back to index2019-02-27: Wed Bible Study Lesson 7
00:00:00.000 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your living word. 00:00:11.500 |
We thank you, Father God, that we have brothers and sisters in our small group in this Bible 00:00:17.140 |
study in the church that we can run this race together. 00:00:20.640 |
Help us, Lord, to be stronger because of our fellowship. 00:00:25.680 |
We pray that our time in your word would sharpen us, encourage us, rebuke us, and that we may 00:00:37.040 |
Alright, so the text that we're looking at today in verse 9 through 15 in Colossians 00:00:41.600 |
chapter 2, if you've done your study or did your homework before you came in, you should 00:00:50.600 |
Okay, so if you came here today not overwhelmed, it probably means that you maybe didn't put 00:00:57.520 |
as much time, you didn't really dig as much as you should have because every single line 00:01:07.480 |
I would say outside of Romans and the book of Hebrews, and not including the apocalyptic 00:01:14.960 |
writing in the book of Revelation, Colossians is probably one of the richest in theology. 00:01:21.120 |
And in this text in particular, in chapter 2, there's so much in here. 00:01:24.560 |
We can probably just wrestle with this text just several months because every single line 00:01:31.120 |
Now, I told you that in the beginning that the goal of our study is not for me to unpack 00:01:35.880 |
everything and then present it to you and this is what this means, this is what that 00:01:40.040 |
My goal is to guide you through so that you can learn how to do inductive Bible study 00:01:45.660 |
So my hope is that what I am highlighting will kind of point you to the right direction 00:01:51.040 |
and that more deeper discussions will be happening in your small group and even by yourself and 00:01:59.080 |
We want to start with a hermeneutical principle and this was something that we did mention 00:02:10.240 |
When a particular word, phrase, or thought seems to be ambiguous, we must turn to other 00:02:14.520 |
passages to help us interpret what is being said. 00:02:18.160 |
Developing an important doctrine based upon one word or phrase or passage often leads 00:02:22.120 |
to a misunderstanding and often heretical doctrines. 00:02:26.500 |
So bad doctrine comes from certain passages where you're just kind of taking that passage 00:02:32.840 |
out of context, out of context of that text and out of context of that culture, out of 00:02:39.300 |
So I'll give you an example in Colossians chapter 2, 11. 00:02:43.580 |
It says, "And in him you were all circumcised with circumcision made without hands in the 00:02:49.360 |
removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." 00:02:52.840 |
So that phrase, "removal of the body of the flesh," what does that mean? 00:03:00.300 |
So if you're not careful, you can add meaning to this text. 00:03:04.400 |
Remember what was happening during this period? 00:03:06.980 |
Remember we said in the beginning there's two false doctrines that was challenging the 00:03:19.520 |
They were basically adding Christ to Judaism. 00:03:21.760 |
You need to be a Jew, you need to be circumcised, you need to observe all the law, and then 00:03:27.660 |
You need to become a Jew before you become a Christian. 00:03:31.980 |
So much of Paul's writings and Peter's writings deals with that false teaching. 00:03:41.260 |
And what was the false teaching of the Gnostics generally? 00:03:53.140 |
So one of the things that came out of that was because the flesh is evil, Jesus could 00:04:01.680 |
So he only appeared in the flesh, or he wasn't really in the flesh, he really wasn't fully 00:04:06.940 |
And then what came out of that was we were saved in our spirit and our flesh was separated, 00:04:13.980 |
so we are saved in the spirit, but our flesh is condemned. 00:04:17.260 |
So therefore you can do whatever you want with the flesh. 00:04:22.980 |
So the logic that they used was since our flesh is evil and it is condemned, what we 00:04:29.700 |
do in the flesh doesn't matter because God condemned it and we're going to be saved in 00:04:36.060 |
If you live in the darkness, you say you have fellowship with God, you fool yourself, right? 00:04:41.020 |
