back to indexBerean Community Church Wednesday Night Bible Study 4/27/2022
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We're gonna go ahead and get started with Bible study. 00:04:33.740 |
So why don't we just take a couple of minutes 00:05:40.940 |
Father, we thank you for allowing us to gather tonight. 00:05:53.500 |
And we're so thankful for the grace that you've shown us 00:05:58.700 |
through the death and resurrection of your son, Jesus Christ. 00:06:02.060 |
We pray that we're reminded of how undeserving we are, 00:06:16.820 |
that our view of you would be one out of reverence, 00:06:23.260 |
seeing how almighty you are compared to how small we are, 00:06:28.380 |
that would that cause us to give you praise and worship 00:06:42.020 |
that you'd be honored through the songs that we sing. 00:06:45.360 |
So we love you and pray all this in your name, amen. 00:09:09.420 |
♪ 'Cause you alone can lift us from the grave ♪ 00:10:32.300 |
♪ 'Cause you alone can lift us from the grave ♪ 00:11:55.620 |
♪ He pulls me close with nail scarred hands ♪ 00:16:30.740 |
and only because his blood has covered our sins 00:16:41.520 |
The Lord, though we are dead to sin, we're still dying. 00:16:46.520 |
And before we approach your throne, we wanna confess, 00:17:04.520 |
to really study your word and ask for your blessing 00:17:10.960 |
And Lord, it is our confession that some of us 00:17:16.240 |
in the name of your grace have been reckless with this study, 00:17:21.680 |
just haphazardly preparing so that our small group members 00:18:00.300 |
but that every single one of us would come here broken, 00:18:08.060 |
and that we would all leave here more humbled. 00:18:15.900 |
Father, we know that we are to worship through it, 00:18:39.060 |
And it's your kindness that leads us to repentance. 00:18:58.320 |
So I pray that this teaching would cause us to have wisdom, 00:19:06.060 |
to number our days, that we might grow in that wisdom. 00:19:16.620 |
and just guide our discussion and our time tonight. 00:19:20.920 |
And would this exercise only cause us to seek you more. 00:19:27.200 |
Father, you've said that we will seek you and find you 00:19:35.540 |
no matter what the circumstance that we're in. 00:19:41.360 |
I pray that a search to know Christ more intimately 00:19:54.580 |
We're gonna do something a little differently tonight. 00:19:59.380 |
You guys know we usually have a time of discussion 00:20:06.940 |
but we're gonna do the teaching portion first 00:20:09.860 |
to make sure we hedge in some of the discussions 00:20:13.340 |
This is actually one of the most challenging texts 00:20:31.020 |
And I'm including up to chapter four, verse two, 00:20:37.540 |
It reads, "For it is better, if God should will it so, 00:21:08.980 |
"when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, 00:21:20.540 |
"Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you, 00:21:33.280 |
"having gone into heaven after angels and authorities 00:21:38.840 |
"Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, 00:21:51.460 |
"so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh, 00:21:54.880 |
"no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God." 00:22:37.840 |
who spent a lot of his time pouring into scripture. 00:22:40.560 |
And the late R.C. Sproul, who passed away a few years back, 00:22:44.700 |
and one of the smartest men to ever have walked the planet, 00:23:22.520 |
And this is what John MacArthur said last month 00:23:31.600 |
"The more views means that more people are wrong." 00:24:02.680 |
without actually having looked at the scriptures. 00:24:07.200 |
read a couple articles, and go, "I'm there, I side with that," 00:24:13.960 |
But these men's words are not living and active. 00:24:17.480 |
They're not sharper than any two-edged sword. 00:24:27.280 |
searching for a definitive conclusion for this, 00:24:41.920 |
"and these are the verses that are gonna back that up." 00:24:46.360 |
So there have traditionally been like four-ish views 00:24:51.360 |
to this passage, but I'm not gonna talk about those at all, 00:24:55.680 |
all right, because that's not gonna be helpful, 00:24:57.840 |
because human nature, you're gonna wanna lean toward one, 00:25:17.940 |
aren't really like going all over the place, okay? 00:25:36.060 |
throughout history where scholars have debated, 00:25:44.860 |
here are some things that we should not do, all right? 00:25:52.620 |
because they do not affect major doctrines, are unimportant. 00:26:15.060 |
"Do not add to his words, or take away from them." 00:26:18.740 |
Matthew 5, 18, Jesus says, "I did not come to abolish the law. 00:26:25.660 |
Until, like, it's all fulfilled, not one jot or tittle, 00:26:29.100 |
which are the smallest characters in the Hebrew language, 00:26:33.180 |
Everything in the scriptures is there for a purpose, right? 00:26:39.100 |
