If you are older than 15 you probably remember watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  Indiana was trying to find the Holy Grail before the Nazis could use it to conquer the world. Of course that wasn’t enough suspense. He also had only a few minutes before his father died. To accomplish all of this he had to go through a couple of almost impossible tests with only the help of a journal. At one point he came to the end of a cliff and had to find a way to cross a sickeningly huge gap. Remembering the words written in his father’s journal he decided he had to make a “Leap of Faith“. So he did it! He leapt out into nothing, landed on a bridge and defeated the Nazis once again.

This is a very emotional and powerful moment and gives tingles to almost anyone watching. It is also the complete opposite of faith. Faith is not a leap. It is not mystical. It is not a spell or magic, and it is not a formula.

So what is faith? I think it can be summed up as an unshakable confidence in the character of God. It is something quite reasonable.

Romans 10:13 for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” 14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!” 16 However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?” 17 So faith {comes} from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

If faith comes from hearing, then why is it that so many people hear the Gospel and don’t believe? It would be so simple to evangelize and disciple the world. We would only need the internet and some big speakers. But this isn’t so. There are a couple of different kinds of “hearing.” The first would be hearing the notes and sounds someone makes. It’s like the game “Telephone.” One person says a random phrase like, “the duck flies at midnight.” Then it passes through several people, and the last person relays the message as, “the black flies are in flight.” What happened was each person heard sounds but never understood the message. Confusion is very fun but not effective. The second kind of hearing could really be called “understanding.” It’s the kind where someone says, “I hear ya, man.” What he means is that he understood what the person was saying.

This is what I think this verse means. So faith comes by hearing and the hearing comes by the word of God. Let’s change out the words. Faith comes through understanding-hearing and understanding-hearing by the word of God. Our faith should come about when we are presented with the truth of God, and we really get it. So faith is a reasonable thing, but how should it look? Is faith when we just really believe something is going to happen? I don’t think it is. That is part of it, but it should be a result of our faith and not the core of it.

Abraham showed what his faith was in. His name was originally Abram which meant “exalted father.” The problem was that he was very old and not a father. He had to go around being constantly reminded that he had no children. Hello, my name is Exalted Father, and I’m not a father. I imagine this would be painful. Then God came along and told him he was going to have children. Fast forward several years, and he sees this happen. The promise was fulfilled with the miraculous birth of his son Isaac.

Genesis 22:1 “After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here am I.’” God told Abraham to take the very thing He promised him (the product of his faith) and sacrifice him. If Abraham’s faith was only believing really hard that he would have a son, he would have crumpled at this point, but he didn’t. He meant to follow through with this. Genesis 22:11-12 “But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here am I.’ (12) He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.’”

Abraham’s life was not caught up in Isaac but in God. His confidence was not that he would have a son. His confidence was in God. Abraham knew God. They had an interactive relationship. James 2:23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”–and he was called a friend of God.

Daniel 3:12-17 “There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (13) Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. (14) Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? (15) Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” (16) Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. (17) If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.”

If we let this story stop here, we would all still be very impressed. Those guys had faith just like Indiana Jones! But that is not the whole of their faith. The story continues.

Daniel 3:18-20 “But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (19) Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. (20) And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.

Let this be a call to faith for you, but not the mystical wimpy stuff. Don’t let faith stop at a formula or really strong hope in something impossible. Exercise the FAITH THAT WORKS, the reasonable faith. The faith based on understanding the truths of the Bible and the stories of our incredible God. Develop an unshakable confidence in the character of God!

In the morning, as [Jesus] was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

Matthew 21:18-22

Amanda and I have been looking at a house that we want to buy. Yes, we are looking to buy a house in this economy. We are looking to buy a house while we are in the midst of the worst personal financial strain we have ever experienced. We have zero cash and debt out the wazoo. In fact, we just exceeded the credit limit on a credit card for the first time ever.

The home we are considering is almost twice the size of our current home, and with our second child on the way we are in serious need of expansion. What’s crazy is that we think we can get this house for less than we paid for the one we’re in now. Obviously, there are many caveats involved in pursuing this transaction. A creditor will likely frown on granting a loan to a couple of twenty somethings who already have a mortgage and one source of income.

In fact, it’s impossible…

…for us.

