Sunday, May 16, 2010

Nehemiah 9:1-37 Prayer

Nehemiah 9:1-37

Praying and Repenting of Sin

This is the longest prayer recorded in the Old Testament. Therefore, there are truths to be gleaned from the prayer and the approach to prayer.

As we seek to build the city of God in the city of Rome, we have to remember that we do not do the work with effectuality. We do what is given as it is given. If work goes forward it is because Father has granted it in his grace (Matthew 16:19). If we discover good work to do it is because Father has prepared it for us to walk in (Ephesians 2:10).

However, when there is work to do, one of the most often reflected means of getting work done is prayer.

Prayer consists in worship (thanks and praise), Gospel founded requests with the Gospel’s mission as the basis for our asking and submitting, confession and repentance.

Prayer is not a lucky charm that is to be added at the beginning or end of events as the token “Christian” behavior that some how brings an extra measure of mojo to prevent a crappy day or crappy whatever we are about to do.

Prayer is not a transitional tool in a worship service from one event to another so that people can move around and make the performance better and smoother.

Prayer is part of the work of missions and our growth in Christ while doing his mission.

Let’s begin by noting something vital in the amount of material in this text.

With almost a 2 to 1 ratio God is the focus of this prayer as opposed to the people.

Father is exalted in the recounting of his excellencies.

The people confess their folly and the folly of their fathers.

There is one request toward the end (verse 32).

You: 1. Are the LORD 2. Alone have made the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth, the seas. 3. Preserve all of these 4. Are worshiped by the host of heaven 5. Chose Abram and brought him out of Ur and gave him the name Abraham 6. Found his heart faithful before 7. Made a covenant to give his offspring the land of Canaan 8. Kept your promise 9. Are righteous 10. Saw the affliction of the fathers in Egypt and heart their cry and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh 11. Knew of Egypt’s arrogance against your people 12. Made a name for yourself 13. Divided the sea so that your people went through it on dry land 14. Cast your people’s pursuers into the depths 15. Led them in the day by cloud and at night by fire so they would know where to go 15. Came down on Mount Sinai and gave them right rules 16. Made known your holy Sabbath 17. Gave them bread from heaven and water from the rock 18. Told them to go in to possess the land you swore to give to them 19. Are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. 20. In your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. 21. Gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst 22. Sustained them for 40 years in the wilderness and they lacked nothing 23. Gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. 24. Multiplied their children as the stars of heaven 25. Brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess 25. Subdued before them the inhabitants of the land 25. Were rebelled against by your people 26. Sent prophets to turn your people back to you 27. Gave your people into the hands of their enemies who made them suffer 28. Were cried to and heard their cries and according to your great mercies gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies 29. Had evil done to you by the people 30. Abandoned to the hand of their enemies again 31. Heard when they turned back to you many times and delivered them according to your great mercies 32. Warned them in order to turn them back to your law 33. Bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets 34. Gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands 35. Did not make an end of them in your great mercies or forsake them because you are gracious and merciful 36. Are great and mighty and awesome and keeps covenant and steadfast love and do not let the hardships seem little 37. Have been righteous in all that you have caused to come upon your people 38. Have dealt faithfully 39. Gave warnings 40. Gave great goodness to your people in the land that they have squandered that you set before them 41. Were not served or turned to by your people although you disciplined them 42. Gave land and good gifts to your people who are now slaves in that land you gave them because of their sin 43. Have set kings of other nations over them who take the yield of the good land given to the people and rule over the lives of the people

They: 1. Egyptians acted arrogantly toward God’s chosen 2. Went through the midst of the sea on dry land 3. Were given the way to go 4. Acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments 5. Refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders your performed among them 6. Stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt 7. Made themselves a golden calf as their god 8. Given the way to go in 9. Took possession of the land 10. Were given kings, lands and peoples that they might do with them as they would desire 11. Captured fortified cities full of good things they did not have to work for 12. Ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in God’s great goodness 13. Were disobedient and rebelled against the LORD and cast his laws behind their backs. 14. Killed the LORD’S prophets 15. Committed great blasphemies 16. Cried to the LORD 17. Had rest 18. Did evil again 19. Turned and cried to the LORD 20. Acted presumptuously and did not obey the LORD’S commandments and sinned 21. Did not serve the LORD or turn from their wicked works.