and useful for teaching, correcting, rebuking, 00:26:41.460 |
so that you and I may be equipped for every good work, 00:26:47.460 |
So you can't treat a difficult passage and be like, 00:26:49.780 |
"Eh, I don't need to study this, this is not important," 00:27:20.580 |
but the Holy Spirit has inspired all the scriptures. 00:27:25.580 |
Second Peter 3.16 say the unregenerate and the wicked, 00:27:55.380 |
or lack of diligence in terms of getting into the scriptures. 00:28:03.520 |
but it's beyond me, because I'm not seminary trained. 00:28:07.940 |
I need a seminary degree to properly interpret this text. 00:28:17.260 |
the disciples were with Jesus for three years, 00:28:23.940 |
Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures. 00:28:27.340 |
Okay, and these were unlearned, untrained men. 00:28:34.620 |
And there's a thing called the doctrine of perspicuity, 00:28:37.780 |
which basically says the Bible is meant to be read. 00:28:42.660 |
and any normal person can understand its meaning 00:28:53.340 |
Okay, don't have an insecurity or inferiority complex, 00:29:01.780 |
Now, the latter two are more like just ingest, 00:29:06.600 |
but things that you guys should pay attention to also. 00:29:10.060 |
If someone disagrees with my interpretation of this text, 00:29:12.340 |
he is an ignoramus and is influenced by Satan himself 00:29:31.060 |
be okay with that and pursue knowledge together, 00:29:35.180 |
'cause there is one faith, one Lord, one baptism, right? 00:29:40.800 |
And Ephesians 4 says we need to make every effort 00:29:43.300 |
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 00:29:49.460 |
would you guys say marriage is easy or it's work? 00:29:56.460 |
to try to get them like-minded and try to get them to be one. 00:30:04.140 |
We can have differing opinions on a passage, on a text, 00:30:07.740 |
but we all need to pursue the right answer, okay? 00:30:14.740 |
and the minutiae of the text and thereby veer off 00:30:24.220 |
They love to pursue random factoids in the scriptures. 00:30:33.860 |
So when we come to a hard passage like today's, 00:30:44.660 |
which includes pursuing knowledge of the truth 00:30:47.540 |
for excellence in handling of the scriptures, 00:30:57.260 |
Now, this is one of the most challenging texts 00:31:12.160 |
So I look at this as kind of almost a baptism illustration. 00:31:19.780 |
So the first, verse 17 and what is prior to that 00:31:23.300 |
is describing, in my words, more of a unity to Christ, 00:31:28.100 |
united to Christ in his death by suffering, okay? 00:31:49.500 |
Do you believe that when you go into the water, 00:32:18.500 |
So I was trying to figure out what that exactly is. 00:32:36.580 |
Okay, there's an application that's sought, all right? 00:32:44.180 |
was there's a lot of suffering in death talk. 00:32:47.020 |
Some of your translations will actually say death. 00:32:53.220 |
Scholars believe suffer is the more accurate one. 00:33:02.260 |
death in the flesh, removal of dirt from the flesh, 00:33:10.220 |
So there's all of this flesh needs to die motif, okay? 00:33:30.960 |
Second, there was a proclamation that was made, 00:33:39.980 |
if you actually look at the original language, okay? 00:33:44.740 |
So that also happened, and we've also been saved 00:33:48.140 |
because of the resurrection of Christ from the dead. 00:33:50.700 |
So that's kind of what I'm receiving through this. 00:33:54.120 |
And the green, it talks about the will of God. 00:34:04.460 |
And from the very beginning, chapter one, verse six, 00:34:16.440 |
you have been grieved by various trials, right? 00:34:20.000 |
So these are all according to the will of God. 00:34:22.300 |
God will ordain suffering in your life for his glory. 00:34:46.560 |
and I see this in terms of God's will is perfect. 00:34:52.800 |
And that middle entire section is a proof of that. 00:34:57.080 |
Okay, authorities, angels, power is all subjected to him. 00:35:01.200 |
Yellow highlight is the one command in this whole section. 00:35:11.200 |
how it's connected before we get lost in Noah's flood. 00:35:21.360 |
That drove me nuts 'cause I'm like, what is the purpose? 00:35:24.940 |
Right, there's a lot of purpose language in here too. 00:35:29.640 |
but we're supposed to arm ourselves with the same purpose. 00:35:37.740 |
So this is how I visually make sure I set up my hedges 00:35:47.840 |
we're gonna look at chapter three, verses 19 to 20. 00:36:02.140 |
who once were disobedient when the patience of God 00:36:14.420 |
Okay, so the four questions that are of significance today, 00:36:19.420 |
'cause depending on how I answer these four questions, 00:36:23.880 |
it's gonna lead me to interpretive conclusions. 00:36:40.440 |
Because it actually doesn't say in the passage. 00:36:44.300 |
It doesn't say explicitly when that happened, okay? 00:36:47.020 |
And then what did Christ preach and proclaim? 00:37:02.100 |