But I have news for you. We are children of the King. Jesus promised his disciples in the Scripture that I posted at the outset of this post, “whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Let me get something straight before you get any ideas… I HATE the health, wealth, use God as a tool to get everything I want gospel. God is not a genie that we can call upon by rubbing our Bibles and chanting an incantation in order to demand that our desires be granted us.

Yet Jesus tells us that the Father gives good gifts to His children (Matthew 7:11). He wants to see us exercise our faith in His plan to bless us according to His will. I believe that it is God’s desire for us to raise our family in that house. The circumstances dictate, “No! You will stay where you are!”

I believe that the circumstances exist to be a testimony of God’s grace and extraordinary power to move mountains. I am asking in prayer, in faith, for my family to grow up in the house that God has prepared for us. Will you believe with me?

I don’t need to follow all of those rules. I can do whatever I want. I’m under grace not the law! Quit being so legalistic. After all, Jesus rejected the law. Right?

Gal 2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Now, I know that not many Christians would go this far, but how many people are thinking like this? I know there was a time that I would have thought something close to this. How many people are continuing to sin because they have the idea that we are “free from the law”? The idea of not being under law is appealing to people. They can pursue their goals and secure their own pleasure all while feeling justified because they are justified by faith and not by works of the law. I think that this thinking is a problem and a problem that is very fixable. Did Paul and Jesus reject all forms of law? Were they ever suggesting that we should stop following moral law?

The word Paul uses in Galatians for “law” is the Greek word “nomoV”. This is also the word used for “law” all throughout the New Testament. I must clarify here that I am not one to seek out mystical surprise definitions of Greek words to produce a fluffy and witty sermon. There are, however, occasions in translation where English equivalents fail to communicate clearly. I think that this may be one. We don’t need to replace the word “law” in our Bibles with another word, we just need to look at the verses using it with new glasses.

It seems to me that the when the writers of the New Testament talk about the law they are not talking about the laws we are accustomed to today. They are not talking about moral law (the internal, right and wrong kind of law). They are talking about the Law the way their Jewish audiences would have understood it. That is the Torah. The Pentateuch. The Law of Moses. Mark, who wrote his Gospel to Gentiles, never even used the word “law” (nomoV) because the word was a Greek equivalent to a Jewish idea and was not relevant to Gentiles. “Law” equals “Torah” all throughout the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles.

Mat 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Jesus said, “I have not come to abolish the Torah.” The Torah is NEVER referred to negatively in the Bible. It was beautiful and from God. God liked the Torah. He gave it to the people “for their good.” Grace is better, but law is not bad.

The Torah had three parts: Ceremonial law, Civil law, and Moral law. The Ceremonial law is found from Exodus 25 to the end of Leviticus. It included the sacrificial system, the tabernacle system, and the cleanness (physically) system. The Civil law is found in Deuteronomy 6 through 26. It included such things as consequences for stealing and murder, political and criminal laws, property rights and distribution of land. The Moral law is recorded in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 in the form of the Ten Commandments. These laws are special. They are founded in the Character of God and in reality. They are the basic right and wrong understanding that everyone has. They are the eternal law of God. These three parts of the Torah make up one Torah, but are they all of the same importance?

Leviticus 14 commands that a person tithe a yield of their seed year by year. 1500 years later Jesus spoke about this to a group of Pharisees. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.” – Matthew 23:23. I ask again, are all the parts of the Torah of the same importance? Jesus seemed to suggest otherwise. He declared the moral law as the part of the law that they should have focused on.

And it is this set of laws that the Christian in my first paragraph is wanting to be out from under. Yet it is the one set of laws that no one can ever declare they are not subject to.

Romans 1:20-32 talks about moral law. It appears to be talking about people as a whole and says that people are without excuse. People know right from wrong. And “law” (nomoV) is not written once in this passage. Moral law has been established since creation and is not exclusive to the Torah. Without the Torah people still know right from wrong. Without the Torah people are still held accountable to moral law.

So what can I say to the guy who says, “don’t hold me to your moral standards. I’m under grace not the law”? In a humble, loving and peace-seeking way I can tell him that he is right. He is no longer required to fulfill the Torah’s civil and ceremonial laws. He is now under grace through faith in Jesus and now must only obey the moral law. He must simply love God and his neighbor as himself.

