Most of my material is based on the works of the giants of expository preaching like John MacArthur, R.C Sproul, David Pawson, Ray C. Stedman, Arthur Pink, Martin Lloyd Jones and Alister Begg.
So if you want to learn and grow as I have, spend time with these men’s books and commentaries. I am just the spokesperson, but it is a privilege to share with you the wonderful things that I have learned in my 40 years of serving the Lord.
None of this material is original and none of it, is my thoughts or ideas, this is entirely the work and leading of the Holy Spirit.
One of the biggest mistakes that I made as new Christian when I started any Bible study, was to would jump around from verse to verse in the Bible, trying to gain an understanding of scripture from a single verse or passage.
That is like trying to understand the whole picture of a jigsaw puzzle by studying just one piece of it. A single jigsaw puzzle piece cannot help you understand the entire picture. All the surrounding pieces must give context to the piece in the middle.
It was only later that I realized that the only way to really understand the books of the Bible, was to read a single book from beginning to end. That way I could understand the context of the book, who it was written to, at what time it was written, and for what purpose.
This series of podcasts, which I have called “The Bible – From the Beginning to the End” will be like looking at a map before setting out on a journey. We will survey the whole of the Bible and discover the central themes common to every book.
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Most of my material is based on the works of the giants of expository preaching like John MacArthur, R.C Sproul, David Pawson, Ray C. Stedman, Arthur Pink, Martin Lloyd Jones and Alister Begg.
So if you want to learn and grow as I have, spend time with these men’s books and commentaries. I am just the spokesperson, but it is a privilege to share with you the wonderful things that I have learned in my 40 years of serving the Lord.
None of this material is original and none of it, is my thoughts or ideas, this is entirely the work and leading of the Holy Spirit.
One of the biggest mistakes that I made as new Christian when I started any Bible study, was to would jump around from verse to verse in the Bible, trying to gain an understanding of scripture from a single verse or passage.
That is like trying to understand the whole picture of a jigsaw puzzle by studying just one piece of it. A single jigsaw puzzle piece cannot help you understand the entire picture. All the surrounding pieces must give context to the piece in the middle.
It was only later that I realized that the only way to really understand the books of the Bible, was to read a single book from beginning to end. That way I could understand the context of the book, who it was written to, at what time it was written, and for what purpose.
This series of podcasts, which I have called “The Bible – From the Beginning to the End” will be like looking at a map before setting out on a journey. We will survey the whole of the Bible and discover the central themes common to every book.
All of our future hopes are laid out in the book of Revelation. Not only is Revelation the inspired Word of God, it is also the only New Testament book that includes a special blessing for those who study and apply its message.
It should be an essential part of every Christian's devotional life, and those who ignore Revelation, are depriving themselves of a rich treasure of divine truth, and those promised blessings that come from understanding that truth.
“Faith” is a very important word in Christian life. The word is found on almost every page of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.
Faith is the means by which we receive everything from God. Hebrews 11:6 makes this very clear.
This should be crystal clear to us. It is not difficult to please God – it is impossible to please Him! It cannot be done without faith!
Without faith we can receive nothing from God. Without faith all the promises of the Scriptures are invalid.
The Bereans were enthusiastic Bible scholars who sought to understand God's Word and His intended way of living as believers. Paul held them in high regard because they diligently searched the Scriptures to confirm the teachings that he and Silas had shared with them. It is important to remember that back then, the only Scriptures that they had were the Old Testament, which contained promises about the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.
While the Bereans didn't question everything, they had access to the Old Testament, which allowed them to examine Paul and Silas's words and actions.
Their commitment to studying and understanding the Scriptures earned them the title "noble Bereans." In the spirit of these eager and diligent Bereans, we need to open our hearts and minds to explore the timeless truths found in God's Word and discover the wisdom it holds for our lives today.
The whole of the Bible is about Christ, but particularly in the Gospels and The Acts, you find Christ manifesting the character of God through a human personality.
When we come to the Epistles (the “letters”) – which occupy the largest part of the New Testament – we are dealing not with preparation or fulfilment, but with explanation.
The letters of the New Testament are intended to explain and make clear to us, the mystery of Christ. The purpose of the Epistles is to present Christ on a kindergarten level of truth that we may understand, and thus enter into His life.
We learned in the last episode of this podcast, that the Old Testament is filled with pictures of the coming Messiah. In the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Zechariah, they spoke of the Messiah as coming as the King – the King of Israel. This is what the nation of Israel had as the portrait of Christ in their minds.
