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Gospel Meeting October 2008

The 3rd Annual Preachers Files Lectureship

Youth Gathering Oct 25th

Old Testament Overview

Lesson prepared by Richard Chambers

If you’ll go ahead and open up to Hebrews Chapter 1, that is the passage where we will begin the lesson this evening.  I’m going to try to cover quite a bit of information in the lesson tonight, and so I’m going to speak fairly quickly but we’re not going to go into detail or hardly anything.  The lesson tonight is an overview of the Old Testament.  Hopefully, there’s something that will be presented in the lesson tonight that will be helpful in your reading and studying of the Old Testament.  The reason I wanted to do this lesson at this time is because, in looking at our daily Bible-reading schedule, we’ll be getting to an area, before too long — in the Old Testament — where I’m afraid sometimes some people who are reading that material have some misunderstanding or difficulties in understanding or knowing exactly the context.  We’re going to talk more about that here in just a moment.

 But in Hebrews Chapter 1, beginning in verse 1,

  “(Hebrews 1:1) God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

“(2) Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

“(3) Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

We find here, in the opening of the book of Hebrews, the theme for the book, the focus on Christ and the preeminence of Christ, the exalted position of Christ.  We find, throughout the book of Hebrews, the exalting of Christ above that of Moses, the exalting of the gospel above the law.  Now, the Jews at this time — there were those who had a hard time accepting Christ as the promised Messiah for a variety of reasons.  They had a hard time letting go of the law.  And the point here, as we find in other books of the Bible also, was that it was time to let go of the law, it was a thing of the past.  It had been done away with, nailed to the cross of Christ, and we now are to abide under the gospel of Christ.  Notice what it says in Hebrews Chapter 2, beginning in verse 1.

 “(Hebrews 2:1) Therefore we ought” — notice, there’s a condition, there’s an obligation: we ought — “to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

“(2) For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;

“(3) How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

“(4) God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?”

 So we see that Jesus, here, purged us from our sins.  We saw that in Chapter 1.  We see here that there is the message of great salvation that is available to us, and that opportunity is available; because of the sacrifice of Christ, we can have our sins forgiven and look forward to a home in heaven.

We’ve already seen reference to a message delivered before: the writing of the prophets, the teaching of the prophets.  And notice, when we read the Old Testament scripture, it points forward to the coming of the new, and the New Testament fulfills the Old Testament scriptures.  We find here in Hebrews Chapter 10 verse 1, it says, 

“(Hebrews 10:1) For the law having a shadow of good things to come....”

 See, the law was not meant to be permanent.  It was part of God’s plan of salvation for mankind.  It was temporary.  It was a shadow of other things to come, and those other things to come being in the form of Jesus, the Messiah, and the teachings that he brought to us.  Of course, in John Chapter 12 verses 48 through 50, we’re told that Jesus didn’t bring his own commandment, didn’t bring his own thing, but he taught the commandments of the Father, passed that along to the apostles, they being guided by the Holy Spirit into all truth.  And then we have the recorded teachings in the scriptures today.  If you back up a couple of chapters, in Hebrews Chapter 8, talking about Jesus as our high priest, making the offer, the sacrifice for us, his own body and blood upon the cross, a high priest that now gives us access to our Father in heaven.  It says, in verse 6, 

“(Hebrews 8:6) But now hath he” — Jesus — “obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.

“(7) For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.”

So we find prophecies within the scriptures of a new covenant to come.  If you notice, in verse 9 it talks about a covenant, not according to the covenant made with the Father, talking about the time in which they were led out of the land of Egypt. This is another covenant to come, a better covenant, a new covenant.  And notice what it says in verse 13.

“(Hebrews 8:13) In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.”

