Gooding, David: 1 - Understanding Genesis

Once more, welcome to you all, and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us. The topic for this session of the conference is understanding the Old Testament, more particularly the relationship between the New Testament and the Old. So let me begin by recounting to you an experience I had in my youth that has been formative ever since in my reading of the Old Testament. As a student, I studied Greek and Latin, and when I had finished the course, cash came unexpectedly in, that I saw I could spend it by attending a year's course on Hebrew. So thither I went to listen at the feet of the professor of Hebrew. He not only tried to teach us Hebrew, but in addition gave us the benefit of his thoughts about the Old Testament. He told us, for instance, that it was quite impossible to think that Moses wrote the first two chapters of Genesis. I was all ears, of course, to find out what the reasons were. And he said, you know, that first chapter of Genesis, chapter one, is plain straightforward monotheism. It preaches one God who made the whole universe. He said, it's impossible that Moses wrote that. Why impossible? Well, you see, he said, e- e- e- religion has evolved, like the whole universe has invo- evolved, you see. So religion evolved, and that the first people were animists, like the Japanese, modern Japanese Shintoists are animists. They felt that a tree was alive, it had a spirit in it, or the mountain had a spirit in it, and uh, uh, personalized all the features surrounding them, you see. That's how they began. I don't know who told him, but that's, that was his uh, official verdict. And then he added that then it evolved a bit further, you see, and they came to polytheism, from animism to polytheism, that is to many gods, and they deified the sun god and the moon god and the storm god and this water god and the gods of the crops and all these things. And then, of course, evolution being unstoppable, they, uh, uh, proceeded to the next stage, you see, which was Hentheism. And Hentheism means that each nation had its own particular god, you see? So, um, uh, Athens, for instance, they appropriated Athene as the great goddess of Athens, do you see? And from this henotheism, they then evolved to monotheism and to the idea that there was one god of the whole universe, you see. And that being so, Moses could not have written Genesis one, the early stories of creation, because they presumed just one God, and people hadn't evolved that far in those days. And it was not till after the exile, when the Jews were taken to Babylon and they mixed with the other nations, that they came gradually to the idea that there were many gods. Uh, that there there was one god among the many. I listened to this, it was all new to me, and he was, after all, a professor, do you see? It got a little bit at my faith and disturbed me. And then I came to a decision. I would study what Christ, our Lord, said about the Old Testament. And if there were to be a conflict between him and the professor, I would choose to trust Christ. I hadn't been long searching through the New Testament, I began at Matthew, before I came across a very interesting t- uh, statement by our Lord. It is given in Matthew's Gospel and chapter nineteen, At which point our Lord was discussing the question of divorce with various of the Jewish rabbis. And at that stage in my life, I wasn't considering divorce, so I was not interested in the matter. But I was interested in how he talked of it, do you see? And he said to them, this is Matthew nineteen verse four. And he answered and said, have you not read that he which made them from the beginning made them male and female and said, for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. I found that intriguing. First of all, our Lord's challenge to the rabbis, have you not read? The challenge comes to us still, doesn't it? It would be embarrassing if our Lord said to us this morning, and you, Bob and Eugene, have you read this particular part of the Old Testament? And you had to say, well, sorry, Lord, I didn't think that was important, so no, I've never read it anyway. Have you not read? Christ expecting us to be conversant with our Old Testament. Have you not read, says he, that he which made them, that is God, made them from the beginning male and female, and said, God said it, the creator of heaven and earth said it. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. Here is our Lord affirming, therefore, the written record of Genesis, that it was God the Creator who said this remark. Let's look back at Genesis and see what the remark was. This is Genesis and chapter two. And this chapter had told, has told us the creation of woman from the side of man and how God brought her to Adam. And then in verse twenty three, we have Adam's response. And the man said, that is Adam said, this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Thus far, Adam's response to this lovely apparition that was Eve. But notice the next verse. That couldn't have been said by Adam, could it? Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, for Adam didn't have a father and a mother. So we conclude in the first place that verse twenty four must have been penned by the inspired writer of the book of Genesis. Let's call him Moses. Moses said it. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. Ah, but says Christ, since that was the inspired writer of the New Test- of the Old Testament that said it, it was in fact God, our Creator, who said it. He that made them from the beginning male and made them male and female, and he said, for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother. And you will say to yourself, what on earth was a twenty-year-old student being thinking about divorce for? Ah, but it had an impact. In such a detail, to have the authoritative word of our blessed Lord Jesus, that behind this verse stands God, the maker of the universe, put me in the position where I had to decide, should I trust the professor, or should I trust Christ? I'm glad I learned to trust Christ. I have since discovered over many years that what the professor was saying bordered on factual nonsense. I'm glad I trusted Christ. And learned not only to trust Christ, but his inspired apostles, whom he inspired to write the New Testament. Says Hebrews chapter eleven, for instance, by faith we understand the worlds were made by the spoken word of God. It is interesting how the writer uses the plural, the worlds, if you like, the ages, our present world. But it tells us this, that at each stage in the creation of the universe, each stage was initi- stage was initiated by the spoken word of God. There are two words in Greek for what in English becomes our English word, word. This particular phrase in Hebrews eleven uses the Greek for a spoken word. And of course, it agrees exactly with the account given in Genesis chapter one where each stage of the creation is initiated by a spoken word of God. And God said. So with those encouragements in our hearts, I want to take this morning three basic New Testament doctrines, and show how, in order to establish those doctrines, the writers of the New Testament appeal to the Old Testament as their authority. And what we shall learn from that is, that much as we value the New Testament and give it pride of place in our thinking, nonetheless, we must, as believers, take seriously the Old Testament and should observe how many of the Christian doctrines are based on the Old Testament? And therefore, the practical implication is that we should study our Old Testaments and know them well. The three basic doctrines I want to discuss with you now are the New Testament doctrines, one, of justification by faith. Two, the great inheritance we have in Christ. And three, the other New Testament doctrine of the necessity of justification by works. In all three cases, we shall find the New Testament writer appealing to the Old Testament. First of all, as authority for the doctrine that he is teaching. And secondly, as an explanation of the doctrine he is treating. So let's begin with Abraham. In Romans chapter four, Paul has enunciated the great doctrine of justification by faith and not by works. But to clinch the matter in chapter four and verse one, he appeals to Abraham. What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh, has found? And he is about to cite to us the absolutely foundational word. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Here is Paul establishing the basic doctrine of salvation by citing Abraham and appealing to what the Old Testament says. Then in Galatians three, we shall think about the glorious inheritance that we have in Christ. Galatians chapter three reminds us of it by citing the covenant that God made with Abraham. This is Galatians chapter three, verse fifteen. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men, though it be but a man's covenant, yet when it hath been confirmed, no one maketh it void or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He saith not, and to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. So Paul has now gone on beyond justification by faith to exhort us to see what an indescribably wealthy inheritance we have through Jesus Christ our Lord. What inheritance, you say? And for this purpose, Paul appeals to the covenant that God made with Abraham in that same chapter fifteen of the book of Genesis. And then we shall come to James, and in his chapter two he says, you claim to be justified by faith and without works. That's marvelous, you know. But you ought to know as well that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. At which our faces fall, maybe. How has James dared to utter any such thing and becloud the issue by seeming to deny what Paul says? He says, does Paul, we're justified by faith without works. How can James possibly say that, uh, we have to be justified by works and not simply by faith? And of course, to understand it, James will refer us back to what Abraham did with Isaac, once more, in the book of Genesis. Am I getting my point across? That to understand fully some of the basic doctrines of the New Testament, we shall have to go back to the Old Testament. So let us first think of that matter of justification by faith. We're coming back now to Romans chapter four. What shall we say then that Abram our forefather according to the flesh has found? And proceeds to quote for us the basic text, verse three, for what saith the scripture, and Abram believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. Genesis chapter fifteen and verse six. The plain straightforward statement. For Abram, let me remind you, is not here