Old Testament & Current Events Q&A Service | Gary Hamrick

so I thought this would be a great question to start us off to kind of set the groundwork and lay the lay the foundation for this question and answer time so someone texted in what exactly is the old testament who wrote it and why okay so let me give you the let me give you the broad overview of the Bible in general so the Bible it is a book compiled of 66 books 39 books in the Old Testament 27 in the New Testament the Bible was written over a period of about 1,600 years 40 different authors three continents three languages and yet all of it is harmonious and it communicates a central message which is God's love for mankind and his plan to redeem us from our sins so that we might be able to have fellowship with him and live with him forever so your Bibles are divided into Old Testament and New Testament and it is otherwise known as Old Covenant New Covenant and the Old Testament is basically God God lays out his moral code and this is actually this answer is going to segue into a question that many of you had too so let me just kind of highlight some other questions related to you know I've heard that the god of the Old Testament is different from the god of the New Testament what does that mean other similar questions about how do i reconcile the frequent church message that our God is a loving gentle forgiving God with the Old Testament God who visited destruction on entire populations and cities there's a lot of death another question there's a lot of death in the Old Testament at the direction of or in the wrath of God what is you know how do you reconcile this many questions along those lines so in answer to the question what does the Old Testament let me I got to go into that that area too so the Old Testament is God's Old Covenant New Testament God's new covenant and the Old Covenant was basically this God made provision temporary provision for for people in those days to receive forgiveness for sins for atonement for their sins and and the way that he did it was he prescribed it through the sacrifice of animals now why the sacrifice of animals this goes to another question somebody asked earlier in the week why was it necessary to sacrifice animals leviticus 17 verse 11 says that the life of a creature or an individual is in the blood and so a blood sacrifice had to be made in order for a life to be given in atonement for sin so god prescribed this method in the old testament because we're all sinners God made a provision for us to be able to be forgiven by the offering of a sinless life in the Old Testament and animal but that was only a temporary means to provide temporary atonement for people until such time that Jesus could be revealed thus new covenant and so what God does is he lays out in the Old Testament in the Old Covenant he lays out his moral code the Old Testament lays out the standard of God it lays out the rules of God because God needed to communicate to mankind his righteous standard who he is that he is just he is holy he is righteous which is the reason why a lot of times in the Old Testament you see so much bloodshed and you see you know the wrath of God because God is setting the bar he's setting the standard to understand his character his holiness his righteousness his justice and so to live up to that standard he prescribes all these different rules mankind was never able to live up to those rules as as much as we might try to and so God then allowed the sacrifice of an animal to be the atonement for an individual who failed to live up to God's standard now God lays out his righteous requirements his moral code his standard in the Old Testament he lays out the rules and thus because man is incapable of living up to the perfect standard of God God knowing this offers his son Jesus and he says now no longer do you have to sacrifice animal after animal after animal as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the sinner God says I'm gonna send my son this is Hebrews 10:10 Jesus will die as a sacrifice once and for all for all who have sinned and so in the New Testament you see the emphasis is on grace Old Testament the emphasis is on law and justice and so the Old Testament fulfilled in Christ the moral righteous requirement of God personified in the life and person of Jesus Christ he dies in a cross for our sins by faith we put our trust in him and let me just kind of summarize it this is an important verse in its Galatians 3:24 and Galatians 3:24 says that the law was put in effect in order to bring us to Christ that we might live by faith in other words what happens in the old testament is it it highlights my sins it exposes my faults and it makes me aware that I cannot live up to the righteous requirement of God and so the law leads me to Christ it brings me to the place where I have to realize I need a Savior because the righteous requirement of God is so high and so pure and so perfect I just can't live up to it and so God in His grace and in his mercy offers you son Jesus so it's a long answer but I think it probably sets the stage for the rest of the questions because you know some people are really troubled by the God of the Old Testament the god of the Old Testament is the same God as the New Testament but he is laying out his righteous standard he it is a transcript of the holy character of God and and thus with such a righteous standard given to us in the Old Testament the awareness that we don't live up to it it is why we're grateful for grace that Jesus died for us that's New Covenant so we can live by grace we're saved by faith and it's and it's a gift Ephesians 2:8 and 9 and so God has provided that for us that we might be saved so it's an important distinction but it's um we you know we don't discard the Old Testament it's an important aspect of the revelation of God's character this is a good question text it in just a couple of minutes ago and it has to do with hearing the voice of God and so the question goes does God still speak to us outside of his word just as he spoke to people in the Old Testament basically are we still able to audibly hear God's voice so you know I have never personally heard the audible voice of God but I can say that there have been many times where God has distinctly impressed things on my heart that I knew just had to be from him so I would I would say I would never discount the possibility that God could speak audibly to somebody because you know God can do whatever he wants I would say though that if a person believes they have heard the audible voice of God that voice that instruction whatever that word might be would never contradict Scripture we have to always come back to the Bible as our handbook and as our guide because God would never contradict himself so while I would probably say the audible voice of God is unusual I don't know that anybody could say that it can't happen today because you know God God audibly spoke to to Paul on the road to Damascus and God can audibly speak to people I just think it's rare but it should never contradict Scripture the Bible should always be you know the standard by which we evaluate all quote voices yeah another texted in question sure what happened to those who followed the Lord faithfully who died before Jesus came so those who follow the Lord faithfully again they practice the sacrificial system worshiping God through the sacrifice of an animal provided temporary atonement for their sins and so what happened to them is they went to a place at the time called Paradise Jesus even invited the thief on the cross today you'll be with me in paradise it was a temporary holding place until such time that Christ could be offered on the cross for the sins of not only the Old Testament Saints but but you know people going forward and so there's a there's a parable in Luke chapter 16 which kind of lays this out and actually it's some say it's not even a parable Jesus is actually teaching it as just a matter of fact that Old Testament Saints who were made righteous temporarily through the sacrifice of animals still needed Christ and so when they died they went to a place called Abraham's side or paradise and they were there until such time that Christ during the three days when his body was in the tomb Christ by his by his Spirit went to that paradise I'd emptied it and and took Ephesians 4 talks about how he led the captives free in the in his train in other words he took them from that holding place of paradise and he assured them into heaven so now those Old Testament Saints are in heaven that's good here's a question texted in just a moment ago I recently heard someone say that Jesus and especially the Trinity is not prophesied about in the Old Testament is that accurate that's not actually accurate although what is accurate is the word Trinity does not appear anytime in the Bible but it is still a doctrine that is taught throughout the Bible and basically is which teaches us that God is one God but he reveals himself in three persons Father Son and Holy Spirit and and yet when you look in the creation account in Genesis you see the examples of the Trinity though again the word Trinity is not mentioned in Genesis 1:1 it says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth well odd in Genesis 1:1 is Elohim and Elohim is a plural word because it speaks of a singular God who reveals himself in a plurality Father Son and Holy Spirit and it tells us in the creation account that in in Genesis 1 verse 26 it says then God said let us make man in our image and so even then God is speaking as a singular God revealing himself as Father Son and Holy Spirit let us make man in our image so you can see in different places that the Trinity is revealed in Scripture even in the Old Testament even though the word Trinity is not anywhere in the Bible let me see if I can answer a couple of questions that were texted in earlier somebody says how do you show that you're a Christian even if good deeds don't get you to heaven and the truth is yeah good deeds don't get you to have it but they do show that you belong to the Lord it's the fruit of your salvation that you demonstrate to other people so good deeds don't save you but they certainly show that you are their fruit their evidence of your salvation somebody texted in during Pastor Gary sermon on Malachi he said that the goal of marriage is not personal happiness but personal holiness what does this look like day to day when the actions of my spouse create feelings of mistrust and and so that is true when we're going through Malachi I did make that statement I think in in general that's an important principles for us to understand in marriage to many people I think in marriage are pursuing happiness instead of holiness I think that happiness comes as a result of holiness but I don't think you can experience the other way around and the answer to the question is you know what does it look like day to day on a day-to-day basis what it means is that we should each be seeking to walk in a way that honors and glorifies God if we are seeking to be holy before the Lord and if we are doing our part because we cannot control another person all we can do is take responsibility for ourselves and so however your spouse might be acting or living or behaving you have no control over not really and so all we can really do is press into the Lord ourselves all we can really do is take personal responsibility live in holiness walk in holiness and and leave our spouse up to the Lord and pray for our spouse but we are to be the best individual that we can be for the glory of God and God will take care of the rest and I don't mean to oversimplify it I just I truly believe that if we are living in a way that honors God glorifies God God's gonna take care of the rest so the day to day is I have to continue to pursue holiness and that