The greatest story every told OT

Intro

Name some great stories you have heard?

What are some great movies?

What Makes them great?

The action

The suspense

The waiting for the verdict

Trying to predict what will happen and being surprised

WE have a great story in the bible

I’ve heard so many people say the bible is boring

This is common for students

because we have looked at the bible as a collection of saying

its just rules for my life

Rules that I dont like very much

We need the story

The bible isnt just a collection of sayings but its a story

We need to understand where all these sayings fall in line with the greater story

if I just read you a few quotes from a book

Maybe you would want to read it

Have you ever seen a trailer for a movie that wasnt that great but the movie was actually really good

looked a book title and thought eeeehhh but then read it and you were like man that was good

Thats why we must understand the story of the bible

This is the story about us

The story about our God and his plan for redemption of his people

The story about the creator of the universe and his plan to rescue his people

This is a great back cover hopefully intriguing enough that you will read on

Today we will walk through this story

You will get to see the story of redemption

so lets get started

We will walk through the first half of the story we will see the conflict rise and we will end just before the climax that will be for this afternoon

Genesis 1 ESV

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. 6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. 9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. 14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. 20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. 24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

The story opens with a dark screen

Then thundering forward comes a voice and we see dark int he dark a formless and void place we can tell that waters are there and something like a mist hovering over it

Then we hear the thunder again and light is created

Then at the pinnacle of this creation story God creates man in his image

Everything is Good

Something Goes wrong

Genesis 3:1–13 ESV

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

So here at the beginning whats Good is now broken

But God wont leave it there

Genesis 3:14–4:1 ESV

14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” 17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” 20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. 22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. 1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”

The relation ship that is good is broken and we have to ask how will this be put back together

Next we are introduced to the very thing that will pleague this creation until the end of the story

Genesis 4:7 ESV

7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

Man will do battle with Sin

And the first part of this story we look at this

Intro

scene 1 everything was good the serpent loomed

scene 2 the serpent decieves and man falls

scene 3 gods bring his nation out of captivity

gives them a way to live

Read Deuteronomy 30:11-20

Deuteronomy 30:11–20 ESV

11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. 15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

There is a command put before this nation of isreal to obey God

Obey God and it will go well with you

Dont obey God and there will be consequences

There is a blessing for obedience and curses for those who disobey the law

and as we look in this book we see example after example of disobedience

In this scene in particular

its a sad story of God’s people going back and forth between short periods of obedience and longer spells of disobedience

The story of scene 4 is one of failure and faithfulness

The failure of God’s people

and the faithfulness of God

The Failure

This new nations that God has faithfully brought out of Egypt

These people to whom he says I will be your God and you will be my people

These are the very people who will reject him

it doesnt take long after their freedom from captivity but they are punished and now there is a chance

They recieved the law

They were told how to live it out

shema Deuteronomy 6:5-8

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 ESV

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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.

Deuteronomy 6:20–25 ESV

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. 25 And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’

Now they would do it right???

NO!!!!!!!!

in fact this disobedience is prophecied by God himself

Deuteronomy 31:16–18 ESV

16 And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them. 17 Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’ 18 And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because they have turned to other gods.

And these consequences will be felt

When the chosen people turn their face from God

What is he to do reward them for their disobedience

by no means he has already told them who he is

A gracious but just God

Exodus 34:6–9 ESV

6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” 8 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

we see a God who is faithful to his word and gracious to his people

There are so many events that occur here in the remainder of this scene

Time and time again we see God’s people turn from him and he is gracious and he calls them back to himself

We see the Judges come in and time and time again in the book of judges we hear

Judges 21:25 ESV

25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Then we see the kings come and they continue to turn from God

We have a good kings that God blesses

Kings that keep the people of isreal looking toward God

Kings that are given the highest of praise

Then we see kings that turn the people of isreal toward other Gods

God removes that king

We then see the removal of the people of God from the promised land as they go into exile

Daniel

They return only to be occupied again

As Gods people continue to turn away from God

And we are left in the last book in scene 4 with statements like this

Malachi 2:10–11 ESV

10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

Judah has been faithless

It has married itself to other God’s

looked to its own interest instead of heading the words given to them by God through Moses

Shema and forgettingbeginning of Deuteronomy 30:11

Deuteronomy 30:11 ESV

11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off.

The Darkness

After this Book God will do exactly as he promised he will hid his face

Deuteronomy 30:17–18 ESV

17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.

Deuteronomy 31:17 ESV

17 Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’

for 400 years as the scene close dispare looms

the faithfulness of God will ring true

in the most depressing of ways the faithfulness of God will be felt by his people

These word will ring true

you Can hear echoes of a song we sing here

what can makes us whole

clearly the laws didnt

clearly our own nation didn’t

so what can make us whole again

Malachi 3:6 ESV

6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

But as we watch the story unfold we there is a hope

The Hope

The scene ends with a star high above a manger

how does this scene even bring hope for us

what do we learn from this scene about god

how should we live differently in light of that