Category: Saturday Study

Saturday Study

Romans 1-5 (7.7.18)

I am very excited that we are now in Romans in our annual Bible reading plan. This has been considered by many scholars and historic theologians as one of the great pillars of the New Testament.

Paul starts in chapter one highlighting the sinful demise of mankind and that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. He then spends the majority of the next chapters making it abundantly clear about mankind’s condition apart from Christ’s saving work. This is what I want to highlight in today’s study: the spiritual state of mankind in our sin.

Then next week, we will turn to chapters 6-10 and highlight the good news of the gospel and our spiritual state in Christ.

Romans 3:10-12 speaks of our spiritual condition in our sin so well, so let’s start there:

Romans 3:10-12 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Scripture again and again points us to the overwhelming and damning reality that we are DEAD IN OUR SIN–not sick, not morally neutral–we are DEAD!

Three things Paul highlights here that lay this most important foundation for our utter need for God’s saving grace:

1. No one is righteous.

We have NO righteousness of our own that is satisfactory for God’s utter holiness!

We cannot stand in front of a holy God and attempt to do what the prideful Pharisee did, saying, “Compared to that guy, I am looking pretty good.” 

The Bible says everything we do apart from Christ is sin, because it’s not done from a right heart to the glory of God, and that our best efforts at good deeds or righteous living is like fifthly menstrual rags.

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23

UNDERSTAND THIS MOST CRITICAL REALITY:

One day, you will stand in front of a holy God inquiring about His acceptance of you.

Not anyone else’s acceptance of you! Only the holy God. WE MUST NOT MISS THIS!

We must see how absolutely GRAND the canyon is that separates us from God because of our sin.

2. No one seeks God.

The Bible-revealed reality is what man seeks on his own is not God but some form of religion: a man-made, self-salvation based on self-merit. It’s a pursuit of a lifestyle that attempts to put God in debt to him.

The good deeds of man are ultimately not to honor or glorify God but are self-glorifying or self-satisfying. Without the gracious intervention of God, man only seeks to glorify man.

Spiritually dead people don’t tend to spiritual matters unless first “made alive or born again.”

3. No one understands.

This is not in regards to our ability to think or reason or understand many things in this life.

It is in regard to our spiritual blindness, our utter lack of spiritual perception. 

We are totally absent minded to the things of God in our sin.

Ephesians 4:17b-18 in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

Later in Romans, Paul will say “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot” (Romans 8:7).

The Bible says that even the demons understand who God is, believe He exists, and can talk about Him; but the spiritual discernment required to know Him personally is not in them.

This is super important to understand. James Montgomery Boice says it so well:

“This does not mean that an unsaved person cannot have a rational understanding of Christianity or of what the Bible teaches apart from the illumination given by the Spirit. A scholar can understand Christian theology as well as any other branch of knowledge. A philosopher can lecture on the Christian idea of God. A historian can analyze the nature of the Protestant Reformation and describe justification by faith very well. But left to themselves, people like this do not believe what they explain, nor are they saved or changed by it.”

Please understand rightly: Because we are dead in sin and all we do is sin, we are not due any gift of God. Especially one that restores us to a relationship with Him.

A very important way to think about GRACE is that it is a gift that is undeserved.

We must fully and rightly see that God’s grace is undeserved. In its simple reading, “undeserved” means you did nothing to deserve it.

Undeserved is like showing up on the job site, and you just sit there your entire shift and don’t lift a finger to work at all. Any pay your boss might consider giving you in that case would be completely undeserved.

But it’s worse than this, because we didn’t do nothing; we showed up on the job site and worked our entire shift to tear apart the work the boss wanted done, to hurt his company and to work against him. Surely when that is the way we performed, as an enemy and anti-agent, we all the more don’t deserve any pay or reward.

So, what we must see is that undeserved here means we actively and holistically are against the giver.  

This is Paul’s emphasis in the early verses of Ephesians 2!

Our death in sin meant we were…

Following the course of this world: That means we are actively not obeying the law and commands of God.

Following the prince of the power of the air (Satan): That means we are actively not following the holy God; rather, we lived in anti-God unrighteousness like Satan.

The spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience: That means we are not righteousness unto obedience and honoring God.

Lived in the passions of our flesh: That means we lived for ourselves and for our flesh–not for God and His glory.