 So we have individuals who have differing views on how much we should study the Old Testament, how much we should read in the Old Testament, how much we should try to learn about the law.  Remember, it’s important to keep in mind that not all of the Old Testament scripture is the law of Moses.  The book of Genesis and the beginning of the book of Exodus covers a period prior to the law.  But of course, the majority of the Old Testament does cover the time in which the people were living under the law of Moses.  But in Romans Chapter 15 verse 4 — remember, this morning I said I’d make reference to Romans 15:4 — Paul makes it very clear that the Old Testament scriptures are still very beneficial to us.  He says, 

“(Romans 15:4) For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”

 

Well, what was it that was written aforetime?  The same as is referred to there in the book of Hebrews, the writings of the prophets, the Old Testament scriptures, including the law.  Paul says that those things are there for our learning.  So yes, we are under the New Testament scriptures; we are bound by the New Testament, the new covenant.  But that doesn’t mean that we should discard or neglect the Old Testament scriptures, because there is much to be learned in those scriptures.  We learn more about God.  We learn about our origination.  We learn of the history of His people.  We learn of the instructions that He gave to His people and the concepts in which He dealt with them.  He gave them instructions, and with those instructions, there was the responsibility to obey those instructions, that they were given great and wonderful privileges as the chosen people of God under the law of Moses, this Jewish nation.  But that with those privileges, there were also conditions and responsibilities, and with those responsibilities also came accountability.  We are offered far-exceeding privileges under the gospel of Christ, but there are conditions that go with those privileges.  There are responsibilities that go with those privileges, and there is accountability for and to our responsibilities.  We learn a lot about God’s dealings with mankind, that He expects mankind to obey Him, and when people turn away from God, then there are consequences to be faced.  And when people obey God, there is reward that is received.

But what I’d like to do this evening is consider the Old Testament in a broad overview, because I’m afraid that, with our reading of the Old Testament, there are times in which we get kind of bogged down.  Sometime we can get ourselves confused.  We lose sight of the context of what’s taking place.  There are a couple of things that happen, I’m afraid, that cause us to not learn as much as we could from the Old Testament. First of all, we struggle with those long names and places, the words that we kind of stutter through.  And I do all the time, stutter through those names and those places.  Please don’t allow that to get you bogged down, but look at the overall context of what is being spoken, the overall message.  I think probably the primary reason that sometimes people have a tendency to kind of get bogged down or seem to lose their place when reading the Old Testament, is because when we open a book — for instance, a novel — and we start at the beginning of that book, we read it through in order, and it’s in chronological order.  That is not the case with the scriptures.  They don’t follow a chronological order in the Old Testament scriptures, and we’re going to see that by this diagram here this evening.  So when we are reading a book, if we know the chronological order, or the estimated chronological order, then we can read it in that order if we like.  Or we can go ahead and read in the order that the books appear in the scriptures, but if we do that, then we need to know the context surrounding that book:  what’s taking place historically; what is the situation with God’s people, if we’re reading of times under the law.  That will certainly help us to have a better understanding and be able to follow along better with what’s taking place.

In this chart this evening, it divides the Old Testament into twelve different periods or twelve different categories.  We find here, beginning with the section entitled ante — I believe that’s the correction pronunciation.  See, I’m stuttering over one of the short words.  It’s antediluvian: ante meaning before, diluvian in reference to the flood.  And so this is the time before and leading up to the flood.  Of course, this is the first part of the scriptures, Genesis 1 through Genesis 7, and here we find the creation of mankind and we find some things involving mankind, with Adam and Eve and sin entering into the world from the very beginning, at their time in the Garden of Eden.  And we find here, at that very moment when sin entered into the world, mankind needed a redeemer; God’s plan was already underway to provide that.  You see, God’s plan of salvation for mankind doesn’t begin with the book of Matthew, in the New Testament; it beings with the book of Genesis, and it continues throughout the scriptures.  So we find the sinfulness of mankind also in these early chapters of the scriptures; we find the great spread of sin and how it got to the point where even the thoughts of mankind were evil continually.  We find the flood being sent, but Noah and his family, or course, being spared through that flood.