cited as a type of a Christian, or as a parable, or as an exhortation. He is recorded as an actual man who walked on two legs on this earth, centuries ago. And Abraham was justified. For Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Justified by grace through faith was Abraham in those far off centuries, an actual person. It is not merely, however, that Paul cites that particular verse, Genesis fifteen six. It is the fact that, according to Genesis, Abraham was eventually circumcised, as were all the male members of his household. That is recorded in Genesis seventeen. Ah, but, says Paul, you must be careful reading it, because the very order of the chapters is not only history, it is inspired history, authoritative history. So when was Abraham justified? When was it after he was being circumcised or before he was circumcised? You say, what difference does that make? Well, it makes a whole world of difference. Because, you see, if Abraham was first circumcised and then he was justified, people might have said, there you are, you have to be circumcised first, and then you can be justified. Just like some people say in Christian terminology, you have to be baptized first, and that makes you a child of God, and then you are, uh, justified eventually, we hope. No, says the New Testament. Pray observe the historical order. Abraham was, uh, believed God, it was counted to him for righteousness, that is Genesis fifteen. It wasn't till some thirteen years later that Abraham was circumcised. Why was he circumcised? Says Romans chapter four, it was the seal of the righteousness which he had by faith. And then it adds another interesting thing. After Abraham, all who were his physical descendants were circumcised. Yes, but, says Paul, pray don't let that, uh, mislead you. For circumcised though they were on the eighth day after birth, yet their justification before God had to be on the same principle as Abram, their forefather. Do you see? That is, their justification would not depend on the fact that as babies they were circumcised. Any more than in Christian dispensation, our justification before God depends on the fact, if it is a fact, we were baptized as babies. He demands personal faith in God, such as Abram exhibited. And perhaps you have a question. You say, um, hmm. Well, if Abram was an actual man, and he was justified by faith, hmm, how does that correspond to my experience? Because when God came to Abram, God said, Abram, I'm going to give you a son. Yes. And Abram believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. How is that relevant to me? God didn't come to me the night I got converted and said, you're going to have a son, and I believed and and I was justified. So how is Abram's case relevant to my case? Well, at the end of chapter four, Paul explains, that's chapter four in Romans, how Abram's experience is relevant to our experience. God said to Abram, Abram, you're, I'm going to give you a son. And Abraham has said, thank you very much, Lord. But... he didn't have a son at once. And the years passed by. And one day, Sarah, apparently, I don't know whether it was over breakfast or whatnot, she said to Abram, Abram, my dear. Oh, yes. I- I've been thinking. He said, that's very good. You say you've been th- what have you been thinking, Sarah, my dear? And she said, well, I'm thinking about this promise, you see, that God says we're going to have a son. Yes, isn't it wonderful, says Abram. But I don't know about that, said Sarah. You see, because, um, you see, God seems to have overlooked something. Oh? Yes. He says I've, I'm go- we're going to have a son, but I'm barren, you know, Abram. I think God has overlooked that. Oh, never thought about that, said Abram. Hmm. Well, what now then? Uh-huh. She says, well, I think when God said you're going to have a son, he didn't just mean it like that, you're going to have a son. It was an exhortation to us to do the best we can, to use our own resources. Hmm. So Abraham said, well, my dear, it's a good idea, but we don't have any resources, do we? Oh, yes, we have. Oh? Yes, we've got this slave girl, Hagar, you see. You could take her and father a child. Oh, that's an idea, said Abram. And he took Hagar and fathered Ishmael. And God said, well, he's a nice enough chap, Abram, and I shall bless him, but that's not what I meant. When I said you're going to have a son, I meant you're going to have a son, and I will give him. And God left Abram, says the end of Romans chapter four, and left Sarah until Abram was now an old, old man. And as far as fathering any son went, he could see it was quite impossible. It was beyond it. And God left him deliberately to make the point that when God said, I'm going to give you a son, Abram, it was not by Abram's effort or his works or using his own resources. It was a gift of God to bring life out of incipient death. And Paul uses the analogy to press home upon us what it is that we believe. When it is said Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness, so our justification is by faith. What is it we believe? What any similarity is, uh, there between us and Abraham? Well, Abraham had to believe God to bring life out of a dead body. And righteousness shall be encountered to us, says Paul at the end of Romans chapter four, if we believe on him that raised our Lord Jesus from the dead. That's