When we analyze the Lord Jesus' words to the woman at the well in John 4-18, we see that there are sexual relations that are not marriages- they are simply people living in fornication.----Is that what Isaac and Rebecca are committing in Genesis 24-67, when they went into Sarah's tent-----Who married them-----In Genesis 24, we see that their relationship publicly involved both their families and everything was done with oaths sworn in the presence of God. Their's was a covenant relationship.----What is a covenant-----Genesis 15 gives us the foundation.----In Genesis 15, God enters into a covenant with Abram by swearing by himself.----Jeremiah 34-17-20 throws light on what God does in passing between the slaughtered animals- He calls down a curse on his own head, a curse based on a covenant made before time -Luke 22-29- and fulfilled some 2,000 years later on the cross -Galatians 3-13-14-.

As the Lord Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman, he takes advantage of an opportunity to confront her greatest need.----She is deeply ashamed of her life, but the Lord Jesus sets her free, with the result that she is no longer ashamed but becomes a bold evangelist for Jesus.----As Jesus confronts the core cause of her shame in John 4-17-18, he does so, not to shame her, but to set her free- -You are right in saying 'I have no husband'- for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband.-----In stating this, Jesus also instructs us about the nature of marriage and divorce. Without approving of her divorces and remarriages, he recognizes their reality- She was divorced and married five times. She was also living with a man without being married to him.----The Lord takes us where we are- he never says to us, -If only you had not . . .-----He enables us to enter into the place of blessing today. Because of the Lord Jesus, there are no impossible situations for God.

The Old Testament way of worship was the way of shadows, but the Lord Jesus is the Substance.

The Word is God before time, distinct, yet one with the Father and the Spirit -John 1-1-. When he was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the Word was named Jesus -the Lord is Salvation-, and he added to himself a true human nature -John 1-14-, becoming fully human while remaining fully God, yet one Person.--During his earthly ministry, Jesus' life was marked by humiliation and suffering, but at his resurrection Jesus was inaugurated the Son of God with power and entered into his estate of exaltation. --He is the second Adam undoing what the first Adam did and doing what the first Man failed to do. As King David's heir he is now ruling over all, subduing us to himself.--We are now ambassadors of the King of kings and Lord of lords, imploring the nations to submit while they still have opportunity, but the day is coming when the King will return. Then it will be too late for those who have not repented and cast themselves on God's mercy in Jesus Christ.

How did we get from -Hosanna to the Son of David- to -His blood be on us and on our children--

The Lord's Supper is not a sacrifice of Christ.

There is a strange ritual found in Numbers 5, a trial by ordeal to establish the guilt or innocence of a woman suspected of adultery. This ceremony would bring a fearful and deadly disease to the guilty but life and fruitfulness to the innocent.----The cup literally contained written curses and was designed to bring about a curse, but it also contained the opposite for those who did not meet the criterion- Blessing and the ability to conceive.----The Lord's Supper has some parallels- The cup is called the cup of blessing -1 Corinthians 10-16, -The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ- The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ---.----Yet for those who partake in an unworthy manner, it becomes a cup of judgment, filled with a curse, 1 Corinthians 11-29-30- -For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.-

In fulfilling the Law, Jesus has removed the barriers between our holy God and sinful humanity. Now everyone may come into the presence of God- Jewish people and gentiles, men and women.--Jesus also sits on the throne of his father David, ruling and subduing all things for our redemption

My Sunday sermon did not record, so this is an attempt to duplicate it along with its eight points of evidence regarding the sons of God in Genesis 6 being angels.----1. The Hebrew phrase, B'nai Elohim, which is found in Genesis 6, always refers to angels in the rest of the Hebrew Bible.----2. The peculiar offspring of Genesis 6 points to something more than simply godly boys marrying worldly girls.----3. The calling down of divine judgment that destroyed the entire human race, except for eight souls, points to a breaking of divine order unprecedented in history.----4. Why does Peter use a form of the Greek word Tartarus to describe the place of these spirits' confinement when that word refers to the special place of confinement of supernatural non-humans in Classical Greek-----5. Why does Jude compare the sin of the angels with that of the Cities of the Plain-----6. Why are some evil spirits confined in the abyss and others are not-----7. Though it is contrary to their estate to marry, the Bible does not indicate that angels are genderless. Why is it that the two angels who ate with Abraham were objects of lust to the male population of Sodom- -Genesis 19-4-7-----8. Why does Jude cite the Pseudepigraphal book of Enoch, especially in light of the extensive description of angel-human coitus and its effects found in that book-----One point of application dealt with the role of women in public worship.

The New Testament offers believers unprecedented intimacy with God because it fulfills the Old Testament.