Secondly, there are Old Testament prophecies which speak of Messiah as the Servant, as the suffering One. The prophet Isaiah gives this fore view. Jesus as the coming of One who is to suffer is also portrayed in the fore view of the story of Joseph in Genesis.
Thirdly, the Old Testament pictures Christ’s coming as Man. He was shown to be born of a virgin, grow up in Bethlehem, walk among men. There are pictures of his childhood, youth and young manhood.
Finally, the Old Testament has a pictures which speak of him as God, the Everlasting One.
Why did the Holy Spirit move the writers of the gospels to give us four pictures of Christ? Why not just have one?
Bible scholars are always working at the task of “harmonizing” the Gospels.
Sometimes you can get Bibles that have the harmonies of the Gospels contained in them. These Bibles are trying to combine these four books and turn them into one, but if the Holy Spirit had wanted one, He would have the produced one.
God wanted four separate and unique Gospels and I personally feel that it is not possible to harmonize the four Gospels, and that anyone attempting this, is wasting their time. This is because each of the four Gospels are given for a special purpose.
The prophets in the Old Testament are the expounders or “explainers” of the promises of God. What would we be without the promises of God?
According to one person's count, there are 3573 promises in the Bible which are intended to be fulfilled in this life. So over three thousand promises are made for us today. How many of those have we claimed?
We will now take a brief look at the final eight prophetic books. These are also known as the minor prophets. However the term “minor” here, means smaller in size, not less in importance.
With this podcast we are beginning with the prophetic books of the Bible. These Prophetic Books contain the mighty promises of God.
So, what is your definition of a promise?
When a man and a woman stand at the wedding altar and promise each other, what are they doing?
They are committing themselves to give of themselves to each other. A promise then, basically, is a commitment to share yourself. If you give a promise to someone, you are committing or sharing something of your time, your energy, or your resources with that person.
That is what a promise is. It is a sharing of self.
The great promises of the Bible are the assurances of God to share Himself with us. When we understand God’s promises, we will begin to understand something more of the nature and the character of our God. Every promise is a commitment, on God's part, to give of Himself.
The soul of man, in turn, is made up of three facets or parts: the emotions, the intelligence and the will.
The book of Psalms records the emotional responses in man's soul to circumstances.
The book of Proverbs is man's intelligence at work recording the experiences of life.
In the book of Ecclesiastes the will of man is expressed.
The third section of the Old Testament – after the Pentateuch and then the historical books are the five poetical books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon.
Although we call these books “poetical,” it doesn't mean that they rhyme. It means they have a structure of repeated ideas. This is the form of poetry the Hebrews used. These 5 books are marvelous books of expression.
The poetical books are a demonstration or reflection of the rejoicing and the protests of man in response to life. These books show all the feelings of the heart, and the yearnings and desires of every man and woman.
The story of the nation of Israel, the ten tribes which constituted the northern kingdom, is that of moral apostasy, the danger to a nation which gives itself over to what it supposes is liberty, disregarding what is right and just, and choosing instead to act in ways that ignored everything that God had warned them against since the Israelites had entered the Promised Land.
There is one thing that we should all keep in mind when reading these books of the Old Testament. Although these problems occurred historically to the nation of Israel, they also have been recorded for us, as examples of what dangers and stumbling blocks the Church would encounter.
Although these historical accounts were inspired by God the Holy Spirit, there is something in common between the nation of Israel and today's Church – both Israel and the modern Church consisted of human beings with a flesh-controlled carnal nature.
The story of David is perhaps the most wonderful story in the entire Bible. David was, as the Scripture puts it, a man: “after God's own heart”!
David had an unwavering faith that already showed with him growing up as a boy. There was his battle with Goliath, living in the court of King Saul at the risk to his life, the story of his friendship with Jonathan, and finally being made king, first over Judah for seven years and then over Israel and Judah together for thirty-three more years, a reign of forty years altogether.
However, there is a dark side to the story of David. There was a weakness in his life which resulted in the terrible moral fall of this man. He was an adulterer and murderer!
How could he, God's own man, be guilty of these terrible things?
The historical books of the Bible give a special illustration of the perils, pressures and problems which every Christian believer will encounter, as they attempt to walk the life of faith. Each book not only shows us the perils that every believer will encounter but also the means of victory over them.
