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Saemoonan English Bible Study 2014-12-14 http://niv.saemoonan.org 1 Purpose of English Bible Study • Study the Bible in English. • Study English through the Bible. Focus on; • Proper pronunciation • Scripture reading/comprehension • Listening/speaking/conversation 5 Time table 8:30 8:40 8:45 8:50 - 9:45 9:47 Praise time: 2 ~ 3 songs Greetings and Announcements Psalm Reading and Prayer Lesson Bible reading Verse memorization Today’s Phrase Conversation Lecture Discussion Pop quiz Lord’s prayer Dismissal song 6 NIV Bible Study Class • Learn God’s Words through the NIV English Bible • Text – NIV Bible 1984 version (Latest ver. 2011) – Rev. John Macarthur’s Commentary • Home pager : http://niv.saemoonan.org. • Download and listen to John MacArthur’s sermon, http://www.gty.org • Membership fee: 10,000 won for 6 months, voluntary. • Please attend English Worship Service at 11:30AM ~12:30, in the same room as NIV class. 7 Organizing members • • • • • • • Teachers: C. Justin Lee, Hong Bong Kim Team Leader: Hong Bong Kim General Secretary: wanted! Associate Secretary: wanted! Treasurer: In Hye Kim Advisor: Kye Hee Lee Contact: – C. Justin Lee: [email protected], 010-2825-7128 – Hong Bong Kim: [email protected], 010-7109-3308 8 Greetings 9 Today’s Announcements • SEM Christmas Dinner Party: 12/25 • Pop Quiz Festival: 12/28 • 12/21 prayer: Ja Sook Lee, Psalm 37:21-40 • 12/28 prayer: Kye Hee Lee, Psalm 38 10 Today’s New Members 11 Apostle’s Creed I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell, The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit; The Holy Catholic Church; The communion of saints; The forgiveness of sins; The resurrection of the body; And the life everlasting. Amen 12 Today’s Psalm Reading: Jung Hee Pyo Psalms 37 1 Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; 2 for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. 3 Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. 7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. 8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-it leads only to evil. 9 For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD13 will inherit the land. Today’s Psalm Reading: Jung Hee Pyo Psalms 37 10 A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. 11 But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace. 12 The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; 13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming. 14 The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright. 15 But their swords will pierce their own hearts, and their bows will be broken. 16 Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked; 17 for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous. 18 The days of the blameless are known to the LORD, and their inheritance will endure forever. 14 Today’s Psalm Reading: Jung Hee Pyo Psalms 37 19 In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty. 20 But the wicked will perish: The LORD's enemies will be like the beauty of the fields, they will vanish-vanish like smoke. 15 Today’s Prayer Prayer by Jung Hee Pyo 16 This Week’s Verse • Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? • (Romans 2:4) (Dec 14) 17 Next Week’s Verse But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. • (Romans 2:5) (Dec 21) 18 Today’s phrase • True to his integrity, the chief sentenced his mother to the forty lashes. • True to ______ integrity, ___________ sentenced _____________ to _______________. (Dec. 14) • To their horror, the thief turned out to be the chief’s aged mother. • To their __________, the __________ turned out to be the _________________. (Dec. 21) 19 This Week’s Conversation A: Do you know what “hypocrite” means? B: Yes. “Hypocrite” refers to someone who acts differently from what he or she believes. A: That’s what the Webster’s dictionary says. But literally it means “less criticism.” B: That’s right. Hypo means less and critical means ciritical. A: I think the meaning comes from the fact that hypocritical person is less critical to himself than to others. B: That’s an interesting interpretation. 20 Next Week’s Conversation A: I heard this story of a wise chief of ancient Russian tribe. B: Really? What is the story about? A: It’s about the chief who wanted to stop theft among the tribe by punishing a thief by 40 lashes on the back. B: That sounds like a harsh punishment. A: It was almost a death sentence, one that only the chief could endure. But one day, his own mother was found to be guilty of stealing. B: How terrible! What happened then? A: If you want to know what happened, come to the NIV class. 21 Today’s Reading Romans 2:1~5 1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? 5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 22 Principles of God’s Judgment Part 1 (Romans 2:1-5) 23 Introduction • After reading Paul’s severe condemnation of those who have abandoned God and plummeted into the gross sins mentioned in 1:29-31, one naturally wonders about how God deals with the more upright, moral, and religious person who has a sense of right and wrong, and leads an outwardly virtuous life. • Many such ethically upright people would heartily concur with Paul’s assessment of the flagrantly immoral people he has just described. • They obviously deserve God’s judgment. • Throughout history many pagan individuals and societies have held high standards of conduct. 