.
For example, what color is the sky? The sky is clear, the refraction of light makes it look blue.
Can 2+2=5?
Is Alcohol always bad?
The only absolute in the universe is God. He is the Truth, his name is True. He is good, he is God, and we are not. Everything he created started out good, but through sin everything has the potential to be used for bad.
So instead of following a list of rules, God gives us guidelines to follow, he is equally concerned with our motives as with our actions.
For example, what is the 6th Commandment? Thou shalt not murder…yet what does Genesis 9:6 say?
Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.
The motive changes whether it is sinful or good. So God doesn’t give us hard and fast rules to live by, but an example in his perfect sinless Son. Just like looking in a mirror to determine how you look, so is looking into the law the way we know if we are righteous or not.
And are we? No, we’ve broken all 10 of the 10 Commandments, in spirit if not in flesh, and were utterly lost, sold into sin, when Jesus Christ died for us and we have obtained salvation, being justified by faith. So how then should we live?
1 Thessalonians 5:8-15 Since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.
v. 8Since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
What’s a breastplate? It is a piece of body armor that covers your upper torso, it protects all of your vital organs. The Bible uses various organs to describe our emotions, one of the reasons these are so named is where God has put our feelings, for example, has anybody ever had “butterflies in your stomach”? Did you really have butterflies, or did it just feel that way? But the feeling is in the stomach, right? The Bible describes this part of our body as our compassion. Similarly, our heart is the center of our emotions.
In protecting these two parts with the breastplate of faith and love, we are able to continue living for God, belonging to the day, remaining serious in our sanctification and ministry.
Say someone comes along and says, “We’ve proved evolution, absolutely, definitively, therefore the Bible is false.” Because the Bible cannot stand with evolution, they are entirely contradictory, either the Bible is right or evolution is right, because God is a God of completion, man caused death, and evolution is contradictory to the Bible in so many ways there is no way to reconcile the two. So, somebody comes along and says, “We’ve proved evolution, absolutely, definitively, therefore the Bible is false.” If you don’t have faith in God and the Bible, then you might think, “Oh no! I’m believing in vain, if I can’t trust the Bible, who can I trust?” But if you trust the Bible, then you can say, “Yeah, they’ve tried that before and it’s always been a bust, evolution is false, the Bible is true, God created the world complete a little over 6000 years ago.” Then you ask, “So what’s your proof?” And they’ll come back with something stupid like, “We’ve found a tooth in Africa that comes from our earliest ancestor and it dated to 9 Million years ago…” And you look at the tooth, and say, “Obviously this is your tooth, see, the one you’re missing, yep it’s this one.” Faith will make all the difference in how you are approached by things like that, always have the presupposition that the Bible is true, and it will always turn out to be correct, no matter how much someone thinks they’ve disproved it. Love will put your faith into action and you will become effective for every good thing that is in you for the sake of Christ.
Here's the Video we talked about
For our helmet we put on the hope of salvation. The helmet covers your head, the place of the intellect. God wants you to know that you are saved, the Bible is replete with tests for determining if you’re actually saved. If you’re not absolutely sure you’re going to Heaven, then you are probably not, so please see me after class or give me a call or shoot me an e-mail or ask your parents or Dave Snyder, because God wants you to know. The helmet of the hope of salvation will allow us to intellectually fight for the faith and defend ourselves and the church from attack.
Hebrews 13:6 We can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?"
Something Paul does a lot is mirror the beginning of his letters with the end, he does it here.
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
The directions to come relate to how they are to be imitators of Christ, which was how Paul started the Epistle, but first he reminds us of the Gospel, which he had given also in chapter 1.
This is what we have faith in, what drives our lives, and where our hope comes from:
v. 9-11For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
The wrath that we stored up didn’t just go away, but Christ absorbed it on Calvary’s cross, therefore we are reconciled in his death and saved in his life. So now we are confident that whether we are alive or dead, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
The natural response to this is to tell people about it, and to encourage them and build them up to likewise tell more people about it. So then Paul jumps into some basic rules.
v. 12We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.
This one is pretty straight forward, love your pastors, and esteem them for their work towards eternity. Truly there is no more important job than that of shepherd of Christ’s flock, he is the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for his sheep, we ought to be imitators of him.
1 Timothy 5:17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.
Respect them even in their admonishing of you, admonishing means correcting. In this, you should be reading your Bible so that you know if they are teaching sound doctrine, and so you can tell that they are being biblical.
