When Jesus taught in the synagogue people made a fascinating observation about him, "He teaches as one having authority, and not as the scribes . . ." (Matt. 7:29). The word authority in Greek is "exousia" which is a compound word that means "out of 'being' or 'substance'." In other words, Jesus' teaching was full of substance or "meat."
We pastors would do well to follow our Lord's example. Lives are changed not be the glitz and fluff of motivational coaches, but by systematic and expositional teaching of God's Word that is filled with substance.
Below are the five messages on "The Gospel in Genesis" series. The Psalmist declared, "Sweet are thy Words unto my taste" (Psalm 119:103) Notice, he says God's Words are sweet unto his "taste" --- not his hearing. The Word of God is food for the soul, and blessed are those believers who are satisfied with nothing less than the substance of God's Word.
The Gospel in Genesis
Message 1 Adam: The Doctrine of Representation
Message 2 Abel: The Doctrine of Propitiation
Message 3 Abram: The Doctrine of Justification
Message 4 The Angel: The Doctrine of Sanctification
Message 5 The Ark: The Doctrine of Glorification
Have a great weekend.
In His Grace,
Wade Burleson
12 comments:
Thanks Wade for the great posts this week.
Troy
Wade,
Thank you for the messages. I further have enjoyed some of the dialog your posts encourage. I still am experiencing problems pulling up your site though :).
I trust you a great weekend. With that, I am...
peter
Wade,
you said, "We pastors would do well to follow our Lord's example. Lives are changed not be the glitz and fluff of motivational coaches, but by systematic and expositional teaching of God's Word that is filled with substance."
I say, "amen"!
I further say, "keep reminding us AND keep reminding the young pastors who are feeling pressure to be seeker sensitive and/or driven in their preaching. We need men LIKE YOU, Wade, to encourage us to preach systematical and expositional and with substance. That approach is what is needed today in our postmodern context and IT WORKS every time it is tried, in EVERY context."
Thanks Wade, great series!
Wade,
I posted this comment earlier but I guess it got lost in the blogosphere. :)
This is a good post. The sermon is a little more allegorical than I'm normally comfortable with but your points are well made.
Regards,
Les
there goes Les again...attacking Wades spirituality, character and witness...
just kidding...
Once, Wade wrote that hard questions should be answered. Here are some questions that came up in this series that never got an answer or an attempted answer:
1. Since God’s laws cannot be broken, and IF his law was for Adam (and all mankind) to die a physical death, why did Enoch never die?
2. Since Jesus bore ALL the law for us to die and all that accept him are pardoned and exempted from that law, why do Christians still die IF God’s law was a physical death?
3. Since God’s laws do not conflict with each other, and IF God’s law was for Adam to die a physical death, then God’s law of the tree of life would conflict with Adam dieing.
4. God’s law stated; “On the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.” If God had said, ‘if you eat from it, you will certainly die’ then that law would have been completed 930 years later. But God said, “On the day.” His law was completed on the day Adam hid from God as Adam had died a spiritual death just as God said.
Rex Ray
Wade, we attended a "reformation conference" at a friends church this weekend and met the keynote speaker who knows you and ask me to send you greetings. His name is Sam Storm. He said "Wade has a backbone of steel."
Not a bad reference :)
Agape
Rex,
1. Since God’s laws cannot be broken, and IF his law was for Adam (and all mankind) to die a physical death, why did Enoch never die?
Enoch will die. Same with Elijah.
2. Since Jesus bore ALL the law for us to die and all that accept him are pardoned and exempted from that law, why do Christians still die IF God’s law was a physical death?
God's law was both physical and spiritual. It was not physical only. The promise is equally phsycial and spiritual. Death has lost it's sting and physically speaking, it is not final. We will physically live forever after the resurrection. The empty tomb cealed the fate of "death", physically and spiritually.
3. Since God’s laws do not conflict with each other, and IF God’s law was for Adam to die a physical death, then God’s law of the tree of life would conflict with Adam dieing.
That is why God forbade it.
4. God’s law stated; “On the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.” If God had said, ‘if you eat from it, you will certainly die’ then that law would have been completed 930 years later. But God said, “On the day.” His law was completed on the day Adam hid from God as Adam had died a spiritual death just as God said.
The day Adam ate he died. Spiritually and the process of physical death began. That day he began to die.
Where do you get the idea that Wade spoke of only phyisical death?