Carrying out the desires of the body and the mind: That means we were idolaters instead of worshiping and following God and His desires.

We were His enemies in every way! This brings up another foundational principle that helps us rightly understand that God saves by grace alone: Because we are all fallen in Adam, we deserve God’s wrath. And we have increased the severity of wrath due us in living as Paul describes here in our passage. 

This is what Paul says next. Look at verse 3:

Ephesians 2:3 … were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind

Most people, and sadly even many Christians, have a low view of the righteous wrath of God.

Please understand, at the end of human history, sin will be punished eternally.

     But this is so foreign, it seems like a fantasy to many.

Many simply cannot imagine God to be a God of judgment–a God who would impart His wrath on us or people we have loved in this life.

People like to see Jesus as a loving hippy who would not dare send anyone into eternal torment based on His sound judgment of them.

To correct this line of thinking, we simply turn to Jesus’ very own teaching, as He describes the judgment to come in Matthew 25 through three parables He shares:

-In the first story, the bridegroom returns suddenly, and the women who are not ready for his coming are excluded from the marriage feast (Matt. 25:10).

-In the story of the servants, the master returns to settle his accounts, and the evil, lazy servant is condemned, as the master says, “Throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (v. 30).

-In the final story, the king separates the sheep from the goats, sending the wicked “to eternal punishment” and the righteous “to eternal life” (v. 46).

According to Jesus Himself, there absolutely will be a future day of reckoning for all people.

But many people love to argue, “God is so good, He could never send anyone to hell.”

Yet, it is BECAUSE of God’s goodness that He MUST rightly judge and condemn guilty people to hell.

Exodus 34:7 says God “will by no means clear the guilty.” The principle in this Old Testament verse applied to final judgment is that all who stand outside of Christ will rightly be condemned and receive just wrath.

His perfect justice means He must declare the guilty “guilty!” And the sentence is death–eternal death.

If a human judge declared someone innocent who was clearly guilty, he would NOT be considered a “good judge.” In fact, he would be fired, because he is indeed a terrible judge.

It is because God is a God of love that He MUST send people to hell for the same reason that letting a guilty person go free is not an act of love; it’s an act of great injustice.

So, the presupposition that “God is good” is correct, but the conclusion that therefore, because He is good, means He won’t or can’t punish anyone is completely misguided, unbiblical, and dangerous.

The Bible proclaims the sentence for sinners in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death …”

Jesus declared it in Matthew 7:13: “… For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction …”

Hebrews 10:26-27 (NIV) says, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth … [there is] only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”

It is imperative that we note that none of our excuses will have any weight before God.

You might get away with giving excuses to other people—your boss, your parents, your friends.

But you cannot excuse yourself before God. The apostle Paul wrote that in the day of judgment, “… every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God” (Romans 3:19).

When the Judge takes the bench, there will not be a single protest.

In our current day, man is in love with human “rights,” and most people wrongly assume that God owes us something good—salvation or at least a chance at salvation.

God owes sinful man something; this is true. He owes unrepentant, sinful man His righteous and eternal wrath. YES, we are owed and we are deserving… of His eternal wrath.

But there is good news that Paul highlights in chapter five:

Romans 5:6-11 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

–While we were His enemies, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!

What does this mean for us?

It means we who believe into Jesus as Savior and Lord are:

“… saved by him from the wrath of God” Romans 5:9

He substituted Himself in our place. He died to pay our penalty.

Hebrews 2:17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Jesus Christ substituted Himself in our place.

This is the wonder and beauty of what Jesus accomplished on the cross of Calvary on our behalf. His bloodshed is the righteousness with which we who trust in Christ are covered. So, when God, in all His holiness, looks upon you and me to consider if we get to enjoy His glory and have communion with Him, He sees Jesus’ perfection and righteousness and declares us JUSTIFIED. We are justified by His blood.

• “… reconciled to God …” Romans 5:10

This leads to the next huge point Paul tells us in Romans 5, verse 10: “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son”

There is not eternal life, there is no return to the garden of Eden, no all-satisfying enjoyment with God almighty, no being freed from sin and eternal suffering, NO RECONCILIATION TO GOD if not for the death of His Son, Jesus Christ on our behalf.