We then come to the postdiluvian.  This is the time after the flood, Genesis Chapter 8 through Genesis Chapter 11.  Here we find the repopulation of the earth.  Of course, we’re down to Noah and his family, and so we are given quite a bit of information regarding genealogies, such and such begat such and such, who begat such and such, having to do with Noah, his sons and their families.  Within this information, we find some information regarding the development and establishment of different nations.  We find, in these chapters, mentioning of the Isles of the Gentiles, and so we have some information here about the development of the Jews and the Gentiles.  We also find here the Tower of Babel.  We usually say babble; I believe the correction pronunciation is Babel, the Tower of Babel.  The people were building a tower to reach into the heavens with their determinations, what they wanted to do.  God saw that that was not good, and He separated the people and gave them separate languages.  That’s an interesting passage.

But then we move on to Genesis Chapter 12 through Genesis Chapter 50.  We refer to this as the Patriarchal section of the Old Testament: patriarch meaning father.  Here we are given some information about some of the fathers of some of the families, those who were directly involved with the plan of salvation, the lineage that would lead us to Christ.  Here we learn of Abraham, often referred to as Father Abraham.  We hear of the promise that God made to Abraham, that Abraham, and his descendancies (phonetic), there would be a great nation, that they would be given a land, and that through his seed, Abraham’s seed, all nations of the earth would be blessed.  The rest of the scriptures fulfill that promise that was made to Abraham.  And then it was repeated through Abraham’s descendants, through Isaac and Jacob.  We hear Joseph, at the end of Exodus, repeating that promise to his family.  Now, of course, there were other children, but we are given the details on this individuals, for the most part, because, again, this was the lineage that would lead us to Christ.  So we see again, God’s providential care and that He is in control and that He has His plan in place.  Ephesians 1 tells us that plan was in place before the foundations of the world.

With Joseph, we find that he is despised by his brothers because he is Jacob’s favorite, and so the plot against him and sell him into slavery.  Through the providence of God and the virtue of Joseph and his obedience, Joseph finds himself, through a sequence of events, at the right hand of Pharaoh.  A very, very powerful position in the Egyptian Empire, and they were very strong at that time.  And so Joseph is in a place of authority and power.  We find that he interprets the dreams that indicate that there would be, in the land of Egypt and the surrounding area, seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine.  He then gives the recommendation that Egypt should take in store portions of the crops from the seven years of plenty, and should keep those on hand to make it through the seven years of famine.  During that time, the years of the famine, the nations surrounding Egypt would come and buy grain from Egypt, including Joseph’s brothers.  Well, we know how the story goes, that he eventually reveals himself to them, invites them to come down with their families, Jacob and his family and all of their belongings, to come down and dwell in the land of Egypt.  And so that takes us through Genesis Chapter 50, and we find that Joseph passes away.  Things are going pretty well for Abraham’s descendants down through Isaac and Jacob, and at this point they’re in a good position in Egypt.  But things change quickly.

When we come to the book of Exodus, beginning in Exodus Chapter 1, we find the Egyptian bondage.  There is a change of Pharaohs in Egypt.  This Pharaoh was not familiar with Joseph, and he felt threatened, because of the great numbers of the Hebrews, the descendants of Abraham, that were dwelling there in Egypt.  After all, if an enemy came up against Egypt and these descendants of Abraham sided with the enemy, Egypt would be in trouble.  So he put them in bondage, and we find that in the opening chapters of Exodus.  Then we hear of Moses, who was spared, even though there were instructions to kill the male babies who were born.  We find Moses being spared, being brought up in the house of Pharaoh.  Hebrews Chapter 11 tells us how Moses forsook the riches of Egypt, because he knew it was worth the reward in Christ and in God’s plan and in obedience to Him.  We find Moses slaying another Egyptian and then leaving the land of Egypt.  We find, through a sequence of events, he encounters the Burning Bush, he investigates, and God gives him instructions. to go back down into Egypt and stand before Pharaoh and demand that the people be released.  We find that taking place.  Pharaoh hardened his heart, of course; he wouldn’t release the people.  We find God sending the plagues upon the Egyptians, and Pharaoh eventually — although he was very stubborn — but Pharaoh eventually allowed the people to leave.