Proverbs 27:5-6 Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
When we correct you, it’s not out of malice or to make you feel bad, it’s to lead you in the truth. Speaking of shepherds, a real literal shepherd carries a staff, one of the reasons for this is to poke the sheep to get them to go where they need to go. Sheep are stupid, as the shepherd is driving them to water or pasture, they will sometimes get on pretty worn trails, where other sheep have been, and those sheep have to use the bathroom.
A sheep gets thirsty, sees liquid, and drinks it. It’s the shepherds job to hit it with his staff so it keeps going so that it gets to the good water. The same with your pastors, you might think you find happiness in varying things, like video games, or television, or in popularity, it’s their job to point you at Christ and say, “There is something infinitely better and it’s my job to get you there.” It’s not that they don’t like you, it’s that they love you that sometimes there is admonition and rebuke, if you realize that they have your best interest at heart then it will be easy to love them.
But remember there are wolves in sheep’s clothing, so constantly be testing what you hear against the truth of scripture. The worst thing that can happen to a congregation is when the wolf puts on shepherds clothing.
Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
For Next Week, we will study evangelism. If at all possible, invite an unsaved friend to come to class!
Prayer Requests- - Pastor Aaron - McIntosh's moving - Praise Report from KSU outreach
Recap - Week 1 - How to get to Heaven
You are saved by grace through faith, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no man may boast. - Ephesians 2:8-9
Justice is when you get what you deserve, which in this case is Hell for transgressing God's laws. Mercy is when you don't get what you deserve, which would be if God gave you a reprieve from Hell but wouldn't let you into Heaven. Grace is when you get what you don't deserve, not only did Christ pay your fine on the cross, he gave you his righteousness so that you can go to Heaven.
We are saved entirely by Christ's gracious payment on the cross and resurrection, this gift is received through faith, so that God gets all the credit and is the one that gets to boast.
Recap - Week 2 - Why the Bible
"This book will keep me from sin, and sin will keep me from this book."
"A Bible that is falling apart almost always belongs to a person who isn't."
There are over 200 English translations of the Bible, and almost of all of them say the same thing about how to get to Heaven. The reason there are so many is for a lot of reasons. One is translation style, ensuring that certain aspects are emphasized, others are merely for monetary gain, the Bible is the all time best seller and publishers have a lot to gain in having a version. The worst reason is to force presuppositions into the text. Lets look at some different translations.
Good English Standard Version (ESV) - Essentially literal, maintains poetic language of KJV, a beautiful and faithful translation of the Bible. Canyon prefers this Bible. Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) - Preferred by Pastor Aaron and many others, very good Bible. New American Standard Bible (NASB) - As literal as possible, literalness makes it blocky sometimes. Dave Snyder's preferred Bible. New International Version (NIV) - Translated to remove ambiguity and improve readability. Is looked down upon by many but is a faithful and useful translation. New King James Version (NKJV) - Attempted to make KJV more readable, but ran into some copyright issues. Still a good translation and easy to read.
Mediocre King James Version (KJV) - Excellent translation of the Bible, preferred version for over 350 years, but readability is suffering and the English language has changed so much as to make the KJV very difficult to read. Impeccable translation, but not recommended due to difficulty of reading. Today's New International Version (TNIV) - Gender inclusivity (neutrality) is teetering dangerously on modifying the Bible. Many good aspects, but with fatal flaws. New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) and New American Bible (NAB) - Catholic Bibles, well translated in most points, but containing the Apocrypha (extra books). These Bibles will work if nothing else is available.
Bad New World Translation (NWT) - Jehovah's Witness Bible, specifically edited to remove divinity of Christ. Contempory English Version (CEV) - Dangerously plays down the sinfulness of sin. This Bible is becoming more and more popular amongst liberal churches. Amplified Bible (AMP) - More of a running commentary than a translation, the authors force their presuppositions upon the reader and attempt to speak for the Bible. The Message - A paraphrase of the Bible with damning presuppositions. Very liberal and strays far from biblical intent.
It is important to remember that the Bible is perfect in the original Greek and Hebrew, it is Infallible - It is true yesterday, today, and forever. Inerrant - There are no errors or contradictions. If someone shows you a contradiction, contact me or Dave Snyder or Google it, and I guarantee there will be an easy answer, no matter how difficult the "contradiction" seems to be. Timeless - The Bible is as relevant today as it was when it was written as it will be 'till the end of time.
Most translations have minor translation errors, most of these do not change the meaning of the Bible. Reading at least two good translations will alleviate this issue. Overall the Bible can be trusted.