What is the gospel? Let’s suppose you were given this essay question for your final exam in Gospel 101. What would you say? I hope you wouldn’t say, “Jesus died for me.” Of course, you would fail on principle in this situation since you were asked to answer in essay format and not a single complete sentence. Yet the question remains… was it enough for Jesus to simply die to redeem His flock? If the answer is yes, then why didn’t Emmanuel descend on Good Friday, be crucified, rise on the third day, and ascend back to Heaven? Why on earth did He come as a baby and live among us for thirty-three years before dying?

The answer is that, in and of itself, Christ’s death was insufficient for salvation. What it did do was satisfy God’s justice. This is no small matter; God’s justice is relentlessly demanding. And rightly so; God is, after all, just in the ultimate sense. Satisfying God’s justice was not something we could accomplish on our own, but Christ, through His sinless life, accomplished something else we could never do… earn God’s favor.

Christ’s life was perfect. He upheld every miniscule requirement of the law. This is something, as I’ve said, we could never do. The reason Emmanuel came as a baby was to go through the physical act of accomplishing a truly obedient life. If we are saved through works, then Christ would be the only human to accomplish salvation. And there is the beauty: He did! And He did it on our behalf. We are saved by works, but not our own. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone.

I love history.  A fascinating history teacher once said that most of history is the history of the unintended.  We look back on how things happened and think that it all had to happen the way it did because it was inevitable.  Of course, things happen the way they do because God wants to achieve His desired result.  That’s called Providence.

Consider this nearly true story: A professor finds himself angered by the bad theology espoused by a shady faith healer who guarantees a healing in return for a seed-faith gift of only $100.  Now the professor knows his theology pretty well, and posts a notice on his blog asking his subscribers what they think about the faith healer.  Before you know it, the story is posted on the Drudge Report and the professor’s story is the hot news story of the day.

I called this a “nearly true” story because it really happened, but I took liberties with a few facts.  Nearly 500 years ago, an Augustinian monk was very unhappy about some shady business conducted by a guy named Tetzel, and he posted a notice on the door of his church.  A few college students read the posting, translated it into the local language, and printed up a few thousand copies on the newly invented Gutenberg press.  It is said that within 2 weeks all of Germany was in an uproar over the 95 Theses.  Martin Luther went from being a monk and professor to heretic and hero of the Christian faith.

At the risk of oversimplifying what started on the door of the Castle Church, I would like to share five major issues that were at the center of the Protestant Reformation.  They are nicely summarized in five expressions that are easily remembered and central to a proper understanding of our faith:

Sola Fide (Faith Alone): If the reformation was an earthquake, Sola Fide was the epicenter.  The Roman Catholic faith had become more corrupt and polluted over the centuries, built on the idea that one was justified (declared righteous) by faith PLUS good works.  Luther and the reformers understood that it was faith alone that resulted in justification, and that good works were the natural result of salvation.

Sola Gratia (Grace Alone): There is nothing we can do to merit our salvation; it is totally, wholly, and fully a free gift of God.  Our works do not impress God in the least.  He chooses those He will choose, and the basis for this choice is His will, determined long before the foundation of the earth.  Some people think that God will save them because they are, “a good person”, or because they prayed a prayer.  The problem with that picture is that the Bible says we are dead in our sins.  Imagine a corpse doing CPR on itself.  You can’t?  I’m not surprised.  A corpse is dead.

Sola Scriptura (The Scriptures Alone): Some people like to place Sola Scriptura first in the list of Solas, for the simple reason that scripture is the only source of authority for matters of faith.  Regardless of where it falls in the list, it is important to understand why this was a big deal in 1517 and why it is a big deal today.

In 1517, the scriptures were out of reach of ordinary people.  The church believed that people were unable to read it themselves and gain a true understanding of what it meant and how it applied to their lives.  The position of the church was that the Bible could be understood only when interpreted by the Roman church.  The authoritative voice of the church was spoken by the pope and by church councils, and this ultimately meant that the pope and these councils were more authoritative than the plain words of scripture.  This is evident in the faulty logic the Roman church used to explain the basis for salvation (Faith + Works = Justification).

Sola Scriptura did two things: it set aside the authority of popes and councils, and asserted that ordinary people could understand, interpret, and apply scripture to their own lives.