So, what do we learn from this text about prayer while we are building the city of God in the city of Rome?

1. Prayer must be informed by Scripture 9:3

Scripture reading/study and Prayer are twin disciplines that must go together. Muller found that he could not pray effectively unless he prepared his heart through the reading of Scripture and kept the Scriptures open in front of him. He would trail off into sleep, or he would begin to think about his day’s schedule or requests that were petty and not centered on the Gospel.

Prayer is not given as a means to get anything we want to ask for. Prayer is a practical ministry tool to get the mission done.

The only guarantee we are given about prayer is that all requests in “Jesus’ name” will be granted because God is a good Father who loves his kids and desires to give them good things.

The questions are “what is Jesus’ name?” and “what is good for me?”.

Jesus’ name is very clearly what represent’s Jesus’ mission, and therefore has his name attached to it. To speak in the name of another is a claim to represent that person and their business as an ambassador comes to a foreign country in the name of the president of the country that he comes from and represents that president’s agenda and not his own.

What is good for me is also very clearly what represents Jesus’ mission and therefore fulfills Jesus’ created purpose in me, his creature. Good is defined by God as fulfilling man’s created purpose of making much of God on a global scale.

There are some things that are very clearly going to be answered as we pray. Such are great commission focused prayer, and evangelistic prayer for the lost. (overcome unbelief so that the Gospel may be seen and believed upon) (If you would save this person, overcome their unbelief and hardness of heart that they may believe and be saved)

Some things may not be answered. (requests to avoid suffering). Jesus himself prayed for the cup of the cross to be bypassed but submitted to Father’s will not his flesh’s desire to avoid the suffering of the cross.

We must begin to allow Scripture to inform our asking and interpret Father’s answer according to Scripture. If he does not answer in the affirmative, we do not get bitter and angry and walk away. We bend the knee and trust his goodness to us and worship.

2. Prayer must be Gospel focused in our requests 9:32
This lone request, in the entire prayer, comes toward the end and is a plea for the work of God to not be forgotten and neglected by God while they are subjected to foreign kings.

This is a Gospel plea. This is NOT a request for delivery. This is a request that Father NOT regard the subjection lightly, but that Father remember his covenant promise and cause the promise to Abraham to be completed.

If Father treated their subjection to other kings lightly, he would be neglecting the promise because he would be putting a Persian fence around the promise.

If Father treats their subjection with the utmost sincerity the Persian subjection is just a temporary blip that will be over at some point so that the mission can go forward.

In essence, the request is that the mission would go forward and that Father not forget the mission.

A. Prayer must focus on the person of God (who is Jesus) and his character
1. This is the basis of all our confidence that what we ask that is his
will get done.
B. Prayer must focus on the mission of God and his means of doing the
mission
1. This is the tangible ministry factor of prayer
a. (Habakkuk 2:4) “...the righteous will live by faith.” We
wait trusting that although things seem counter to what
is to be the tide will turn in God’s promised time.

3. Prayer must be honest about sin
We must not gloss over our sin before Father. We cannot hide details.

We don’t inform God in our confession of our behavior. We are exercising honesty before Father.

1 John 1:9 does not teach that confession is effectual. It teaches that confessing people are the one’s who know they possess eternal life. Persistent and unrepentant sin is not the mark of a Christian (1 John 3:6, 9).

4. Prayer must display repentance 9:1, 2, 38
The people came with fasting, sackcloth and dust on their heads. This was a way of showing mourning and humility. The people made a resolution to keep the covenant faithfully.

With the external methods the people were confessing they and their fathers were guilty.

With the covenant they were turning their behavior to the proper direction.

Their confession led to their action.
We can’t be satisfied with just saying we messed up, but our confession must lead to actions to correct one’s behavior.

Not just feeling bad about sin
2 Corinthians 7:10 says that worldly grief produces death. The reason is that it does not take into account Jesus’ work as our “man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3) who takes our sin and gives us his righteousness so that we can move from sorrow to salvation, forgiveness, new life and joy.

