Author: SFJ Bible

Numbers 25:1-18

Baal Worship at Peor

25:1 While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. 2 These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. 4 And the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people and hang¹ them in the sun before the LORD, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.” 5 And Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.”

6 And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. 7 When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand 8 and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. 9 Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

The Zeal of Phinehas

10 And the LORD said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. 12 Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, 13 and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’”

14 The name of the slain man of Israel, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, chief of a father’s house belonging to the Simeonites. 15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was the tribal head of a father’s house in Midian.

16 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Harass the Midianites and strike them down, 18 for they have harassed you with their wiles, with which they beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the chief of Midian, their sister, who was killed on the day of the plague on account of Peor.”

Footnotes

[1] 25:4 Or impale

(ESV)

Deuteronomy 6:1-24

The Greatest Commandment

6:1 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules¹—that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.² 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

10 “And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you—15 for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

16 “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers 19 by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has promised.

20 “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day.

Footnotes

[1] 6:1 Or just decrees; also verse 20

[2] 6:4 Or The Lord our God is one Lord; or The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; or The Lord is our God, the Lord alone

(ESV)

Going Deeper

Mark 12-16 (08/31/19)

**This is my last Going Deeper for this year’s reading plan. If you have journeyed with me since last year’s SFJMC National Run, it means you have successfully read through the entire New Testament—260 chapters and 52 Going Deeper Bible studies.

I praise God for all the awesome feedback we have received from men and women around the world who are studying their Bible every day with us, and who are growing every weekend through the Going Deeper studies. In case you missed any or want to look back over our studies, you can find all of the Going Deeper studies here at SFJbible.com or on our club website SFJMC.com under “Shepherd’s Studies.”

We are excited to be launching a brand-new reading plan for this next year, and I will announce it at our USA National Run on Saturday night. The first reading will be on Monday, September 2, 2019. In the meantime, invite your friends and family to sign up at SFJbible.com and they can join us as we start into a new year of studying God’s word together.

Grab your Bible, and let’s go deeper into Mark 14 and 15.

Read Mark 14:32-42.

It says, “Jesus began to be greatly distressed and troubled.” We must see that Jesus is fully man and fully God. As fully man, He experienced the weight of the hardship before Him just as you and I do. He had to be fully human so He could be our substitute. It says in Luke’s Gospel account that He was so intensely distressed that He sweat blood.

That is a heavy weight Jesus is carrying. I have sat with many people through their darkest hours, and I have seen many reactions to the weight of this world’s hardships, but I am yet to see anyone sweat blood in his or her distress. What does this tell us? It tells us that Jesus understands what it means to have heavy burdens on His shoulders, to be in the midst of the storm, or to hurt at His core. It tells us that nothing you experience is beyond what He has known or experienced.

Jesus is not a God who is far off and doesn’t get you. He came. He bore the fullness of our struggle. He understands. Like Jesus is running to God the Father in prayer, we need to also see no higher priority in the middle of the storm than to get on our faces and go to God the Father in prayer.

Notice Jesus doesn’t do this once. He spends significant time in the garden in prayer with the Father and returns to find His crew sleeping each time. What a perfect contrast for Jesus’ righteousness and our selfishness. Peter, James, and John—Jesus’s core three disciples—are so focused on the flesh that they are missing what God is doing. They are disobedient to their Rabbi’s instruction. They are lazy with their posture. They are useless to do anything by their own power for what God is about to do.

Jesus finally says, “It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.” Praise God that Jesus was all He needed to carry out our redemption.

If He trusted one ounce of it to us, we would have messed it up. This is why our salvation is God’s work alone and not a synergistic work between God and us, because in our sin we are hopeless, powerless, and not willing to participate. We would rather sleep! If left to ourselves, we would lay in our grave of sin and death forever. Praise God for His election—for His pursuit of us when we were His enemies—for His substitutionary atonement. Praise God for His amazing grace which sets us free to see and savor the true gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We are not willing, but Jesus is!  

