Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy approaches Bible teaching with a passion for getting the basic doctrines explained so that the individual can understand them and then apply them to circumstances in their life. These basic and important lessons are nestled in a framework of history and progression of revelation from the Bible so the whole of Scripture can be applied to your physical and spiritual life.
Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
NT Framework - Righteousness and Redemption
God is good. His grace and mercy extend to all corners of the world and to all people. And His grace always preceded judgement. In this session, Jeremy walks us through the way in which God provides salvation and life to all those who believe.
More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com
This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament Framework. Today, the full lesson from Jeremy Thomas.
Speaker 2:Here's a hint of what's to come, and so, yeah, there's more. Okay, there's always more, but these are the basic things about the substitutionary blood atonement. You've got redemption, propitiation and reconciliation.
Speaker 1:There is so much going on in today's lesson, as you think about God and what he's done for us, that, first and foremost, he always brings grace before judgment. He lets people know what's coming and gives them a chance to change their mind and come to him. Gives them a chance to change their mind and come to him, and in doing so we don't have to work for that. He has provided the righteousness in Christ. Christ earned it all in his life and it was accounted to our account when we believe. Now, for us to get to belief, there might be a lot of things we need to change in our mind come to understand, realize, learn. And that also comes from God, because he has the one that has reached out to us justification, sanctification, our ability to live well for him. It always starts with him, and isn't that the most beautiful, wonderful thing when you consider the God of the universe and his care for us?
Speaker 2:As you know, we're studying the New Testament framework and this is a picking up of the Old Testament framework, which we did, I don't know, a year or so ago. So what we want to do, of course, as we get up to the New Testament portion, which will start with the birth of the king right, we're going to study the birth of the king and then the life of the king, the death of the king, the resurrection of the king, the ascension and session of the king, the origin of the church or the church, and then last things. So that'll be basically the New Testament framework. We'll focus on those events and the doctrines that go with those events. But to get there, we've gone back now and we're reviewing the Old Testament so that we can see the basic categories that have already been laid down and the structure of the Old Testament, history, the pattern, what God has done, and that way, when we get to the New Testament, the categories that will be introduced will be understood. So, for example, at the birth of the king, you're talking about a very complicated person. You're talking about the most complicated person in the history of the world. You're talking about someone who is not just a human. You're talking about someone who is God, who came in the flesh as a human. So what does it mean to be divine and human? We have two doctrines here the doctrine of God divinity and the doctrine of man humanity, and these are coming together in one person without confusion or mixture, and it's very complicated who he is. But the categories have already been laid down for us in the Old Testament as to who God is and who man is and, of course, things like the appearances of the angel of the Lord, our pre-incarnate Christ appearances. So they are all preparatory for us understanding who he is when he comes into the world.
Speaker 2:But that's the reason we go to the Old Testament, because we last time spent our time on the first four events creation, the fall, the flood and the Noahic covenant, which are basically the most controversial passages in the Old Testament, most disputed passages today due to evolution and so forth. So Genesis 1-11 is a very controversial section of Scripture, but it's also where all the basic categories are laid down for thinking our way through the rest of the Bible. So, at creation, what are the three doctrines that we learn about? Well, they're listed here, so there's no guess God, man and nature. Who God is who man is, what nature is, the fall, basic categories that we learn here, these doctrines, the doctrine of sin, which separates us from God, and all its repercussions, and suffering, which are the repercussions. So we talk about how to cope with suffering, biblical categories of suffering and so forth.
Speaker 2:The flood is the third great event in the Bible. It teaches that God judges and saves. Right, that's a precursor for the cross, right? That picture of the flood is what prepares us to understand that one day God is going to judge and he's going to save. And so there are truths there that we develop. And then the Noahic covenant, where God set the rainbow in the sky. He promised to never flood the whole world again and destroy all flesh by means of a flood. So it teaches us about God, his faithfulness. It teaches us about man, made in God's image, and how he has provided a safe environment for us to live in, and nature, how it's going to be stable we can basically go out and do math and the biological and chemical and physical sciences, all because God's word in the Noahic covenant keeps stability. So these are foundational events for understanding the rest of the Bible, as well as just everything in our world today and how it's being upheld by the word of his power.
Speaker 2:So we come today to the call of Abraham, the Exodus, mount Sinai and conquest, which I doubt we'll get all the way through these, but you can see the doctrines that are associated with each of these. These are not associations that are willy-nilly, these are associations based on New Testament passages that associate these doctrines with these events. So Abraham is always associated with faith and justification, like, for example, romans 4, but also Galatians 3. Exodus is associated with judgment salvation, because it's also a picture of judgment salvation, just like the flood, right? So we'll talk about that. And then Mount Sinai, where God speaks into history.