And then he talks about how he who declares Christ to have come in the flesh, he's the 00:04:45.620 |
one who is born of God, because that was coming from false teaching of the Gnostics. 00:04:51.260 |
So when he says here that we've been circumcised without hands in the removal of the body of 00:04:57.260 |
the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, how do you think the Gnostics would have taken 00:05:08.860 |
Paul says that our flesh is removed, so we can do whatever we want. 00:05:14.180 |
So at that time, my guess is the Gnostics would have taken this and run with it. 00:05:20.020 |
And so we need to make sure that we understand what he means by this. 00:05:27.340 |
And this is where the cross references come in and what has Paul said in the other passages 00:05:34.780 |
So again, if you can turn to Romans 6.6, and somebody way in the back, if you can just 00:05:42.700 |
yell out, okay, or read it out for us, Romans 6.6 and somebody also back there Romans 7.24. 00:05:54.700 |
Okay, so over there in 6.6, what is called the flesh? 00:06:41.580 |
If you're there, can you just read out for, and then somebody read Colossians 3.5 for 00:06:48.540 |
Sorry, can you read that a little bit louder? 00:06:59.860 |
Okay, so here it says flesh with passion and desires. 00:07:26.420 |
Alright so when you look at the way Paul has used the term flesh, when you look at the 00:07:32.580 |
cross references, what is he referring to when he says he's put to death the body of 00:07:48.900 |
So he's not saying physically he's put somebody to death. 00:07:52.460 |
Obviously that's not what he's talking about. 00:07:56.020 |
He's talking about the part of our body that causes us to sin, right? 00:08:00.580 |
So we've, when it says in Corinthians 5.17 that if any man is in Christ, he is a new 00:08:10.220 |
His old nature that bound him to sin and delivered us into a new self. 00:08:16.580 |
That's why the term that Jesus uses is he needs to be born again, right? 00:08:49.260 |
We are still in the flesh, but we have been delivered. 00:08:52.020 |
We are no longer enslaved to sin, but we are enslaved to what? 00:08:58.460 |
We are, we have been saved, we are being saved. 00:09:01.760 |
But at the core of who we are, we are now enslaved to righteousness. 00:09:08.460 |
Now some of you guys are saying, "Well, I don't feel like it." 00:09:13.200 |
If you have genuine faith, you cannot live in sin continually. 00:09:18.060 |
Because the Holy Spirit will not allow you to. 00:09:20.820 |
So as much as you may feel like you are struggling with sin, the Holy Spirit will not allow you 00:09:29.180 |
That's why it says in 1 John, when you, if you live in sin, you do not have fellowship 00:09:40.140 |
Because the Holy Spirit will not allow you to. 00:09:41.940 |
The fact that there is a huge difference between someone who is struggling with sin and someone 00:09:50.340 |
Someone who is living in sin is somebody, his nature is causing him to continue to sin. 00:09:57.740 |
Someone who has a, someone who has been delivered from that, he may be struggling with purity. 00:10:05.660 |
But that struggle is there because the Holy Spirit is fighting you to come out of it. 00:10:13.740 |
And I've used this illustration many times before in a sermon. 00:10:16.660 |
If you are a possum, you are not comfortable at night. 00:10:24.920 |
So if by nature you are a creature of the night, if you happen to fall out of the tree 00:10:31.980 |
because your tail was weak that day, and the first thing you're going to do is look for 00:10:48.540 |
If you turn off the light, what's the first thing that we try to do? 00:10:54.980 |
We're looking for a flashlight because we need light to function. 00:10:59.540 |
So for Christians, our nature has changed so that we are creatures of the day now, not 00:11:07.260 |
So we may stumble in darkness at times, but if you are, if you genuinely have faith, your 00:11:13.620 |
faith will not allow you to feel comfortable in the darkness. 00:11:20.460 |
So when he says we have removal of the body of the flesh, our sinful nature that causes 00:11:32.380 |
So that's why there's a difference between when somebody says, "I'm struggling with sin." 00:11:35.940 |