Okay, so those are the questions that kind of come to mind. 00:37:06.700 |
And before we look at these questions in depth, 00:37:10.580 |
I want us to look at the Noah context, okay, in Genesis 6. 00:37:17.420 |
'cause this is pertinent to some of the conclusions 00:37:21.900 |
Now it came about, and this is after chapter four and five 00:37:36.080 |
on the face of the land and daughters were born to them 00:37:38.240 |
that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men 00:37:41.520 |
were beautiful and they took wives for themselves, 00:37:46.540 |
Then the Lord said, "My spirit shall not strive 00:38:02.020 |
when the sons of God came into the daughters of men 00:38:07.680 |
Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. 00:38:19.960 |
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 00:38:23.900 |
I think it was worse than how we are today, okay? 00:38:31.640 |
The Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth 00:38:35.480 |
and he was grieved in his heart and the Lord said, 00:38:40.940 |
"from the face of the land, from man to animals, 00:38:52.920 |
That's a very important grammatical word, but Noah, okay? 00:38:56.840 |
But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 00:39:01.760 |
These are the records of the generations of Noah. 00:39:22.440 |
So that's the context and there's all kinds of questions 00:39:25.400 |
that scholars debate on just this passage too, all right? 00:39:29.800 |
So the first question is who are these spirits? 00:39:33.680 |
And the Greek word here for spirit is pneuma, okay? 00:39:38.680 |
So here are some options that I can conclude in my head. 00:39:42.200 |
Okay, so they're departed souls of righteous believers 00:39:56.200 |
But my mind kind of immediately almost wants to discount that 00:40:01.280 |
because usually righteous people are never called 00:40:08.200 |
Another option is departed souls of ungodly and evil people 00:40:12.600 |
who are in hell and these were these guys in Noah's day. 00:40:15.860 |
All right, 'cause 2 Peter 2 says they're trapped 00:40:23.320 |
Third, some people say it's the loss of national Israel, 00:40:35.500 |
The blue is kind of what I would lean toward, all right? 00:40:44.600 |
They're angelic spirits in hell and they're bound demons 00:40:52.020 |
partly because 2 Peter also describes them that way 00:40:56.120 |
or so I feel, but mostly because 1 Peter 3.22 00:41:27.780 |
which is qualified where a human being is called a spirit. 00:41:32.780 |
So that's, but again, my argument has holes, all right? 00:41:46.900 |
So the blue is kind of the conclusion that I'm landing on 00:42:15.160 |
It's like kind of the edge outside parts of hell 00:42:19.080 |
where people who did not hear the gospel proper 00:42:23.080 |
actually kind of are waiting for a final judgment. 00:42:34.360 |
when he proclaimed the liberty to the captives, okay, 00:42:43.160 |
well, if people are trapped in their unbelief 00:42:48.080 |
then I would have to say the prison is unbelief. 00:43:03.380 |
So then the question is, did Jesus go to hell 00:43:14.800 |
It's a little uncomfortable to think that, right? 00:43:21.560 |
If this prison is hell, did Jesus go in there 00:43:44.920 |
of the wrath of holy, holy, holy God, was he preaching? 00:44:05.760 |
where every believer, when they were getting baptized, 00:44:14.240 |
maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, 00:44:24.520 |
And some of you guys might have grown up in a church 00:44:33.760 |
but even the Apostles' Creed changed over the years 00:44:57.120 |
But if you look at Sirmium's account later in 8359, 00:45:03.140 |
Jesus descends into hell, and that becomes a doctrine. 00:45:13.000 |
some churches leave it out, some churches leave it in. 00:45:20.760 |
Okay, so this is a very interesting doctrine. 00:45:26.020 |
Where was Jesus between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, 00:45:33.600 |
Because it's not like this is all over the scriptures. 00:45:42.600 |
it should feel a little uncomfortable, right? 00:45:53.680 |
that I just kinda walked you through briefly is, 00:45:58.920 |
The next two questions are in terms of what he preached. 00:46:04.180 |
So the next question is, when did Christ preach, 00:46:18.360 |
as the Spirit of the Lord, 'cause he had done that before 00:46:25.680 |
For 100-ish years, he's preaching through Noah 00:46:36.860 |
But just from the verse structure, I reject that, 00:47:04.360 |
after his resurrection, during the time when he was there, 00:47:09.040 |
he was making proclamation before the ascension 00:47:16.900 |
But that's like, but what does that have to do with Noah? 00:47:34.700 |
But the text doesn't tell me when that happened. 00:47:43.360 |
I feel super uncomfortable teaching right now. 00:48:01.900 |
So the word here is keruso, which is a proclamation. 00:48:19.220 |