Then we come to the wilderness wandering.  Now, up to this point, we are, pretty much, in chronological order, only involving the books of Genesis and Exodus.  That shows up how much is covered, how much information is in, in particular, the book of Genesis, also in the book of Exodus.  We find a great amount of information and the foundation being laid upon which the plan of God unfolds throughout the rest of the scriptures.  We find, when we get to the wilderness wandering, this is the time in which the people were leaving Egypt, heading toward the promised land.  We find, along the way, that now some other books of the Bible come into the picture.  We find, when we read the books of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, they all cover this time period, or they all happen under the context of this particular situation of the wilderness wandering.  Remember, the people made it right up to the southern tip of the promised land.  They were right there on the borders.  It was there to be given by God.  God instructed them to send spies to go into the land, to seek it out, one from each tribe of the children of Jacob, the family of Joseph.

So we find that the twelve spies go in, they spy out the land.  They’re in there for forty days.  They come back and say, Yes, it’s a good land.  But there are people there that are awful strong.  They’re giants.  They have strong armies.  They’re well armed.  They have fortified cities, walled cities.  If we go in, we don’t stand a chance.  They discouraged the people; they wanted to turn around and go back to Egypt even.  And so we find that God punished them and said that for each day those spies were in the promised land, that they would spend a year wandering in the wilderness.  And so they wandered for forty years.  The purpose of that was so that that first generation that rejected God and didn’t follow His commandments would literally die out, saving Caleb and Joshua, because they gave a good report and they encouraged people to go into the land.  But the people wouldn’t listen, and so we find the wilderness wandering taking a forty-year period in which the people would die.  And then the second generation would go into the land, and in the book of Deuteronomy, those instructions are being given to that second generation that is about to go in and inherit the land.

That brings us, then, to the book of Joshua, the period of the Canaan conquest.  They were to go into the land of Canaan and conquer the land — of course, with God providing the way.  We find, at this point now, that Moses had died, and Joshua is now the leader of the people.  We find him going in and doing battle with the nations that possessed the land, and they were given the instructions to utterly destroy those people, to completely drive them out.  They came close to doing that, but they didn’t quite accomplish that, they didn’t quite follow God’s instructions completely.  And they paid the consequences of it for years to come.  Because those people that were in the land had forgotten God.  They’d completely turned away from God.  They were idolatrous.  They were a bad influence.  And unfortunately, the children of Israel fell to their influences.  As a matter of fact, we find here the inheritances being given.  We find now that the people are dispersed through the promised land, no longer gathered together as one group as they had been up to this point, looking toward one particular person, either Moses or Joshua, for leadership.  But now they are to go to their individual lands.  They are to maintain the law and keep the law and maintain their worship through the priests that also were there in the land.  But the people failed to do so.

That brings us to the period of the Judges, sometimes referred to as the dark days for the children of Israel, for God’s people.  We’re now in the book of Judges, in the first part of I Samuel.  We find that there was a cycle that the people went through.  They would follow God for a while, and things would go well.  But then, usually because of the influences that remained in the land because they hadn’t followed God’s instructions in the first place, they would be led away from obedience to God, and they would turn to idolatry.  Because of that, God would allow them to be overthrown, to be oppressed, and the people would be in a difficult situation because of their sin. Then they would realize that, This isn’t the way it should be, and they would realize that they were in that situation because they had turned away from God, they had sinned, and so they would repent.  Repent back to God and pray to God and ask for His help.  And so He would raise up a judge.