An example of a translation error is the King James Version, Genesis 1:21 which reads And God created great whales... The word for whales does not mean whales in any way shape or form. The word translated whales is tanniyn which means dragons. The King James Translators in 1611 had never seen a dragon and probably didn't believe they existed outside of the imagination, so they probably chose a large animal that was created on the 5th day, which is the whale. In the 1800's skeletons of dragons were discovered all over the world, their name has since been changed to dinosaur. The Bible speaks of giant reptiles in the sea in the 21st verse.
Elsewhere that dinosaurs are mentioned are Job 40:15-24, the author describes a Brontosaurus, Behold, Behemoth, which I made as I made you; he eats grass like an ox. Behold, his strength in his loins, and his power in the muscles of his belly. He makes his tail stiff like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are knit together. His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like bars of iron.
"He is the first of the works of God; let him who made him bring near his sword! For the mountains yield food for him where all the wild beasts play. Under the lotus plants he lies, in the shelter of the reeds and in the marsh. For his shade the lotus trees cover him; the willows of the brook surround him. Behold, if the river is turbulent he is not frightened; he is confident though Jordan rushes against his mouth. Can one take him by his eyes, or pierce his nose with a snare?
And while we don't know what killed the dinosaurs, Isaiah tells us in his 27th chapter, verse 1, In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. God killed the dinosaurs, probably to demonstrate his power over these massive animals which men had a hard time killing.
Evolution is a religion with the end goal of saying there is no God, that men are evolving to become gods or as close as they feel is possible. They probably will try to teach you this in school, and we want you to be ready.
Below is a comparison chart:
Creation Proven Man caused death Evidence points to design - Genesis 1:1 Purpose Getting Worse Chicken 6,600-10,000 years old Admit we know very little Life begits life
Evolution Disproven Death caused man Evidence forced to fit model 2 Peter 2:5-6 Accident Getting Better Egg 16 Billion years old Think they know a lot Abiogenesis disproved
1 big problem for both Creation and Evolution, there are stars at least 78 billion light years away according to the Hubble Telescope. Neither belief is old enough to account for this distance, however Einstein's Theory of Relativity says that speed is not as constant as we think it is, and therefore we don't have to worry about this since it is a problem for both beliefs, neither side can claim it.
It is estimated that there are enough stars for each person on Earth (7 Billion people) to own 11 Trillion stars personally. God knows all of the names of all of the stars (Psalm 147:4) and measures the width of the universe with the span of his hand. (Isaiah 40:12)
Evidence of Creation - Complexity - Your eye contains 137 million light sensitive cells in the size of a postage stamp. It takes in a crystal clear image, focuses faster than you can think, determines distance automatically, has built in moisturizers and windshield wipers. Its complexity and perfection in design warrants a Creator in the same way a camera proves a camera maker.
Laws - The Laws of Gravity, ThermoDynamics, and Sin and Death (Romans 8:2), among many others, are so reliable that scientists never fear that gravity might change and ruin their experiments. These laws point to a Law-Giver.
7 Day Week - The year is based on rotation around the sun, the day is based on rotation on an axis, the lunar calendar is based on the moon's rotation, seasons are based on the tilt of the earth, but the 7-day week has no natural purpose. God created the Universe in 6 days and rested on the 7th, and now ~10,000 years later we still recognize a 7-day week.
Irreducible Complexity - Your heart is one of the most incredible pumps ever created, it pumps 2,000 gallons of blood a day continuously for decades with no external maintenance. But without blood it is useless, and blood without lungs to put oxygen in is useless, and oxegenated pumped blood is useless without arteries and arteries are worthless without veins. All of these are worthless without a body, and a body is worthless without a brain. Each of these must be in place to have a working circulatory system, and therefore could not have evolved, but must have been created whole.
Wall in History - History is fairly clear until ~2200 BC when everything gets fuzzy. The Bible tells us that just before this there was a great flood. We see evidence of this flood in rock layers, oil deposits, fossils, and a panoply of flood stories from all over the world.
Conclusion Both Creation and Evolution are religions. One comes from God, the other comes from men. There is no doubt from a scientific basis that a world-wide flood occured, and that dinosaurs are in the Bible and other places in history.
If you run into a teacher who believes in Evolution, please consider standing up to him or her and simply tell them that your Bible Study Teacher says that evolution is a dying religion. Feel free to have them call me.
Don't forget to invite a friend to class next week, 8/31!