There's a difference when somebody is struggling with sin who in words they're struggling, 00:11:49.820 |
I don't want anybody calling me out on my sin." 00:11:55.780 |
A Christian wants accountability because you're longing to be in the light. 00:12:04.100 |
So when we're interpreting scripture, you have to make sure that your understanding 00:12:08.180 |
of that text is helped or clarified by the rest of scripture. 00:12:13.820 |
You don't take that one verse, "Look what he said," and so you just dissect that like 00:12:20.300 |
And a lot of fights happen even between human beings like this. 00:12:24.340 |
You said this, but you know that's not what I meant. 00:12:27.820 |
But you said this, you used this word, but I didn't mean that. 00:12:32.780 |
And so if you start to argue with somebody because of a word that was said and you take 00:12:37.140 |
that out of context, you're not having a discussion. 00:12:41.340 |
You're a lawyer trying to accuse that person based upon the words that were used. 00:12:48.060 |
And it is not a good way to understand scripture. 00:12:50.500 |
You have to understand it within the context of what he meant. 00:12:59.460 |
What are some repeated words or related words, okay, before we do anything else, so that 00:13:56.820 |
All throughout this text, through him, in him, of him, for him, like over and over again. 00:14:03.380 |
So here we're talking about Jesus' identity and what he has done. 00:14:45.180 |
I feel like all the strength is on this side. 00:15:45.180 |
So it's giving you the reason behind what happened. 00:15:50.180 |
So if you were to just look at the words that's been repeated over, you can say that, again, 00:15:58.180 |
how you may have outlined it may look different, but the outline here to me is this first section 00:16:12.020 |
And then the second part of it all throughout this is how. 00:16:18.740 |
Again, you don't have to outline it like that, but broadly just to kind of get to see the 00:16:25.780 |
It's for him, for in him, and in him, and in him, this happened, this happened, this 00:16:31.940 |
Having been done this, having forgiven, having canceled. 00:16:34.980 |
So if you look at the general flow of thought and you see the words that are repeated, right? 00:16:45.900 |
So, if we were to go look at the outline, what did he do? 00:16:51.620 |
He begins by saying in verse 9, the fullness of the deity dwells in bodily form. 00:16:56.180 |
He starts by basically identifying Jesus, again, in his bodily form. 00:17:00.500 |
It wasn't like Jesus in his manhood and then Jesus and his deity were two separate people. 00:17:07.500 |
Just as God the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are three in one, Jesus' deity and 00:17:16.220 |
He says all of his deity, not parts of it, not just a reflection of it, but his full 00:17:26.220 |
Now, if that's confusing, it's because it is confusing. 00:17:30.660 |
But that's how the Bible declared who Christ was. 00:17:33.900 |
Just like the Trinity, there is a dual nature of Christ in his humanity and his deity. 00:17:43.580 |
Now, having said that, there's one thing that is here that the word is repeated and 00:17:52.020 |
you probably didn't catch it in your translation, but the word fullness and the word complete 00:18:10.020 |
That's the verse that is used in Ephesians where it says to be filled with the Holy Spirit, 00:18:16.740 |
So, Jesus was full in his deity, in his bodily form. 00:18:22.060 |
So, you don't catch it in the English, but in the Greek, it's pretty clear that what 00:18:28.500 |
he means by that is because he was full, he made you full. 00:18:35.140 |
The English word used here is complete, but in the Greek, it's the same root word. 00:18:41.020 |
So, the reason why he starts with the word that Jesus is fullness is because ultimately 00:18:45.380 |
he made you full and he is the head over all the rule and authority. 00:18:51.100 |
He was able to do that because there's nothing above him. 00:19:07.140 |
Because, you know, the word complete is a very rich theological word in the New Testament. 00:19:16.580 |
And the word that is used, not here, but used in other parts is the word teleos. 00:19:22.100 |