These historical books of the Bible trace the history of Israel – a single nation with a special ministry – a representative nation. What happens to them is also a picture of all the dangers that men will encounter anywhere. As we carefully study each book for its peril, we will find right along with it the appearance of at least one individual who is given victory over that peril.
History is the story of man. God is in history, but He is working behind the scenes. History is the story of man's ongoing cycle of failure, the sequence of the rise and fall of one empire and kingdom after another – over and over again!
Firstly, these historical books of the Bible trace the history of a single nation with a special ministry – a representative nation – Israel. What happens to them is a picture of all the dangers that men will encounter anywhere.
Secondly, these historical books give a special illustration of the perils, pressures and problems which come upon every Christian believer, as they attempt to walk the life of faith. It is very important to know our enemies. These historical books show us the perils which beset the life of faith, and the means of victory over them.
The book of Numbers begins at Kadesh Barnea, right at the edge of the Promised Land. When we get to the end of the book of Numbers, we are back at Kadesh Barnea again.
In spite of all the wonderful instructions the Israelites had in Leviticus, and the adequate provision already given to them, entirely by God, so that they might enjoy His presence among them, when we read Numbers, we see nothing but absolute failure because of the ignorance of the people.
The book of Exodus contains the complete lesson of redemption.
The whole book of Exodus centers around three major incidents:
Firstly the Passover. Secondly the crossing of the Red Sea, and finally the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai.
The first two of these, the Passover and the crossing of the Red Sea, provide a picture for us, as Christians, of the forgiveness and the freedom which God provides – and to teach us that freedom and forgiveness comes through God alone. Man can have no part in either of them.
The first five books of the Old Testament – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy are called the Pentateuch in Latin, which simply means "five books". They are the five books of Moses.
Usually we start off very well in Genesis and then move on into Exodus, but around Leviticus, where we get into all the strange requirements of the Law, we get stuck, and we never quite get through into Numbers and Deuteronomy.
So why do we bog down?
We should never think of the Gospels as merely the story of the life of Jesus, with the most important part of the New Testament being the letters of Paul.
Until we begin to learn who Jesus is and what He does, and then apply it our own life and heart, we could read our Bibles for years and years, and yet remain totally unchanged and untouched.
Imagine skipping the first half of any good book and then try to understand what the story is all about, in the same way, the New Testament is only completely understood when we see the foundation of all the events, and promises of the Old Testament.
If you buy a murder mystery novel, and you only read the last few pages, so that you can discover who the murderer was, it will make the whole experience pointless. You will not be able to understand the characters, the plot, or the ending, and you will not learn how the crime was solved.
So reading the New Testament only, where Jesus is revealed, and not seeing God’s plan from the beginning, will only give you the final answer and never give you the full picture.
This is why there are many people today, who only read the New Testament, can only go so far in grasping the fullness that is in Jesus Christ. It is because their hearts have not been adequately prepared.
So this is why we need the ministry of the Old Testament.
It takes the entire Bible to show us how we can become the complete expression of Jesus
Christ in the world, and it takes the work of the Holy Spirit in interpreting this Scripture to us.
In this podcast, we will take a quick look at how the Old Testament helps us to discover what God’s plan for humankind was since the beginning.
Most of my material is based on the works of the giants of expository preaching like John MacArthur, R.C Sproul, David Pawson, Ray C. Stedman, Arthur Pink, Martin Lloyd Jones and Alister Begg.
So if you want to learn and grow as I have, spend time with these men’s books and commentaries. I am just the spokesperson, but it is a privilege to share with you the wonderful things that I have learned in my 40 years of serving the Lord.
None of this material is original and none of it, is my thoughts or ideas, this is entirely the work and leading of the Holy Spirit.
One of the biggest mistakes that I made as new Christian when I started any Bible study, was to would jump around from verse to verse in the Bible, trying to gain an understanding of scripture from a single verse or passage.
That is like trying to understand the whole picture of a jigsaw puzzle by studying just one piece of it. A single jigsaw puzzle piece cannot help you understand the entire picture. All the surrounding pieces must give context to the piece in the middle.
It was only later that I realized that the only way to really understand the books of the Bible, was to read a single book from beginning to end. That way I could understand the context of the book, who it was written to, at what time it was written, and for what purpose.
This series of podcasts, which I have called “The Bible – From the Beginning to the End” will be like looking at a map before setting out on a journey. We will survey the whole of the Bible and discover the central themes common to every book.