Fox—my friend,
So good of you to reply.
October 9, Wade wrote: “Adam’s sin was my sin because I was “in Adam,” both physically (his loins) and spiritually (as my representative before God.)”
So Fox, why did you ask me, “Where do you get the idea that Wade spoke of only physical death?” You didn’t quote me as saying that because I’ve never said it. I think all Baptists agree that Adam died spiritually.
By the way, thanks for quoting my 4 statements that you replied to:
1. You said, “Enoch will die. Same with Elijah.”
Do we just take your word for this, or will you explain your statement? Keep in mind they are in heaven and if they have not died yet, how will they die if there is no death in heaven?
2. You said, “The empty tomb sealed the fate of “death”, physically and spiritually.”
All men will live forever. The only thing the tomb accomplished was it paid the penalty of spiritual death so men who accept Jesus will live spiritual with God in heaven forever.
Those that reject Jesus will die spiritual in hell forever.
3. You said, “That is why God forbade it.” I assume that you agree that God’s laws do not and can not conflict with each other. I think we agree that if Adam had eaten one bite of the tree of life, he would have lived forever. Therefore, if he had eaten of that law (tree of life) he would have counteracted the law for him to die physical IF IF there was a law for him to die a physical death which would mean one law contradicted the other.
4. You say, “the process of physical death began.” If a man is given a death sentence, but dies 930 years later, was the death sentence carried out “ON THE DAY you eat from it, you will certainly die”??
One more thought. Was the lie of the devil: “No! You will not die.” (“On the day…”) 100% false or only 50% false? I believe it was 100% false.
Fox, have you wondered why no one else has joined you? Could it be all they can stand on is tradition? Anyway, thanks for stating your beliefs.
Rex Ray
Gene Bridges,
See how your name catches your eye. When you reply to someone, you should state their name. I missed your reply to me on another post because I took one glance how long your comment was and figured I had more pressing things to do than read 9 pages.
Since your comment was last Friday, I will comment here since we are still discussing if the ‘death’ sentence of Adam was physical.
You said, “I take it you affirm the peccability of Christ then. If so, then welcome to the wonderful world of Nestorianism.”
Some people used big words to persuade others to agree with them because the big words impress others how their knowledge is superior. Also big words can hide the fact they don’t know what they’re talking about.
Webster—Peccability means: “Liable or prone to sin; susceptible to temptation.”
Webster—Nestorians means: “A divine person and a human person were joined in perfect harmony of action but not in the unity of a single individual.”
See, Webster didn’t help me much in knowing what you said. If you asked if it was possible for Jesus to sin, the answer is yes. If you asked; if he did?—the answer is no. I have no idea of what your last sentence concludes.
All the Scriptures you quote about the wages of sin is death tells me it is spiritual death; whereas you conclude it is physical. You said, “The fact that Adam and Eve were not exterminated on the spot is proof of God’s mercy.”
What Scripture backs this ‘proof?” To me it proves that God did not order them to die a physical death as shown by the 4 reasons of my previous post on Friday October 13. You are welcome to reply to them.
Rex Ray
Gene Bridges,
I forgot to mention in your reply you quoted my words: “For temptation to be tempting is must be possible or true.” Your reply was so vague, I don’t know if you agreed or not.
Surely you understood my meaning as I explained by saying: “If I told you I’d sell you the moon for $10 you would not be tempted to buy it. The devil saved his strongest temptation till last when he offered to give Jesus the souls of mankind. It was true or Jesus would not have been tempted. The devil became the ownership of spiritual dead men when Adam fell. Being spiritual dead is to be un-reconciled to God.”
Rex Ray
Inorder for temptation to be true, the possibility of succumbing need not be there. consider this analogy(of William Lane Craig - modified version, since i forgot the original):
Case 1:
Imagine you kept icecream in the fridge and went out.
You came back tired and was tempted to swallow the icecream completely.
Doctor has adviced you not to eat icecreams.
You battled for a time between the options and chose not to eat. Hence you won the temptation.
Case 2:
Now imagine a twist to this story. While you went out, your son ate the whole icecream without your knowledge.
Other than this addition all the steps remain the same. You came back tired and was tempted. Overcame temptation; chose not to eat.
Had you chosen to go ahead and eat, still there was no possibility of eating (the icecream is not there).
Hence you could not have eaten icecream even though the temptation was equally real as in Case 1.
Imagine sinning as eating icecream and reread it.
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