If you are reading this and are not yet saved, repent and believe in Christ alone for salvation, for reconciliation to God.

And finally,

Romans 5:11 … we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Habakkuk says it so well:

Habakkuk 3:18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

Even while standing down stream of absolute physical ruin and abject famine, the prophet realized that inner peace and joy did not depend on outward prosperity but only on the God of his salvation.

Habakkuk did not state that he would merely endure in the hour of distress.

He said he would rejoice in the Lord and be joyful. God is the inexhaustible source and infinite supply of joy.

The phrase “the God of my salvation” is also seen in the Psalmist’s words:

Psalms 18:46 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation

Are your feet firmly grounded on the ROCK of Jesus Christ, on the God of your salvation?

Praise God for the good news of Jesus Christ which sets condemned sinners free.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Joshua 20-24 (6-30-18)

In our last stretch of reading in the book of Joshua, we encounter one of the more famous quotes of Joshua that Christians love and love to hold high. It is found in Joshua 24:15. To give you a reminder of the context, let’s look again at verses 14 and 15:

Joshua 24:14-15 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

That last part of verse 15 says, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

This is probably one of the most popular verses painted or hung on the walls of Christian homes that there is.

It is a great proclamation of intent to join Joshua in his fervor to dedicate his life and family to the service of our good God.

I can’t help but wonder if for the majority of the homes where that verse is posted, that’s where the fervor ends. In other words, to what extent are those households truly defined by and daily driven by serving the Lord God with their lives? How much of their making and spending their money looks like a family of servants to God, how much of their daily priorities and activities reflect a life of service to God?

If you were to tour a multi-million-dollar American estate or a massive residence of a king in a foreign land, you would likely find the living quarters or home on site where the servants of that estate live. What would we find in daily priorities or activities of that servant family of the lord of the manor?

Hopefully you see what I am getting at. Is the proclamation that we will serve the Lord mostly a lofty idea of devotion, or is it the actual reality of devotion of our homes and lifestyle? Do we wake up with the mindset of a servant? Don’t picture a begrudging servant who hates his master; picture a servant who is elated to get to be in direct service of the King. But picture what that lifestyle would look like. It is not a daily pursuit to build one’s own kingdom but a devoted pursuit to serve and build the kingdom of the King! The goal is not to become independent, but it is a goal that loves to be dependent on the King and His provision and His employment of our family. It is a mindset that says, “There is no higher calling or goal of my life then to be a servant of the most high King.”

The Apostle Paul joined Joshua in his fervor to be a servant of the King. Throughout his epistles, the Apostle Paul describes his relationship to Christ as one of servant to master (Rom. 1:1; 1 Cor. 4:1; Gal. 1:10).

In addition to the name Christian, the Bible uses a host of other terms to name the followers of Jesus: beloved, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the chosen, the Church, disciples, the elect, friends, heirs, household of God, saints, sheep, sons of God, and more. All of these descriptions–each in its own unique way–help us to understand what it means to be a Christian.

But the Bible uses one metaphor and title more frequently than any of these above. It is one you might not expect, but it is absolutely critical for understanding what it means to follow Jesus. It is the title of a servant or slave.

Time and time again throughout the pages of Scripture, believers are referred to as slaves of God and slaves of Christ. In fact, whereas the outside world called them Christians, the earliest of believers repeatedly referred to themselves in the New Testament as the Lord’s slaves. For them, the two ideas were synonymous. To be a Christian was to be a slave of Christ.

The New Testament understanding of the believer’s relationship to Christ is that He is the Master and Owner, and we are His possession. He is the King, the Lord, and the Son of God. We are His subjects and His subordinates. In a word, we are His slaves. The gospel is not simply an invitation to become Christ’s benefactor; it is a mandate to become His slave.

The word for slave we see used throughout the English Bible text we read from is the Greek word “doulos.” This is a primary title the Bible gives to Christians: doulo= slaves. The word doulos is used 124 times in the original Bible text, but often times it is unfortunately translated into English as the word “servant.” This shouldn’t be the case.

What is off is “doulos” is not a primary Greek word for servant; rather, there are many words in Greek more specific for the word servant.

While both servant and salve indicate service-hood, the difference between the two words is big in that servants are hired workers, but salves are owned by their master.