You know, in 1 Corinthians 10, it says when the... 00:19:46.900 |
When the perfect comes, the imperfect shall pass away. 00:19:49.020 |
The word perfect there is teleos and it's talking about something that God started that's 00:19:56.420 |
It may not be finished, but he's going to finish it. 00:20:05.100 |
So, everything that we need for salvation has been made complete. 00:20:11.140 |
Because he is fullness, is full deity, he is... 00:20:21.300 |
He says, "You are also circumcised and circumcision made without hands." 00:20:27.060 |
So, remember we talked about in Colossians, there's two separate groups of people that 00:20:42.940 |
In Asia Minor, you have the seven churches, but there's also another church that's very 00:20:54.700 |
Paul is writing to the Galatians because the Judaizers were having a huge impact in that 00:21:01.420 |
So, in one side he's dealing with the Gnostics, and then the other side he's dealing with 00:21:08.580 |
Circumcision to the Jews, what did it mean for them? 00:21:17.180 |
You couldn't say you were a Jew unless you were circumcised. 00:21:19.340 |
So, even if you were a foreigner who wanted to participate and be a part of the Jewish 00:21:23.820 |
community, first thing they had to do was to be circumcised. 00:21:28.700 |
Even their servants, even foreigners who came in who wanted to participate in society, they 00:21:34.100 |
But he says, so circumcision was their symbol that they belonged to God. 00:21:39.540 |
But he says, you were also circumcised with circumcision made without hands. 00:21:44.460 |
In other words, Judaizers were probably telling the church, unless you get circumcised, you 00:21:50.940 |
And that's why he writes the Book of Galatians. 00:21:54.420 |
And so, they were probably being affected by the same group. 00:21:57.180 |
And he says, to this Gentile church, you were circumcised, but not the kind of circumcised 00:22:03.940 |
You got circumcised with circumcision without hands. 00:22:09.500 |
And then, that's where he says, in the removal of the body of flesh by the circumcision of 00:22:15.180 |
In other words, this is a spiritual circumcision. 00:22:18.580 |
And then he goes into explain how this happened. 00:22:27.460 |
Within the next month or two, I'm probably going to revisit this issue of baptism. 00:22:32.460 |
Some of you were here when I gave the sermon on baptism and why we don't baptize infants 00:22:39.420 |
And I want our whole church to understand why we're Baptists. 00:22:42.700 |
It's not just my doctrine or doctrine of the leadership. 00:22:46.380 |
We want you to be able to see from scripture why we don't baptize infants. 00:22:58.420 |
So this is not to say like, oh, they don't know their Bible or, you know, they're bad 00:23:03.980 |
It's just, biblically, I could not see what I was taught from the Bible. 00:23:13.060 |
If you came from a Presbyterian church and you were baptized as an infant and you were 00:23:17.100 |
told that, and you studied through and this is why we baptize infants, this is the go-to 00:23:24.660 |
And the way that this is interpreted, and again, I'm not going to go too deep into this 00:23:30.780 |
Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you are also raised up with him through 00:23:35.380 |
the faith in the working of the dead, who raised you from the dead, right? 00:23:40.740 |
So he connects, they connect the circumcision without hands and then he jumps to how did 00:23:52.080 |
So people who baptize infants will say baptism is a replacement of circumcision in the new 00:24:05.700 |
Like I said, I'm not going to go too deep into this because I'm going to give a teaching 00:24:11.900 |
So based upon this text, and this is their go-to text, there is no other clearer text 00:24:25.140 |
Now the reason why that interpretation doesn't make any sense is because circumcision without 00:24:32.880 |
hands is unseen and it doesn't make sense to replace the physical circumcision with 00:24:44.000 |
So baptism can't be a replacement because he said it is unseen. 00:24:51.160 |
So what is the unseen circumcision that Jesus is talking about? 00:25:16.840 |
It's hard to capture with one word but Jesus is referring to regeneration. 00:25:21.720 |