Not self-righteous repenting
We don’t seek to uncover other people’s sins and bring them to God (Luke 18:9-14)

Not Gospel denying repentance
This is where people try to earn favor with God or feel better if they make themselves suffer somehow for their sin by punishing themselves or want to view hard things that happen as God getting even. They actually feel better.

This denies the effectiveness of the cross.

We don’t seek to pay God back. Rather, when we sin, we are sorrowful, repent immediately and enjoy the good God gives because of Jesus’ perfection imputed to us and enjoy the fact that I am not guilty.

This is why Luther said that when one sins, sin mightily (explain that this is not a license to sin, but a recognition that when we do sin God’s grace is greater than the might of my sin)




Application
1. Read the Scriptures to learn God, his mission and how to pray
2. Pray for Jesus’ things
3. Base your appeal on the advance of the Gospel and bend the knee to the sovereign goodness of God and rejoice
4. Tell Father your dirt
5. Repent from eating dirt and feast on the Gospel
6. Make all necessary adjustments to run toward the Gospel
A. 1 Corinthians 9:27 “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest
after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
B. Romans 13:14 “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for
the flesh, to gratify it’s desires.
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Monday, April 26, 2010

Exegesis Work Page

Exegesis
Write your passage here (Example: Matthew 28:16-20):
____________________________

Observation: (What does this say?) (6 points: 1 point for each item)
1. Ask:
a. who___________________________________________________________
b. what___________________________________________________________
c. when___________________________________________________________
d. where___________________________________________________________
e. why___________________________________________________________
f. how___________________________________________________________
2. Key words and phrases (big words, words that are repeated, etc.): (10 points)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Lists: (10 points)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Contrasts and comparisons (what is being contrasted or compared; what is the illustration and what is the real situation or person?): (10 points)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Expressions of time (until, then, when, after): (10 points)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Terms of conclusion / purpose clauses (wherefore, therefore, for this reason, finally, for, so, so that): (10points)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This text says: (20 points: Don’t interpret here. Just restate the passage in your own words.)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interpretation: (What does this mean? Take all of the observation data into account!)(20 points)
1. Remember context rules: look at surrounding verses; take note of the entire book; take note of the
entire bible’s teaching on this particular issue concerning God
2. Remember, the primary point is the Gospel and the nature of God. What is the text saying about God?
What does the text say about the Gospel?
3. Always seek the full counsel of Scripture.
4. Scripture will never contradict Scripture.
5. Never base your convictions on obscure passages of Scripture.
6. Interpret literally unless it is obvious it should not be literal.
7. Look for the single meaning of the passage. It is never appropriate to say, “the text means this or that
to me”. That puts the objective in the subjective.
The text means:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Application: (How does this affect me? What am I supposed to do now?)(2 points: 1 point for each of 2 applications: Give at least two)
1. What does this passage teach?
2. Does this section of Scripture expose any error in my beliefs or in my behavior?
3. What is God’s instruction to me as his child?
4. When applying Scripture, beware of the following:
a. Applying cultural standards rather than biblical standards
b. Attempting to strengthen a legitimate truth by using a Scripture incorrectly
c. Applying Scripture out of prejudice from past training or teaching
This text and its meaning affects me:
1. Application _________________________
2. Application _________________________
3. Application _________________________
4. Application _________________________
5. Application _________________________
6. Application _________________________
7. Application _________________________
8. Application _________________________
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Sunday, April 11, 2010

Nehemiah 6:15-7:4


Nehemiah 6:15-7:4

You know we are building the church local and global for the glory of God. As vital as framework is, the most important parts are not related to framework.

The wall was completed and it was cause for celebration, but the story then shifts to the internal building that is most vital.

God does not need a way to defend his people. The wall has it’s purpose, but primarily the building is done inside of people as they learn to fear God and walk in his ways.

As we build the church we must realize that it is not done in external ministry additions or upgrades. It is done internally in hearts, attitudes, minds and practices flowing from heart, attitude and mind transformation.


While building the city of God within the city of Rome here are some things we will see, fight for and guard.