So we can see why God inspired the title of duolos/slave to be so common; we are servants, but we are more than that: we are slaves, His slaves. He owns us; our lives are for Him.

We need to embrace that a life of submission is much of what a godly life and the Christian life is about at its core.

True Christianity is not about adding Jesus to my life. Instead, it is about devoting myself completely to Him — submitting wholly to His will and seeking to please Him above all else. It demands dying to self and following the Master, no matter what the cost. In other words, to be a Christian is to be Christ’s slave. ^–John MacArthur, Slave, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010) 22.

Philippians 2:6-8 [Jesus] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus said to His disciples in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus came to serve us and sacrifice Himself–to pay for our freedom, our ransom.

I love how Pastor David Platt says this: “He took on a robe of human flesh and took all of your sinful filth, guilt and shame upon Himself. He went to the cross, and He paid the price. He stood in your place as your servant, so that you could be redeemed. This word ‘redeemed’ is a picture of slavery. When we talk about redemption, redemption is to buy something, to pay a redemption price.”

The truth is, before Christ was Savior and Lord, you and I were slaves to sin.

We were in “the snare of the devil.”  We were in his grasp, and Christ our God came, and He set us free from the bondage of sin. This is the good news; we are empowered to honor God in righteousness in the Holy Spirit.

Romans 6:17-18 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

Before we are given saving faith, we are enslaved to sin, and we will choose to sin, because it is all we know; it is all our nature is inclined to.

After we are given saving faith, we are enslaved to Christ, and we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to grow in obedience to God and fight sin. The key is we are no longer enslaved to sin in Christ. Look at Romans 6:18 again! We “have become SLAVES of righteousness!” Slaves of Jesus Christ, the righteous One!

He paid the price with His life, with His death on the cross, with His resurrection from the grave, so that you could be set free from sin and become a son, a daughter of God. That’s THE good news! à Our Master humbled Himself!

Now watch this: Our Master humbled Himself, so in Christ, we gladly become His slaves.

Paul got this, Peter got this, and so must we! It is our utter joy to be mastered by Jesus our LORD.

Romans 1:6 says basically that THE HEART OF CHRISTIANITY is “to BELONG to Jesus!”

We belong to Him!  For His glory!

1 Cor. 6:19-20 (NLT) You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your life.

This means my money is Jesus’ money, my time is Jesus’ time, my days are Jesus’ days, my body is Jesus’ body! My whole life–everything about me–is owned by and under the Lordship of Jesus!

All you are, all you have is God’s.

My kids are God’s kids; my house is God’s house; my days are God’s days.

And when we really begin to get this, we begin to understand the amazing, undeniable privilege it is to BE HIS, and it changes how we manage our time, our talent, and our treasures–everything. We begin to understand why it is a great thing to be slaves of Jesus.

It helps me begin to realize I am not building my kingdom; I am building His Kingdom for His GLORY!

Now, you must see that while He owns us and all of our lives are for Him and His glory, this is the opposite of being owned by sin and death and addiction and anything else.

We are loved. We have been fought for and bled for, and the pages of history are about our rescue by God.

Listen to Peter’s words in 1 Peter 2:

1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

We are His people–a people of His own possession.

Church! This is a greatest privilege in this life.

Now, one last emphasis on the life we are to live as slaves, and we find it in the next few verses.

Look at how we are to live free within our slavery and service to Christ:

1 Peter 2:16-20 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

Christians, we are to wake up every day and get to work on time and bring our very best, because we represent Jesus! This is not something we get to just shirk. This is His purpose for us in this time and place! Let me show why:

1 Peter 2:21b because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

What is the example Jesus has given us? To live honorable, submissive, slave lives!

The gospel is not just about setting you free; it is bigger than that. It is about empowering you to live your entire life for HIS GLORY forever. To PROCLAIM THE EXCELLENCIES of GOD!

I pray that this study gives you a sweet and potent reboot in how you see this verse in Joshua 14:15 but more importantly how you live it every day that the King gives you on this earth to serve His mighty name.