happiness is not necessarily the goal happiness flows out of a holy life but not the other way around but along those lines I did want to answer one other question we got I got text an earlier somebody who watches from where do they write in from Locust Grove Virginia there was a long question but I'll just summarize it because I also made this statement we were talking about Malachi and marriage I was talking about how we often marry our somebody who's very different from ourselves and those differences are good and and because it brings it complements us in a marriage where one person is different from the other weaknesses and strengths can complement each other so the person asked they just want a clarification when you spoke of differences you're referring to personality differences and differences in likes and dislikes in the way we do things I'm sure you didn't mean that it is good to marry or even date persons who've out whose values are different than ours especially our faith and that that is an important clarification I second Corinthians 6:14 talks about not being unequally yoked and I think it's an important thing for Christians to only date Christians is an important thing for Christians to marry Christians so yeah when I spoke of differences I don't mean you can have different faiths and one can be saved and one can be unsaved I meant differences of personality and likes and dislikes what else do you have there's a good question concerning current events the state of where we are question is from Lydia she asks my parents who are elderly and don't know the Lord are increasingly fearful and anxious of the virus pandemic they have a lot of questions as to why God is allowing this to happen and what the cause is for this so how can I best answer these questions and also be of support and comfort to them Lydia we live in a fallen world and it's full of disease and death and heartache and suffering we don't attribute this pandemic to God there's a lot of things that happen in the world that people want to blame God for but I do know this much that even though God is not the cause of this pandemic he's going to use it and he's going to use it in a way that will bring people to salvation I believe this because people now are facing the reality of their own mortality and and I really believe this is going to cause people who otherwise may never really considered God Jesus eternity to come to the place where they have to make some you know real decisions about life and death matters I would just tell was it was it your parents or grandparents I would I would just encourage you to you know encourage your parents to read scriptures bathe their hearts and their minds in in the Word of God we can't give way to fear we can't give way to worry during these days we have to just trust God that he's up to something you know there you know the old expression hindsight is 20/20 we may look back and realize the different ways that God was sovereignly working out his purposes despite this pandemic and and we're gonna see how God is ultimately glorified through things even like this but in the meantime we just need to just need to trust the Lord we just need to rely on him we lean on him not our own understandings and all our ways we acknowledge him and he's gonna take care of us he's gonna direct our path so it's it's a faith walk in many ways it's trusting God in a time when it this is very unusual I absolutely never lived lived through anything like this before and this is when we just trust the Lord yeah thanks for the questions that you this is a fun question I've always wondered this one myself so there were two trees originally placed in the garden Tree of Life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil obviously we see in Scripture Adam and Eve ate of the tree that they weren't supposed to the tree of knowledge of good and evil but what would have happened if they were to eat first of the Tree of Life so first I know that you know this but I just want to clarify those were not the only two trees in the garden correct there were there were many trees in the garden because God and originally said you're free to eat from any of these trees so they had multiple choice two times that were named two trees that were named correct and and so they went after the one tree that God said you know don't eat of this less than they that you shall surely die which I know you can relate to because there are many times I can remember going down the streets of Jerusalem and when you were like 10 years old and they had they had these like wooden flutes in the old city of Jerusalem in a basket and as we're walking by I said to him that don't don't be takin those flutes out and play and putting it to your mouth and playing it because you know we're an old old city of Jerusalem and who knows who's been playing those little wooden flutes before you and sure enough I turn my back and what is he doing it's over the quarter playing I had to keep you on your toes I the white thing I told you using in the practice sure well and you gave me a lot of experience with that the one thing I said don't do and there you are in the corner and so I made you drink Purell but here's the thing it's human nature it's sad but it's human nature we gravitate to the thing that we're told not to do they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil God said the day and the day you eat of it you shall surely die in other words the dying process will begin and they were cast out of the Garden of Eden after that and they were actually protected from eating of the Tree of Life because here's the deal here's what it probably would have happened had they eaten the Tree of Life after they had eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which now they're in a sinful state that probably would have sealed them in their sinful state and they would not have been able to be redeemed so in God's mercy cast them out so they wouldn't eat from the tree of life had they eaten of the tree of life before they sinned I I can't answer that because it's an unknown but just purely speculating it might have had the opposite effect it might have sealed them in their original pure condition and and they might have been protected from from the fall but I don't know that that's purely speculative but we do see the tree of life appearing again at the end of Revelation and we're gonna be able to eat of it in that day so we haven't heard the last of the Tree of Life I like it question pertaining to the law and Moses so when the laws were given to Moses for the Israelites were they only for that time or does it pertain to us today as well all right that is a great question and this is an important distinction about the Old Testament in general and the law when you look at the Old Testament and the law of God it can be broken down into three categories it's broken down into the moral code the ceremonial code and the dietary code when you look at all of the Old Testament law it all falls into one of those three categories now a real strict Orthodox Jew would take issue with what I just said he or she would say to me no pastor Gary all of it is the moral code of God III understand in the sense that it's it's the righteous requirements of the standard of God's character but strictly speaking the Old Testament is broken into those three categories there's a moral code there is a dietary and a ceremonial code so the ceremonial code has to do with feasts and festivals and and the way you should dress cutting your hair those kind of things the dietary aspect of the law had to do with foods that were kosher or not foods that you were permitted to eat foods that you were not permitted to eat the moral code of God's law has to do with the righteous requirements the Old Testament the Ten Commandments are part of the moral code of God the dietary and the ceremonial aspect of the Old Testament have been fulfilled in Christ and thus replaced in Christ and let me let me just give you a couple of verses real quickly for that so in in Colossians chapter 2 in verse 16 and 17 it says this therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink or with regard to a religious festival a new moon celebration or a Sabbath day what's Paul talking about there he's talking about the dietary and the ceremonial aspect of the law and he said in Colossians 2:17 these are a shadow of the things that were to come the reality however is found in Christ so the ceremonial and dietary aspects are no longer binding because Christ came died for us fulfilled all the ceremony the ceremonial and dietary aspects of the law were only a way for us to understand the deeper things of God and the character of God and purity and holiness and and all of that Jesus himself even said in mark chapter 7 he was talking about things that corrupt a person from the inside versus the outside and jesus said in mark 7:15 nothing outside a man can make him unclean by going into him rather it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean and he goes on to say his disciples asked him what does all this mean and he said to them don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him unclean for it does it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach and then out of his body then there in mark 719 in parentheses in the NIV it says in saying this Jesus declared all foods cleaned so the whole kosher aspect of the law and pork and and shrimp and all of that Jesus basically said now listen I all of this has been fulfilled in me so the moral code of God is still intact the Ten Commandments are still a reflection of the moral code that we need to live up to the dietary and ceremonial things of the law have been fulfilled in Christ were no longer bound to those codes you are free to eat pulled board barbecue unless your conscience you know there are some people are like well I'm vegan and all that stuff okay if your conscience convicts you then don't eat it but I'm just saying if we have the liberty to do it now because those three sections of the Old Testament the only one still intact is the moral code of God because that reflects God's character and his righteousness throughout the Bible another question that was texted in is you've been teaching the sanctification of marriage between one man and one woman but why in the Old Testament then do we see God allow people like Jacob to have multiple wives so everything that you read in the Bible does not necessarily mean that God condoned it there was a lot of human behavior that was sinful behavior but just because it's allowed to be reported on in the Bible recorded in the Bible does not mean that God condoned it God set his standard in the book of Genesis chapter 2 when he talks about how for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two shall become one flesh you see polygamy in the Old Testament but not because God condoned it it was just an aspect of man's fallen nature that it existed so just because it's recorded in the Bible does not mean that God condoned it it's just you know a statement in that particular example of man not living up to God's perfect standard yeah good question that came in just a few minutes ago if the Jewish people believe that they are only saved through sacrifices then since the temple has now been destroyed how do they believe that they can be saved today so today they believe that you can be saved by being a good person and by praying I had this conversation with a Jewish lady in the old city Jerusalem about eight or nine years ago because I I was trying to gently help her to be aware that you need Christ you need a savior you need Jesus because he died on a cross for our sins ever since the temple was destroyed in 70 AD in Jerusalem the Jews have not been practicing animal sacrifices so how have they been able to make atonement for their