Speaker 2:So obviously this is talking about the fact that God reveals himself verbally. He actually speaks to us in human language. That could be understood there at Mount Sinai, in Hebrew, obviously to the nation Israel. Also, inspiration, how God speaks through man, and canonicity, how God speaks through men in the Bible. So it's captured in a book, what we call the canon of Scripture. And then the conquest is going to relate to the doctrine of sanctification, or spiritual growth, how we are set apart by God. And so the nation Israel going into the land and trying to conquer and expel their foes from the land is a picture of the struggles of sanctification and spiritual warfare. So I give all this to you. It's a lot of stuff but hopefully it helps you see how the Old Testament is molding our thinking pattern and gives you context for all the things that we love and believe.
Speaker 2:So let's start with the call of Abraham and just walk through some of these Old Testament events and some of the doctrines they teach. So the call of Abraham Genesis 12, genesis 15, romans 4, romans 9, talk about two basic doctrines. They're always associated with Abraham. He is the model of faith. You know, we are children of Abraham because we have had a faith like Abraham and we are justified like Abraham in just the same way as all Jews are justified, always by grace, through faith. So these two doctrines are paramount and Abraham is like a peg. You may have been hanging up your coats all winter. As you walk in the door, you hang it on a peg so that you'll know where it is when you get ready to leave the home. So in the same way, abraham is like a peg in your mind to connect the doctrine of faith and justification. So it's not just an abstract idea. Faith and justification are attached to a person repeatedly in the Bible. So, as you think about the person of Abraham, what comes to mind primarily is the necessity of a human having faith in order to be justified or be right with God. So, exodus, yes, yes, yes. I mentioned all this. Let's go to call of Abraham Faith.
Speaker 2:Well, let's just talk about, first of all, just a little bit about Abraham and the story. Abraham is mentioned in Joshua 24. He's also mentioned in Acts 7 as having been called by God when he was in Mesopotamia, in the city of Ur, ur of the Chaldees. That's where he lived, it's where he grew up. He worshiped pagan gods and goddesses that are mentioned in Joshua, the book of Joshua, but he was called out by God. Acts 7 says that God appeared to him and probably in the pre-incarnate Christ, by the way and also spoke to him, and so he was convinced that the individual who spoke to him was God. It's referred to kind of technically in Acts 7 as like a powerful audio-visual experience that he had with God, and God made certain promises to him. You know, go forth from your land to a land. I will show you right. I always told the kids go to a land flowing with milk and honey. Right, and that's the way they remember this story about the promised land being this fruitful place that God had set aside for Abraham and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob and the 12 tribes of Israel. So God made this promise of a land. There would also be a seed, or offspring that would come from Abraham, many seed actually, but also singular seed. So a whole nation, but also one from the nation, and of course this nation will be a worldwide blessing. So the calling out of Abraham is about God's strategy for history in beginning to work exclusively with one nation, but for the purpose of blessing all nations.
Speaker 2:So one of the big problems that is posed against Christianity is what we call exclusivity, the idea that Christianity is the only way. It's something that we insist on, that not all religions lead to God, but only Christianity, only Christ is the way to God. Right, and of course we get called all sorts of names for that. But here's the deal and here's the answer for that. Part of the answer for that is that God already tried the I'm going to work with everybody approach. That's the story of Genesis 1 through 11.
Speaker 2:And when God worked with everybody approach, remember everybody had one language, everybody could speak to one another. There was no division of languages or nations or anything like that, it was just people and they all had the same language so they could all converse. And that didn't go so well After so many years. You have the flood, right, and God starts over with Noah and his family. And then God tells them to go out and scatter. You know and trust him that he would give them a stable environment and they could live in this environment. And they didn't do that. They gathered right, they gathered at the Tower of Babel. So God came down and that's when he divided the languages right. And now we have multiple nations 70 nations in that case, which have now come down to our own day in more divisions and different language within the basic language families. But see, god already tried the I'm going to work with everybody approach and it just went to a mess. And so God decided he was going to call out one nation and build a nation out of Abraham and his offspring, isaac and Jacob and their 12 sons, which became the 12 tribes of Israel, and their 12 sons, which became the 12 tribes of Israel.
Speaker 2:But the point is exclusivity, but not for an exclusive end. It's not just for Israel in the end, because the Messiah, the seed that would come through this nation, would come to bless all nations. So I call this God's strategy for how he's going to bless the whole world. And it begins then with the call of Abraham. So this is a story. God called out Abraham in Mesopotamia and Ur of the Chaldees. He trusted or believed in the Lord. He was justified or credited as righteous. And then Hebrews 11 says that by faith he obeyed and he stepped out and he went to the promised land. And so that's the basic story of Abraham.