hear ye, hear ye, these are the new decrees from said king. 00:48:24.220 |
Or, hey, everybody, I am here on behalf of the king 00:48:30.140 |
to tell you that we had victory over there in Carthage. 00:48:40.500 |
because in next week's passage, in chapter four, verse six, 00:48:49.680 |
So, Najareth, if you can understand why this is very, 00:49:00.140 |
Next week's passage, there's a preaching of good news. 00:49:06.500 |
So that's another tension that's gonna be there 00:49:12.060 |
So did he preach the gospel message to those in prison? 00:49:40.720 |
This would be a strange assignment for Jesus to do that. 00:49:52.600 |
Or, as most modern-day scholars would lead to believe, 00:50:49.000 |
Because you see, pretty much, in Genesis 8 and 9, 00:50:53.120 |
there's all kinds of sin amongst these eight people. 00:50:56.320 |
There's drunkenness, there's all kinds of shame. 00:51:08.440 |
So, this is a passage where it's a little bit, 00:51:13.440 |
you wanna tread very carefully as to what all this means. 00:51:23.520 |
What did, when did Christ preach and proclaim? 00:51:34.360 |
So if you're here like, I got the right answer. 00:51:46.720 |
when you have a passage that can be sensitive, 00:51:56.640 |
that you don't wanna just look at one verse in isolation. 00:52:09.240 |
to see if there are things that we can glean from in here. 00:52:18.600 |
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, 00:52:41.680 |
when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly, 00:52:58.360 |
and saying, where is the promise of his coming? 00:53:12.640 |
it escapes their notice that by the word of God, 00:53:16.600 |
and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 00:53:19.400 |
through which the world at that time was destroyed, 00:53:28.120 |
the present heavens and earth are being reserved now 00:53:38.040 |
But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, 00:54:07.080 |
but it doesn't necessarily lead me to a set conclusion. 00:54:22.960 |
Here are the main takeaways from the passage on the whole, 00:54:28.340 |
I was gonna put all the way to chapter four, verse seven, 00:54:42.580 |
That's something we can glean from this section. 00:54:53.900 |
But it's a whole lot better to suffer for doing right 00:55:12.460 |
even though Jesus suffered according to the will of God, 00:55:27.520 |
believers like Noah are the righteous minority 00:55:31.980 |
living in a scornful, hostile, unbelieving world. 00:55:48.860 |
because Satan hates you and wants you destroyed. 00:56:04.900 |
is believers like Jesus and Noah will be vindicated by God. 00:56:30.700 |
every knee will bow of those who are in heaven 00:56:38.720 |
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. 00:56:43.720 |
So hopefully I didn't make it more confusing. 00:56:50.580 |
My hope was that it brings a little bit of clarity 00:56:54.340 |
as to the hedges of how we're supposed to handle this text. 00:56:59.340 |
But like I've said before, this is a challenging text. 00:57:04.460 |
So hold to your conclusions lightly and with humility, 00:57:11.900 |
but do the best that you can to do that, okay? 00:57:34.500 |
So after next week, it becomes a little bit less 00:57:55.540 |
I mean, it's not necessarily you're gonna have 00:57:56.620 |
to share it with everybody, but think through this. 00:57:59.860 |
Because if this is just an academic exercise, 00:58:02.460 |
this is a little bit of a, I don't wanna say a waste, 00:58:07.260 |
but you're not gleaning as much as you ought. 00:58:15.480 |
I'm gonna give you guys to discuss, all right? 00:58:22.780 |
and then you're gonna share, and then you're gonna pray, 00:58:25.100 |
and you're gonna say hallelujah, and then go home, 00:58:29.060 |
So the first two are the same, but the third question, 00:58:40.220 |
in what ways, okay, this is grammatically bad. 00:58:52.660 |
your life goals, and your day-to-day interactions 00:58:57.940 |
Okay, I seriously was prepping this until like 547. 00:59:01.400 |
The second one, is there suffering currently in your life? 00:59:07.020 |
In what ways can your group members pray for you, 00:59:10.280 |
keep you accountable, and help you persevere? 00:59:13.500 |
And those are the questions that hopefully should fill up 00:59:21.480 |
Lord, we need you to walk us through these truths, 00:59:29.700 |
and you've said, Lord, if any of us lacks wisdom, 00:59:35.720 |
that we should ask, and that you will give generously, 00:59:39.140 |
and without reproach, that we must believe without doubting. 00:59:46.260 |
So help us not to be like those who are driven 00:59:51.600 |
but help us to be those who are anchored in Christ, 00:59:55.960 |
zealous for the truth, and yet humble before one another, 01:00:04.560 |
into all truth this evening, which ultimately is, 01:00:09.560 |
we were made by you and for you to love and serve you. 01:00:15.680 |
And so would you help us to be fueled and fed