24 Introduction • As F. F. Bruce points out, the Roman philosopher Seneca, a contemporary of Paul, might have listened to Paul’s indictment and said, “Yes, that is perfectly true of great masses of mankind, and I concur in the judgment which you pass on them—but there are others, of course, like myself, who deplore these tendencies as much as you do.” 25 Introduction • Paul imagines someone intervening in terms like these, and he addresses the supposed objector…. How apt this reply would have been to a man like Seneca! For Seneca could write so effectively on the good life that Christian writers of later days were prone to call him “our own Seneca.” Not only did he exalt the great moral virtues; he exposed hypocrisy, he preached the equality of all men, he acknowledged the pervasive character of evil, … he practiced and inculcated daily self-examination, he ridiculed vulgar idolatry, he assumed the role of a moral guide. But too often he tolerated in himself vices not so different from those which he condemned in others—the most flagrant instance being his connivance at Nero’s murder of his mother Agrippina. (Romans [London: 26 Introduction • Most Jews of Paul’s day believed in the idea that performing certain moral and religious works produced righteousness. • Specifically, they could earn God’s special favor and therefore eternal life by keeping the Mosaic law and the traditions of the rabbis. • Many even believed that if they failed in the works effort, they might forfeit some earthly reward but were still exempt from God’s judgment simply because they were Jews, God’s chosen people. • They were firmly convinced that God would judge and condemn pagan Gentiles because of their idolatry and immorality but that no Jew would ever experience such 27 condemnation. Introduction • They loved to repeat such sayings as, “God loves Israel alone of all the nations,” and “God will judge the Gentiles with one measure and the Jews with another.” • Some taught that Abraham sat outside the gates of hell in order to prevent even the most wicked Jew from entering. 28 Introduction • In his Dialogue with Trypho, the second-century Christian Justin Martyr reports his Jewish opponent as saying, “They who are the seed of Abraham according to the flesh shall in any case, even if they be sinners and unbelieving and disobedient towards God, share in the eternal kingdom.” • Even the unregenerate have the basic knowledge of good and evil built into them and into society. • Consequently, many people today recognize and seek to uphold the moral standards of Scripture and profess to be Christians. 29 Introduction • But also like Seneca, because they are not true believers in God, they lack the spiritual resources to maintain that divine morality in their lives and are unable to restrain their sinfulness. • They trust in their baptism, in their church membership, in their being born into a Christian family, in the sacraments, in high ethical standards, in orthodox doctrine, or in any number of other outward ideas, relationships, or ceremonies for spiritual and even eternal safety. 30 Introduction • But no one can understand or appropriate salvation apart from recognizing that he stands guilty and condemned before God, totally unable to bring himself up to God’s standard of righteousness. • And no person is exempt. • The outwardly moral person who is friendly and charitable but self-satisfied is, in fact, usually harder to reach with the gospel than the reprobate who has hit bottom, recognized his sin, and given up hope. • Therefore, after showing the immoral pagan his lostness apart from Christ, Paul proceeds with great force and clarity to show the moralist that, before God, he is equally guilty and condemned. 31 Introduction • In doing so, he presents six principles by which God judges sinful men: knowledge (v. 1), truth (vv. 2–3), guilt (vv. 4–5), deeds (vv. 6–10), impartiality (vv. 11–15), and motive (v. 16). 32 Knowledge • Therefore refers to what Paul has just said in the last half of chapter 1, and specifically to the introductory statement: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them, … so that they are without excuse” (vv. 18–20). 33 Knowledge • Addressing the new group of moral people, the apostle says, you also are without excuse, every man of you who passes judgment. • As becomes clear in verse 17, he was speaking primarily to Jews, who characteristically passed judgment on Gentiles, thinking them to be spiritually inferior and even beyond the interest of God’s mercy and care. • But every man of you encompasses all moralists, including professing Christians, who think they are exempt from God’s judgment because they have not sunk into the pagan, immoral extremes Paul has just mentioned. 34 Knowledge • Paul’s initial argument is simple. In that you judge another, he points out, you condemn yourself, because you obviously have a criterion by which to judge, meaning that you know the truth about what is right and wrong before God. • Even the Gentiles know the basic truth of God’s “eternal power and divine nature” through natural revelation (1:20). • They also have a sense of right and wrong by conscience (2:15). • The Jew, however, not only had both of those means of knowing God’s truth but also had the great advantage of having received His special revelation through Scripture 35 (3:2; 9:4). Knowledge • Not only that, but almost all Jews of Paul’s day would have known something of Jesus Christ and of His teaching and claims even though they would not have believed He was the promised Messiah. • Such knowledge would have made them still more inexcusable, in that their greater knowledge of God’s truth would have made them more accountable to it (see Heb. 10:26–29). 