Speaker 2:Now, as far as the doctrines, then we learn about faith, we learn about justification. So some points about faith. First of all, faith means you can look it up in the lexicon. It'll tell you what I'm telling you here Confidence in someone or something. Because of its reliability, this is not a religious word. I mean we use faith or trust or belief or believe this way in our culture as well, because anytime I mean if you know, I used to get my kids I told you, stand them on the bed at night before they're going to go to bed and I'd say cover your eyes, or I'd put a blindfold around their eyes and I'd say now turn around backwards on the edge of the bed and fall back into daddy's arms and I'll catch you.
Speaker 2:Now, why would they ever do that? Well, if they only weighed about 35 pounds at the time and not 105 pounds, then they would feel confident that dad could catch them because I'm a reliable object. So they had confidence in me as reliable and so they would just fall right back. They wouldn't do this or anything, just trust. And it's not blind faith, because they know who I am, they know my strength, they know things about me, and so faith is when you have confidence in someone or something, that it is reliable. And that is what. When we believe in Christ, that is what we have come to that conclusion. We are confident that Christ and what he did on the cross is a full payment for our sin and will make us right with God. So we believe he is a reliable object to put our faith in and we have confidence. So what are the five points of faith? Well, in our studies we just made five points.
Speaker 2:You could do more, but faith first of all depends upon God doing the initiating. What's the verse? There's lots of them, but faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. So the only way you're going to have faith is if you hear, and you have to hear the Word of God. So the Word of God has to come first. That's what I mean by God has to do the initiating. Usually the initiation is through someone speaking the word to you, telling you the gospel, or it's through someone reading the Bible. But still the Bible or God's word is coming first and in response to that there is faith. So God has to do the initiating. I always say with Adam in the garden, after they sinned, what was Adam doing? Nothing. Was he looking for God or was he hiding from God? Okay, and it took God initiating right, where are you? Where are you In order for Adam to respond with faith? So faith depends upon God doing the initiating.
Speaker 2:Second, faith is not a work. We always say that the plan of God, which is of salvation, salvation is of God. It's holy of God. God saves us. We don't save ourselves, we don't play a part in saving ourselves. Salvation is a work of God. Some people have taken that to the extent that say well then, if we have to have faith, faith can't come from us. Faith has to be a work of God too. In other words, god has to give us faith, and if he doesn't give us faith, we won't have faith. And if he does give us faith, we'll have faith. And this is how they divide the world into the elect and the non-elect.
Speaker 2:God chose certain people to have faith. He chose other people not to have faith. The one that chose to have faith, he gave faith. The others, he didn't get faith. Well, the thing is is that faith is not a work and it does not contribute to our salvation.
Speaker 2:Romans, chapter 4, verse 4 and 5 worth reading because repeatedly, this problem comes up. So romans, chapter 4, verse 4 and 5. And again, it's talking about ab. Of all people you know so right with the doctrines of faith and justification. We find Abraham In Romans 4, verse 4,.
Speaker 2:Now, to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. Everybody that works knows this. I mean, you didn't give me a favor, I worked, so I got paid, but verse 5, see, therefore, faith is not a work, is it? So? Faith does not contribute to our salvation. Faith is the instrument through which God saves us. That's all it is so if we have faith and obviously Abraham had faith. It says in verse 3 there, abraham believed God. It doesn't say God believed for Abraham or God gave Abraham faith and that's why Abraham believed, or something like that. It just says Abraham believed, and this is repeated all over the Bible.
Speaker 2:So faith is not a work, okay, it doesn't make us saved. In fact, I'm going to show you, as I've said before, faith doesn't save you. Who saves you? God? God saves you, okay, but he does it through the human instrument of faith. He has set this up Hebrews 11.6,. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. So what is the one response God is always asking for from humans? There's only one answer he always wants us to have faith. He always wants us to trust him, trust his promises. That's what he's looking for. But faith is not a work, okay, faith requires content that is understood.
Speaker 2:Third point the easiest way to understand this is to think of it in terms of different languages. If someone came in here and stood up here and preached the gospel in this congregation in Russian, would you understand what they were saying? Some of you might if you speak Russian. Some of you are like, yes, because I speak some Russian. But if you don't share the language, even though the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, in Russian, if you don't understand it, you can't believe it because you don't have a clue what they're talking about. That's the most simple way to understand this point. Okay, of course we can talk about it in our own language. We all share English. But if we go preach the gospel, say to our neighbor they may not understand what we're talking about, even though it's in English, and that's why we have to give definition to term.
Speaker 2:So, for example, if I say God, what do I mean by that? Well, I'm talking about the Christian God, I'm talking about the Trinity, I'm talking about the God who's sovereign, righteous, just loving, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, immutable, eternal veracity, aseity. I'm talking about that specific God. But if you're a Mormon, you don't share that view of God. In fact, in Mormonism, you are going to become a God and you're going to populate your own planet. So this is a very different concept of gods who are populating. You know, procreating God doesn't do that. Okay, in the Christian thinking about who God is right, so God has to be defined, about who God is right, so God has to be defined.