Mark 14:35-36 “And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’”

Jesus is both fully God and fully man in this moment. His flesh cries out in absolute honesty for a pass from what is about to come—that the cup of God’s perfect wrath would be satisfied another way. But His righteousness is immediate and without pause. He says, “Not my will but your will be done!”

It is imperative we understand that Jesus willingly submits to being captured, to being falsely testified about, to being beaten, to being hung on a criminal’s cross, and to dying. He says in John 10:18, “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

I want us to see the beauty of Jesus’ submission. This is the response man should have had in the Garden of Eden. This is the response we should have but we don’t. What makes us not submissive to God’s will—to God’s commands? It is our idolatry; it is placing self or something else above God.

Praise God for His substitutionary atonement that sets us free from our grip on our idols so that we can submit to His will and we can enjoy His supremacy! Even in the face of great suffering like Jesus, we too can truly say, “God, your will be done—not mine.”

Please understand, in Christ alone this is possible.

Read Mark 14:53-65.

A quick overview of the six trials of Jesus:

Religious 

• Annas                            – A Religious Leader (former High Priest)
• Caiaphas                     – The High Priest
• The Sanhedrin         – The Religious Supreme Court

Civil

• Pilate                           – The Roman Governor in Jerusalem
• Herod                          – The King of Judea
• Pilate                           – A Second Trial

The way these trials went down in the middle of the night was shady. This makes sense because they have nothing on Jesus, but they are so distraught at His teachings and influence on the people that they want Him gone. So they do what man does when we are blinded by our selfish agenda: We lie, we cheat, we steal, we take, we kill.

Why do they lie and give false witness? For the same reason you and I lie about anything—because something else is so important to them that they will do anything to have it. Something is functioning in our lives as god, so we will lie to keep it or have it. This can be a relationship thing (lie to your parent or spouse because you want to please them or not lose them). This can be a physical thing (money is commonly something we lie to keep or to have more of). This can be an identity thing (you are so concerned about how other people see you or talk about you that you wear a mask to keep them or get them to like you). That mask is a LIE!

This is all idolatry. It is elevating something to define your joy or identity that you lie to have it or keep it.

When God is our greatest joy—when He is who we worship—we don’t need to lie because we are clinging to other things to complete us, keep us, define us, complete us or make us happy.

Romans 1:25 … they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.

Now, do you see the contrary response of Jesus? He is the one facing the greatest consequence, being the one standing on trial.  But instead of lies and false witness about Himself, He is truthful in His witness! By saying, “I AM,” Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah—the promised royal Redeemer they have been waiting for. You and I would easily lie to save our skin, but Jesus is most concerned with God’s will, so He speaks honestly knowing what it will produce.

We see a perfect example of how we (mankind) respond in our flesh in Peter’s denial of Christ.

Read Mark 14:66-72.

Peter is the only one we know of that risked getting close to the trial by standing in the courtyard with the cops. This is a testimony to his love for Christ. This was very risky. It would be like the accomplice of a murder, and while the trial for your buddy happens inside, you are sipping a venti coffee with the investigators just outside the courtroom doors. But Peter’s faithfulness is short lived in the face of possible ridicule or persecution. Unlike Christ who boldly proclaims His allegiance to God, Peter lies and claims to not even know Jesus.

We need to see the depth of our lostness, of our sickness, of our spiritual death in this. Everything in Peter wants to be loyal and true to his master. That is why he is there. He is the first one to always tell Jesus, “I got your back. I will die for you.” He wants to be faithful. But his flesh—his depravity—leaves him enslaved to the fear of man—to the fear of persecution.

Like Peter, you and I can sit and tell God all day that we will be faithful! But without Christ’s substitutionary atonement, we cannot do it. We are desperate for Jesus. Only Christ in and through you and me can produce true honesty in the face of ridicule or persecution—true faith in the face of suffering or death.

Read Mark 15:1-15.