a very interesting analogy and helps us to see what is meant by the term faith. When it is said we're justified by faith, what does it mean, faith? I have met folks who come to the conclusion that they've tried to believe, they've done their best to believe, and they started out nearly every day by saying, Lord, help me to believe, and they've failed as they feel they don't have strong enough faith. And if you say to such people, but I'm saved and I'm absolutely sure I'm saved, I say, you must have very strong faith. Thinking, of course, that justification and salvation depend on the strength of your faith. That isn't so, is it? We're called upon to believe in God who raised our Lord Jesus from the dead. Would you allow me a very crude analogy? Suppose we were living in those terrible three days when the body of Christ lay in the grave. And we said to ourselves, you know, if Jesus doesn't rise from the dead, there's no salvation. He'll have to rise from the dead. Well, what can we do about it? Well, we s- somebody says we'll, we'll stand around the grave and we'll all ha- hold hands, you see, and we'll say, I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe. And eventually, the force of our faith will bring Christ up from the dead. Utter nonsense, of course. It's not the strength of our faith. It's the faith in God doing what for us is impossible, who raised our Lord Jesus from the dead. And similarly, when we're justified by faith, it's not the strength of our faith. It's the one in whom we place that faith, namely God, who raised our Lord Jesus from the dead. But these are elementary matters, aren't they? I repeat, my purpose this morning is to show that the great basic Christian doctrine of justification by faith appeals for its authority and its explanation into the Old Testament. And now we come to the second basic thing, and that is the great inheritance that we enjoy in Christ. And for a long discussion of it, you might consider Galatians chapter three. For at verse fifteen of Galatians three, Paul says, Brethren, I speak after the manner of men. Though it be a man's covenant, yet when it has been confirmed, no one makes it void or addeth thereto. Now to Abram were the promises spoken, and to his seed, and he saith not, and to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. Let's come to the end of that argument. In verse twenty seven of that same chapter three. for as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then are you Abram's seed, heirs according to the promise. I pause on those verses because it may be I have the task this early Saturday morning, you'll see, to convince you that you are far more wealthy than hitherto you have believed. So I got to prove to you that you are Abram's seed. That's some going, that is, of a Saturday morning, is it not? How on earth did you become Abram's seed? Well, let me ask you, have you put your faith in Christ? Yes. You have? And, uh, you have been baptized into Christ? You have? So if you've been baptized into Christ, it's like as if a man would put on a big robe all over him, or any person for that matter. You have put on Christ. Like a person could put on a big, uh, gown of a fair, like the, uh, the Muslims wear, you know, that kind of thing. That obliterates all distinctions. You put on this big robe, there can be neither, uh, Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male or female. You have put on Christ. Therefore, you are Christ's. If you are Christ's... Let me ask you a question. Is Christ the seed of Abraham? Ah. Well, if Christ is the seed of Abraham and you've put on Christ, you are Abraham's seed then, and heirs according to the promise. What promise? For that, we come back to that same, uh, Genesis chapter fifteen where God said to Abraham, not only am I going to give you a son, but you see, he shall inherit. And God specified the areas that Abram's seed should inherit. And Abram had the good sense to say, Lord, well, thank you very much, but how shall I know that I'm going to inherit it? And God didn't rebuke him for that. Sensible Abram promised this gift of great inheritance here on earth. Abram wanted to know from God, now God, how can I be, you know, absolutely sure that I'm going to get it? So God told Abram to make a covenant sacrifice. And in those far off days, you see, if you made a covenant, one of the ways you did it was to get a number of animals to cut them in pieces, or birds or what have you, and lay the pieces in two rows, do you see? And then the parties to the covenant had to walk between the two rows. It was a solemnization of the covenant, the guarantee that the covenant terms would be honored. Now, if the covenant was such that two parties both had something to fulfill, then both of them had to walk between the pieces. Mm-hmm. That's simple, isn't it? You've won the lottery or something, which you shouldn't as a Christian, but you have perhaps, and got five hundred thousand, and you're determined to build the biggest house that ever man could live in, you'll see. And you go to the builder, and the builder, uh, you say to the builder, no, I want a house, not just any old house, I want it this and this and this and this and this and this. And you specify the terms. And the builder says, and that will cost you five million. He specifies the cost. And if you agree, you both have to