He says in the prophecies that he was going to place the law where? 00:25:40.580 |
So the Holy Spirit is a symbol of the covenant in the New Testament. 00:25:46.580 |
It doesn't make sense that he would replace the physical circumcision with a physical 00:25:51.380 |
baptism and then to sprinkle a baby who has no idea what's going on and say now you've 00:26:00.320 |
The reason why that happened in the Old Testament was because the Old Testament, the covenant 00:26:07.280 |
And so being circumcised was a mark that you belonged to that nation. 00:26:12.640 |
In the New Testament the kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. 00:26:22.760 |
So when we get baptized all we're doing is symbolizing what is taking place spiritually. 00:26:29.600 |
In the baptism we are buried with Christ, we are raised with him but the real symbol 00:26:37.720 |
Now that's, I'm just going to leave it at that for now. 00:26:40.000 |
I'm going to go into a little bit more detail later on, like when I give a sermon on that. 00:26:45.480 |
I just wanted to highlight this because we just happened to be in this text and this 00:26:51.440 |
When you are dead in your transgressions, so there's about four or five things he mentions 00:26:58.560 |
When you are dead in your transgressions and uncircumcision of your flesh he made you alive. 00:27:13.360 |
God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners. 00:27:17.040 |
In other words, Paul is saying you were dead. 00:27:24.080 |
He didn't say that he made you alive because you responded and he saw who was going to 00:27:29.600 |
respond and based upon those who took their first step he chose you. 00:27:35.040 |
It was when you were dead in your transgressions. 00:27:43.200 |
The reason why you were able to respond is because he was regenerating you. 00:27:47.540 |
The reason why there was faith in you is because he was already calling you. 00:27:55.840 |
So the initiation, he didn't just throw out a net and saw who was going to respond. 00:28:00.040 |
He said you responded because he acted when you were dead in your transgression. 00:28:17.040 |
If you look at this whole salvation point, there's no part in here other than us responding 00:28:23.340 |
And the reason why you have faith is because God put that there. 00:28:27.520 |
Having forgiven us through our transgression and having canceled out the certificate of 00:28:32.480 |
The word certificate here basically means something written. 00:28:37.000 |
So this can be a some people will look at that and say talking about accounting. 00:28:43.120 |
Where you're like there's an accounting ledger of all your sins or it could be a legal document 00:28:47.960 |
where legally you're declared a sinner and basically this consisting decree against us. 00:28:55.140 |
So basically legally, legal standing before God whether it is accounting or whether it 00:29:01.380 |
is a legal document, we stood condemned in the court of law. 00:29:07.920 |
And God sits on the throne and he sees if we're guilty and said every single one was 00:29:12.320 |
guilty and according to this ledger, this was hostile toward us. 00:29:19.660 |
But he has taken it away having nailed it on the cross. 00:29:29.540 |
If you look at it here in verse 14, he says he has been he's forgiven us, he canceled 00:29:33.900 |
our debt, he has taken it out, and he has nailed it to the cross. 00:29:40.700 |
All of these things are different descriptions of what he did on the cross. 00:29:50.500 |
When he had disarmed the rulers and authorities. 00:29:54.860 |
So who are the rulers and authorities that he's talking about? 00:30:11.860 |
Romans, and then if you were a Jew, Pharisees. 00:30:26.100 |
And so if you happen to be a Jew, right, your whole history ever since the Assyrians have 00:30:36.300 |
And so in their mind they're waiting for the Messiah to come with authority to deliver 00:30:44.540 |
Because when they realized that Jesus wasn't going to overthrow the Romans, they got disappointed 00:30:53.140 |
I mean he has all the qualities of a Messiah, but the most important quality of delivering 00:30:58.700 |
us from our enemies, and when he submitted himself to them and gave his life, he said 00:31:07.620 |