sins and when I asked her that you know trying to just gently make her aware hey there's one who died for our sins for all time you don't need the animal sacrifices anymore you know she just looked at me she said well the rabbi's tell us that all we need to do is be a good person practice good works and pray and then we'll have our sins atoned for and I I gently push back again I said with all due respect to your rabbis that is in conflict with your own Scripture so the Jewish people they can't reconcile it so they say things like we have to be a good person we have to pray the fact of the matter is they can't reconcile it because the the scripture requires a blood sacrifice and I was hoping she would get to the place to realize the blood sacrifice of Christ paid for her sins once and for all so you don't need the animal sacrifices anymore I couldn't persuade her at the time but you know hopefully she she came to faith later but but that's the deal it's a question for me oh yeah who's your favorite book in the Old Testament Austen and why honestly the book I'm reading at the time whatever book that is but Genesis is a great one so much history in that book maybe the Psalms maybe Daniel I love them all thanks for caring about my opinion yeah question for you dad what are some what about the Gentiles that lived before Christ were they able to get saved since only the Jews practiced the laws of God well you know it the whole salvation was available to all who would who would believe you know you see proselytes to Judaism so you see Gentiles like Rahab in the Bible you you look at Ruth in the Bible they they were not only Gentiles Ruth was a Moabite Moabites were children of incest and so and Rahab was a prostitute so yes Gentiles even could be saved too but they had to become proselytes of Judaism and practice the same methods that God prescribed for salvation which was the sacrifice of animals it was a temporary thing but but yeah even Gentiles could be saved too if they follow the prescribed method for salvation during that time of the Old Testament let me see if I can take a couple from we only have a few minutes left so let me see what else I made notes of here this person asked as we as we are studying the Bible at home my kids are constantly asking me about dinosaurs and how they fit into the Bible how should we be explaining this we understand the creation of languages the Tower of Babel but they are also asking me questions like when were African Americans created people of Asian descent etc they have so yeah along these lines dinosaurs were part of God's creation if they were marine aquatic dinosaurs they were created on day five that's when the fish of the sea and and marine life was created in the days of creation by the way someone else asked me a question about the seven days of creation it was not seven days the creation was six days of creation on the seventh day God rested and so dinosaurs are created along with the rest of wildlife and the animal kingdom day five would have been aquatic dinosaurs day six would have been land dinosaurs and so it's consistent with the the days of creation and the book of Genesis but dinosaurs either many of them some of them obviously went on the ark others would have died as a result of the flood you can see archaeological remains of dinosaurs huddled together in masses at high elevations like they were escaping a flood but they either died in that or after the flood the whole climate had changed there were not seasons before the flood the Bible talks about before the flood that the earth was like somewhat like a terrarium it was just kind of a enclosed it didn't rain it was watered from the mists of the ground and so it was like a self-contained terrarium of sorts but after the flood you have seasons for the first time and the dinosaurs just couldn't adapt to the change of the seasons so irrespective of what we're hearing in our science books about some giant meteor came and then crashed to the earth and then killed all the dinosaurs from a biblical standpoint they were created on either day five or day six and they either perished in the flood or because they couldn't adapt to the new change in climates post flood is the reason why they're not here any longer as far as the different ethnicities in in the world you know one of the things I try to remind people is that the Bible says we were created from the dust of the earth there are different shades of dirt when you look at soil I've been to some places in the world where they have white sandy beaches and other places where the soil is rich and and black and so you have the spectrum because the genetic code of man was created from the dust of the earth seventeen chemical elements in the human body that correspond to dirt mainly hydrogen and oxygen and 15 other trace elements so we're all made from the dust of the earth we're all going to return to the dust of the earth that's why you see humanity because of the genetic code you see all different human races on the spectrum of being white to being black and every shade in between but it's the reason why you don't see any purple people any blew people because dirt doesn't have that shade so we're all you know made up of the genetic elements of dirt and then you know I'm sure environment plays into it as people migrated based on language and culture environment began to shape even further the ethnicities of people but we all belong to the same genetic code maybe one more question all right one more so if Satan knows Scripture he knows how this is all gonna play out he knows that his time is short then why does he even bother so that's a great question and here's what I heard somebody say years ago he bothers because he knows his final destination he knows you know he quotes scripture to Jesus so he knows the Bible he just doesn't live it or believe it and this is basic MO at this point is he wants to take as many people with him as possible so the mission of Satan is he knows his demise he knows the end is coming and so his goal is to take as many people with him as possible that's why he's the accuser that's why he's a murderer that's why he's a liar because he wants to deceive people and and he wants to take as many people with him into hell and and ultimate destruction with him and so that's why we're all about Jesus that's why we want to share Jesus that's why we want to introduce people to Jesus because we want them to experience the life transformation of a relationship with Jesus Christ so that's that's my take on it I'm gonna jump right to the gap between the Old Testament and New Testaments so we know historically there was a period of 400 years between Old Testament and New Testament yeah so can you elaborate on what exactly happened during that 400 year gap between the old and new Testament and why it why is it called the silent years so I'll probably get into a little bit of this again when we eventually start into the Gospel of Matthew but between the Old Testament and New Testament when you turn in your Bibles from Malachi which is the old the the last book of the Old Testament to Matthew the first book of the New Testament there is 400 years separating those two books basically known as the silent years and there was no prophet given during those 400 years God didn't speak to the people it was thus called the silent years we know nothing about what happened during that time because God was literally silent and then we see John the Baptist show up on the scene now I know this sounds a little odd but even though John the Baptist is in the New Testament he's actually the last of the Old Testament prophets because he still is ministering during the time of the Old Covenant because Christ hasn't died yet in fact John the Baptist will be martyred he'll have his head cut off before he he seiz'd Christ crucified so he lives and dies under the Old Covenant and he's really technically the last of the Old Covenant prophets when he comes on to the world scene I think the reason why God has the silent 400 silent years is because it's kind of like the it's the quiet before the storm and I mean the storm in a good way it's it's the coming of Jesus it's the advent of Jesus and so God just kind of put his voice on pause so that the next time he speaks from Malachi to John the Baptist people will be awakened like oh there hasn't been a prophet in 400 years maybe we should listen to this guy and so John the Baptist shows up on the world scene - and now Masaya so he's the one that points people to Jesus Jesus came to be baptized behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world John the Baptist would say and so really the four hundred silent years are unknown historically G God was silent and I think on purpose it was just kind of this quiet so that he could make this special announcement this you know world-changing life-changing announcement that Jesus Christ has come onto the world scene yeah this person texted in a question just a couple of minutes ago they're loving your book study through the Book of Isaiah so they've been watching the teaching library Isaiah 53 talks about this suffering servant yeah now we know prophetically that it's reference a reference to Christ and how he suffered for us on the cross and this person's asking why did the Jewish people not attribute Isaiah 53 to Christ well some do I mean though Jews today who have put their faith and trust in Jesus they see Isaiah 53 as a fulfillment as a messianic passage the bottom line is there are many messianic passages through the Old Testament Psalm 22 is another one which talks about the crucifixion of Messiah it just comes down to the fact that if you if you don't believe that Jesus is Messiah you're gonna read different messianic passages and think it hasn't been fulfilled yet if you do recognize Jesus as Messiah you're gonna see how clear these verses are that could apply to no one else other than Jesus I mean there are more than 300 prophecies in the Old Testament that point to the Messiah and every single one of those unique of its own was fulfilled in Christ you look at you know micah chapter 5 which talks about how jesus will be born in Bethlehem or the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem you string that together with the whole outline of the crucifixion in Isaiah chapter 53 about being pierced for our transgressions crushed for our iniquities he was oppressed and afflicted yet he did not open his mouth he was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her Shearer's is silent so he did not open his mouth I mean you see all these things that Jesus fulfilled the bottom line is you you either look at the messianic passages and understand that the details could only be fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ or you don't and if you don't believe that then nothing in the Old Testament is going to be seen as fulfilled in Jesus and thus many Jews are still looking for Messiah because they don't attribute these verses having been fulfilled in Jesus but it's really undeniable because when you look at the whole of the Old Testament and all the different prophecies specifically about the Messiah and see how Jesus fulfilled them all it's really undeniable but like anything it takes faith and and if you don't want to exercise faith and believe that Jesus is Messiah then you're gonna always look at Old Testament passages and think it's not yet been fulfilled also this question comes and we were getting a lot a lot of this question comes from Genesis chapter 6 where it talks about the sons of God it's a very mysterious passage kind of confusing where it talks about the sons of God mating with the daughters of men so can you elaborate what is going on here who are the sons of God and from that the question who or what are the Nephilim yes so I got this question it was texted