Sola Christus (Christ Alone): It is easy, in our post-modern age, to misunderstand the meaning of Sola Christus and its implications.  Our focus is not on the “many paths to god” heresy espoused by Oprah and her minions, but rather on three elements within the Roman church that robbed Jesus of His full glory:

1. The Roman church believed that the Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a mediator between God and man.  Catholics will explain that Mary represents someone vital to the life of Christ, sort of like a mother who will put in a good word with her son to gain His favor.
2. In the Roman church placed faith in the elements of communion (bread and wine).  Their belief was that these elements became, in substance, the flesh and blood of Jesus when the priest consecrated them.  By implication, the elements then were treated with the same reverence as the living Lord Jesus Christ – they were worshipped.  The reformers rightly rejected this as idolatry.
3. Another area in which the reformers and the Roman church disagreed was the area of the priesthood.  The Roman church believed it was the final and only means for grace to be delivered to the people.  The priesthood became, in effect, the means of access to God.

All of these alternatives (Mary, communion, the priesthood) were unnecessary because we have direct access to God the Father through His son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria: The final of the five solas is the summation of them all meaning Glory to God Alone.  Nothing we can do, have done, or ever will do, is worthy of glory.  Any works-based theological system, including Arminianism, attacks God’s glory by taking some part the glory that is rightfully God’s and placing it before man.  The Ordo Salutis, or order of salvation, as understood by the reformers, begins with God’s will (His decree) and bears fruit in His effectual calling, faith (His gift to us), justification (His declaration of our innocence, based totally on Christ’s atoning sacrifice), sanctification (the Holy Spirit working in us to make us more holy), and ultimately, our glorification (the fullness of salvation revealed in us, all as a result of His work). 

To the extent that we receive glory for any work of Christ, we are guilty of stealing God’s glory.  This would include assertions that we chose Christ of our own “Free Will”.

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It may appear that this short essay is a bit harsh on the Roman church, so allow me a short opportunity here at the end to mention a few things that God did in using the Roman church that positively benefit us today.  The concept of Providence is clearly illustrated in these examples.

1. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire, it received the protection of the most powerful earthly kingdom of the day.  As a result, the church spread far and wide.
2. One of the side effects of being a state religion is that the heads of state tended to interfere in church affairs.  This wasn’t all bad – when a dispute arose among theologians, the government was in a position to help resolve the situation.  The Roman Emperor would send a call out to the bishops telling them to meet for a church council and the issues would be debated and decided.  Once the matter was put to rest, the Emperor would put his stamp of approval on the matter and no one would dare question it.  As a result, the church’s theological basis was established.
3. Bad theology didn’t keep popping up over and over again.  As a contrast, consider how many popular “Christian” teachers & musicians continue to receive wide support in the church despite their clearly unbiblical and heretical underpinnings.  The music group Phillips, Craig and Dean denies the Trinity, as does the popular teacher T.D. Jakes.  Many Word of Faith teachers hold aberrant beliefs but are well-received at Christian conferences.

The Bible reveals to us five areas of the overall atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. All five areas are vital and essential, with none being greater or more important than the other. Each area of the atonement is effectual to its particular aspect of required need and each specifically accomplished that for which God intended it to accomplish. Those five areas are: Obedience, Sacrifice, Propitiation, Reconciliation, and Redemption.

Today I will discuss the second area of the overall atoning work of Christ which is sacrifice. The Scripture speak of the atoning sacrifice of Christ in a number of places. Ephesians 5:2 says, And walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. Hebrews 7:26-27 says, For it is fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens, who does not need daily, like those high priests (Old Testament Aaronic priests), to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. And Hebrews 10:11-14 states, Every (Old Testament) priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God.

The death of Christ as a sacrifice for sins was the fulfillment of the Scriptures. His sacrifice was the one true, real and effectual sacrifice of which all of the Old Testament sacrifices were types, shadows, pictures and symbols. The very first place sacrifice for sin was instituted by God was in the Garden of Eden. We are told in Genesis 3:27 that immediately after Adam and Eve sinned, the Lord sacrificed animals, shedding their blood, and made their skins for a covering for Adam and Eve. This covering symbolized atonement for sin.  The Hebrew word for “atonement,” which is kippur, literally means “cover.” Every sacrifice in the Old Testament was a type or a prophetic illustration of the death of Christ. The Old Testament gave many prophetic pictures of the sacrifice of Christ, such as the offering of Isaac by Abraham in Genesis 22, the different kinds of Levitical sacrifices in Leviticus 1-7, and the sacrifice for the sins of the people on Day of Atonement, which is Hebrew is Yom Kippur in Leviticus 16.