So when he talks about the authority, he says you're waiting for authority to come and deliver 00:31:12.740 |
you, he said Jesus has overcome the authorities. 00:31:17.540 |
Because the authority that he's overcoming, right, which I'll explain in a little bit. 00:31:25.780 |
So in a physical sense he's overcome, he's triumphed over them because he didn't knock 00:31:30.540 |
them out of power, but Christianity is spreading like wildfire. 00:31:35.340 |
And it didn't happen the day he was crucified, but in 250 years Rome becomes a Christian 00:31:46.740 |
Rome is completely converted to Christianity. 00:31:49.120 |
It becomes the base of the gospel, eventually. 00:31:53.300 |
And then the Judaizers, I mean the Jews basically get conquered by the Romans, they get destroyed, 00:31:58.100 |
and then Christianity basically takes over that area. 00:32:00.860 |
So physically, the principalities, those who are in authority, they're overthrown. 00:32:07.460 |
But obviously there's a deeper meaning than that. 00:32:12.420 |
Those who had authority over them, the demonic powers, they're also triumphed and displayed. 00:32:19.220 |
And they no longer have authority over us because he delivers us. 00:32:22.620 |
He made public display of them, having triumphed over them through him. 00:32:27.060 |
One of the questions that came up was the word "through him." 00:32:30.580 |
Can somebody with the NIV read that part again? 00:32:41.340 |
NIV has gone a step further because that's not what the Greek text says. 00:32:47.020 |
The Greek text is "altos," which basically means "himself." 00:32:54.060 |
Or another way to translate it is "not himself, but itself." 00:32:57.460 |
So NIV has gone the extra step and said, "Oh, this means the cross." 00:33:05.580 |
But the meaning behind that is not crystal clear, but most likely it's referring to the 00:33:14.300 |
Most likely it's referring to the cross, the way he did it, because that's what he says 00:33:20.460 |
And all of this ultimately pointing to what Christ has done. 00:33:24.580 |
Okay, like I said, there's so much in this text, and it's hard for me to just kind of 00:33:29.300 |
linger on any one particular point, but every single one of these things are so rich. 00:33:34.660 |
And you'll see that everything that he says in every verse, Paul expands it, expounds 00:33:40.260 |
on it in much more detail in some other part of Scripture. 00:33:44.580 |
You could probably find at least a chapter on each one of these lines in the Book of 00:33:50.300 |
Okay, so I'm going to leave it to you to take some time to discuss with your group, but 00:33:55.220 |
the significance behind all of this is, again, that we've been delivered, that our sins have 00:34:01.860 |
been forgiven, and if we didn't earn our salvation, you can't lose your salvation. 00:34:07.460 |
But all of this based upon if you have genuine faith. 00:34:14.140 |
It doesn't require faith to come to church, right? 00:34:31.980 |
There's plenty of non-Christians who are kind. 00:34:42.180 |
It doesn't require faith to study the Bible, right? 00:34:50.860 |
It doesn't require faith to be a Bible scholar. 00:34:59.760 |
But true hope in Christ can only be had by faith. 00:35:11.180 |
But true hope, true hope that changes our perspective on everything, that causes us 00:35:20.540 |
Only a person who genuinely believes that will pursue that. 00:35:27.100 |
So people without faith can pursue church, be kind, study the Bible, maybe even teach 00:35:31.660 |
the Bible, even lead small group without faith. 00:35:36.660 |
But only those who have genuine faith are their sins truly forgiven. 00:35:43.340 |
And those whose sins are forgiven have hope in Christ. 00:35:53.380 |
But at the core of our connection to God is faith. 00:35:59.660 |
So superficially, if you don't have faith, you may look at that and say, "Great! 00:36:17.060 |
But only because it is a gift of God and everything hinges upon this faith. 00:36:25.340 |
Because everything that he's talking about here, deliverance, forgiveness of sins, all 00:36:32.460 |
authority under his power, hope in Christ, all of that was just given to us. 00:36:40.660 |
But there's only one thing that causes us, there's only one door that causes us to tap 00:36:52.920 |