earlier in the week - about the Nephilim in ghent the the word Nephilim appears in some translations of the Bible not all it appears in NIV it appears in ESV when you look at New King James and King James instead of saying Nephilim it just says Giants and it appears in Genesis chapter 6 and again in numbers chapter 13 and there is a lot of debate about the Nephilim about the Giants you know the most famous among them of course was Goliath Goliath was the Bible says a reffing and so there were different classes of giants they were the Rephaim they were the Anakim they were the the Nephilim and basically what we find in the Bible is this this weird section that talks about in Genesis chapter 6 the sons of God marrying the daughters of men again there's a lot of debate and discussion about this but the best that we can understand is that the sons of God is a reference to fallen angels when angels rebelled with Lucifer and somebody texted earlier in the week was Lucifer the first angel default yes and he led a rebellion in heaven in Revelation chapter 12 says that he swept a third of the angels with him so a lot of these angels rebelled and some of them apparently took on human form which angels can do we see it in the Old Testament and they they had sexual relations with in Genesis 6 the daughters of men and it produced this anomaly it produced this giant race of people so you see that mention in Genesis 6:4 you see a mention again even after the flood in numbers chapter 13 verse 33 and and they're just a giant race of people and again Goliath was one of them that was the result of these fallen angels having sexual relations with human women and producing this offspring and then they just suddenly fade off the pages of the Bible after numbers 13 we don't we don't see them referenced again so we're not really quite sure but just an odd race of people who are mentioned a couple of times in the Old Testament as this giant race of people and Goliath was mentioned as like nine feet nine and a half feet so yeah just an anomaly of the human race some of them had six fingers yeah and on each hand and six toes yeah freaky dance freaky this is a good question kind of shifting more to a current events question so all with the coronavirus koban 19 how can you explain the events of today with Biblical prophecy is there any correlation well I mentioned this in in my teaching last week there is somewhat of a correlation yes because in Matthew chapter 24 verse 8 Jesus talks about things that are leading up to the end times as being birth pains you know when a woman goes into labor there's this intensity that continues until the baby's actually born and there are going to be things in our world that are increasing in intensity and in Luke chapter 21 in verse eleven Jesus talks about earthquakes famines and pestilences as being part of the birth pains leading up to the end times so I think it is safe to say that the Cova 19 is part of that the harbinger of the end times and a reminder to us that as we get closer and closer to the return of Christ there will be the increase of earthquakes there will be more prevalent famine in the world and and there will be the increase of pestilences and this might be part of it by the way somebody asked me also about the locust in Africa right now and whether or not that's all part of this and I was reading up on that and there were if I can find some of the stats that I wrote on it but I was pretty amazed at just the infestation of locusts that are happening right now throughout Africa even mainly eastern Africa Somalia Ethiopia and then into the Middle East like Pakistan I can't find my notes on it right now but but when when locust destroyed vegetation like they're doing right now through Africa there's billions of of these of these locusts it destroys crops and when you destroy crops you it you affect famine just off the top of my head I can't find my notes but I'm pretty sure that I read that that the result of the infestation of these locusts will result in the starvation potential of 25 million people that the that the sustenance of people relying on these crops will be threatened and it's gonna threaten the lives of 25 million people so all these all these things to say yes there's weird things with famine pestilence as' earthquakes it's leading up to the return of Christ and it's it's all harbingers of what's what's to come now if I if I could just piggyback on that because somebody else asked me about how we were to approach all this somebody texted in during the week I will continue to pray and respect godly authority in my church leadership which is encouraging gathering with less than 10 people however why are we so focused on a virus that kills less than 2% of us people and about 4% internationally and behaving as though it is a plague like the black plague that had a 75% mortality rate when 800,000 died a year from malaria and one in 12 African males die before age five from various causes have we as a nation become selfish and/or so driven by the power of media rather than the power of Almighty God and so you know this person raises a fair question and and I'll be honest with you and I think this is probably something all of us have thought we're we're all wondering a little bit is this overblown are we making more out of it than we should and and I guess you know the answer has to be we don't know and because we don't know we need to trust some people that apparently do know and you know I look at it this way you know my fourth grade math teacher always would say these little sayings like like this you know it's better to have it and and and need it then it's better to have it Nina they're not happy what is it better to have it not see how you can pay it tonight I didn't pay attention my fourth grade teacher yeah better to have it not need it than to need it and not have it and I think it's the same kind of approach right now it's better to be cautious even though we may not need to be cautious then than to not be cautious and find out after the fact oh we should have been cautious so I don't I don't want anybody to give way to hysteria or to be paranoid there's a lot of conspiracy theories floating around about all of this I think right now we just need to make a short-term investment hopefully for a long-term gain somebody you know also said that they felt badly because they were they were at a they were pumping gas and they were and they were wiping down the the gas pump handle with with Clorox wipes before they picked it up and somebody else pumping gas laughed at them and and so they asked me like should I be doing this or not I was at Safeway yesterday with Terry and I had napkins wrapped around the handle of the of the the grocery cart because I'm gonna err on the side of just being cautious it might be ridiculous I don't know but I don't want to waste time and and waste lives thinking that we're over doing this or it's bullying out of proportion it might be but after the fact I'd rather know that we've done our part than to be reckless and and endanger people's lives so it is the way it is right now I don't think we just don't know friends we don't we don't have enough knowledge of this is that's why they call it you know a novel coronavirus it's coronavirus it's covet 19 I don't remember kovat 18 17 or 16 or 15 but here we are with a new strain of the corona virus and and we have to just be super cautious because people are dying and we don't really know all the implications so I just think we need to be wise and and honor our leaders at this time and and respect that that's not unwise to take those practical cautions listen to God is obviously given wisdom to our health care professionals and so listen listen to their wisdom for the time being I'm switching back to the Old Testament this question comes from Joshua is 15 years olds a good question Joshua thanks for texting it in it comes from 2nd Samuel 24 where David takes a census of the fighting men or and even Joab is commanding officer tells them don't do it it's not a good thing right and then you see God gets angry over this so why was it such a big deal and why was it a sin God calls it to take census of the fighting men so it's a great question and and I also got the question texted in earlier in the week to and and the other person asked from another angle you know seeing is how God took other kinds of census or since I in the plural through through the Bible why is this particular sense is so evil first of all Joshua in second Samuel chapter 24 the same story is given to us in first chronicles chapter 21 they're different accounts given second same in 24 in first chronicles 21 in first chronicles 21 it specifically says that Satan uses his name 1st chronicles 21 Satan incited David to count the fighting men so it tells us that this was more than just a military census that David was actually wanting to count the fighting men as a matter of pride because he is King liked the idea that he had a strong army and he wanted to count them so that he could take credit and so and pride filled his heart in this moment of look at this great army that I have when in reality it was God's army and David was just the king representing you know the Lord to the people in the sense of leading them as God's appointed man for the hour but he shouldn't take credit for the size of the army and Satan incited him and so basically you know Satan fell because of pride in his heart and he was wanting David to be filled with pride and to take credit for the size of his army that's why it was a sin it was strictly a pride move incited by Satan your question Joshua this question comes from job chapter 38 verse 7 who are the morning stars who sang together Jilla 38 7 yeah the morning stars are often a reference to angels so it tells us that angels were created somewhere early in the creation process such that they were present at the time when God created the the universe because they joined in rejoicing so the morning stars are a reference to angels yeah this question was sex it in just a few minutes ago talking about how we should read the Bible literally or allegorically so the question is should we read the Bible literally and believe that the earth is approximately six thousand years old yeah there are obviously some places in the Bible that that that write allegorically the Song of Solomon is an allegorical love letter it is a it's literal but it also is allegorical in expressing the love of God - so it's literal in the love of a man and a woman in Song of Solomon but it's an allegory as well to express the greater love of God for for people there's there's different places in the Bible that are allegorical but when it comes to the creation story it's not allegorical it is literal and it should be it should be interpreted that way I know that this is counter to what the science classroom will teach you about the age of the earth but when you look at the Bible and the days of creation each day was interdependent upon the next and they were not you know thousand-year periods because if you if you create vegetation you also need sunlight to keep vegetation growing and going and so because of the great interdependence II of each day of creation each day was a 24-hour period at the end of each day it talks about how it was evening and morning the next day and it was evening and morning the next day and so it's a literal 24-hour period and then when you string together the genealogical record through the book of Genesis you find that humanity has been on earth and since humanity was created day six of when the earth was created humanity roughly dates the same period as the earth itself you're looking at about 6,000 to 10,000 years now why six to 10,000 because there are some gaps in the genealogical record and so we have to make allowance of the fact that not every