Finding Jesus in the OT Week 1 - Intro
Finding Jesus in the OT • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Name
Occupation
Your reason for joining the group
High of the week
How many connections to Jesus from the Old Testament can you name
Week 1 Content
Week 1 Content
Typology
Typology
This rGroup is called “Finding Jesus in the OT”
Another name for that topic is Typology
Typology (or typological symbolism) is a Christian form of biblical interpretation that proceeds on the assumption that God placed anticipations of Christ in the laws, events, and people of the Old Testament
That means that within the Old Testament you can find Christ all through it
That’s why the OT is so important!
That’s also why it’s important to understand the story the Bible is teaching us!
You see the Bible is:
The Bible is a book about Jesus
Everything in the Bible is meant to point us closer to Jesus
The Bible is a unified story
Though there are 66 books in the Bible - the grand theme and story of the Bible is the same
Through the Bible’s story, we come to know Jesus in all his glory
Getting the Story right
Getting the Story right
If we are going to truly know Christ, and know the significance of Christ, we must get the story right!
Here is four ways getting the story right is necessary when it comes to knowing Christ:
A Story for seeing
A Story for seeing
In Luke 24, we witness two of Jesus’ disciples as they grasp better Jesus’ identity and why he has come.
These men walked with Jesus, knew all that Jesus had done, seen His death, heard him speak of the coming resurrection, YET they didn’t know who Jesus was
They walked for miles pondering how Jesus had failed
20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.
They were discouraged by Jesus’ death and didn’t see the cross as good news
Then Jesus met them on the road and listen to what He said:
25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
Upon hearing this the men had a joyful response, not because Jesus was with them, because they didn’t know it was Jesus. It was because they saw the Scripture and story
As they looked at the Old Testament writings, they correctly saw—for the first time—how the Scriptures fit together and how all Scripture is fulfilled in Christ
To grasp these truths accurately—why Christ had to suffer for our sins, why his blood was necessary to reconcile us to God, and what redemption is—we need to see how they fit into the rest of the Bible.
The entire story of the Bible—not just verses pulled out here and there—helps us to know Christ and to know him for all that he is.
A Story for Growing
A Story for Growing
A second reason we need the whole Bible’s story deals with our growth in the Christian life
For example listen to Hebrews 12:1-2.
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
On the surface this sounds like a good encouraging word
But in the full context you realize that the author of Hebrews has been pulling examples from the OT to show us the power and importance of Jesus
Christ from Beginning to End: How the Full Story of Scripture Reveals the Full Glory of Christ Putting the Puzzle Together
The New Testament repeatedly encourages and warns us in our Christian lives by appealing to the Bible’s story and drawing examples from it. Addressing Christians tempted to sexual sin, Paul asks, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you . . .?” (1 Cor. 6:19). Warning Christians under the threat of persecution, the author of Hebrews says, “We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion’ ” (Heb. 3:14–15). Both examples draw directly from the Bible’s story, referring to the temple and to the rebellion of the nation of Israel as they wandered in the desert. If you don’t know the story, you’ll miss these allusions.
Here’s why this matters: The Bible’s story propels our Christian growth.
Until we grasp the Bible’s content in the context of its unified story, the New Testament’s instruction will lack compelling force
A Story for Guarding
A Story for Guarding
A third reason is this: By reading Scripture correctly, we guard and defend the truth of the Gospel
A dangerous illustration can be seen in the book of Galatians
Paul writes in Galatians 1:9.
9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
What caused the sharp rebuke from Paul?
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.
The people of Galatia were reading the OT and applying to Christianity today, without understanding it
By doing so, they were in danger of never truly being saved
To counter that Paul gives us this:
6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? 7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Do not miss this: the Bible itself teaches that we must know the Bible’s story if we want to know Christ and defend this gospel
A Story for Spreading
A Story for Spreading
A last reason we need to know the whole story of the Bible is being able to better share the Gospel
We see Paul do this when he is sharing the Gospel in Athens, Greece
Paul was talking to a people there were diverse with little to no Scripture knowledge
Typically Paul would start sharing by pointing out that there was a promised Messiah in the OT, but Paul didn’t do that here:
Notice that Paul does not begin his message with Jesus, since they don’t know enough about Scripture to make sense of that. Instead he begins by establishing a larger framework from Scripture to help his listeners grasp who Jesus is, giving them a larger context by summarizing the Scriptures’ storyline
Paul establishes the identity of God as Creator
24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,
Paul establishes that God is independent and self-sufficient
25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
Paul explains that God reveals himself
26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
Paul declares that humans have rebelled against God as their Lord
29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
Paul then instructs the Athenians that all humans are to turn from their idolatry to the living God because judgment is coming
31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
Then after constructing the Scriptures’ big picture, Paul proclaims Jesus as the man whom God raised from the dead to judge the world
31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
The big picture reveals a big Christ. Jesus is not one religious leader among many.
Set within Scripture’s own framework and teaching, Jesus is presented as the exclusive Lord, Savior, and Judge of the world.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Throughout the next 11 weeks we are going to go through different OT passages and look at a different aspect of Jesus’ life, ministry, and character.
During the rGroup season you will be challenged to do three things
Read the passage that will be sent out during our weekly email
Memorize a verse from the Scripture passages that will be sent
Have answers to the questions that will be sent out in the email