This area of Christ’s work of atonement as a sacrifice for sins accomplished the expiation of our sins, which is the removal or cleansing of the guilt of our sin. Expiation has to do with our standing before God and His law and specifically the guilt of our sin before God because we have transgressed His law. It is because we will in an age of lawlessness that people do not believe that atonement for sin is necessary. The lawlessness of the age is fundamentally related to a corrupt view of God’s nature which believes that, because “God is love,” He simply overlooks and forgives sin and does not require the just penalty of sin. The Bible teaches, however, that the justice of God requires that the violation of His Law of God be punished.  Through the sacrifice of Christ, our sin is expiated. Because of this, our guilt is cleansed and removed and we are no longer liable to be punished for our sins of transgressing God’s law.

In this regard, the nature of Christ’s sacrifice is substitutionary, which means that Christ died in our place.  The substitutionary nature of Christ’s death was made known in the sacrifices of the Old Testament. A basic understanding of the offering of sacrifices for sin was that the sacrificial offering represented the one making the sacrifice and was thereby a substitute. This was most clearly demonstrated on the Day of Atonement On this day two goats were used. One was killed by the violent death of shedding its blood. Leviticus 16:20,22 states, When he finishes atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall offer the live goat…The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. The other goat was the scapegoat. The High Priest, representing the people of God, laid his hands on the goat and confessed the sin of Israel symbolizing the transfer of sin to the substitute. The goat was then sent away into the desert symbolizing that the sin had been taken away.

There are two fundamental principles that are basic to the concept of sacrifice for atonement for sins:

(1) Justice – The just penalty for sin is death. The Bible says, The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). By the violent death of the shedding of the blood of the substitute that was sacrificed, the just penalty of death for sin is carried out.

(2) Grace – This was demonstrated by the fact that something else could be substituted in the place of the one deserving the just penalty death. The guilt and punishment of sin were transferred to the substitute so that the guilty party could be forgiven.

Perhaps the clearest illustration of these two principles being expressed is sprinkling of the blood on the Ark of the Covenant. On the Day of Atonement, the blood of the sacrificed animal was sprinkled on the Ark of the Covenant that stood in the Holiest Place in the Tabernacle and Temple. This was where the very presence of God was manifested between the wings of the Cherubim, or the Angelic beings that guarded the glory and holiness of God. There was a large curtain that separated the very manifest presence of God from His people which represented that the sin separated God from His people. The Ark itself was a chest containing the tablets of the Ten Commandments of the Law of God. Being the covenant people of God, Israel was required to keep the Law of God. If the law was transgressed, God’s justice required that the sin be punished. The cover of the Ark was a pure gold lid over the tablets of the Law placed between the manifest presence of God above the Ark and the Law of God in the Ark. If there was no cover between God and His law, all that would be done would be the execution of the just wrath of God against sin for the transgression of His law. However, god provided that it was upon this cover that the High Priest would sprinkle the blood of the animal that was sacrificed to make atonement. The Hebrew word translated “atonement” is kopher literally means “cover.” It was the blood that made atonement and covered the sins of God’s people so that He could dwell in their midst. It was because of the transgression of God’s Law that the justice of God required atonement by a sacrifice for sins. It was because of the grace of God that provided the sacrifice for atonement so that the sins of God’s people would be covered.

It is relevant at this point to ask about how effective the Old Testament sacrifices were to take away sin and bring forgiveness of sin?  There are two important principles in this regard:

(1) The Old Testament sacrifices did not in and of themselves take away sin -   Although God instituted the Old Testament sacrifices, Hebrews 10:1-4 tells us that it was impossible for the blood of animal sacrifices to take away sin and that God had no enduring pleasure in those sacrifices as such. It says, For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near, Otherwise, would they not cease to be offered, because the worshippers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. The Old Testament makes clear in many places that the sacrifices did not have power to take away sin. For example, we read in the prophets in various places that God could not stand the sacrifices of the people which were merely empty external ritual. In Isaiah 1:11- the Lord says, What are your multitude of sacrifices to Me? says the Lord. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle, and I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me. Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? Bring your worthless offering no long. Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies – I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, they have become a burden to Me. I am weary of bearing them. Although it was the Lord Himself Who instituted all the sacrifices, as well as the appointed days of worship, that are mentioned here, He is not pleased with the barren exercise of them. They were not effective, in and of themselves, to take away. This is clearly stated by Paul in Romans 3:25 when, speaking about the effectiveness of the sacrifice of Christ to satisfy the justice of God, he alludes to God’s forbearance of the sins committed during the time before Christ, which includes the sins under the Old Testament sacrificial system. His justice requires that sin be punished or atoned, and although this did not actually take place during this time in history, He exercised patience with sinners until the true effectual sacrifice of Christ. Paul says, speaking of Christ, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed. While the Old Testament sacrifices were not effectual to take away sin, God derive a certain degree of pleasure from them. The pleasure God derived through the Old Testament sacrifices was by reason of the second principle.