generation is mentioned and that's why roughly speaking the earth is about six to ten thousand years old now having said that I I don't believe that that science is necessarily in contradiction because when you look at how God created the earth he created Adam as an adult because he was you know already able to produce children he created trees that were already fruit bearing trees and so he didn't start with little seedlings for trees he started with mature trees and Adam was created mature so in other words the earth can look old because God used age dated material when he created the earth and when he created life on Earth and so when science says well the earth is very old and the Bible says well the earth is basically six to ten thousand years old yeah but when God created the earth he created it already looking age dated and so I don't think it's necessarily a conflict when you realize how God created the earth already looking old because he created it mature he created Adam mature he created the trees mature and so they were already fruit bearing trees on the earth so this is a question we are getting a lot of and I think you touched on it at the 8:30 service but just because it it's a question that continues to come in - good question how was one saved in the Old Testament before Jesus came and died on the cross so the way you were saved in the Old Testament was through the sacrifice of animals there there had to be a blood sacrifice to make atonement for sin Leviticus 20 little biggest 17 11 27 11 I got look it up talks about how the the life is in the blood and so you had to shed blood Leviticus 17:11 you had to shed blood in order to make atonement for one's sin in other words every person is culpable for his or her sin the Old Testament is just as true you are responsible for your sin before God God made gracious provision though and he said I will atone for your life if you can give a a perfect life in exchange for your sinful life and the way that God made provision for that and the Old Testament was an animal an animal being a a sinless offering as an exchange for a sinful worshipper and so there was that animal sacrificial system and when people would sacrifice an animal the blood would be shed and that life would be given as an exchange for the sinners life and God made gracious provision under the Old Testament so that people could have their sins forgiven in that way but it was a temporary means of forgiveness until such time that Christ would be revealed this is Hebrews 10:10 which says we are made holy through the sacrifice of Christ once and for all so Jesus replaces the sacrificial system but up until Christ appeared that's the way that God made provision for sinners you sacrifice an animal and I will accept that innocent life for your guilty life and you will make temporary atonement for your sins and and thus that's the Old Covenant that's the old system this is a question concerning current events and how we are to speak truth during this season the question comes from a person who asks I have an atheist friend and they're really concerned about the virus so at this point how do I give them good counsel biblical counsel even if they don't want to hear it or they don't believe in the Bible everybody who is an atheist quote atheist and somebody once said that there are no atheists in a foxhole like it like when you're really in war you you cry out to God this pandemic is going to cause people to to God so even though this person might be quote an atheist I would I would encourage you to ask them what is their worldview on life and death because one of the things that this pandemic is going to do is it's going to cause people to come to grips with their own mortality and even somebody doesn't believe in God has to wrestle with the question of what happens when I die and I would just kind of approach it that way and say you know listen you may not believe in God but what what is your what is your belief about life and death and and then from that standpoint just say listen you know the Bible offers us hope that this life is not the end this is not the end we're just on a destination and that death is actually a transition from this life to eternal life and and present Christ as a way of Hope as as a way of forgiveness you know people who don't believe in God have to at least come to grips with their own mortality and so I would say at that point try to introduce Jesus through the idea of well you you need to you need to be ready to face the reality of your own mortality and and then present Christ from that standpoint and and you know again it's not just so we can have a a ticket to heaven you know hopefully this person will come to realize that even the peace that we need to deal with troubling times comes from Jesus the hope that we need in troubling times comes from Jesus so you know ask him what's the basis for their hope what's the basis for their peace and if they don't have any introduced Jesus to him because he's the answer to all of that and don't underestimate the power of prayer be praying for them that the Lord would soften their hearts through this yeah for some you wanna take a question yeah I've got a good question for you here yeah we talked about the somebody ask a personal question about cremation but I get this a lot so I just wanted to quickly answer this this person said since my mother's last year I've been concerned if I made the right choice to have her body cremated I've not come across anything to significantly to affirm whether or not cremation is biblical whenever we do QA I always get this question on cremation so I thought this might be applicable to more than this one person first in regards to this one person don't have any concerns it's okay it's okay and for anybody else who's wondering is cremation okay is it is it not biblical I do think it's a personal choice as to you know whether you have a loved one cremated or whether they are buried in a casket and whether that's your choice for your funeral but in First Samuel chapter 31 it tells us that Saul after he was killed by the Philistines and his body was impaled on the wall at Beit Shan that the men of Jabez Gilead went secretively and retrieved the body of Saul off the wall of Beit Shean and then they cremated Saul's body and so you see an example of cremation of First Samuel chapter 31 the Bible doesn't prohibit it listen what the Bible teaches us is that from dust we were created and to dust we shall return the fact of the matter is the cremation just speeds up the process cremation takes a couple of hours natural decomposition to return to dust if you just are buried in a casket takes a couple of decades it's a couple of hours versus a couple of decades friends we're all going back to dust and as a believer we all get a glorified body whether we naturally decompose to whether we were cremated out of the ashes out of the dust God is going to raise up glorified bodies for believers so it really doesn't matter don't feel any guilt for having your mother cremated and that just becomes a personal choice for people this is a good question that was sent in you know Christians often say and I even think you know I've said it as I've taught as well I know you have as well a lot of Christians will say you know be honest with God with your feelings with your anger with your doubt he's a big God he can handle it but then you get to the book of Job and job is rebuked when he questions God and so which is it are we supposed to go with our anger and frustrations because we see in job when he does that you know the Lord rebuke Simon Says were you there at the foundation of the other yeah so it just depends on what our attitude is you know if we if we are expressing our heart and pull a pouring out our frustration our fears our anxiety our worry which is what you see a lot in in Psalms especially with David David just pours out his fears his worries as anxiety when you see pouring out your feelings to God God can take it even even when we're when we're angry the difference with job is job was questioning the character of God as to his circumstances and by the way I think in large part because his numbskull friends were not representing God right and were putting things in job's head that caused him to question the character of God but that's that's the difference he you know he questioned the character of God and then God basically rebuked him by saying all those questions that he that he asked him you know were you there either I get the same question for when Zechariah the father of John the Baptist questioned God about how could his wife have a baby in her old age and Mary questioned God question the Angels saying you know how can this be since seeing as how I'm a virgin and Zechariah was punished and made mute until John the Baptist born and Mary nothing happened to her because the difference was one was questioning the character of God in Zechariah and Mary was simply questioning how can this this this is a phenomenon that that is unknown to me and I don't understand it so I think that's the difference God can take our our big questions but he doesn't appreciate when when we are calling into question his character this is a good question more of a philosophical question comes from the fall in Genesis chapter 3 okay so if God knew that and Eve would choose to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he knew the pain he knew the evil the sin that would then enter the world why did God go through with creating humanity if he foreknew just all of the problems that would be caused from the fall you know the only way that God could have a loving relationship with humanity versus just this legal robotic relationship with us is to offer his choice if he didn't give us choice if he just demanded that we loved him demanded that we had relationship with him then that's no relationship at all you know in marriage it's a similar thing you kind of want to go to the altar with somebody who also wants to be there if they're forced to be there it's not much of a relationship well in God offering man choice and it originated in the Garden of Eden with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil versus the Tree of Life and so he he has two trees there by name there are many other trees and he offers mankind choice man exercising that choice there's always risk and there's always reward with everything what every choice we make there's risk and there's reward and God was even though he knew all things and knows all things in advance that mankind would sin against and would rebel against him he also knew that there would be many who would accept him many who would want relationship with him many who would want to spend eternity with him but in order to have relationship with those who would choose him he had to offer free will as a choice the risk with that the consequence with that are those who rebelled against God and who sinned against him the reward to that though are for all those who believed in him accepted him received Christ and will spend eternity with with with him so he has to offer the choice in order to to receive those unto himself who genuinely want to be with him and who love him yeah they were about out of time so you want to lob one other question yeah this is a question kind of revolving end times current events you know a lot of end times questions have have come about through this current pandemic and virus and this person asks a good question do you feel that the church today is overly fixated on the end times and what kind of balance do we need to maintain I don't think the church is overly preoccupied with end times in fact I wish more churches would talk about the end times because in fact in Matthew chapter 25 verse 13 jesus said keep watch because you do not know the hour when the Son of Man will come and