This is our weekly roundup of posts for 5/27-6/1/2013. If you have any feedback on how we can serve you our readers better, I would appreciate it.  Thank you for reading and allowing us to minister to you throughout this past week through these posts.

Monday 5/27/2013-

David Brainerd: Longing for Holiness shared by Chris Poblete http://servantsofgrace.org/2013/05/27/david-brainerd-longing-for-holiness/

Author Interview Sam Storms Conducted by Shaun Tabatt http://servantsofgrace.org/2013/05/26/52-author-interview-sam-stormspodcast/

Introduction to Philippians: Paul’s Letter of Joy by Buddy Overman http://servantsofgrace.org/2013/05/27/introduction-to-philippians-pauls-letter-of-joy/

Tuesday 5/28/2013-

Philippians 1:1-11 : More than a Salutation by Buddy Overman http://servantsofgrace.org/2013/05/28/philippians-11-11-more-than-a-salutation/

The Grace of Radical Ordinariness by Dan Darling  http://servantsofgrace.org/2013/05/28/the-grace-of-radical-ordinariness/

Podcast: The Incarnation and High Priestly Ministry of Jesus http://servantsofgrace.org/2013/05/28/53-the-incarnation-and-high-priestly-ministry-of-jesuspodcast/

Wed 5/29/2013-

Author Interview Vicki Tiede Conducted by Shaun Tabatt  http://servantsofgrace.org/2013/05/29/54-author-interview-vicki-tiedepodcast/

Is Romans 1 About Homosexuality? by Mike Leake http://servantsofgrace.org/2013/05/29/is-romans-1-about-homosexuality/

The Feast of Sefirat HaOmer (The Early First Fruits) by Mike Boiling http://servantsofgrace.org/2013/05/29/the-feast-of-sefirat-haomer-the-early-first-fruits/

The Importance of Dealing with sin and growing in grace by Dave Jenkins http://servantsofgrace.org/2013/05/29/the-importance-of-dealing-with-sin-and-growing-in-grace/

Thursday 5/30/2013-

The God Who Heals by Dave Jenkins http://servantsofgrace.org/2013/05/30/the-god-who-heals/

Jesus as the Fulfillment of the Feast of Sefirat HaOmer (The Early First Fruits) by Mike Boling  http://servantsofgrace.org/2013/05/30/jesus-as-the-fulfillment-of-the-feast-of-sefirat-haomer-the-early-first-fruits/

The Myth of Neutrality: Government Education and Non-Religion by Dr. Brian Cosby http://servantsofgrace.org/2013/05/30/the-myth-of-neutrality-government-education-and-non-religion/

Friday 5/31/2013-

Podcast: Confidence, Perseverance,

This is sermon #21 in the Hebrews series. In this sermon on Hebrews 7:20-26 I preach on The High Priestly Ministry of Jesus, The intercessory ministry of Jesus and false views of salvation.

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This is sermon #20 in the Hebrews series. In this sermon on Hebrews 7:11-19, I preach on the biblical covenants, the relationship between the old and new covenant, and living under the new covenant.

 

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This is sermon #19 in the Hebrews series. In this sermon on Hebrews 7:1-10, I preach on the High Priestly Ministry of Jesus, Who is Melchizedek and what is his significance to Christ.

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Also, if you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out! Thanks.

As I survey the contemporary church, one of my gravest concerns is the power and prevalence of mysticism. It appears in pulpits, books, and conversation. It is at the heart of Sarah Young’s bestselling Jesus Calling, it is in all the much-loved books by John Eldredge, it fills the pages of so many books on spiritual disciplines or spiritual formation, it is almost everywhere you look. Language that was once considered the distinguishing language of mysticism is now commonly used by Evangelicals.

Mysticism was once regarded as an alternative to Evangelical Christianity. You were Evangelical or you were a mystic, you heeded the doctrine of the Reformation and understood it to faithfully describe the doctrine laid out in Scripture or you heeded the doctrine of mysticism. Today, though, mysticism has wormed its way inside Evangelicalism so that the two have become integrated and almost inseparable. In an age of syncretism we fail to spot the contradiction and opposition.

Several years ago Donald Whitney attempted to define the boundaries of Evangelical spirituality--the boundaries of how we may rightly live out our Christian faith. His paper has been very helpful to me as I’ve thought this through.

Before we proceed, we need some definitions, and I will turn to Whitney: Evangelical theology is “the theology and practice considered orthodox by a consensus of the heirs of the Reformation.” These are the five solas of the Reformation, the divinity of Jesus Christ, the necessity of his atoning work, and so on--the core doctrines of historic Protestantism. Mysticism refers “those forms of Christian spirituality which attempt direct or unmediated access to God.” Mystics are those who expect to experience “a direct inner realization of the Divine” and an “unmediated link to an absolute.”