      (2) It was through faith being expressed in obedience to the law of the Old Testament that the people of God looked forward to and participated in the sacrifice of Christ – The fundamental principle of salvation that was implicit in the Old Testament and made explicit in the New Testament is that salvation is by grace through faith. As Hebrews 11:6 tells us, faith is what pleases God. Faith is always expressed in obedience to God’s Word. In the Old Testament, God ordained the sacrifices to teach the people about the necessity of atonement for sin and be a prophetic picture of the one true sacrifice of Christ.  Those who were true believers expressed their faith in obedience to God’s word by their sacrifices. This faith was reckoned by God as righteousness that would come through Jesus Christ. Again, Romans 3:25 clearly states this saying that God provided propitiation His blood through faith. As the Old Testament believers presented their offerings through faith, God reckoned that they participated in the one true sacrifice of Christ and thereby took pleasure in those offerings.

Pray then like this: ”Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Matthew 6:9

21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, ”Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” 23But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, ”Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” 24He answered,  ”I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26And he answered, ”It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28Then Jesus answered her, ”O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
Matthew 15:21-28

The latter block of verses begins with Jesus withdrawing. He basically needed a vacation. He went with his disciples to Tyre and Sidon. Maybe they went to spend some time at the beach. They stayed at a certain house that they didn’t want anybody to know about. But of course, word got out that Jesus was in town. People came to Jesus in need of healing.

We see a Canaanite woman coming to Jesus for this reason. Canaanites were not in the covenant community that the Jews belonged to. Her daughter was demon-possessed. She cried out to Jesus to have mercy; she was desperate for her daughter to be healed.

Jesus didn’t even answer her. The disciples asked her to leave because Jesus wasn’t responding to her. When she didn’t respond to that, the disciples asked Jesus to send her away. He told them that he did not come for her. She was not a part of the covenant. Somehow, she got through the crowd and knelt before Jesus. 

But the woman persisted. She got through the crowd and disciples somehow. Jesus asked her, “Why should the children’s bread be given to the dogs?” In this context, the bread is healing and the dogs are those who are outside of the covenant (non-Jews). Jesus insisted that this provision was reserved for God’s people. The Canaanite woman acknowledged her status as a dog, but she showed that she still came in faith asking for the crumbs from the masters table. Jesus finally granted her request because of her faith. 

There are two fundamental covenantal principals regarding healing in this true story. They are God’s justice and God’s mercy. Justice is doing what is right. Justice is giving people what they deserve. Mercy, stated negatively, is to NOT give people what they deserve. Stated positively, mercy is giving people what they don’t deserve. It is this latter definition of mercy that is commonly referred to as grace. 

Justice and mercy are the ways that God administers His covenant. In Deuteronomy 32:39 we see that God is sovereign over life and death. In Exodus 15, why does God say that He will not put disease on His people? Justice. If the people obeyed, they would not be subject to disease. If they rebelled, they would be judged. God’s sovereignty over death and life should bring us peace and comfort.

Why do people die?

We die because of sin. Ultimately, we die because of Adams sin. In Genesis 2:17 God says that if Adam breaks the law he will die. All sickness and disease originates with the sin that took place in the garden.

And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer.”
Exodus 15:26

God said, “I am your healer.” Why?

1. Because His people get sick.
2. Because He heals as a God of mercy. 

Healing is a provision of His covenant. Deuteronomy 7:15 says that He will remove all sickness from you.

These principles of covenant show why Jesus responded to the Canaanite woman the way He did. In the same way that healing is a part of the covenant promise, the promise that the blood of Christ covers the sins of applies to those in the covenant. Those outside the covenant receive righteous justice. Examples: Noah and the flood, Passover

So then, how do we receive the covenant promises of God? FAITH. 

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The preceding article comes from my sermon notes taken during a sermon delivered by Bill Hyer.