1. We will see supernatural work 6:15
The wall was completed from start to finish in 52 days. From the first of Nisan to the 25th of Elul is the building time.
“Josephus said it took two years and four months; but he had no other evidence, and it is better to take Nehemiah’s word. Thucydides (1.89–93) says the wall around Athens was built in one month.”

Application:
To see supernatural work one must be involved in the work: ministry, prayer for ministries, telling the good news (where are the evangelists?)
           
2. We will see Jesus testify to his own power and humble the self-sufficient 6:16 (this is incumbent upon seeing the supernatural from God’s people doing the work of ministry)
Why do people oppose God’s work? If they admit that it is God working, that admission implies that they recognize his power (cf. Acts 5:34–39). If they can continue to convince themselves that the gospel really is not true or that this work is not God’s work, then they can remain comfortable in their unbelief or indifference. But this self-confidence receives a blow when they understand that God has really been working in and through his people.


Application:
Always be ready to speak of the work of Jesus publicly.
            A. People need to hear
            B. The time is right culturally to speak of spiritual matters
            C. Be quick with the Gospel

How can we know something has been uniquely the work of Jesus?
            1. When the work done is manifestly good in itself
            2. When the work done is extensive
            3. When beneficial changes are brought about rapidly
            4. When serious difficulties and opposition are overcome
            5. When the work proves lasting
            6. When human effort is not sufficient to account for the results

3. We will have to fight enemies that come from within 6:17-19
            A. Meshullam (3:4, 30) was a worker on the wall and repaired more than one
            section but he also gave his daughter to Tobiah’s son to marry.
                        1. Perhaps he did not agree with Nehehmiah’s policies of separation
                        2. Perhaps he questioned why Nehemiah could consort with the
                        Persians and he could not consort with Tobiah and he failed to
                        trust his leader’s direction
            B. What are signs of trouble?
                        1. Constant complaining about surface issues from those not dirty from
                        ministry
                        2. Constant critique of teaching with a claim of superior teaching and had
                        hushed conversations away from those who might not agree
                        3. Broken fellowship and the assertion of rights rather than accepting
                        wrong for the sake of unity 1 Corinthians 6:1-11

4. We will have to guard right worship as a priority (gatekeepers, singers and Levites) 7:1
            A. Gatekeepers – guarded the temple area and provided general security for
            worship
            B. Singers – singers sang 24 hours a day in the temple area in ministry to the Lord
            C. Levites – provided the necessary service of the function of the temple
                        1. Nehemiah was operating according to the Scriptural mandates of the
                        temple.
                        2. Nehemiah was making worship a priority.
            D. Worship is not simply external. It is primarily internal 2 Chronicles 30:18-20.
            E. Worship becomes external when the internal is right.
                        1. Song is part of the external
                        2. Celebration is part of the external
                        3. Mourning is part of the external
                        4. Repentance is part of the external
            F. Worship looks like being a living sacrifice.


Application:
We do what we do NOT because people are benefited, but because God’s fame is at stake and the net result is that people are benefited by being brought near to Jesus to worship him and have Jesus meet their ultimate needs.
           

5. We will have to guard the qualifications for leadership (faithful and God-fearing) 7:2
            A. Faithful and God-fearing
                        1. Faithful
                        2. God-fearing

6. We will have to guard against a consumer mentality church 7:3
            A. The city was wide and large and there were few comparatively in the city. All
            hands were needed.
                        1. We are not a mega-church but we pack a mega-punch in the
                        community.
                                    a. All parents are needed as the ministry
                                                1. Radical Kids
                                                2. Student Ministry
                                                            a. Parents are the frontline of ministry
                                                            b. Parents are the fuel to ministry
                                                            c. Parents have to use home time strategically
                                                            d. Parents have to use drive time strategically
            B. If there is need that is felt, then the one feeling the need may be the ministry
            initiator.

 



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Sunday, March 7, 2010

A Response to Dr. McKenzie's Argument Made at Berry College


What is the problem?
There are those who want to broaden the scope of salvation through means other than Jesus and they are within the church. They presuppose some wrong things about the Scriptures, and therefore, they appeal to sources outside of the Scriptures to make propositional claims that fly straight in the face of the propositional claims of the Bible.