I want to track with Whitney as he expresses his concerns and challenges us to think carefully.

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VERSE 1. Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead).

St. Paul wrote this epistle because, after his departure from the Galatian churches, Jewish-Christian fanatics moved in, who perverted Paul’s Gospel of man’s free justification by faith in Christ Jesus.

The world bears the Gospel a grudge because the Gospel condemns the religious wisdom of the world. Jealous for its own religious views, the world in turn charges the Gospel with being a subversive and licentious doctrine, offensive to God and man, a doctrine to be persecuted as the worst plague on earth.

As a result we have this paradoxical situation: The Gospel supplies the world with the salvation of Jesus Christ, peace of conscience, and every blessing. Just for that the world abhors the Gospel.

These Jewish-Christian fanatics who pushed themselves into the Galatian churches after Paul’s departure, boasted that they were the descendants of Abraham, true ministers of Christ, having been trained by the apostles themselves, that they were able to perform miracles.

In every way they sought to undermine the authority of St. Paul. They said to the Galatians:

“You have no right to think highly of Paul. He was the last to turn to Christ. But we have seen Christ. We heard Him preach. Paul came later and is beneath us. It is possible for us to be in error—we who have received the Holy Ghost? Paul stands alone. He has not seen Christ, nor has he had much contact with the other apostles. Indeed, he persecuted the Church of Christ for a long

time.”

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INTRODUCTION

Covenants play a prominent role in OT life—socially, politically, and religiously. The covenant idea itself, first mentioned in Genesis 6 during the days of Noah, is intricately woven into the fabric of the biblical account all the way through to Revelation 11 where the “ark of His covenant” reappears in the temple. The word itself occurs in 27 of 39 OT books and in 11 of 27 NT books.

The rise of the Documentary Hypothesis, fueled by the concept that religion in Israel developed along evolutionary lines, has in recent centuries suggested that the whole idea of covenants in Israel was a very late development. Following Julius Wellhausen’s anti-supernatural system, many modern scholars postulate that the covenant concept was foreign to Israelite society and religion until the late seventh century B.C.1 More recent contributions to covenant discussions, however, indicate an early origin of the covenant idea in Israel. In 1954, George Mendenhall became the first to note the parallels between some biblical covenants and the ancient Near-Eastern treaties, especially the Hittite treaties between overlords and vassals dating from the second millennium B.C. The parallels, especially with the Mosaic Covenant, are so numerous and compelling that one must conclude that “some of the covenant material in the Old Testament literature may very well be extremely early.”

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Obedience

'Take heed, and hearken, O Israel; this day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the Lord thy God, and do his commandments.' Deut 27: 9, 10.

What is the duty which God requireth of man?

Obedience to his revealed will.

It is not enough to hear God's voice, but we must obey. Obedience is a part of the honour we owe to God. 'If then I be a Father, where is my honour?' Mal 1: 6. Obedience carries in it the life-blood of religion. 'Obey the voice of the Lord God,' and do his commandments. Obedience without knowledge is blind, and knowledge without obedience is lame. Rachel was fair to look upon, but, being barren, said, 'Give me children, or I die;' so, if knowledge does not bring forth the child of obedience, it will die. 'To obey is better than sacrifice.' I Sam 15: 22. Saul thought it was enough for him to offer sacrifices, though he disobeyed God's command; but 'to obey is better than sacrifice.' God disclaims sacrifice, if obedience be wanting. 'I spake not unto your fathers concerning burnt offerings, but this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice.' Jer 7: 22. Not but that God did enjoin those religious rites of worship; but the meaning is that he looked chiefly for obedience - without which, sacrifice was but devout folly. The end why God has given us his laws, is obedience. 'Ye shall do my judgements, and keep mine ordinances.' Lev 18: 4. Why does a king publish an edict, but that it may be observed?

What is the rule of obedience?

The written word. That is proper obedience which the word requires; our obedience must correspond with the word, as the copy with the original. To seem to be zealous, if it be not according to the word, is not obedience, but will-worship. Popish traditions which have no footing in the word, are abominable; and God will say, Quis quaesivit haec? 'Who has required this at your hand?' Isa 1:I2. The apostle condemns the worshipping of angels, which had a show of humility. Col 2: 18. The Jews might say they were loath to be so bold as to go to God in their own persons; they would be more humble, and prostrate themselves before the angels, and desire them to present their petitions to God; but this show of humility was hateful to God, because there was no word to warrant it.