“But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Joshua 15-19 (6-23-18)

We are in an interesting stretch of the Conquest Era as we read in Joshua 15-19 this week. It is easy to often blow through these parts of God’s word, as they feel they do not have must direct application for us in our daily faith walk. When you reach sections of God’s word like this, I want to encourage you when you to take the time to dig a little deeper and long to see what God has for us, and why these things are important in the overall narrative of God’s work to fulfill his covenants and plan of redemption. Do not forget that every word that is in the holy Scriptures is ordained by God to be there and studied by His people. Therefore, it is not to be skipped over but studied and understood.

Today I want to focus in on the inheritance given to the people of Manasseh. Joshua 17:1 tells us that Manasseh was the firstborn of Joseph. Verse 3 tells us that a man named Zelophehad is the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh. Zelophehad had no sons but only daughters, and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

Now, why is this worth digging into? Because the formal ways of inheritance were always to the eldest son, but what happens when you don’t have a son? Should the daughters be given an opportunity to inherit the father’s portion?

Well the answer lies in the book of Numbers 27 verses 1-11. Look with me at what happened there, as these daughters approached Moses to inquire about their father’s inheritance and it remaining in his family instead of going elsewhere.

Numbers 27:1-11 Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh the son of Joseph. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the chiefs and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying, “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah, but died for his own sin. And he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father’s brothers.”

Moses brought their case before the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, “The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You shall give them possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them. And you shall speak to the people of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter. And if he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. And if he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the nearest kinsman of his clan, and he shall possess it. And it shall be for the people of Israel a statute and rule, as the Lord commanded Moses.’”

So, the first thing that is exciting to see here is God ordained that the daughters should receive their father’s inheritance, and He went on to clarify how He wants the inheritance divided if the father doesn’t have a son. God showed them grace and favor, and in doing so, blessed their family and following generations. We serve a good and gracious God.

One of the factors that makes this detail in the narrative so special is the boldness of the daughters to respectfully plead their case before Moses and then in our text later before Joshua.

Here is the account in Joshua 17:4:

They approached Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the leaders and said, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance along with our brothers.” So according to the mouth of the Lord He gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father.

They did not come in pride or disrespect, but they did come boldly and with respect, and the Lord honored them. Moses and Joshua both heeded the Lord’s command, and their family was blessed as a result.

This is the teaching we find in the New Testament in Hebrews 4:16: “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it.”

We to need to come boldly to the throne of our gracious God–not timid, prideful, or disrespectful, but boldly.

We can be bold to know that our Father in heaven wants to hear from us and wants us to bring Him our thoughts and hopes and life happenings.

To teach us this, Jesus told this story in Luke 18:

Luke 18:1-8 One day Jesus told his disciples a story to illustrate their need for constant prayer and to show them that they must never give up. “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who was a godless man with great contempt for everyone. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, appealing for justice against someone who had harmed her. The judge ignored her for a while, but eventually she wore him out. `I fear neither God nor man,’ he said to himself, `but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’ ”
Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this evil judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end, so don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who plead with him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when I, the Son of Man, return, how many will I find who have faith?”

I pray that this is a simple but critical reminder for you to go to our God often in prayer and to come to Him knowing He loves you and wants you to bring all that you are going through to Him. May you ultimately trust Him, and as Jesus modeled say, “Not my will but your will be done.”

“There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it.”

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Joshua 10-14 (6-16-18)

The sovereign power and will of God is on full display in Joshua 10.

As we continue our study in Joshua and the Conquest Era of the biblical narrative, we see in this week’s chapters the power of God to fulfill His plans with great victory for Israel over their enemies.

As we look deeper today at chapter 10, let me give us a little context. Gibeon was an important city in the days of Joshua. Gibeon’s rulers had seen the destruction of Ai and Jericho and knew that they were no match for Yahweh (Joshua 9:22–27). Yet since the other kings of Canaan beyond the Jordan had formed an alliance against the Israelites (Joshua 10:1), they feared the loss of Gibeon’s might and took steps to regain it (Joshua 10:1–4). So, the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon went up against Gibeon to regain the city for the Canaanite inhabitants (Joshua 10:5).

What followed was a great battle between the forces of Joshua and the Canaanites, a battle in which the Lord intervened on behalf of Israel (Joshua 10:6–15). God’s mighty hand of sovereign rule is seen in His wondrous miracle of causing the sun to stand still so that the army of the Lord could claim victory over their enemies. May we be in awe of the wondrous work of God to accomplish His will and to display His omnipotent power in the process. Having defeated their enemies, Joshua and the Israelites then put their feet on the necks of the defeated kings as a symbol of their utter defeat before putting them to death (Joshua 10:16–28).

The events of this chapter bring to mind Psalm 2 and its description of the kings of the earth warring against the anointed Davidic ruler. David goes on to proclaim the foolishness for anyone to think he could successfully fight the Almighty. The Lord laughs at the arrogance of mankind.

Stop and read Psalm 2.

1. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
2. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
3. “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
4. He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.
5. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6. “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
7. I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.
8. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
9. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
10. Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

This psalm is fulfilled ultimately in the son of David who is also the only begotten Son of God. We too stand in the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ and His ultimate reign over all things especially sin and death on our behalf. Praise God for His providence and might over all things.

Like Joshua, Jesus will put His feet on the necks of His enemies who will all submit to Him whether they want to or not. Some will honor the Son willingly and find refuge in Him, others will be forced into submission with His rod of iron but all people will bow to the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Philippians 2:9-10 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

When we call people to repent and believe in Christ, we are not offering them a choice that can be made with impunity. God commands all people everywhere to bow to His Son, and those who will not bow today will most certainly bow in the age to come. Let us strive to remind people of the dreadful consequences that await all those who will not submit to Jesus and let us endeavor each day to “kiss the Son, lest He become angry”.

Psalm 2:12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all    who take refuge in him.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Joshua 5-9 (6-9-18)

I want to focus today on one of my favorite passages in Joshua. It is Joshua 5:13-15.

Let’s read it again and then look at our holy Lord and what holy servants look like.

Joshua 5:13-15 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

1. The Holy Lord: Who God Is and Why It Matters

As this scene opens, Joshua is out on the edge of the city of Jericho by himself, and he looks up. What is he doing?

Well, back up 40 years before. The Israelites are out of slavery and headed back to their ancestral land, but this land is now occupied by another people.

Which means if they are going to get it back, there is going to be a fight.

So, just like we still do today, they sent in spies or scouts before marching in, just to survey the enemy to see what they were up against.

Every one but two of the scouts said they would never overcome those huge fortified cities. They would die in there. The only two who had confidence they could do it were Joshua and Caleb.

Because the people rebelled against God and showed Him no confidence, God sent them back out into the wilderness for 40 years, until a new generation was ready to follow God.

Now an older Joshua who has been put in charge after Moses’ passing is ready to lead them into battle to claim the Promised Land.

So Joshua is standing outside the huge fortified walls of Jericho on the eve of their attack, and it is clear that the other scouts were right about one thing: The Israelite people did not have near the amount of needed resources to take that city by human effort.

Only with God’s mighty, divine provision and power would they be able to conquer the fortified walls of Jericho. During this time, Joshua is out there most likely seeking God for his battle plan, because Joshua knows his battle plan is already worthless.

But we read he looks up to find he is not alone but lingering on the shadow of an unknown man with a drawn sword lifted high.

Now when a man is in your space with a drawn sword, it’s probably not to offer you shade.

So, Joshua draws an immediate line and asks, “Are you for us or against us?”

Meaning, “If you are for our people, you will bow before me as your leader,

or if you are for the enemy and you have your sword drawn, it’s about to go down.”

The stranger’s response is unique. He says, “NO!” in verse 14.

What he means is neither. What he is saying is, “You are asking the wrong question. I am the commander of the army of the LORD. The question isn’t am I for or against you; the real question is are you for or against me?”

Realizing who this is, Joshua falls to the ground in worship.

Joshua 5:14 … And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”

Now this is very revealing because faithful Israelites did not worship other men, nor did they worship the created angels.    àThey only worshipped God! Joshua knows who he is in the presence of.

Joshua 5:15 And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

What is cool about this is it is a very similar interaction that God had when He calls Moses at the burning bush.

Just like the burning bush, this mighty warrior is both breathtaking and scary all at the same time.

This is a picture of God’s holiness.

The question for us is do we really get the holiness of GOD?

The Holiness of God is the perfection of God. God’s holiness will be the attribute that we praise Him for, forever and ever.

Revelation 4:8 … day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

It is an essential understanding of God that He is holy, that His nature is holy, that He is infinitely and perfectly just, that He is morally flawless and perfect, that He is perfection. Everything in Him and of Him and for Him and from Him and by Him is perfect. And so whatever He says is what justice is.

“We must not think that God does a thing because it’s good and right, but rather the thing is good and right because God does it.” -William Perkins

The holiness of God is His unmatchable, majestic perfection and purity.

Do we really get the holiness of God?

If you do, then you, too, will fall face down before Him. Why?

• Because you have nothing to offer that comes close to matching Him.
• Because you are so stained with impurity in your sin in the brightness of His perfection.

For example: When Isaiah is given view of God high and lifted up and the seraphim cry out to God in song, shouting “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the LORD God almighty”, Isaiah’s response is, “Woe is me! I am a man of unclean lips.”

What is so profound about this is Isaiah was a prophet and preacher, and his lips were what he was most proud of. But in the presence of God, he admits his best attribute is garbage compared to God.

We must get the holiness of God.

We cannot “just say” Jesus is the main thing. We have to mean it by how we live!

Our utter speechless, humble, selfless, prayerful, faithful, obedient lives must bow before His utter holiness.

We need to get the holiness of God. We need to come face to face with how unmatchable He is, how perfect He is, how pure He is, how mighty He is! Why? Now it is so important we understand why.

Because only in light of His holiness will you and I see who we really are in His shadow.

Only then do you and I really begin to see our sin.

Because if you just look to your fellow man to see how you stack up, you will look hard enough and long enough until you find people that make you feel good about yourself compared to them.

This is why man’s love affair with the old adage, “I am a good person,” is so damning!

Because compared to man, maybe that is true.

But compared to the HOLINESS OF GOD, it is a laughable lie.

We need to see the HOLINESS of GOD, so we can see the fullness of our sin and the DEPTH of OUR DEPRAVITY. Not just so we can feel bad about ourselves or for ourselves!

This is the response of SOME and, oh, how they tragically miss it. They MISS THE GOOD NEWS!

We need to see the depth of our depravity in light of the holiness of God so that we see our need for one thing: THE CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST!

THE CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST is the only thing big enough to mend the enormous gap that rightly separates me in my sin from GOD in His glory.

Praise God for the cross of Jesus Christ! AMEN?

ONLY when God reveals Himself to you and shows you His unmatchable, majestic perfection and purity–His holiness—is your utter wickedness and weakness in sin thereby revealed.

Only then will you fall face down before Him and lay your deadly doing down and worship Him. 

Only then will you realize by none of our efforts will we ever conquer the fortified walls of those that are in front of this club that separate us from all that God has for us.

In light of this, it is the mercy of God on us that is the source of all our praise. WHY?

Because He should have righteously taken out His sword of justice and cut our guilty heads off.

But He didn’t! God’s people needed delivering, so God became human!

This leads us back to the text.

1. The Holy Servant Lord: What Christ Did and Why It Matters

In this encounter between Joshua and the man holding up his sword, who is the man holding the sword who claims to be the commander of the Lord’s army?

It is an “angel of the Lord,” who is both identical with us and also distinct in the most holy way. Does this remind you of anybody?

One who without abandoning the full essence and power of deity or diminishing the divine holiness is able to accommodate Himself to the company with sinners while affirming the wrath of God.

The angel of the Lord in the Old Testament can be appreciated only if we understand Him as a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ Himself.

This is another reminder to us of the grace of God who sends His Son to do the unthinkable.

He sends Him to take the sword on Himself in place of His people so that we can have His holiness!

And as a result, watch the walls of sin crumble at our feet, so we can march into the promised land and forever feast with the KING!

This is the good news of the HOLY LORD! It is so amazing!

In Genesis 3:24, after man sinned, we read that God drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden, He placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

The sword of eternal justice blocked the only way back to God. You could say then that to pass the sword of justice one would have to pay the ultimate price, or the only way back to God is to go under the sword.

The spotless Jesus, who was crucified in our place, is the promised One who was able to take on the sword for His people, and He did!

In John 17:19 (NLT) Jesus says, “I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.”

Back to Joshua…

So, Joshua is rightly scared and full of reverence before God, and what does he then get up and do?
He leads his people in great courage up to the wall, and what do they do?

They don’t lean on the power of their flesh. They don’t lean on their best laid plans and great tools of war.

No. He walks them around while blowing trumpets so that when the walls fall down, the One who receives all the praise is only GOD Himself.

Joshua is a Christ-like servant leader that faithfully surrenders to his God and obediently serves his King.

And like Joshua, we, too, can faithfully surrender to our God and obediently serve our King in the battle He has put us in. This leads us to part three.

3. His Holy Servants: Who We Can Be in Christ and Why It Matters

There are two main things here that we must see to understand who we can be in Christ and why it matters.

In CHRIST, we can be:

1. Exclusively, undividedly, unconditionally obedient to God
2. Different than the world

1. To be exclusively, undividedly, unconditionally obedient to God

Why does Joshua need to take off the sandals?

In Leviticus, there was holy use and common use.

The difference was things used exclusively for God were holy, and things used for man were common.

God calls us to be radically and exclusively for Him. The problem is we are really good at sometimes living for Him! We are good at saying, “God I will serve you if you do this or that!”

“I will serve you if …” Do you realize anytime you give God this ultimatum, you are highlighting the fact that it is not really God you are serving or living for? You are really living for the things you want Him to give you.

The IF is the rival against God for your greatest affections. But God will have no rivals.

The first commandment says, “Have NO OTHER GODS before me”.

If you have ifs that you put between you and God, you are placing conditions on Him.

The life of a HOLY SERVANT means you are wholly devoted to Him and not partially devoted.

“Partially devoted” is an oxymoron.

In Christ we must be exclusively, undividedly, unconditionally obedient to God

In order to be obedient to God, we must know what we are to obey.

Meaning devotion to God is stoked by the fire of His living word reigning in and through us.

Let’s first look at the other way in which we need to be in Christ:

1. To be different than the world

When rightly understanding the word “holy” in the Bible, it often means “separate.”

It is separate than other things used for common things. It is set apart.

This means holy people will be different than the world. We live set apart.

A good example of this is the early church that we see in the book of Acts.

Why was the early church so revolutionary in the Roman-dominated culture they lived in?

Why was the gospel so transforming in that day? Because their faith was truly radical!

There are four BIG areas where we can see how they lived very different than the world around them.

1. Integrity — In a “lie to advance yourself” culture, they were honest to a fault.
2. Sympathy – In a “quick to shame the guilty” culture, they were forgiving.
3. Chastity – In a “loose and hedonistic” culture, they were faithful to the covenant of marriage.
4. Generosity – In an “acquire wealth and personal success at all costs” culture, they were recklessly openhanded in sharing what they had.

The early church was an amazing example of what it means to be “holy servants.”

They were honoring God with their lives and generously serving those in need.

The key to this is who they were “IN CHRIST.”

The key is this phrase “IN CHRIST,” because apart from Christ, we will not be exclusively, undividedly, unconditionally obedient to God. We will not be different than the world.

Apart from Christ, we will look to all the stuff this world is selling for our hope and joy.

Paul says in Colossians 1:27 one of my favorite phrases in the Bible: “… Christ in you, the hope of glory!”

Notice that it doesn’t say it is Christ and you, like you make a good team.

Like sometimes I give Christ the ball, and sometimes I take it myself.

It also does not say Christ then you.

Too many Christians are out there trying their hardest to follow Christ’s example.

“Christ came 2000 years ago, and now it is up to me to carry on His work–to be all I can be for Jesus!” Do you realize without Jesus at your center in everything you do, you will never live up to His example? All of that is religion.

Paul reminds us it is not Christ and you or Christ then you; it is Christ in you, and that is your hope of glory.

Christ who is HOLY makes us HOLY!

Joshua got this and fell on his face in worship.

He surrendered it all for God. It wasn’t about him or his fame; it was all about GOD!

And when it was totally about God, God used Joshua to lead an army unto great victory.

So, I want to make it personal with the goal of being most helpful:

Is it Christ and you? Sometimes you are doing good enough that you don’t need Him, and sometimes you do?

Is it Christ then you? You are constantly trying to follow His example but somehow can’t seem to even conquer the armies that await you?

Is it just you?

Christ in you the hope of GLORY.

Our only hope for glory is Jesus! So, we truly live and lead for Him. We truly are enjoying Him more than anything else. Jesus is the key to holy living.

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church