Now, when we think of the word judge, we normally think of a person who sits in a court of law and passes sentencing.  Well, actually, the idea here is that the judge was more of a deliverer.  God would bring up a deliverer to rally the people, lead the people and deliver them out of the hands of their oppressors.   At this time also we find — as I’ve already mentioned here, in I Samuel Chapters 1 through 9 covering this period — Samuel, because Samuel was the last of the judges.  But we also find the book of Ruth taking place during this overall time period, the period of the Judges.  And if you’ll notice, I put Job on this list here with a question mark.  There is some debate as to where the book of Job would belong in the chronological order, in terms of time frame.  It is thought to be one of the older books, and there are differences in ideas as to how old, exactly.  Some would actually put it earlier on the outline.  I don’t know, and so I put it there with a question mark, so please keep that in mind.  We’re going to see some dates here in a moment on this outline, and please keep in mind that those dates are approximate.  Some of those, we know rather well; some, we don’t know exactly, and so those dates are approximate.  But again, looking for an overview, and idea of a chronological order.

Through the period of the Judges, there were fifteen different judges, with, as I’ve already said, Samuel being the last.  And it comes to the point where the people no longer want that type of system.  They want a king.  They see the nations around them that have kings, and they want a king, so God allows that to take place.  He realizes that the people are rejecting Him, because they don’t want their system, they want their own, they want a kingdom.  And God allows that, and He designates Saul as the first king.  We have the time of the united kingdom — that lasts through Saul, David, and Solomon — in which there was one nation.

Now we find several books, and here’s where sometimes we can get bogged down a little.  This period of the united kingdom is covered through the rest of I Samuel.  II Samuel focuses in on the time of David.  We find I Kings, in Chapters 1 through 11, covering this time period.  Also in the book of I Chronicles, in the first ten chapters of II Chronicles, Chapters 1 through 9.  So when we read those portions of those books, let’s keep in mind that, within the context, we’re talking about the united kingdom, with the people all in one nation.  But also we find Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon being written during this time, because Psalms, of course, primarily written by David; Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon being accredited to Solomon.  So those books are being written, or were written, during this united kingdom.

But now we get down to the portion where sometimes we lose our context.  If you’ll notice here, I have the date of 931 BC.  That is an important date, because in that date, the kingdoms split.  God’s people were not getting along.  They were having a lot of struggles and debates amongst themselves, different issues, and so the kingdom splits, and now we have a divided kingdom, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

Let’s talk about Israel here for just a moment, the northern kingdom.  We find that they existed for some time, up until 722 BC.  The king, overall, of the northern kingdom of Israel, were very sinful, and it seemed like one was trying to out-do the one before, in terms of being more sinful.  The nation turned away from God more and more as they progressed.  There was warning after warning that was given to them, but they refused to listen and refused to repent.  And so, in 722 BC, the Assyrians came into the northern kingdom and overthrew it, took it into bondage, and it was never reinstated as its own nation again.  That was the end of the northern nation.  We find that this divided kingdom is covered in the books of I Kings Chapters 12 through 22, the book of II Kings, and II Chronicles Chapters 10 through 36.

If you would turn to II Chronicles Chapter 36 — now if you’ll turn the page — according to this outline, we find that Joel was one of the earliest writings of the prophets.  It’s estimated here that he wrote in the 800s, still well within the time of the divided kingdom, both Israel and Judah.  But what book do you see when you turn the page after II Chronicles?  The book of Ezra.  Notice on this chart where Ezra is.  On down the line quite a ways.  You see, the scriptures are not in chronological order.  We need to keep that in mind.  If we read of the time of Ezra, we’re reading of a time that comes on down the road a ways.  We’ll talk about that more in just a moment.  But if you go in a chronological order and we find that those who wrote during the divided kingdom, we’ll find Joel and Amos and Hosea, Jonah.  Of course, Jonah didn’t prophesy or spread the word to Israel and Judah; he was told to go to the Ninevites.  It is estimated — again, a question mark there — that it was sometime during that time frame that that took place.  We find Isaiah starting his work right before the Assyrians overthrew the northern kingdom.  Then after 722 BC, of course, those prophets that taught the word of the Lord were teaching the southern kingdom of Judah, because the northern kingdom did not exist any longer.