Speaker 2:If I say for God, so loved the world, are you talking about the one in Mormonism or am I talking about the one in Christianity? Am I talking about a solitary, monotheistic God with no diversity in himself of persons, or am I talking about the Christian God whose Father, son and Holy Spirit? See, that verse means two different things to do to people who have a different concept of God, and that's what I mean then when I say for faith to, or faith requires content that is understood. So sometimes we have to explain the term of salvation. We have to say who's God, who's man, what is sin, what is the atonement or the cross or sacrifice? What is this concept in the bible? And and then a person? When the categories come together, they can understand. I think this is why groups like new tribes, missions.
Speaker 2:Uh, some of you've seen etow. You've seen the video. If you haven't, go look it up on youtube. Watch etow. There's two, two sections of it. Watch each section, because this is where a missionary goes into basically a tribe that doesn't have any biblical background they're just, you know, pagan and begins to teach them the story of the Bible, starting with creation and with the fall and the flood, and just moving the way all the way up to the cross and by the time they get to the cross, the way all the way up to the cross. And by the time they get to the cross, watch. I won't tell you what happened, okay, but just watch it, because what you are seeing is a missionary in a missionary outfit who understands that the biblical categories have to be in place so that when you get to the personal work of Christ, it hits people and they go. I got it, you know. The light goes on.
Speaker 2:So we assume a lot as Christians because we know a lot of theology and doctrine, but the average person on the street, no, in America in the 21st century, they do not share this knowledge or the terminology. So we have to help them understand. That's why my brother in Canada, when he was with Good Seed, he asked a family if they would just sit down and let him just explain what the Bible was teaching to them, starting in the Old Testament, all the way to Christ, and without any strings attached. They don't have to believe it. He said you don't have to believe it, would you just like to know what it actually teaches? They were like, yeah, and by the time they got to the flood, the third event in the Bible they'd already believed, because they understood who God was, who man was, they understood sin and suffering and they understood that God would judge and save. And by that point they already had enough biblical background to know where this was going and they were already believing in Christ. So it's the content that has to be understood. Then a person can believe.
Speaker 2:Fourth point faith's object is what saves. As I mentioned before, faith doesn't save. It, never saved anybody. If faith saved us when we lost faith, then we'd lose salvation. Right, but faith is really the instrument through which God saves. Repeatedly through the Old Testament it says God is our Savior, god is our rock. Who delivered them through the Red Sea? Through the Old Testament says God is our Savior, god is our rock. Who delivered them through the Red Sea? God, god, delivered them through the Red Sea. That's a picture of God's salvation. He is always the object that saves, not our faith, but faith is the instrument through which God saves.
Speaker 2:And lastly, of course, the gospel must be believed, meaning, you know. Think of it this way. Someone may say well, yeah, jesus died and rose again, and that's true. If somebody said Jesus died and rose again, and that's true. You might think, well, they believe it. But in a relativistic culture, culture, they may simply mean that's true for you but not for me. And so do you see that?
Speaker 2:With this fifth point, what I'm trying to get across is a person must personally appropriate it for themselves as true. I mean it's true regardless. We understand that, but a person must personally appropriate it and say this is true, I accept this as truth. I believe this is the truth. Personally. For me, it's not enough just to say it's true or it happened, all right. So that's the doctrine of faith. I hope that's helpful.
Speaker 2:Now justification, which is basically the meaning of this, is to declare righteous. Okay, to credit righteousness to someone's account, sometimes called impute righteousness, but the simplest way to say it is to declare something, declare a state of righteousness. So three points about justification, all again associated with Abraham. He's our peg. Justification occurs at a moment in time, at the beginning of our salvation. That's the most helpful point. In other words, what we're saying here is justification is not a process like something that's ongoing, but rather it's like a legal declaration in a court of law If you get declared righteous, or just in a case when the gavel goes down. That's the decision. It's been made. It's at a moment in time. It's not something that's going on and on in the process you're becoming just over the rest of your life. It's something that happens at a moment in time when the gavel goes down and the declaration is made of your justice or righteousness in the case. So justification occurs at a moment in time. That means God declares you righteous and the point at which he does that is when you have faith. So if you were five years old and you believed, when you were just sitting there with your mom or dad or grandmother or grandfather, at that point you were justified, that is, you were declared righteous.
Speaker 2:Now, where does this righteousness come from? That's point two. It's asking about the source of the righteousness. So the righteousness of justification is sourced in Jesus Christ. What do I mean by that? I mean that he generated it in his time on earth, in the incarnation, by fulfilling the Mosaic Law. That's what I mean. I mean, let me ask you a question Was the Mosaic law a perfectly righteous law? Yes, it was given by God at Mount Sinai and obviously, if he gave it, then that means it is perfectly righteous, perfectly just. Jesus Christ said in the Sermon on the Mount I did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.