36 Knowledge • If relatively unenlightened pagans know basic truths about God and realize they deserve His punishment (1:19–20, 32), Paul was saying, how much more should Jews? – The same principle applies to Christians, both nominal and true. – Because they have greater knowledge of God’s truth they are more accountable to it and more inexcusable when they selfrighteously judge others by it. – James gave a special warning to those who aspire to be Christian teachers, reminding them that, because of their greater knowledge of God’s truth, they will be judged more strictly by Him (James 3:1). – And the fact is, the moralists who condemn others’ sins are filled with their own iniquities which demand judgment by the 37 same standard. Knowledge • But it was not simply that those who are judgmental are wrong in assessing the moral standing of others but that they also are wrong in assessing their own moral standing. • You who judge practice the same things, Paul insists. • The self-righteous make two grave errors: they underestimate the height of God’s standard of righteousness, which encompasses the inner as well as the outer life (the theme of the Sermon on the Mount), and they underestimate the depth of their own sin. • It is a universal temptation to exaggerate the faults of others while minimizing one’s own, to notice a small speck in someone’s eye but not the log in one’s own eye 38 (see Matt. 7:1–3). Knowledge • Many self-sanctified, blind Jews who read these words of Paul would immediately have concluded that what he said did not apply to them. • Like the rich young ruler (Luke 18:21), they were convinced they had done a satisfactory job of keeping God’s commandments (cf. also Matt. 15:1–3). • It was that self-righteous spirit that Jesus repeatedly undermined in the Sermon on the Mount. – After declaring, “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven,” He charged that the person who is angry at or insults his brother is as surely worthy of punishment as the murderer and that the person who lusts is guilty of adultery or fornication just as surely as the person who physically commits 39 those immoral acts (Matt. 5:20–22, 27–28). Knowledge • Many Jewish men tried to legalize their adultery by formally divorcing their wives and then marrying the woman they preferred. • Because divorce had become easy and commonplace, some men repeatedly divorced and remarried. • But Jesus warned: “I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the cause of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery” (v. 32). • If one has enough knowledge to judge others, he is thus self-condemned, for he has enough to judge his own true condition. 40 TRUTH(2:2-3): 2 Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? • Know translates oida, which carries the idea of awareness of that which is commonly known and obvious. • As Paul has already pointed out, even the pagan Gentiles acknowledge that “those who practice such things [the sins listed in 1:29–31] are worthy of death” (v. 32). • Surely then, the more spiritually enlightened Jews know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. 41 TRUTH(2:2-3): • Everything God does is, by nature, right and according to the truth. – Paul declares, “Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar,” (Rom. 3:4), and, “There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!” (9:14). • God is not capable of doing that which is not right or saying that which is not true. – David declared that the Lord “dost sit on the throne judging righteously …. He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity” (Ps. 9:4, 8). – Another psalmist exulted that God “will judge the world in righteousness, and the people in His faithfulness” (Ps. 96:13; cf. 145:17; cf. also Isa. 45:19). • There is always distortion in human perception, but never any in God’s. 42 TRUTH(2:2-3): • Men are so used to God’s blessings and mercy that they take them for granted, not realizing that they receive those things purely because of God’s longsuffering and grace. • God would be perfectly just to blot out any person or all persons. • But human nature trades on God’s grace, believing that everything will work out all right in the end because God is too good and merciful to send anyone to hell. • As someone astutely observed, “There is some kind of a still little voice in everybody that constantly convinces them that in the end it’s going to be OK.” • That little voice speaks from a person’s fallen nature, 43 which constantly seeks to justify itself. TRUTH(2:2-3): • Paul sternly warns against such false confidence. – Although he was conscious of no specific unconfessed sin in his life, even he knew better than to rely on his imperfect human judgment, declaring, “I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord” (1 Cor. 4:3-4). • He knew that every person’s discernment is hopelessly distorted and cannot make a proper evaluation even of his own spiritual health, much less that of someone else. – “Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time,” the apostle goes on to say, “but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God” (v. 5). 