It is commonly said that if you and I were standing there, we would be the ones screaming out, “Crucify him!” By our sinful actions, we have said this indirectly every day of our lives, as we are so blind in our sin that we actually think an innocent man is more deserving of death than we are. Our selfishness will cause us to do just about anything to stay on top of our world.

That said, what I believe God wants us to see today is less of you and I being like those yelling, “Crucify him!” and more like that of Barabbas. We are the one who deserves death for our crimes against God. We are the ones who should be in shackles in route to the cross. We are the ones who do not deserve in the slightest to be released to the streets while an innocent man dies in our place.

Don’t miss this, because it should change everything about us today and every day. Just as Jesus proclaimed to the Sanhedrin, “He is the Judge of the entire world,” He is the one in shackles being judged. Do you see it? This is our trial! We are the ones that should be in the shackles being condemned for our sin and actual blasphemy, but He is our substitute. Jesus Christ is worthy of all our praise forever.

Romans 5:8 God demonstrates his love for us in this. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

The question today is do you feel the weight of the amazing grace of God? The substitutionary atonement of Jesus?

It’s like Barabbas must have felt that day. He knew he was a murderer. He knew he should not be walking the streets a free man.  Can you imagine the power of that freedom for him?

That is what you and I should feel every day. The good news washing over us, shaping every thought and decision we make, freeing us to enjoy God through Christ.

Now, here is the crossroad! If Barabbas goes home that day back to his old life, murdering, he will never see or savor the life Christ gave him. He will remain in spiritual death. But, if that day he found his way to the cross and watched the innocent blood of Jesus spill out of His broken body, and Jesus suffered and died in his place; if God opened his eyes to the gospel, and he responded in repentance of his sin and trusting in Jesus with his entire life, he will be forever, truly, forever changed! Barabbas would be reconciled to God, set free from slavery of sin, and commissioned to enjoy and live for the living God.

May we always see and savor and share the fullness of the freedom of Barabbas that the substitutionary atonement of Jesus gives us. AMEN!

By His grace and for His glory,

-Shepherd

Soldiers for Jesus MC

Mark 16

The Resurrection

16:1 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” 8 And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

[Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9–20.]¹

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

9 [[Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11 But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

Jesus Appears to Two Disciples

12 After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. 13 And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

The Great Commission

14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.]]

Footnotes

[1] 16:9 Some manuscripts end the book with 16:8; others include verses 9–20 immediately after verse 8. At least one manuscript inserts additional material after verse 14; some manuscripts include after verse 8 the following: But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. These manuscripts then continue with verses 9–20

(ESV)

Mark 15

Jesus Delivered to Pilate

15:1 And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. 2 And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” 3 And the chief priests accused him of many things. 4 And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” 5 But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.

Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified

6 Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. 7 And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. 8 And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. 9 And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” 10 For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. 12 And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” 13 And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” 14 And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” 15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged¹ Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

Jesus Is Mocked

16 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters),² and they called together the whole battalion.³ 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.

The Crucifixion

21 And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22 And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25 And it was the third hour⁴ when they crucified him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.⁵ 29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.

The Death of Jesus

33 And when the sixth hour⁶ had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.⁷ 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he⁸ breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son⁹ of God!”

40 There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

Jesus Is Buried

42 And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died.¹⁰ And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. 45 And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46 And Joseph¹¹ bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

Footnotes

[1] 15:15 A Roman judicial penalty, consisting of a severe beating with a multi-lashed whip containing embedded pieces of bone and metal

[2] 15:16 Greek the praetorium

[3] 15:16 Greek cohort; a tenth of a Roman legion, usually about 600 men

[4] 15:25 That is, 9 a.m.

[5] 15:27 Some manuscripts insert verse 28: And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “He was numbered with the transgressors”

[6] 15:33 That is, noon

[7] 15:33 That is, 3 p.m.

[8] 15:39 Some manuscripts insert cried out and

[9] 15:39 Or a son

[10] 15:44 Or Pilate wondered whether he had already died

[11] 15:46 Greek he

(ESV)