Hopefully, this will give you an idea.  Of course, there are individual lessons in each and every one of these books that we don’t have the time to approach tonight.  But notice here, we have a date of 606 BC and Carchemish that is listed there.  That is a location in which a battle took place in 606 BC:  the Babylonians fought with the Egyptians, and the Babylonians won.  So here we have the Babylonians coming into power, and the reason that is a significant date is not only because the Babylonians are eventually the ones that are going to take the southern kingdom of Judah into captivity.  That process started on that occasion, on 606, and involving some of the children of God along with the relationships in that battle, some of God’s people were taken captive at that date.  Now, they had been warned by these prophets over and over, that there was punishment to come if they did not repent and turn back to God, and we see that process taking place.  However, the prophets continued with their messages.  But yet, the people were still reluctant and hardhearted.

Of course, there was a seventy-year period that was talked about in the scriptures and warned of in the scriptures, and we see that fulfilled, the seventy years of captivity.  Some say that you should start counting that seventy years on this occasion, 606, because that was the time when the first group was taken captive.  But others say that, actually, we should wait and start counting in 586 BC, another very important date.  Nebuchadnezzar, who was the king of the Babylonians, came in and overthrew Jerusalem at that date, destroying the temple, which is very significant, because the temple that Solomon had built was the house of God, the dwelling place of God, and now it is destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.  Some say that is when you should start counting the seventy years, because that is when Jerusalem was taken, the capitol city, that’s when the temple was destroyed.

Well, keep that in mind, but notice here that when the captivity starts and continues, God’s message is still being taught.  Ezekiel and Daniel were among those who taught during the captivity.  As a matter of fact, if you turn to the book of Daniel, in Daniel Chapter 4 verse 1, we see Nebuchadnezzar being referred to — again, the king of the Babylonians — so we see that this is during that captivity.  However, if you go Daniel Chapter 6 verse 1, we see Darius being referred to.  Now, if you back up to the last verse of Chapter 5, we see that Darius is a Median or a Mede.  If you go over a few more chapters, to Chapter 10, we find King Cyrus, king of Persia, being referred to, and here’s what happened.  The Persians and the Medes joined forces and overthrew the Babylonians, while God’s people were in this Babylonian captivity.  That is why we find Cyrus being mentioned here.  He is now one of the kings in authority.  And in 536 BC, he allowed some of God’s people, Abraham’s descendants, the Hebrews, to return to their land.  Then notice this, if you start counting the seventy years when the first group went into captivity, then you would stop counting when the first group came out of captivity, 606 BC to 536 BC — how many years do you have? — seventy.  Just as the scriptures had told.  But if you say you ought to start counting when the temple was destroyed — in 516 BC the new temple was finished and dedicated, so from when the temple was destroyed to the time it was dedicated, how long do we have?  Seventy years.  It doesn’t matter which way you look at it, you still get seventy years.  God knew what He was talking about.

So we find here that now we come to the book of Ezra, the book following — in order, as it appears in the scriptures — the book after II Chronicles.  Ezra went back and was leading the people in efforts to rebuild the temple.  We see that that had started, and then others started causing some troubles and caused the work to cease.  We find then that Haggai and Zechariah came along and continued to teach the people and encourage the people, and the temple was finished.  We find that the book of Ezra covers quite a stance, about 536 to 445.  Well, that brings us right up to the time of Nehemiah.  Notice that Ezra is from 536 to 445; Nehemiah about 446.  They were contemporaries, and so Nehemiah also urged the people to continue working, working on some projects and restoring Jerusalem back to the way it should have been.  He focused on the rebuilding of the walls.  Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah encouraged the people to build the temple, and  Nehemiah, along with that, also encouraged the people to rebuild the walls.

Now we find a period of restoration, and we find Malachi being the last, in terms of chronological order, that revealed a message from God.  Then we find some years of silence, leading up to the New Testament.  As the book of Galatians says, in the fullness of time... God sent forth His son, made of a woman.  We find John the Baptist preparing the way for the Lord, and we find the Messiah being born.  We hear of his life, we learn of his teachings, and we see his sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary for us.  Hopefully, this will be of some assistance as you’re reading the Old Testament.  I encourage you to have this handy, and when you read a particular book, find that book on this chart and see what the context is and what is taking place.  It certainly will help you to grow in understanding of the Old Testament scriptures, which, as Paul said, are there for our learning.