so he actually commands us keep watch we need to be vigilant about these things we need to be wise about the signs of the times we can't predict the return of Christ but we need to be aware of all these changing things in our world because many of those things speak to the fact that Jesus is coming again in the whole parable of the ten virgins in Matthew chapter 25 Jesus said five were wise and five were foolish who were The Wise Ones Jesus commended the wise ones who were trimming their wicks and were ready for the for the groom to return in this parable and the parallel of the parable is that Jesus is coming again and he commended in that parable the five virgins who trimmed their wicks and they were ready and they were watching and they were hoping for the return of the groom that whole parallel is Jesus saying listen I'm gonna return for you as well and so be watching be vigilant and be waiting for my for my return and so I think the church is not preoccupied at all in fact I wish more churches would focus more on here the signs of the times we need to be ready Jesus is coming again and he's looking for the bride to prepare herself to be ready and so we as the church need to be ready we can't be uninformed and ignorant about these things you know look at the religious leaders at the first coming of Jesus then the wise men come into Jerusalem seeking the one who has been born King of the Jews because they saw his star in the east the religious leaders quoted scripture from Micah 5:2 oh yeah he's supposed to be born in Bethlehem they knew they had an awareness but their hearts weren't engaged and they missed the first coming and I think the church you know nobody's gonna miss the second coming of Jesus cuz every eye will see him and every knee will bow and the trumpet call of God but but the church we need to be prepared we need to be ready and we need to be watching but at the same time we shouldn't be afraid because Jesus had lift up your heads and look up because your Redemption draws near so we can safely be confident that he's coming again and our hope is in him so this question will start in the book of Genesis Genesis chapter 14 speaks of this man named Melchizedek so can you elaborate on who was this mysterious character yeah I got a lot of questions about Melchizedek and there is a lot of discussion and debate about who exactly he is Melchizedek appears twice in the Old Testament only twice Genesis chapter 14 and he's referenced in Psalm 110 and then he appears once in the New Testament in Hebrews chapter 7 he gets almost a chunk of that chapter devoted to him so there's a lot of debate was he a real person or was he God who presents himself in flesh otherwise known as a christophany Jesus in flesh in the Old Testament and and so here's my slant and you're gonna hear different debates about who Melchizedek was but when you look at different factors that the Bible tells us about him when you took take together Genesis 14 Psalm 110 Hebrews chapter 7 you you realize a few things first of all his name his name Melchizedek is a combination of two Hebrew words Malak Zadok Mallick means kings that that means righteousness his name means king of righteousness it tells us that he is also the king of solemn or the king of peace salaam was the name of the city before became known as Jerusalem yerushalaim is the city of peace so he is the king of peace his name means king of righteousness the Bible says he has no genealogy there's no record of mother or father it tells us that Abraham presented a tithe to him gave him a tenth Melchizedek presented to Abraham bread and wine the communion elements and and so and he's a he's a mysterious guy I personally believe that Melchizedek in the Old Testament is in fact a christophany meaning it is it is God who took on flesh and appeared to Abraham I don't know why else Abraham would tithe to a human being I think Abraham understood it in fact I think it's in John chapter 8 when people were questioning Jesus's identity Jesus said I tell you the truth before Abraham was I am and he speaks about how he existed before Abraham but then jesus also said Abraham longed to see my day and he saw it so I think he's referring to the encounter that Abraham had with Melchizedek that Melchizedek is in fact a what we call a pre-incarnate before the New Testament for Jesus comes and takes on flesh being born of a virgin he's always existed being co-equal and coeternal with God that there are different times in the Old Testament that Jesus takes on human form and makes an appearance that's what we call it christophany I think Melchizedek was was such an appearance but there's a lot of great debate about it what are some good Bible verses when feeling just overwhelmed by everything that's going on how can we as believers just continue to stay positive in difficult times in in general but you have any specific Bible verses that come to your mind so yeah the passage I've been quoting last Sunday and through the online announcement to remind you about today's service is Psalm 121 verses 1 & 2 I lift up my eyes to the hills where does my help come from my help comes from the Lord the maker of heaven and earth again Psalm 121 is a psalm of a sense they would sing it as they would go up to Jerusalem when they talked about the hills they were going to meet with God at the Temple in Jerusalem so it isn't that they were putting their confidence in the hills or they weren't even putting their confidence in the temple it's what the temple represented it's that God they would meet the Lord in the mountains of Jerusalem so in a sense we're to fix our gaze above the hills were to look up because that's where our help is I also like Psalm 91 verses 1 & 2 it says he who dwells in the shelter of the most high will rest in the shadow of the Almighty I will say of the Lord he is my refuge my fortress my god in whom I trust a lot of the Psalms ministered to me during times like these when it's you know fearful and anxious times of course I also love Philippians 4:6 and seven be anxious for nothing it's a command but in all things through prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving make your requests known to God and the peace that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus so Psalm 121 Psalm 91 Philippians 4:6 and seven all of these passages and many more help to comfort us and encourages us and just remind us to keep our our focus on the Lord amen this is a good question that came in just texted in a couple of minutes ago so in the Ten Commandments why does God command thou shalt not kill but then as the Israelites are entering the promised land God tells them to wipe out their wipe out the city every man woman and child is that a little bit contradictory so first of all it's important to recognize in the Ten Commandments when it talks about not killing it's actually not murdering there are times when killing is permissible you know for example in self-defense that's not murder in fact the Bible allows for self-defense if necessary you might have to kill somebody that's not the same as murder so the commandment is specifically about murdering and there are also times of killing unfortunately in times of war in times of when the government and in the sense then like police officers as an arm of the laws an arm of the government are performing their duties sometimes people get killed in the line of duty either war or because police officers are exercising their their moral authority as an arm of the law so killing is different from murder when you see in the Bible that the Jewish people were told to go in and and kill those and take the land you have to remember again it's not murder this is directed by God and as brutal as it sounds let me back up so you understand the the grace of God actually in the midst of the brutality it tells us in Genesis chapter 15 verse 16 it's a very interesting verse where it talks about how God says the sin of the amorite has not yet reached its full extent in other words in Genesis 15 God was already telling Abraham your descendants are going to go into captivity for 400 years they would be enslaved in Egypt and during the 400 years God was actually having Grace on the people who were in the Land of Israel the Canaanites the amorite the ammonites and God actually says to Abraham even before in Genesis 15 he says the sin of the amorite has not yet reached its full measure in other words what he was saying was that God was having grace upon the ammonites and the amorite and allowing check this out 400 years for them to turn to God and when they didn't then he allow the Jewish people to go in to kill them actually as and they were executing God's divine judgment he had waited 400 years for these people to turn to him and to get right with God and when they didn't God executed judgment upon them and allowed his own people to be instruments of executing that judgment that in a sense is no different than when the government calls the army or calls police officers to execute judgment in in executing justice and so as as conflicting as it is in our hearts the idea that God says don't murder and then he calls people to execute his judgment his divine judgment in this way it seems pretty brutal it is brutal it seems that there's a disconnect in our minds about that how do we how do we grapple with the mercy of God and the Justice of God like that but God is God and there are times that he executes divine judgment and that was one of those cases this is a good question from Psalm 82 verse 1 so the book of psalms and in that specific passage Psalm 82 1 it's says God stands in the divine assembly he judges among the gods so this person's asking who is this divine assembly does God have some kind of divine counsel so yeah Psalm 82 1 God presides in the great assembly he gives judgments over the gods and in the NIV it's in quotation God's because it really literally in in the in the Hebrew is speaking about princes or rulers or judges it's and and so what God is saying there in Psalm 82 one is that he presides over every earthly judge or ruler it just is simply a statement of his authority over every heavenly ruler over every earthly ruler that he presides in the great assembly and he gives judgment among the gods that he is the great authority over every earthly and spiritual ruler I think this is a good question that you might be able to just encourage us as believers just text it in how is the Old Testament still relevant you know a lot of Christians a lot of pastors are even just simply teaching only New Testament you know and so how is the Old Testament still relevant I think many struggle with some of the Old Testament laws especially in Leviticus and they just think that this Old Testaments no longer relevant to us as believers well in order to answer that question everybody needs to understand how the Old Testament is basically broken into three categories you have the laws of God 613 to be exact that are broken into three categories throughout the Old Testament every law of God either is in the Old Testament a moral law reflecting the moral code of God it's a ceremonial law reflecting in the Old Testament God's expectations in terms of the feasts and the festivals and certain ways you should dress or not dress and the way you should cut or not cut your hair those are ceremonial things and then the third category are dietary laws foods that you could eat or could not eat there were different categories today the Jews call it kosher or not kosher and and so all of the Old Testament laws broken down into those three categories but when you when you get to the New Testament what you find is that Jesus has fulfilled two of those three categories I mean he's fulfilled all of the all of the law but he's replaced two of those categories the ceremonial and the dietary aspects of the law we