sign the deal. You see. If, of course, the covenant wasn't a covenant like that, but a covenant like, say, your Uncle Sam, you know, the one in America. He's made it good when he's in America. He's got five or six ranches, seven or eight houses, bank, law, and uh uh you see shares, preferential shares, ooh. And Uncle dies. You try to be sad. But you jolly well hope he's named you in his will, you see. And you go along and listen to the will, and uncle has given you his three ranches. Any conditions? No. Just as I like Mary, so I'm giving her this. What do you have to do to get it? Well, just receive it. That's what we call a one-party covenant. Only one party had something to fulfill, and he did it by his will and signed the will. When God said to Abram, Abram, I'm not only going to give you a son, but to your seed I'll give this great inheritance. And Abram said, how shall I know? When God said, this is how you'll know, we'll have a covenant, Abram. So Abram had to prepare the animals, and he cut them in pieces, and he put them in two rows, and then we're all on edge to see. Now, now, now, who's going to walk between these pieces, do you see? If Abram's going to have something to fulfill, to gain this inheritance, he'll have to walk between the pieces. And we watch Abram. Abram? The man fell asleep. Oh dear, you shouldn't fall asleep in meetings like this, should you? Uh, he fell asleep, poor chap. So he didn't walk between the pieces. Well, who walked between the pieces then? According to the record, the symbol of the very presence of God walked between those pieces. It was God's gift. God's unconditional gift. To Abram and to his seed. Abram and his seed, therefore, shall inherit this great inheritance. But now comes the point, who is Abram's seed? And Paul answers in the inspired New Testament. The seed, as God intended it, was Christ. You say, isn't that a bit far-fetched? Surely, how can the seed be Christ? Well, my reply to that would be simply this. That Abraham himself was told in the preamble to that covenant. It was told that he and his descendants for the next four hundred years would never possess the land. They wandered in it like strangers, as though it weren't theirs. They had the title deeds, they didn't possess it. Some eventually possessed it under Joshua for a while. It ended first with the Assyrians, and then with the Babylonians. Multitudes of the, of the descendants of Abram have never enjoyed possession of the land. The only hope that Abram will have it is that his seed Christ will one day inherit it, not only the land designated in that covenant, but the whole earth from shore to shore, and heaven as well. For the seed, says Paul, intended in that covenant is Christ. Mm. You say, how d- how on earth do I get into that then? How? Difficult. Let me come back to my analogy. This is your uncle. Was his name Sam or something? Have you forgotten already? Uh, uh, uh, who, who, who left you some of his great estate, you see. And presently there comes a message to a solicitor in Belfast. He's acting for this aforesaid Sam, you see. And you are invited to attend the reading of the will. And as the will is read, the solicitor says now, um, all my deposits to Sally. Oh yes, yes, yes, yes. And my houses to George. Mm. And my shares to Andrew. Mm. A- a- and uh, my yacht to Naomi. And the rest of my estate I give to Ruth. And I say, go on, so this is go on. No, he says that's the end. No, it can't be, I say. No, no, I, I, you haven't mentioned me yet. Well, who's you? Well, I'm David, of course. I'm sorry, I, I, there's no David in the will. Ah, you're not in it. I said, that can't be true. I, I know my uncle Sam, and he thought a lot of me, and I'm sure he would have left me in his will. Well, it says your name's not here. Well, I said, write it in then, solicitor, write it in. No good, is it? If the seed to whom the promised inheritance is given is Christ, how do I get into it? As many as have been baptized into Christ, who trusted Christ, you have put on Christ, like a man puts on an overflowing robe. Then, if you are Christ, you are the seed, Abram's seed, referred to in that covenant. And therefore you too are heirs according to that great promise. You say, but if you look at Genesis, Mr. Preacher, that is, um, only a few acres in the M- Middle East, and I'm not interested in that. I- mine is a heavenly portion. Oh, I see. So you're interested in a heavenly inheritance. Well, actually, so am I. You're not interested in the earth? Oh, half a minute. Let me ask you, you're very spiritual, so you're interested just in heaven. But Christ, is he interested in the earth? Is the story true that he shall ask of God and he will give him the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession? Is it true that he shall reign from shore to shore? He shall inherit all things. Oh, what a wonderful thing it is to be told by that very covenant of God to Abraham and to his seed. We shall inherit because we are in Christ, therefore we are Abraham's seed according to the covenant. And finally, James comes along to tell us that it's not merely true that we're justified by faith, we have to be justified by works. And thence has arisen endless discussion. How do you reconcile the two things, justified by faith, justified by works? I was brought up by learned and well-meaning people. They solved