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Thus far, we have expounded why Paul, addressing the subject of the ceremonies, types and shadows which were practised before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, reaches the general conclusion that a man cannot be justified or acceptable in God's sight unless he observes the whole law. Now, at first, we might consider these things to be two separate issues; however, as we have been saying, Paul has to draw us back to basics in order to expose the folly of believing that we can obtain favour in God's eyes through our own merit. Now, we have already discussed the reason why Paul adds the word 'law'. For however much it may be commonly held that a good man can earn favour and acceptance with God, men are very seriously mistaken in such matters. Indeed, whatever we may have done, we cannot Win God's favour, because he deserves the very best of all that is in our power. There is, therefore, no merit possible on our part (if, indeed, we may call it that), unless we fulfil the terms of the covenant he made with us, when he said that whosoever keeps the law shall obtain life and salvation (Lev. 18:5). When God uttered these words, he was prepared to accept our total obedience as worthy of salvation, but this does not, in fact, imply that we can, therefore, merit favour, for none of us have done our duty (as we shall see hereafter). Thus, the promise would have been forfeited, or at least without effect in that it would never apply to anyone, had not God sent the remedy—that is to say, unless, despite our unrighteousness, he forgave our sins, and accepted us as righteous. When Paul says that we cannot be justified by the works of the law, he means that if we claim to merit grace and salvation because God has promised that those who observe the law will be accounted as righteous, we are completely mistaken; for no one keeps the law perfectly. We must realise that we all stand guilty before God and have the sentence of condemnation hanging over our heads.

In order to express this fact more clearly, Paul draws a comparison between the Jews and the Gentiles. He says that even though they were 'Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles' they realised that they could only be acceptable to God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. For, although all men have fallen in Adam and therefore have no individual merit, it appeared that the Jews had a

special privilege, in as much as God had adopted them as his own children and called them his servants. Yet, this is where the Jews went wrong. For when the Scriptures speak of 'the uncircumcision', they refer to the pollution which indwells us from Adam, and places us all under condemnation from our mother's womb. But the Jews believed that God had freed them from this curse upon mankind and therefore they boasted. Whilst it is true that great honour was conferred upon them, which they should have valued above all earthly good—for God had chosen them to be his people and his inheritance — yet they ought to have humbly acknowledged that in their own selves they were unworthy. Indeed, we also are used to adopting such a presumptuous attitude when we experience the grace of God; likewise the Jews, for the most part, wrongly believed they were superior to everyone else. They thought God had found something about them that made him prefer them to those he had rejected. This arrogance brought with it wicked ingratitude, for they did not attribute to God all the good things they had received from his hand, but were puffed up with pride, as if God thought they were better or more worthy of eternal salvation than the Gentiles.

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That God lives is at once the simplest and profoundest statement to be made about him, for his life embraces the full reality of his sovereign being and activity. Both the Old and New Testaments speak of “the living God” (2 Kings 19:16; Acts 14:15). That the Father “has life in himself” (John 5:26) is no figure of speech but a declaration of God’s essential being. Pagan gods and idols simply have “no breath in them” (Jer. 10:14). There is no other God but the one living God (Deut. 4:35; 2 Kings 19:15); God alone is God and there is none like him (Ex. 8:10, 15:11; 1 Chron. 17:20; Ps. 86:8, 89:8).

For this very reason the formula for an oath in Old Testament times was “as the Lord liveth,” “as God lives,” or “as the God of Israel lives.” When Hebrews were menaced they used this phrase to present Yahweh as the living One who, in contrast to the lifeless nonexisting heathen gods, evidences his existence and presence in absolute supremacy. Only rebels dispute God’s active sovereignty (Jer. 5:12); only fools deny that God exists (Ps. 14:1, 53:2; Job 2:10). By a self-affirming oath, Yahweh himself confirms the dependability of his promises and warnings: “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord” (Ezek. 17:16, 33:11, NIV).

What God’s life is cannot be determined by analyzing creaturely life and then projecting upon deity a vitality that characterizes intricate living creatures. The Bible never depicts life as an observable phenomenon, something known by empirical investigation that enables us to comprehend transcendent divine existence God’s life is not a unique configuration of impersonal processes and cosmic events. Nor is it merely a more durable form of the vitality imparted to lifeless man when God breathed into him “the breath of life, and man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7, NIV) and the bearer of God’s image (Gen. 1:26). All conjectural attempts to refine the being of the world and of man into some generalized concept that can be projected upon an imagined deity are more hindrance than help for comprehending the One who through his own self-revelation makes himself known as the living God.

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