There is an obvious problem. There is an appeal to a time in history as a reference point for determining ultimate truth because that time in history was a revelation of God that brought about respect for other religions.

In the context of this communication respect equals acceptance as equally valid. Keep reading.

The hint is given in the notion that it is above the moral mandate to “tolerate” other of another religious background (in the proper sense of tolerate), to humble oneself and accept that God has revealed himself, obviously in a salvific manner, beyond Jesus.

In other words, people can get to God through other means than Jesus.

The reason that I say the problem is wrong presuppositions about Scripture is that the Scriptures, called the Bible, will just not allow any person who believes them to be accurate revelation from God to make such assertions.

Lets look at some possible belief systems regarding the Scriptures that feed ideas like the one we just looked at.

Neo-evangelical
Neo-evangelicals hold that inspiration is limited to redemptive truths and does not guarantee the correctness of all scientific and historical statements. The neo-evangelicals feel comfortable with the term infallibility, but most evangelicals insist on the word inerrancy as well.[1]

Liberal-evangelical
C.S. Lewis believed in a fallible Bible that manifests varying degrees of inspiration. He saw a process of development whereby myth becomes history. God providentially guided the natural and errant literary productions of the past. Then, at the appropriate moment, God adopted that natural myth and elevated it into the service of the Word of God. He now speaks through it to the edification of believers.[2]

Neo-orthodox
Neo-orthodox holds that the Bible becomes God’s Word.[3]

The Bible is simply a witness to Christ. Christ is God’s revelation; the Bible is only a fallible human record of that revelation. [4]

Liberal
One of the most popular of the old liberals was the famous preacher of the Riverside Church in New York, Harry Emerson Fosdick. He is forthright in declaring that “the liberal emphasis rests upon experience; we regard that, rather than mental formulas, as the permanent continuum of the Gospel.” The Bible is not an absolute guide, for “any idea of inspiration which implies equal value in the teachings of Scripture, or inerrancy in its statements, or conclusive infallibility in its ideas, is irreconcilable with such facts as this book presents.” What makes it necessary to reject the Bible? “The vast enlargement of the physical cosmos, the evolutionary origin of man, materialistic theories which endeavor to explain him, brutality of social life involving low conceptions of him, the innumerable masses of men such that old cynicisms gain new force … tend in many minds to undo what the Hebrew-Christian development did.” However, “we are saved by it [biblical criticism] from the old and impossible attempt to harmonize the Bible with itself, to make it speak with unanimous voice, to resolve its conflicts and contradictions into a strained and artificial unity.”
Fosdick acknowledges the source of the modern liberal rejection of the Bible. “Get back to the nub of their difficulty and you find it in Biblical categories which they no longer believe—miracles, demons, fiat creation, apocalyptic hopes, eternal hell, or ethical conscience.” This should be no surprise to us. For “it is impossible that a Book written two to three thousand years ago should be used in the twentieth century A.D. without having some of its forms of thought and speech translated into modern categories.”[5]

The problem stated:
The problem seems to be that there is a view of the Bible that comes up short of being the full and final source of truth for salvation.

Why are the scriptures questioned or not valued as authority?
1. The primary reason is that the text is clear and leaves no room for one’s opinion to be shaped by any other influence. The text clearly exalts Jesus as the only God, the God of the Old Testament, who made clear he was teaching himself as the only way to know God, the Father, himself as God. This gave way to the church having to wrestle it’s way through the development of the doctrine of the tri-unity of God.

2. A secondary reason is that the world-view of many is that there is no super-natural, therefore, all things written are historical in nature only and all super-natural things are “myth” created to validate the claims of the writers, who are mainly second century writers who are writing to validate the claims of the church and therefore putting words in people’s mouths they did not actually say. This is the position of “Jesus seminar” “Scholars”.