We’re about to sing a song, if I remember right, that is entitled Burdens are Lifted at Calvary.  As we read through the Old Testament scriptures, we see God’s plan unfolding and we see it pointing directly to the coming of Christ, his sacrifice at Calvary and the establishment of the church.  We carry burdens with us, spiritual burdens, and that spiritual burden is sin. We’ve all sinned and fallen short (Romans 3:23).  But we find, in every one of these prophets, just about every one of them, there is a pattern that develops.  There are warnings pronounced against either Judah or Israel — and that would be during the time of the divided kingdom — there are warnings against foreign nations, surrounding nations, that are going to receive punishment as well.  But always... there’s a message of hope.  If you read through the book of Amos, Amos was right to the point and pretty harsh.  And we find warning after warning after warning through the book of Amos of the things that are going to take place if the people don’t repent.  But guess how he finishes that book.  With a glimmer of hope.  The last few verses let us know that not all is lost, but there’s hope.

We’ve sinned.  We’ve fallen short.  That violates the nature of God.  That separates us from God.  And yes, we are warned about that over and over through the scriptures.  But we have a message of hope.  And not just a glimmer of hope.  We have the life of God’s Word that is a light unto our path, that guides us in the way, and we hear of Calvary, that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ died for us so that we could be forgiven.  The scriptures point directly to his sacrifice, the establishment of the church that we become a member of when we are obedient to the gospel.  We saw this morning, in Acts Chapter 2, that the Lord adds us to the church when we do what is necessary to be saved.  Don’t miss the message of the scriptures, that God loves you.  Enough to send Jesus to die for you.  That He gives you hope and He gives you promises, and that promise is eternal life.  Yes, there are conditions, there are responsibilities and there is accountability.

Have you responded to God’s instructions?  Do you realize that you’re responsible to be obedient?  Do you realize that we’re going to be held accountable one day as to whether or not we have been obedient?  We’re going to stand in front of the judgment seat of Christ, and we’re going to be judged by our lives.  If it was all up to us, we wouldn’t have any hope, because we cannot earn our salvation because of our sins.  But because of the grace and mercy of God, offered through the blood of Christ, we can be acceptable in the sight of God.  Jesus himself — in Hebrews Chapter 2 verse 11, we’re told that he will consider us brethren, his family; he’ll claim us as his own and invite us into a home in heaven.  If we’ll believe in him as the Son of God (John 3:16).  If we’ll confess that belief (Matthew 10:32).  If we’ll repent of our sins, as Jesus went out preaching in Matthew 4 verse 17.  If we’ll be baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38).  Becoming a child of God when we are baptized into Christ (Galatians 3:26-27).  As Peter said in I Peter Chapter 3 verse 21, baptism doth also now save us.  It is necessary for our salvation.  Those are the steps that we must follow.  If you haven’t done that, on this very evening you can have your burdens lifted at Calvary.  If you’ve been obedient to the gospel, perhaps you haven’t remained obedient.  Allow those warnings throughout the Old Testament to teach a valuable lesson.  Always, God demanded His people to obey Him, and they strayed away time and time again.  But never ever did God not leave an opportunity for them to repent and come back to Him.  At any time, He would forgive them and accept them back, regardless of what they had done.

That is the same with us today, under the gospel of Christ.  I John Chapter 1 verses 7 through 9, the blood of Christ continues to be available as a sacrifice for us.  If you’ve sinned, if you’ve allowed sin back into your life, don’t maintain that.  Correct that.  Pray to God.  Confess your faults and ask for His forgiveness.  He will forgive you.  If you need your burdens lifted, you can do that this very moment, as we stand and sing.

 


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Matt 11:28-29
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls."