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- Exodus, Part 5
- Exodus 7-8
- Moses and the Gods of Egypt by John J. Davis
- God controlled the exact timing and location of the plagues.
- Exodus 8:10, 22; 10:2; 12:12; 18:11; Numbers 33:4; Isaiah 19:1
- God was directly challenging many of their 80 or so gods and showing them to be powerless.
- Plague 1: Water to blood (Exodus 7:14-25)
- Egyptian gods:
- Hapi – god of fertility; “spirit of the Nile,” its dynamic essence; sometimes manifest in the crocodile
- Khnum – guardian of the Nile resources
- Osiris – god of underworld; Nile was his bloodstream
- Neith – warlike goddess associated with lates fish
- Hathor – protector of chromis fish
- Plague 2: Frogs (Exodus 8:1-15)
- Egyptian gods:
- Frogs themselves were deified
- Heqt: frog-headed goddess
- Plague 3: Gnats (Exodus 8:16-19)
- Egyptian gods:
- Set – god of the desert
- Priests – physical purity ruined
- This was a direct insult from God to the magicians and priests of Egypt.
- Plague 4: Flies (Exodus 8:20-32)
- Egyptian gods:
- Uatchit – associated with one type of fly
30 min - II Corinthians, Part 9
- II Corinthians 8:1-14
- II Corinthians 8:5 – To give self to the Lord is to decide that God is our master and set our goal to be serving Him. This will also allow us to live the best life for self.
- II Corinthians 8:8 – Compare I Corinthians 16:1. This is not a contradiction. In I Corinthians 16, Paul was giving a command. In this verse, he is not issuing a command. Instead he is testing their sincerity. He is not so much interested in their obedience of the command as he is in the sincerity of their love. This is essentially a not-but passage. He did give the command earlier, but he’s emphasizing that it is more important that they demonstrate love.
- II Corinthians 8:12 – Compare parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). We are to do the best we can with what we have. God does not expect more than we can give.
- II Corinthians 8:14 – See Romans 15:27. Paul is saying that the gospel came through the Jews to them to provide equality in spiritual things. The Corinthians therefore should give of their material things to the Jews to provide equality in material things.
30 min - Overcoming Discouragement
- Discouragement weakens the sense of aim.
- It’s impossible to have hope without purpose.
- Discouragement causes sins of indifference.
- Joshua 1:1-9
- Discouragement causes other problems.
- Discouragement has no easy cure, but consider several things that will help:
- I John 5:4 – Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.
- Trust in God removes depression, brings hope, and gives joy and peace (Philippians 4:7). It cases zeal and service.
- This faith must be of the
- II Peter 1:5 – Self-control
- Spiritual mindedness – Colossians 3:1-3; Romans 6:4-7; Philippians 4:8; II Corinthians 10:4-5; Colossians 3:23
- Forget self and serve – I Corinthians 4:5
- Choose the right company – I Corinthians 15:33
30 min - “I Want to Rejoice. I Just Can’t”
- Psalms 122:1
- Philippians 4:1-4
- The importance of rejoicing
- Rejoicing is commanded:
- Romans 12:15; Philippians 3:1; I Peter 4:13
- Deuteronomy 28:47
- Good people did it; bad people didn’t
- I Thessalonians 3:6-10; Luke 15:2, 6-7, 9-10, 32
- Gloominess is a terrible advertisement for sin
- Galatians 5:22
- Lamentations 2:15
- Ways to get better at rejoicing
- Grasp that joy is not the absence of troubles. I Peter 1:3-9
- Christ is the source of joy.
- Distinguish between spiritual joy and entertainment joy. I Corinthians 1:17-18
- Learn to appreciate spiritual things. Matthew 13:44
- Drop petty annoyances with others. I Thessalonians 5:14-16
- Develop Unselfishness. Jonah 4; III John 1:1-4
- Get involved in spiritual work. II Corinthians 7:6-16
30 min - Exodus, Part 4
- Special study: “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.”
- Exodus 7:1-13
- How could a just God control Pharaoh’s heart and then punish him for it?
- God was not controlling Pharaoh’s will, but simply presenting him with a demand He knew Pharaoh would not obey.
- Key passage: Exodus 14:1-8
- Passages about Pharaoh’s hard heart fall into three main groups:
- God hardens his heart
- Pharaoh hardens his heart
- His heart is hardened
- Exodus 6:1
- Exodus 9:14
- I Samuel 6:6
- Romans 9:15-24
- John Calvin used this passage to teach that God controls people and decides who will be saved.
- God chooses to use certain people in certain ways, but that does not mean He chooses specific people for salvation.
- James 1:13-14 – God does not tempt anyone! He does test people from time to time, but He never tries to get people to sin.
- Ezekiel 33:11; II Peter 3:9 – God does not want anyone to perish. His desire was not to punish people.
- What does it mean to say God is not partial? Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11; Galatians 2:6; Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 3:25
- We can all serve God to the extent that our circumstances allow.
30 min - II Corinthians, Part 8
- II Corinthians 7:1-16
- II Corinthians 7:1 – This verse makes more sense as part of chapter 6. Paul is encouraging them to keep themselves pure because of the great promises God has made to them.
- II Corinthians 7:7 – See Romans 8:18.
- II Corinthians 7:8 – Paul’s rebuke caused them sorrow, but he did not regret it once he saw the way they handled it. He did not like rebuking them at the time, though.
- II Corinthians 7:11 – These are all the things that gave evidence of their godly sorrow.
- II Corinthians 7:12 – This is a not-but passage. Paul did write I Corinthians for the sake of both the offender and offended, but that was not his primary purpose.
30 min - Repentance
- Hardest thing is to repent
- Repentance is duty imposed on all mankind
- Acts 17:30
- What repentance does not mean
- Not just being afraid – Acts 24:25
- Not simply being sorry – Acts 2:37
- Not simply reformation of life
- What repentance means
- Matthew 21:28-30
- Matthew 12:31 (Jonah 3:10)
- Luke 15:11-24 (prodigal son)
- Repentance involves
- Sense of sin
- Sorrow for sin
- Severance from sin
- II Corinthians 7:9-10
- Two things used to bring men to repentance
- Fear – II Corinthians 5:10-11; Philippians 2:12; Jude 1:23
- Love – Romans 2:4
- Cannot escape repentance
- Luke 13:3 – “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
- Alien sinners
- Luke 24:47; Acts 2:38; 3:19
- Erring Christians
- Acts 8
- I John 1:5-10
- Conclusion
- Hebrews 4:7
30 min - What About All Those Bible Contradictions?
- I Peter 1:22-25
- Sometimes contradictions are the result of a copyist error.
- II Samuel 8:3; I Chronicles 18:3 – Hadadezer vs. Hadarezer
- II Kings 8:26; II Chronicles 22:2 – Ahaziah’s age. See II Kings 8:17. The correct age must be 22.
- I Samuel 17; II Samuel 21:19; I Chronicles 20:5 – Who killed Goliath? I Chronicles 20:5 is probably the correct reading, rather than II Samuel 21:19.
- Those errors do not destroy our faith!
- The Dead Sea Scrolls – date back to the time of Christ or before!
- Thousands of manuscripts
- Over 5,000 Greek New Testament manuscripts.
- Critics inflate the number of errors in manuscripts by counting the same error in each manuscript. In reality, the plurality of manuscripts helps us detect and root out these errors!
- Many alleged contradictions are not actual contradictions.
- What about the order of Creation?
- Genesis 1:24-27 vs. Genesis 2:7-22
- Genesis 1 is chronological. Genesis 2 just adds more detail.
- How many times did the rooster crow?
- Mark 14:30, 68, 72 vs Matthew, Luke, and John
- Not a contradiction – Mark just added more detail.
- How did Judas die?
- Matthew 27:5 vs Acts 1:18-19
- Acts 1 just adds more detail after Judas’ death.
- Does God tempt people or not?
- Genesis 22:1 vs James 1:13
- In Genesis 22, God was testing Abraham, not tempting him to sin. In James 1, it says God does not tempt people to sin.
- Points to remember
- Only the original books of the Bible were inspired, but the thousands of uninspired copies that we have to compare today give us a reliable Biblical text.
- None of the alleged contradictions involve any critical change in doctrine.
- Vague attacks are easy. Ask for specifics.
- Study honestly: are 2 passages talking about the same thing at the same time and in the same sense?
30 min - Exodus, Part 3
- The first opposition (Exodus 5-6)
- “Who is the Lord?” (Exodus 5:2)
- God repeatedly tells him. Exodus 7:17. See also Exodus 7:5; 8:10, 22; 9:14, 29; 11:7; 14:4, 18.
- God will trample Pharaoh’s pride. See Exodus 9:16, quoted in Romans 9:17. Also compare II Chronicles 32:13-19.
- Proverbs 30:9
- God deals with a fledgling faith (Exodus 5:20-6:13)
- Pharaoh forced the people to gather their own straw for the bricks. The people had seen the signs (Exodus 4:30-31), but this added burden was enough to cause the people to turn on Moses and Aaron (Exodus 5:20-25).
- God’s response:
- Patience: He does not punish Moses or the people at this point.
- He provides His word as assurance. He explains (again) what the future holds.
- “By my name, LORD” (Exodus 6:3)
- God had appeared to the patriarchs as “God Almighty” (Hebrew: El Shaddai), but now emphasizes a new name: “LORD” (Hebrew: Yahweh).
- In Exodus, God repeatedly says, “I am the LORD” and refers to Israel as His people. Exodus marks a turning point in Israel’s relationship with God as He takes special care of them.
- It’s remarkable that in comparison to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, God has provided “something better for us” (Hebrews 4:10).
- I John 3:2
30 min - II Corinthians, Part 7
- II Corinthians 6:1-18
- II Corinthians 6:2 – The Holy Spirit here applies this prophecy from Isaiah to the gospel. Now is the time for salvation, not some future time as some groups such as Premillenialists may argue.
- II Corinthians 6:3 – If Paul had not lived what he preached, it would have reflected poorly on what he preached. The same is true for us.
- II Corinthians 6:11-13 – The Corinthians were restrained by their own desires. Paul asks them to open their hearts to him and his teaching as he had opened his heart to them. Many in the religious world today are in the same position of being restrained by their own desires.
- II Corinthians 6:14-15 – See I Corinthians 5. This is not saying you can’t have dealings with unbelievers. That would make it impossible to live in the world. This is specifically talking about being tied to unbelievers in spiritual matters.
- II Corinthians 6:16 – Christians are the temple of God.
- II Corinthians 6:17 – Some try to apply this to marriage to advise against marrying an unbeliever, but marriage is not in the context.
30 min
About ScriptureStream
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Just the gospel, plainly spoken. ScriptureStream compiles lessons presented at the Benchley church of Christ, located just north of Bryan, TX. Visit ScriptureStream.com for full notes on each lesson…
and additional resources for Bible study.