3. Lastly, many just don’t want to believe because their god is themselves and mankind in general.

What is the solution?
Have the view of Scripture that it has of itself
Orthodox / Evangelical
The modern evangelical position on Scripture is heir of the traditional, orthodox position of historic Christianity from biblical times to the present.  Mainline evangelicals from all major denominations and smaller groups accept the verbal inspiration of Scripture, as well as its divine authority and consequent inerrancy. [6]

Verbal, Plenary, Inspiration (inerrancy)
Verbal (the very words of the Bible)
            - This does not deny the fact that God used men in their settings in life, with
            their distinct personalities to speak.
Plenary (every part of the Bible)
            - All of the Bible is inspired, not just the parts we like
Inspiration (are divinely inspired revelation)
            - That is they are from God and are true without any error. That is they
            do not affirm anything contrary to truth.

Scripture claims to be God-breathed or inspired
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17).

Peter says, “the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look” (1 Pet. 1:10–12).

Peter also says “no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:20–21).

“Jesus summarized the Old Testament Scripture as existing in three parts: the Law, Prophets, and Psalms (Luke 24:44). He accepted the Old Testament canon as it exists today without any modifications and came to fulfill it (Matt. 5:17). As a rabbi, or preacher and teacher of Scripture, Jesus’ entire ministry involved the instruction and application of the Old Testament. Jesus’ public ministry even began with him reading from the Old Testament book of Isaiah and stating that his ministry was to fulfill the Old Testament promises about his coming (Luke 4:16–21). Jesus clearly stated that his ministry was an Old Testament ministry; it was to fulfill all of the Old Testament promises and longings that pointed to him.”[7]

“Christians believe that Scripture is our highest authority, or metaphorical Supreme Court, by which all other lesser authorities are tested. Practically, this means that lesser courts of reason, tradition, and culture are under the highest court of truth, which is divinely inspired Scripture. During the Protestant Reformation, the slogan sola scriptura (and sometimes prima scriptura) became popular to summarize this conviction; it means Scripture alone is our highest authority. ”[8]

Speaking of the New Testament writings of Paul, Peter actually calls his writing “Scripture”.

2 Peter 3:15, 16
And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.[9]

The solution stated
The Bible claims to be the very word of God, given by God to man so that man can know the way of salvation.





The Scriptures warn us of errors regarding the proclamation of Jesus
2 Timothy 4:1-5
“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” [10]

What do the Scriptures teach about Jesus regarding salvation?
John 14:6
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”[11]

Acts 4:12
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” [12]

2 John 7-11
“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.[13] Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. 9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.”[14]








1 John 4:1-6
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”[15]

1 John 4:14-15
“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”[16]

1 John 5:1
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.”[17]

How does the Bible speak to the one who denies Jesus as the sole way to God?
1 John 2:18-27

















Other Resources

For Further Reading on Bible Translations

 

For Further Reading on How to Study Scripture

 

For Further Reading on Apparent Bible Contradictions

 

For Further Reading on Miscellaneous Bible Issues





[1] Geisler, N. L., & Nix, W. E. (1996). A general introduction to the Bible (Rev. and expanded.) (178). Chicago: Moody Press.
[2] Geisler, N. L., & Nix, W. E. (1996). A general introduction to the Bible (Rev. and expanded.) (177). Chicago: Moody Press.
[3] Geisler, N. L., & Nix, W. E. (1996). A general introduction to the Bible (Rev. and expanded.) (171). Chicago: Moody Press.
[4] Geisler, N. L., & Nix, W. E. (1996). A general introduction to the Bible (Rev. and expanded.) (172). Chicago: Moody Press.
[5] Geisler, N. L., & Nix, W. E. (1996). A general introduction to the Bible (Rev. and expanded.) (166–167). Chicago: Moody Press.
[6] Geisler, N. L., & Nix, W. E. (1996). A general introduction to the Bible (Rev. and expanded.) (180–181). Chicago: Moody Press.
[7] Mark Driscoll, Revelation, http://blog.marshillchurch.org//2008/04/07/revelation/
[8] Mark Driscoll, Revelation, http://blog.marshillchurch.org//2008/04/07/revelation/
[9] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (2 Pe 3:15–16). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
[10] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (2 Ti 4:1–52). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
[11] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Jn 14:6). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
[12] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Ac 4:12). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
[13] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (2 Jn 7). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
[14] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (2 Jn 8–11). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
[15] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (1 Jn 4:1–6). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
[16] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (1 Jn 4:14–15). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
[17] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (1 Jn 5:1). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
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