are no longer bound by listen to what Paul would write in Colossians 2 verses 16 and 17 he says therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink that's the dietary part or with regard to a religious festival a new moon celebration or a Sabbath day that's the ceremonial part he said these are a shadow of the things that were to come the reality however is found in Christ so Christ comes along listen the ceremonial and dietary aspects of the Old Testament law were to help us understand the character and nature of God and rites of cleansing and purification and holiness from an external sense until Jesus comes and then he helps us to understand by virtue of a relationship with him internal purity how our hearts can be changed not just through ritual baths that's all external but an internal change that happens through a relationship with Christ so he's replaced the dietary and ceremonial aspects of the law cuz he's fulfilled that and in fact in mark chapter 7 it talks about how Jesus was reminding his disciples that nothing that is outside a man that goes in him can make him unclean because he says it just goes into a stomach and then out his body he says what matters is what goes in the heart and in mark chapter 7 verse 19 it says for it doesn't go into his heart the things that we just eat from outside it goes rather into a stomach and then out of his body and then the next sentence says in saying this Jesus declared all foods clean so in other words no more worrying about eating pork or shrimp or that kind of stuff because it's all free to eat now if you if you have the Liberty to at least if you have the conscience and says well I don't want to pork then don't eat pork and you can miss out on a great meal but if your personal conscience is I want to be vegan or vegetarian that's that's fine I'm just saying you have the Liberty now Christ is replaced and fulfill the ceremonial and dietary aspects of the law however the moral code of God is still intact and it is through Old Testament and New Testament God's righteous standard the Ten Commandments for example are expressing the heart of God in terms of moral conduct and moral behavior so as believers we still need to look at the whole of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation because it expresses the moral code of God the Old Testament is a transcript of God's character as well as the New Testament and so the righteous requirements are still intact as the moral code of God again do we fail a lot of times those moral codes yeah and thus we have Christ and we can ask for his forgiveness and he forgives us but we need the Old Testament still because of the moral code that is still intact plus the fact it points to Christ you know more than 300 prophecies of the Old Testament fulfilled in Jesus it was a historian Graham scrouge II I've quoted him before about this but he said if you cut the Bible anywhere it bleeds in other words all of the Bible points to Christ and the blood of Christ and the sacrifice of Christ from Genesis to Revelation so we need all of it and and thus he's given it to us for those reasons switching gears here to a current events question I'm gonna kind of bombard you with three questions right it's kind of all wrapped up in the same philosophical question asking kind of the big question of why and so three questions that were texted in very similar in nature I don't understand and this is referencing something you said in one of the previous services I don't understand when you say God did not cause Kovan 19 isn't Satan only permitted to do those things that God allows the next question is last week you said God didn't create this virus but he will use it for his purposes but I thought God does create all things last question why does God let situations like over nineteen coronavirus why does he let these situations happen and why can't he stop it alright so good questions first of all God did not create everything he can create anything but he didn't create sin and God didn't create death he's the author of life God didn't create evil okay these things and I would put disease in this category or the byproducts of originally Satan he was the first one who rebelled and then ultimately man these things are the byproducts of man's rebellion against God we in a sense have created some of these things in in in the aspect of our rebellion against God is why we have death now is why there is sin in the world is why there is disease is why there is death these things are the byproducts the consequences the fallout of our rebellion against God so when you when you think about what heaven you know in Revelation it gives us a glimpse of heaven in chapter 21 it talks about no more death no more pain no more sorrow no more suffering those things are man's creation in the sense of the byproduct of our sin and so when you think about a disease like koban 19 I don't attribute it to God I attribute it to this is this is the result of the byproduct of man's sinful choices and and so though God didn't create it God will use it as he uses all kinds of tragedies and difficulties and problems in our world but we need to understand - in 1st John 5 verse 19 it says this world is under the control of the evil one now that that does not negate the sovereignty of God God is sovereign and God has Satan's somewhat on a leash but this is Satan's playground for now when Satan rebelled God kicked him out of heaven and kicked him to earth and this is his sandbox and he's having a little temper tantrum he's a child now and he's trying to wreak havoc around the world and and these things that we're experiencing are all part of this this is a fallen world in which we live now so so Satan has some control he has some Dominion but God is still sovereign over and above everything and everyone and God is allowing different things in our world for such a time but he will accomplish his purposes even through something like kovat 19 so we just we trust the Lord he's gonna work out I I'm believing I seriously mean this there will be many people who will come to salvation because of covin 19 I'm absolutely convinced of it because when certain things are introduced into our culture or into introduced into our lives individually that cause us to come into the reality of our own mortality it will move people to make eternal decisions this will cause some people and perhaps even on their deathbed you know I I don't know how the Lord will use it but there will be people I'm sure who will come to faith in Jesus who will surrender their lives because this whole disease has gotten people to get to the bottom of themselves and to be reduced to the reality of who they are in relation to God and they'll cry out to him they'll cry out to him in ways maybe they never would have if this thing hadn't come along so I'm still waiting to see you know the long-term Kingdom impact that this is gonna have but that's why I say he didn't he didn't cause it these kind of things are a byproduct of our own rebellion against God but he will use it for sure this is a good question from Genesis chapter 32 where it says that Jacob wrestled with a and later in that passage the man has identified Jacob says I he calls the place I believe penny el I've seen the face of God God wrestles with this man named Jacob and there God gives Jacob a new name he changes Jacob's name to Israel right so the question is Jacob was renamed Israel though later he's still referred to as Jacob so why did this new name not stick so sometimes it's his name is interchangeable sometimes Jacob sometimes he's referred to Israel you know Yaakov ism is a given name Jacob that deceiver and Israel his new name means governed by God because after this wrestling match you know he he he realized that God is God and he's not and so he stopped you know running and he stopped deceiving and and so God gave him a new name and a new identity with it but it is interesting that it doesn't you know forever after God is still known as the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob like that that three name patriarch still remains the same Abraham Isaac and Jacob I think I think in the long run look the entire nation took on the name so even though God renamed Jacob Israel maybe it's it didn't quote stick because now we need to distinguish the man from the nation because the nation took on the name Israel governed by God and so in the rest of the scripture it's just is to delineate between the man and the nation and maybe it's also because you know God wanted forever Jacob to remember where he's come from you know he was once the deceiver not that he wanted to shame him by reminding him you're always their deceiver in fact that's why he changed his name to give him a new identity but this is a guy who would forever walk with a limp after wrestling with God and and so he's known as that guy who submitted and surrendered to God but Israel became the name of the nation yeah I'm a good question that was sent in this morning early in the Old Testament we see that human lifespan was several hundred years I mean early chapters of Genesis you see Adam living into his you know some of his descendants living living that long but you see the lifespan of a human early in Genesis as lasting hundreds of years and so the question is why did that change by the time you get in Psalm 90 verse 10 it says a man's life span of 70 years 80 if he has the strength so man's lifespan became much shorter and even today it's consistent with Psalm 90 verse 10 the average life span I think for a man in America is like I don't know 74 and I think the average life span for a woman is like 76 or something like that almost there yeah oh thanks I appreciate that mm-hmm you're not far behind Punk anyway don't bring that really bad guy distance but the short answer is mankind humanity was in a more the genetic code was a pure race early on the genetic code has become degraded over the years of the impact of continual sin from generation to generation generation generation has affected longevity I mean that's just the bottom line so you know back in Genesis you see people living hundreds of years right and you don't see that today and it's basically because the toll that sin has taken over the millennia has now resulted in the degradation of our of our physical bodies such that now the lifespan is only 70 maybe 80 years yeah I've got a couple of questions coming in from the book of Job and this a lot of questions that were very similar and this comes from job chapter 1 verses 6 through 12 we see that Satan had access to God the question is does he still have access to God today and if so why why does God allow Satan to have access to his presence so again Satan is on a leash and so God has allowed Satan to have some limited access but when you know when you look at a job chapter 1 Satan has already been expelled from heaven so if if Satan is allowed access into heaven to ask God these questions concerning job then that means he he may very well still have access today you know God is not threatened by by Satan in any way and so giving him limited access to ask questions like these I you know it we don't know if that's still happening today because we don't have any other example recorded in Scripture outside of this account this dialogue here with with Jobe you know it's interesting that there are only three times in a Bible that's that Satan speaks once is Genesis and once is job and once is Luke in Genesis Satan is slandering God to man you know did God really say you can't eat of this fruit in job Satan is slandering man to God he's you know slandering job into God and then in in Luke I think it's chapter 4 when when Jesus is being tempted by Satan Satan slanders the god man he slanders Jesus to to his face so Satan still has some limited access and and God is not threatened by