Speaker 2:See, the Pharisees thought that he had come to abolish it because he wasn't keeping it in the way that they taught it was to be kept. Things like Sabbath, for example, sabbath in the Old Testament I know this is really hard to imagine, but it simply meant a day of rest. It is not a day of corporate worship in the Old Testament. Obviously, by the New Testament, that's the day they're going to synagogue to corporately worship. That is not the intention of Sabbath, not the intention of sabbath. Sabbath was supposed to be a day of rest. That's it. The pharisees had attached over 1 000 little rules to sabbath which made the sabbath actually a burden, and jesus talks about this in the new testament. So he he didn't come to. They thought you're doing away, you're abolishing things like Sabbath. And he's like no, I didn't come to abolish it, I came to fulfill it. In other words, keep it as it was intended to be kept. So he kept the law as it was intended to be kept and this generated the righteousness that is declared of us the moment we believe. So in other words.
Speaker 2:What I'm saying, then, about the source of the righteousness, is that, first of all, it's not arbitrary. God didn't just say you're righteous. No, the righteousness was actually generated in space and time by the person of Jesus Christ in his earthly life. We'll talk about this when we get into the life of the king. Another thing I'm not saying, or I'm saying is not true, is that somehow you get the attribute of God. You get an attribute of God. Nobody will ever get an attribute of God. I mean, we have everlasting life, but guess what? We all have a beginning, and God doesn't have a beginning. So everlasting life is not the same thing as God's attribute of eternality, because God doesn't have a beginning. He's always been Righteousness. Okay, god has a characteristic of righteousness.
Speaker 2:You don't suddenly become righteous in the same exact sense as him. First of all, in the sense that he's eternally righteous. Are you? No, I mean, you've actually known sin, you've actually sinned? Has God ever done that? No, so, obviously, god's righteousness and the righteousness that is declared of you is not identical, but they are in harmony with one another, so that we can spend eternity with God.
Speaker 2:So here's the thing You'll never have any attributes of God. Okay, you can't, because all of his attributes are eternal by nature. So you can't and you're not eternal. So by that simple logic, again, you cannot ever pick up an attribute of God. And this is important because, again, in Mormonism, just as an example I'm not picking on them today, but as an example you do become God. You become your own God and goddess, by the way goddesses, and together you will populate your own planet, as this planet was populated by their first two god and goddesses, you know, who had Jesus and his brother Lucifer, and so forth. Their big story, okay. But the thing is, see, this is different. This is different than all that. We have a source for the righteousness. That source is Jesus Christ, who, who in his life kept the Mosaic law perfectly and he declares it of us when we believe in him at that moment. Third point Christ's righteousness is imputed. It's not infused. Infused is a word that's used in Roman Catholic theology of justification. So I point this out.
Speaker 2:A lot of people have Roman Catholic background. Roman Catholics talk about justification, but justification for them is a process of righteousness being infused into the individual. That is, the individual, over time, through keeping the seven sacraments, becomes righteous. Okay, now the problem for most people in Roman Catholicism is they don't meet the criteria that they have for quote-unquote sainthood. Okay, only certain people meet their requirements for being a saint. Okay, so most Catholics will die, and it's not usually a good day, because where are they going? Purgatory, why are they going there? You say, what is this doctrine there for? Why do they have this? Well, this is to burn off the remaining impurities so that you actually become righteous, because that's a part of the process of being justified. In Roman Catholicism, see, justification is a process, in their way of thinking, and you're not justified until the end of purgatory, when all impurities are gone and you are truly let's say righteous, and then you're justified and you can go and be in heaven.
Speaker 2:But in Protestantism, what Luther discovered and others was that, no, you are justified at the beginning. At the moment, you have faith, and it's not that you become actually righteous in and of yourselves, but you're declared to be righteous. Here's how that works. It's like a crediting system. You can have a 10-year-old who is a billionaire. A 10-year-old can be a billionaire because they're heir of a giant fortune and it's being kept for them in an account. The money has already been credited to their account, but they don't have direct access to it because they're 10 years old. They have to get of aid. Same thing is true for us.
Speaker 2:The moment you believe in Christ, you are credited with the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, but you don't have full access to it, in the sense that you are righteous until you are with God, until we're in our resurrection body, but it's still yours and you're still justified, just like that kid is still a billionaire. So that's one way of thinking about it. And so what this means is that you are declared legally righteous before God. At the moment, you had faith and you're still a sinner, and they recognized this at the time of the Reformation. They actually said these Latin words to express it Four Latin words Simul justus et peccator, at the same time just and a sinner.
Speaker 2:To express the idea that God legally declares or credits us with the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ that he generated in his earthly life by obedience to the Father. And this is how we get right with God. The book of Job asks one of the most fundamental and greatest questions of all the history of the world is this how can a man be right with God? It's asked in the book of Job. And the only way a man can become right with God is in the same way that man be right with God. It's asked in the book of Job. And the only way a man can become right with God is in the same way that Abraham became right with God, and that is through faith. God legally declares us to be righteous and we are right with God. So those are the two doctrines that are taught in connection with the call of Abraham. Okay, and those are great doctrines.
Speaker 2:One of the things about justification that I think is so great is it means that God looks upon you and treats you as if he was looking upon his own son, jesus Christ. And how he would treat him. See, sometimes we say it this way we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ. You say, but I'm a mess, I have bad thoughts, I do bad things, I sin, so how can he? Okay, but when he looks upon you, he looks at you as clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And do you see how? That's a comfort. That is an awesome truth and that was really what was recovered at the Reformation is that God looks at us this way and because of that first thing that happens to all of us is we're humbled, and the second thing that happens is we're amazed at who God is and what he's done for us, and because of those things, we now are like, well, I love him, I want to serve him, I want to learn more about this. It's this excellent, wonderful, amazing, benevolent God, and we're spurred on to go further. So that's the doctrines of faith and justification.
Speaker 2:Now the Exodus teaches us the same doctrine that we learn at when the flood, the flood, the flood's a picture of judgment salvation, right? I mean, the whole world was flooded and the only thing that was not destroyed was the ark that sat above the waters and any animals that were in the ocean that survived, which were not said to have the breath of life. So dolphin, whatever stuff like that they didn't get on the ark, obviously. So judgment salvation is taught again, but the thing about the Exodus, that makes it a little bit different. We'll repeat the truths that are at the flood, but there's one thing that's added and it relates to the blood over the door, right, because blood becomes very and the lamb becomes very prominent in the Exodus story. That's not so prominent in the Noahic flood account. There is a sacrifice after the flood of some of the clean animals that were on board the ark when they came into the Noahic covenant, with the rainbow and all that, but it's not as prominent. It becomes very prominent in the Exodus, with the lamb and its blood having to be put on the door, on the lentils and on the post.
Speaker 2:And so the doctrine of judgment, salvation. Here are the five truths, and then what we elaborate or add at the bottom A, b and C redemption, propitiation, reconciliation. So we've already seen these first five truths at the flood Grace before judgment. At the flood. How many years did God give them before he sent the flood? 120 years, that's 120 years of grace before judgment of the flood. So he didn't just flood the world one day, it was 120 years. Peter says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness in that time, and so he went out and preached and warned about the coming flood, and the only people that responded were his family members. So it sounds a lot like today you go out and you preach and nobody responds.
Speaker 2:I was talking to somebody yesterday. Maybe it was my wife, I can't remember who it was. It's just amazing. People don't believe it. I mean, it's like a free gift. I mean, would you like salvation? I mean the Bible explains the way the world is, who we are. Everything around us makes total sense as long as we understand the Bible. This world makes sense about, about what's happening, why it's going the way it's going, what people are doing, what people are like I mean it's no surprise, right and uh, because it's all like yeah, duh, but then people don't want to believe. It's like why? Why? I mean it's like a free gift.
Speaker 2:I think the biggest problem for people and I could be wrong, because it's just a guess is that, because there's no merit in anything that's in you, you're having to say, okay, I'm a sinner, I'm done. God's holy, he's just in condemning me forever to hell and I can't contribute any to this equation. It's Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone, and people don't want to do that because they want to hang on to well, I mean, but I did this good thing or I did that good thing and this contributes certainly. Isn't God going to just weigh, you know, my good versus my bad? No, no, because God is holy, he's perfect, he never compromises. So right now you're experiencing grace, right, but one day there's going to be judgment, so God's allowing people time and opportunity.
Speaker 2:In the story of the Exodus, as Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh, what's the first thing they usually say to Pharaoh Let my people go. This is an opportunity of grace, right? But if Pharaoh says no, then there's going to be a plague, right, there's going to be judgment. So this is a picture of grace before judgment. They give him an opportunity for grace, he spurns it. There's judgment. So God has a lot of grace. What's going on in the world right now? God is showing a lot of grace to people. Okay, but one day it's going to be judgment. In the tribulation time 2 Peter 3.9,. God does not want any to perish, but for all to come to repentance, right. He's long-suffering though. So, people, they don't take advantage of the grace, just like they didn't take advantage of it before the flood, just like Pharaoh didn't take advantage of it and let the people go. They spurn the grace and eventually, what happens is God says okay, well, the day of grace is over and now I'm going to judge, and that's why it's important for people to believe today. We don't know when he's going to be done with the grace and issue the judgment, but he always gives grace before judgment.
Speaker 2:How many ways of salvation are pictured in both the flood and the story of the Exodus plagues. Speaking of the 10th plague, in particular the death of the firstborn, how many ways of salvation were there? Yeah, just one way. There was. How many arcs? One arc, your little fishing boat wasn't going to stand up to the terrible floodwaters, so one arc built a certain way that can withstand the floodwaters. So one ark built a certain way that can withstand the floodwaters. One way at the Exodus, you put the blood of a particular lamb, not just any lamb, certainly not a frog, something like that, but this lamb had to be one year old, unblemished, male, right, and take the blood, put it on the doorpost, put it over the top of the door. Some people have said well, you connect the dots, you go across and you go down. It makes a cross symbol and it points to the cross. I don't know, maybe, but the point was that there was one way of salvation. It involved substitution right A lamb. There was one way of salvation and it involved substitution a lamb, a lamb being substituted for the firstborn son and the firstborn of the flock. So one way of salvation and not multiple ways. Man and nature were involved.
Speaker 2:I always point this one out because a lot of people think salvation is just a psychological phenomenon. They do the same thing with prayer yeah, that works for you. They think it's just all in your head. There's not really a God. I mean, you're just helping yourself by praying, it's just self-therapy or something. But no, salvation and prayer are not just psychological phenomena, self-help things. Because when you look at the pictures of salvation and judgment like, say, the flood, was that psychological? I kind of doubt it. When I look at the fossil record in the earth, I'm kind of like nope, it happened. That's why there's billions and billions of dead things in the rocks, billions and billions of dead things in the rocks. Why is that? Because God judged the world with a flood. I don't think that was psychological. It certainly wasn't for all those animals or the humans that were wiped out because they didn't take advantage of grace before judgment came and enjoy the one way of salvation that God provided.
Speaker 2:So man and nature are involved at the cross. The cross will teach us this again when Jesus was on the cross. He's being judged for the sins of the whole world. At the same time he's providing salvation. What happened to nature For three hours. What happened? Darkness, see, that's part of nature, isn't it? See so always when God judges and saves, that's part of nature, isn't it? See so, always when God judges and saves, man and nature are involved.
Speaker 2:Fourth point appropriation by faith. Okay, only the families in Egypt that appropriated the promise that, hey, the death angel angel of death is going to come in the night and you have to put this blood over the door and if you do that then he'll pass over right, pass over the home and not enter in strike Only those families enjoyed the salvation. If you didn't put blood over the door, meaning you didn't appropriate the promise that God made by faith, then the angel of death went in and struck the firstborn son and all the families of Egypt that said wept because they lost their firstborn sons, because they didn't what? Because they didn't appropriate God's word by faith. I mean Egyptian family could have taken a one-year-old and said, hey, we got to do this. They could have done that and guess what? The angel of death would have passed right over their home. Because the provision is for everyone but the application is only to those who believe. That's the fourth point. Same thing for the crosswork of Jesus Christ. It's there for everybody, it's a provision for everyone in the whole world, but it's only applied to those who believe, who appropriate it by faith.
Speaker 2:And lastly, fifth, perfect discrimination. What does this mean? It means that when God judged in Egypt and saved, there was a perfect line of demarcation between those he saved versus those he judged. Remember, the Israelites all lived in one area. What was it called Goshen? Here's a good example. Do you remember when it got dark? I mean, we're talking about a thick darkness.
Speaker 2:What the text means by a thick darkness is if you had a candle and you held it in front of. I mean, we're talking about a thick darkness. What we mean by, what the text means by thick darkness, is if you had a candle and you held it in front of your face, you couldn't see it. That's what it means by a thick darkness, like you couldn't see through the space to see a light. You know, somewhere in the distance or even close to you. A thick darkness is everybody went around, they didn't know where they were. You know, very confusing. So not like dark like we experience here in Spokane until about 4 am, and at 4 am it's like oh, are you kidding me Really Already. It's an odd thing. For somebody coming from Texas it's still so odd. But anyway, it was a thick darkness. But what was it? In Goshen, it was perfectly light. That's what we mean by perfect discrimination. When the judgment came, it was only upon Egypt, in the area of Goshen where the Israelites were. There was no judgment, but salvation from that plague. Okay, so nobody who is saved, or in this case, who was an Israelite, would be caught up in the darkness and nobody who was an Egyptian would have been in the light. So it's a perfect discrimination.