So if this faith, that's why Jesus said, "If you have a faith of a mustard seed, you could 00:36:59.180 |
Because it's this faith that connects us to this God. 00:37:04.380 |
So the power is not in this faith, but the faith is the door that gets us to God. 00:37:09.380 |
So if we don't have genuine faith, you can pretend. 00:37:27.460 |
But everything that Jesus is talking about here and having hope in Christ and being delivered 00:37:33.020 |
from this bondage of sin, all of that is this faith. 00:37:38.820 |
So how important is it that we have absolute assurance that we have this faith? 00:37:49.360 |
And I think that's where sometimes we miss the point in discipleship, in church, evangelism, 00:37:55.340 |
and all of these things, because we've become good at doing church with very little faith 00:38:09.260 |
So as great as all of this is, the fundamental question that we have to ask ourselves is, 00:38:15.080 |
do I have this faith that connects me to all this? 00:38:19.580 |
So the first question in our discussion, or at least the second question, let me start 00:38:28.900 |
Actually, let me just go through the questions. 00:38:32.580 |
Can someone who has no evidence of circumcision of the heart claim assurance of salvation? 00:38:43.740 |
What do you think is the practical amplification of salvation by faith versus salvation by 00:38:51.340 |
We can automatically think, well, if you give salvation by faith and not by works, isn't 00:39:02.700 |
I mean, you can't, you didn't earn your salvation, so you can't lose your salvation. 00:39:06.820 |
I may feel guilty about it, but it doesn't affect my salvation. 00:39:21.860 |
And I'm going to give you the answer so you don't go off tangent and spend 30 minutes 00:39:44.540 |
Because that's what, that's what is recited in the New Testament. 00:39:57.100 |
So there's a difference between having no faith and having little faith. 00:40:01.620 |
So disciples were constantly rebuked for having little faith. 00:40:05.820 |
And so that little faith is what caused them, even in fear and they're running and denying 00:40:11.580 |
Jesus, when all of those people, again, John 6, 66, when people turned away because they 00:40:17.540 |
couldn't handle what Jesus was saying, Jesus turns around and says, "Are you going to leave 00:40:22.940 |
We don't understand you, but you have the words of truth." 00:40:26.760 |
And so that little faith is what caused them to continue in their faith. 00:40:31.660 |
So when we say, "I believe, help my unbelief," meaning I want greater faith. 00:40:37.620 |
But that's a distinction between somebody who doesn't believe at all. 00:40:44.300 |
Oh, so the question was, if faith is what causes us to be connected to this great God 00:40:51.860 |
that we see here, like why do we pray, "I believe, but help my unbelief." 00:40:57.140 |
Like, you know, it's like, "I don't believe, but help me to believe." 00:41:02.500 |
So I think that's a very good question, right? 00:41:06.940 |
Because it does make a, there is a distinction between having little faith versus having 00:41:14.020 |
Third, in what way was the record of your sins hostile towards you? 00:41:19.180 |
In what way have you been delivered from this hostility? 00:41:22.300 |
What is the, obviously the evidence is the Holy Spirit, but what is the evidence of the 00:41:29.860 |
Let me pray for us, and then I'll let you guys have time in your small group. 00:41:38.540 |
Heavenly Father, we ask for your blessing over our time, and I pray for our small groups, 00:41:43.940 |
Lord God, now that you would help us to be open and honest, help us to wrestle with the 00:41:48.100 |
text that we've studied, and we ask, Lord God, that your word would bear deep roots 00:41:54.340 |
in our lives, in our hearts, and help us to grow in appreciation of what you have done. 00:42:00.440 |
And all that is written here, Lord God, will not simply add more knowledge to our minds, 00:42:05.380 |
but it would renew our hearts, Lord God, to know this is what you've done for us. 00:42:10.420 |
You've delivered us while we were dead in our trespasses. 00:42:15.500 |
I pray, Father, that all of this would cause us to give our lives as a living sacrifice,