44 TRUTH(2:2-3): • Man’s judgment never squares completely with the truth, because he never knows the complete truth. – When the proud moralist judges and condemns others, while thinking he himself is acceptable to God, it is only because he is judging by his own perverted perspective, which fallen human nature always skews to its own advantage. • But God’s perspective and judgment are always perfect. – The writer of Hebrews therefore warns, “There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13). • Every sin that every individual has ever committed flashes on a life-sized screen before God, as it were, with no detail missing from His view. 45 TRUTH(2:2-3): • The secret hope of the hypocrite is that God will somehow judge him by a standard lower than perfect truth and righteousness. – He knows enough to recognize the wickedness of his heart, but he hopes vainly that God will judge him in the same superficial way that most others judge him and that he judges himself. – He plays a kind of religious charade, wanting to be judged by his appearance rather than by his true character. • And because most men accept him for what he pretends to be, as most hypocrites he assumes God will do the same. – But as God cautioned Samuel, “Do not look at his [Eliab’s] appearance or at the height of his stature, … for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the 46 Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). TRUTH(2:2-3): • The secret hope of the hypocrite is that God will somehow judge him by a standard lower than perfect truth and righteousness. – He knows enough to recognize the wickedness of his heart, but he hopes vainly that God will judge him in the same superficial way that most others judge him and that he judges himself. – He plays a kind of religious charade, wanting to be judged by his appearance rather than by his true character. • And because most men accept him for what he pretends to be, as most hypocrites he assumes God will do the same. – But as God cautioned Samuel, “Do not look at his [Eliab’s] appearance or at the height of his stature, … for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the 47 Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). TRUTH(2:2-3): • And do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment upon those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? • Logizomai (suppose) carries the idea of calculating or estimating. (It is related to the English term logic). • The moralist falsely calculates his own sinfulness and guilt. 48 TRUTH(2:2-3): • The hypocritical, self-righteous man who passes judgment upon those who practice the sinful things that he himself practices brings greater judgment on himself. – God not only judges him for those evil practices but also for his hypocrisy in the self-righteous judgment of others. – Such people “are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matt. 23:27). – “You are foolish and self-deceived,” Paul says, “if you think that you will escape the judgment of God.” • If a man cannot escape his own judgment, how can he escape divine judgment? • If we are forced to condemn ourselves, how much more will the infinitely Holy God condemn us? 49 TRUTH(2:2-3): • The only way any person, no matter how outwardly moral and religious, can escape God’s judgment is to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, receiving in faith the provision He made on the cross by His paying the penalty all deserve. • It has been told that nomadic tribes roamed ancient Russia much as American Indians once roamed North America. • The tribe that controlled the choicest hunting grounds and natural resources was led by an exceptionally strong and wise chief. • He ruled not only because of his superior physical strength but because of his utter fairness and 50 impartiality. TRUTH(2:2-3): • When a rash of thefts broke out, he proclaimed that if the thief were caught he would be punished by ten lashes from the tribal whip master. • As the thefts continued, he progressively raised the number of lashes to forty, a punishment that everyone knew he was the only one strong enough to endure. • To their horror, the thief turned out to be the chief’s aged mother, and speculation immediately began as to whether or not he would actually sentence her to the announced punishment. • Would he satisfy his love by excusing her or would he satisfy his law by sentencing her to what would surely be her death? 51 TRUTH(2:2-3): • True to his integrity, the chief sentenced his mother to the forty lashes. • But true also to his love for his mother, just before the whip came down on her back he surrounded her frail body with his own, taking upon himself the penalty he had prescribed for her. • In an infinitely greater way, Christ took the penalty of all men’s sin upon Himself. 52 Today’s Prayer Topic Thank Jesus for taking the penalty of my sin upon Himself. 53 The Lord’s Prayer Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. (Matthew 6:9-13) 54 God will make a way God will make a way Where there seems to be no way He works in ways we cannot see He will make a way for me He will be my guide Hold me closely to His side With love and strength for each new day He will make a way.... He will make a way 55