Speaker 2:Now we learn three new words, as I mentioned, connected with the blood which goes here to the one way of salvation, the blood of the lamb that would be put on the lentil and the doorposts of each home that appropriated this promise by faith. And these three words deal with the concepts of substitution and blood and atonement. We say we believe in the substitutionary blood, atonement, right, that that's what Christ accomplished on the cross. Now we know quite a bit, I think, as Christians, about what Christ accomplished on the cross. Now, we know quite a bit, I think, as Christians, about what Christ did on the cross. We all have a good idea, probably, of what he did. I think we can know more and I think there are people who know more. Here's what I mean by that. This is a basic class, so we're just going through basic.
Speaker 2:But here's a book that I don't think anybody in this room probably has as their favorite book in the Bible, but if we did, I think it shed a lot of light on the finished work of Christ. That's the book of Leviticus. I'll call it Levi-Tichus just for you guys, so you'll never forget Levi-Tichus. I mean, is it anybody? It could be somebody's favorite book, but is that your favorite book? I mean, is it anybody? It could be somebody's favorite book, but is that your favorite book? I mean, is this the one you pick up for your devotionals? No, this book is the book that talks about the holiness of God and it talks about all the sacrifices and offerings that the priests were to administer and the people were to come to the tabernacle and offer, and it's complicated and I think that's why people are like I don't know why they're doing all this stuff, but it's kind of weird. Why do you have to have this thing of ephah and an ephah of this and whatever blah of that you know? But I think, if we dig into all that, I think we're going to find that a lot of the significance is in there. The nuances of those are picked up in the Gospels at the crucifixion of Christ. And so, yeah, there's more. Okay, there's always more, but these are the basic things about the substitutionary blood atonement. You've got redemption, propitiation and reconciliation.
Speaker 2:So what's redemption? Well, this word is an economic word. Think of it If you have a coupon and you go into the store and you give it to the lady at the cash register, what are you doing? You're redeeming it. Okay, it has an economic value to it. That gets applied to your account so that your bill is now lower and all God's people said Amen, okay, we can deal with any kind of help in this kind of.
Speaker 2:So redemption is an economic term, but it has in the background our spiritual debt, our spiritual debt that we're all indebted to God because of our sin. So, because of our sin, we don't have any spiritual riches. Now, when you come to the New Testament, you keep reading that we have all riches hidden in Christ. Right, that's economic, right, an economic metaphor. It's talking about our spiritual riches that we have in Christ and it's playing off the concept of redemption. So what Christ did for us on the cross is he provided all the spiritual riches. When we believe in him, he gives all those spiritual playing off the concept of redemption. So what Christ did for us on the cross is he provided all the spiritual riches. When we believe in him, he gives all those spiritual riches to us. That's why the New Testament says that we are ultra wealthy in Christ because we've been redeemed. Our spiritual debt is taken care of and in replace of the debt we now are rich. Our spiritual debt is taken care of and in replace of the debt we now are rich. So never complain about being poor, see, because ultimately, on an ultimate level, we're rich. So that's redemption.
Speaker 2:The second word is propitiation. This term has in the background a failure to meet God's holiness. He's not satisfied with us because we're sinful and he's holy, so as sinners, we don't satisfy him. The other good word for propitiation is satisfaction, or just a normal word that helps people understand what this word is about. It's about satisfaction. We don't satisfy him. But what Christ did on the cross is he satisfied the Father's holiness. And when we believe in him, guess what? We satisfy him. Why? Because without faith it's impossible to please God, but with faith it is possible. And by believing in Christ we now satisfy him, as Christ has satisfied him, because we are seen as in Christ. So the only way I can satisfy God is to be in Christ and to be in Christ. I believe in him and therefore now he is satisfied with me. That's good news. See, all these add up to good news, right? Is it good that we're spiritually rich? Yes, is it good that we've satisfied God? Yes, okay. In a world that is full of bad news, sometimes we have to revisit the good news. This is good news, no matter what happens in this world. You have satisfied God 100% because you have believed in the only begotten son of god, jesus christ, and he's satisfied with you because he's satisfied with his own son and you're in his son. This is good news, okay. And you're spiritually rich. You've been redeemed.
Speaker 2:The last term here is reconciliation. Um, I don't know if you've ever had a friend and you that wreck. That relationship got fractured. This word reconciliation has a fractured relationship as its background. We are in a fractured relationship with God, but through Jesus Christ, we have been reconciled to God. That means we become friends of God. I always use the word friendship here with reconciliation, because it helps children and all of us really understand. Children go out on the streets, they play in the neighborhood, they get in fights, they argue and then they get reconciled and they become friends again. And anybody who's in third grade can understand this word, even though it's, you know, kind of a long word, because they understand what it is to have a fractured friendship and to get reconciled. And that's what we had with God. We were in a fractured relationship with him due to our sin, but through Christ we become friends with God, we're reconciled. So all that is is part and parcel of the Exodus and the doctrines of judgment, salvation.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app, and until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.