this problem by this little, uh, statement. We're justified before by wor- by faith before God. We're justified by faith before God. We're justified by works before men. That sounded to me very good, do you see? Until I read the Old Testament. For the example of justification by works that James quotes is once more from the book of Genesis, when Abraham was justified by his works when he offered up Isaac on the altar. And on that occasion, there weren't any men there. Not even Sarah was there. And what is more, when Abraham put Isaac on the altar and raised his hand to slay Isaac, the angel of the Lord intervened and told him to stop and added, for now I know. It's the angel of the Lord talking. God himself, of course. Now I know that you fear me. You say, but that's silly talking like that because God knows in advance. He knows my heart. Well, so he does. But there are different kinds of knowledge, aren't there? I know as I stand here that at the South Pole it's very cold. I know it because I've read it in books, and what the scientists say, I know it's very cold at the South Pole. Uh, you could reason it out, couldn't you? I don't know it by experience. I've never been there. God knew I was going to exist, you know, he foresaw it. I'm glad he wasn't content with that kind of knowledge, merely. I'm glad he insisted that there should be an actual David Gooding born into this world. God knows our hearts, of course. He will eventually demand actual evidence that our faith is in God. James, therefore, is very helpful when he points to Genesis and the story in Genesis. Because the story will explain what otherwise could be a difficulty to us. When God came to Abram and demanded that he be justified by his works, notice what it was that God asked him to do. He didn't say, Abram, now look here, my good man, I blessed you abundantly. Look at the thousands of sheep and goats and camels and things you have. Abram, couldn't you increase your contribution to Oxfam a little bit? I mean, you ought to be interested in some charities or something. Well, I don't know but what he wasn't. But it wasn't that kind of thing that God asked him to do. To find out what it was and what was implied, one must read Hebrews chapter eleven, who describes Abram going up the mountain with Isaac and points out that all the promises of God about the future were all vested in Isaac. In Isaac shall thy seed be called. And God had promised him that in Isaac his descendants would be like the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. And now? God was asking Abraham to offer up Isaac and slay him on the altar. But all his future was in Isaac. All he'd lived for and hoped for was in Isaac. If on the top of the mountain he put Isaac on the altar and slew him, he was left with nothing but God? We're told that when Abraham went up that mountain, I'm not sure he was singing Hallelujah all the way. But we're told he logically worked it out. God had promised all the future in Isaac. Well, if God was asking him now to slay Isaac on the altar as a sacrifice to God, he would do it, but God couldn't break his word. And that would mean that God would have to raise Isaac from the dead, that's all. Do you see this matter of faith, justified by faith? Ultimately, God will test it. Before himself. Is my faith solely in God? Was Abraham's faith solely in God, or was it partly in Isaac? Since God will settle it, Abraham, give me Isaac. That's the realities of faith. And when Abram came down from the mountain, he saw a ram as he looked round, caught in a thicket by its horns, and offered it up as a burnt offering, as a substitute for Isaac. And came down the mountain and called the place, not the place of my tremendous victory and my marvelous faith. No, no, no. He called the place Jehovah Yireh, the Lord will provide. So will God test our faith. That it is in God. You say, when it comes to it, tell me, what standard does God require? When he puts me through the examination as to whether my faith is in God, one hundred percent or not. I mustn't tell you that he's content with seventy five now. God is not in the bo- job of pretending. But oh, thank God. Let me cite you one incident. When our Lord entered Gethsemane, he took three of his disciples and asked them to come, uh, near and then to pray, and he went further to pray. They ought to have prayed, didn't they? They fell asleep. He came and pleaded with them to wake up and pray. They did their best and fell asleep. Were they real disciples of Christ? They meant well. I have to tell you this, that a few hours later, Christ went to Calvary and paid the cost, not only of their faults as sinners, but to cover the shortfall of their devotion to him. Marvelous, isn't it? How else should we survive the tests that God will bring in our lives to show to God that our faith is in him and in him alone? How often we come short, and at the end of the day we have to say, Lord, I tried. You know I tried. I have come short. But thank God for the sacrifice of Christ that covers not merely my transgressions as a sinner, but the shortfall of my devotion as a saint. Three basic doctrines from the New Testament. We see how they are rooted in the Old Testament, and therefore should be stimulated when we get the chance to study the Old Testament in detail. So God bless our study this morning for his namesake.