it but this is one example of it and so we can we can assume that maybe it still happens but we don't know for sure so it's hard to say yeah this is a good a good question text it in kind of about current events and how how do I share the gospel how do i minister to someone and this question is silly referring to their parents my parents are Catholic and I want to share God's Word without turning it into an argument so how can I share God's word with them especially during these troubled times so I'm gonna assume it's it's specifically for peace in the troubled times or is it more salvation related how do you read that question I read it more I guess you could read both into it I read it more just speaking Pia it's kind of speaking speaking god's word speaking christ into a situation without it turning into an argument between them well I tell you what one thing that might be helpful right now in kovat 19 has opened the door for this our children's and family pastor Ken Wright told me this before the first service this morning he was reading to me how the Pope the Pope has issued an edict as a result of kovat 19 and how Catholics cannot get to their priest for confession because you social distancing so the Pope has issued a papal statement that for as long as kovat 19 is existing people are able Catholics are able to take their sins directly to God think wow wow that's a real biblical that's a real biblical thing I hope after kovat 19 ends that Catholics will still take their sins directly to God because there is no human mediator necessary Jesus is the only mediator between God and man so maybe that's an open door right now that you can say dear to your Catholic parents listen you know how the Pope has said that you can take your sins directly to God right now hey by the way did you know the Bible says that did you know that actually Jesus is the only mediator between God and man and that you can take your sins directly to God through Jesus Christ that he is our Savior he's the only Savior and we need to put our faith and our trust in him not not Mary as the co redemptoris as the Catholic catechism says Jesus alone through faith in Him and his finished work on the cross and maybe use that as a springboard for the conversation in general though you know I would just encourage people to just lean into the Lord again as I as I mentioned earlier or something like Psalm 91 or Psalm 121 and just helping people to get their focus on on Jesus not on themselves to trust the Lord during these times but especially you trying to witness to your Catholic friends I would use the most recent papal statement that came from the Pope and help people encouraged go directly to the Father through Jesus Christ jesus said no one comes to the Father except through me you don't want to go through a priest you not to go through a human being you can go directly to the Father through Jesus Christ maybe use this time right now to help encourage people in that way you know we touched on n times related questions and I don't think it does any harm to kind of address this question in each of our services and so this question comes in many people think you know of the Australian wildfires the African locusts covin 19 all of these are marks of the end of the world so the person wants your opinion what do you think should we use biblical cues to draw conclusions or accept that no one knows the day or the hour well no one does know the day or the hour and anybody who says that they do is a false teacher or false prophet but that said in Matthew 25:13 jesus said keep watch because you do not know the day or the hour when the Son of Man will come so he calls us to be vigilant he calls us to keep watch he calls us to be wise about these things and that's why in Matthew 24 I think it's verse 8 where Jesus talked about different things that are going to be happening prior to a second coming as birth pains he likens it unto a woman in labor and and the birth pains increase until delivery happens and so Jesus is telling us in the scriptures there are certain things that are going to be happening leading up to a second coming and we need to be wise about these things we need to be watching because he's gonna come again and some of these things I think are related as Harbinger so I'm not saying that now we're in the end times but these are things I think that lead up to the end times and in Luke 21:11 Jesus talks about earthquakes famine and pestilence all being harbingers predictors of his second coming and so I think COBIT 19 is part of that it's it's part of the pestilences that are going to be happening in the end times and it's had more global impact than any other disease in our lifetimes and so clearly it's got to be something different and I think it's part of the Harbinger leading up to the second coming when you look at yeah there's a locusts devastation the wild fires both of those things are going to accomplish the there's going to be famine as a result of wildfires that destroy crops these locusts I did somebody texted in that question earlier in the week so I looked it up to get some numbers on it a hundred and ninety two billion locusts swarming through Somalia and Ethiopia the eastern part of Africa and that it's moved into Pakistan in the Middle East and Pakistan alone a hundred and forty thousand acres of crops have been destroyed by the locusts and so what does that mean this one article I read said it threatens the food security for 25 million people so the locusts and the wildfires destroying crops will lead to famine and so famine pestilence earthquakes these things are predictors I don't think again we should be afraid because jesus said when you begin to see these things lift up your head and know that your Redemption draws near so as Christians our hope is always in the in the Lord we don't get frightened by these things but we should be wise about these things because I think they are leading up to the second coming this question was texted in recently comes from numbers chapter 16 why does God seem to punish entire households for one members disobedience in the Old Testament well I'm gonna compare that with Exodus chapter 20 to 20 also not 22 but Exodus chapter 20 when in the second commandment God says you shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of any living thing and have an above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below you shall not bow down to them or worship them for I the Lord your God am a jealous God punishing the children for the sin of their fathers to the third and fourth generation so there's that same context like well how come a whole household was punished and but then it says of those who hate me but showing love or mercy has said in the Hebrew 2,000 generations of those who love me and keep my Commandments so in other words first I want to say that the mercy of God extends greater than the punishment of God so we have to keep that in mind three or four generations are going to suffer the consequence of the sins of one individual in a household versus a thousand generations are going to receive the mercy of God so that might be you know in a figurative sense a thousand generations is that literal or is that figurative but what he's communicating is my mercy is much greater than my justice the reason why it says three or four generations is because in those days three or four generations lived under one roof in some cultures today three or four generations live under one roof it's the idea that in particular the sin of a spiritual leader so we're talking about a dad in a household if a dad is rebellious against God and sinful against God the consequences are felt through the whole home I mean the whole house will suffer not that God will necessarily punish them directly but the consequences of living in a home where God is not glorified or honored where God has disobeyed and and and and the leader is of the house is rebelling against God the the consequences are felt in that home now again we're under grace today and so you might still have a a man who's supposed to be the spiritual leader of his house and he isn't and yet you can have a godly wife who is raising the kids in the ways of the Lord and and so they will not feel the effects entirely because God is gracious and merciful but it's speaking about you have somebody in a home who was not walking with God the ripple effect is felt in the whole household but again the mercy of God is greater than than restricted to one household a good question why does it seem that God manipulated might have to be we're already out of time so will the time look like we'll take last question last question why does it seem that God manipulated so many people's hearts to act one way or another if we are supposed to have free will I think of the situation with Pharaoh Pharaoh it says God hardened Pharaoh's heart so does that mean that Pharaoh didn't have free will right well it says and I can give you the exact number if I can find it because I wrote it on the margin my Bible but it talks about how God hardened Pharaoh's heart but it also says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart and so here it is Pharaoh hardens his own heart four times in Exodus 722 815 819 832 and then ten times it does say that God hardened Pharaoh's heart so what we need to understand is that God doesn't manipulate somebody's heart it's that he took advantage of Pharaoh's heart for what Pharaoh's heart was Pharaoh had hardened his own heart Pharaoh had rebelled against God refused to bend to God and so God said okay you want to behave like that fine I'm gonna take advantage of your stubborn heart and I'm gonna accomplish my purposes because of your stubbornness of heart so he didn't manipulate anybody he will sometimes take advantage of our stubborn hearts to accomplish his purposes yeah all right he's a good job dad well thanks I appreciate it and listen friends again join us online on Sunday mornings at the regular service times 8:30 ten o'clock 11:45 this is the way it's just gonna be for now we'll keep you updated take a look at our social media through the week we'll keep you updated with what's going on around here at Cornerstone just so you can be apprised of stuff but don't be afraid just stay home and and stay well and press into the Lord during these times we're gonna we're gonna close with prayer Austin Lord we thank you for another opportunity to do this Lord through modern technology you allow us to continue to virtually gather and we are grateful for that opportunity Lord we do just come before you now and we seek your mercy Lord we ask that you are your mercy would visit us Lord it says in your word that you have compassion on all that you have made and so we look to you now during this difficult season where we have a lot of questions and we're confused about life in general we look to you Lord and we look to your word because in you there is fullness of wisdom there are all the answers Lord we might never have all of the answers here on earth Lord but one day in your presence that'll be a great great day Lord just to sit before you in all of your wisdom and so we pray currently that you would give us your wisdom that you would comfort those who are going through difficulty right now minister to our anxious hearts be with us Lord we dedicate everything to you Lord and we trust you it's in Jesus name we pray and all God's people say amen amen god bless you we'll see you soon

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

Views: 870,334

Rating: 4.5684338 out of 5

Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, Calvary Chapel, Gary Hamrick, Biblical sermons, leesburg va, cornerstone chapel leesburg virginia, great sermons by great preachers

Id: Oqu8M9JlGAk

Length: 109min 35sec (6575 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 23 2020