Our message today, friends, is taken from a
book I wrote called Know the Book, a
Bible survey at a glance.
I think it's important that we have a
good understanding of each book of the Bible
and at least have a knowledge of a
survey of that book.
And what I want to do today is
take the first five books of the Bible,
the Pentateuch, and go over each one and
give you the central message, the central events,
the central figures, the central verse, and the
central application for us today.
And I'll start with the book of Genesis.
The central message of Genesis is the following.
Genesis is a book of beginnings and endings.
It begins with life and ends with the
death.
Joseph, we need to see the beginning of
a lovely relationship in Eden between God and
man.
We see that relationship severed due to Satan
and sin.
We see a mankind so wicked, God has
to judge it with a flood.
We see a man found faithful, Noah, and
a man called by God, Abram.
God gives Abraham three things, a promised covenant,
a promised land, and a promised son.
We read this book in wonder as we
realize the purpose of God, which he works
through man, and the patience of God, which
he extends toward man.
As Sodom and Gomorrah become symbols of wickedness,
so Abraham becomes a symbol of faithfulness.
The failure of Abraham to wait upon God
by producing Ishmael is overshadowed by his faithfulness
in offering Isaac.
Jacob steals the birthright and the blessing from
his brother Esau, and we follow the patriarch
down his crooked path until he straightens out
at the brook Jabbok.
There he wrestles with God and ends up
leaning on God and limping through life.
We follow Joseph and his dreams into a
pit and a prison.
We see Joseph raised up to be a
prophet and a prince.
Genesis is a book of God working out
his plans and purpose through man.
A man is a failure, and God is
faithful.
The central events are creation, the fall, the
flood, the tower of Babel, the call of
Abram, his family, and God's covenant with him,
the offering of Isaac, the stealing of the
birthright by Jacob, Jacob's vision of the latter,
and his wrestling with God and Joseph in
Egypt.
The central figures are Adam and Eve, God
and Satan, Cain and Abel, Abraham and Sarah,
Hagar and Ishmael, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and
Esau, the wives and children of Jacob, Joseph,
and Potiphar's wife, and Pharaoh.
The central verse in Genesis is Genesis 3,
15, friends.
And I will put enmity between you and
the woman, and between your seed and her
seed.
He shall bruise your head, and you shall
bruise his heel.
The central application is, the key application for
today's Christian believer is, though we are imperfect
vessels, God has a perfect plan for us.
Despite our failures, God will use the faithful
believer who follows him and allows him to
fulfill his plans and purposes through us.
We must be watchful to be obedient and
not disappoint him and frustrate his plans for
us.
We must remember that we Christians are chosen
like Abraham to be representatives of God in
the world, to be a blessing to others
through our path in life.
Though it's fraught with many side roads and
back roads, we must strive to remain on
the main road, the narrow one.
God will enable us, and he will equip
us, and he will never desert us.
I want to look at a survey of
Exodus next, friends.
The central message of Exodus is, Exodus traces
the history of the Israel nation as they
leave their bondage in Egypt under the leadership
of Moses.
It's a record of the birth of Moses
and his rise to prominence within the household
of Pharaoh.
It's an example of a man trying to
accomplish God's purposes by human effort, defending his
Hebrew brethren, by killing the Egyptian and taking
matters into his own hands, and failing.
Only when Moses is put out in the
desert for the next 40 years of his
life in total obscurity does he become emptied
of self and useful for God.
Exodus is one of the most exciting books
of the Bible as it relates the following
central accounts.
God reveals himself to Moses at the bush.
Miracles are performed by God.
The law given with its commandments, judgments, and
ordinances.
The plans for the tabernacle are given and
constructed.
The furniture of the tabernacle, the brazen altar,
the brazen laver, table of shoe bread and
candle stand, altar of incense, the ark and
the mercy seat.
In this epic of Israel's testing ground, we
see God lay out his best for his
people by giving them a way of access
to him through the tabernacle, by giving them
laws to live, to live by, to help
and protect them, by giving them liberty from
human bondage, by giving them bread from heaven
to sustain them, and giving them guidance in
the wilderness through the pillar of cloud and
fire.
But we see the backsliding people of Israel
fail their test and bow down to a
golden calf and murmur against God practically every
step of the way.
God's patience is tested by the sin and
people and Moses intercedes for them and God
relents of his anger toward them, but because
of their continual provoking him, the day of
mercy ends.
The central events are bondage in Egypt, the
ten plagues, the Passover, the crossing of the
Red Sea, the giving of the Ten Commandments,
the golden calf, the manna and the quail,
and the water from the rock.
The central figures are Moses, Pharaoh, Jethro, Aaron,
Miriam, and Joshua.
The central verse of Exodus, friends, is Exodus
29 46.
And they shall know that I am the
Lord their God who brought them up out
of the land of Egypt that I may
dwell among them.
I am the Lord their God.
And the central application is the following.
The key application for today's Christian can be
found in the words holiness to the Lord.
We like Aaron and his sons are to
be priests holy to the Lord like the
vessels of the tabernacle were set apart and
consecrated.
We too should be the same.
The Hebrews murmured in the wilderness and failed
to enter Canaan, the land of promise.
We must examine our lives under the spotlight
of the Holy Spirit and be sure we
are not grumblers as well.
We have light, we have grace, we have
Jesus, and we have our Bibles.
How much more is expected from us by
God in this present dispensation of the church
age?
Will we fail as well?
The next book is Leviticus and the central
message, friends, is Leviticus is a book about
holiness.
It's a book about consecration.
It is a book about God and his
ordinances for man.
Through Moses, God was given his people a
way to access him, to fellowship with him,
a way of atonement for their sins.
God is holy and for sinful man to
have access to him, there must be a
blood sacrifice and atonement for sin.
This book points to Calvary and the atoning,
redemptive work of Christ.
His blood shed for mankind's sins.
What a loving God we have.
Through Leviticus, God is preparing his people to
be able to live within his best for
them.
The laws, the regulations, the precepts are a
way for the people of Israel to be
separate and set apart for him.
The conditions that God sets forth for obedience
are not to chastise or confine the people,
but to bless and safeguard them.
We see the purpose of God throughout the
description of the offerings, the burn offering, the
meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering,
and the trespass offering.
The main duty of the Levite priests is
to present themselves as consecrated vessels to God
so they may be effective mediators between the
people and God.
Jesus is our high priest today as he
mediates for us with the father.
He gave us access to the throne by
his shed blood and resurrection.
The themes of purity and holiness are ever
before in this book.
There is a command in 18.4, you
shall observe my judgments and keep my ordinances
to walk in them.
I am the Lord your God.
There is a reason behind the command.
You should be holy for I the Lord
your God am holy.
For without holiness no one will see God.
In chapter 26 there is the promise of
blessing for obedience and the promise of curses
through disobedience.
God warns his people if they disobey him
and turn their hearts away from him.
I will set my face against you.
It is the prevalent if but theory of
the Old Testament.
If you walk in my statutes then I
will give you rain, peace, etc.
But if you do not obey me, well
you better look out for the but friends.
And the central events of Leviticus are the
giving of the divine laws, the regulations for
the offerings and sacrifices.
The central figures are Aaron and his sons,
the priests and Moses.
The central verse is found in 18.4,
you shall observe my judgments and keep my
ordinances to walk in them.
I am the Lord your God.
And the key application friends is this, the
key application for today's Christian can be found
in the way we have access to God.
He alone is holy.
He alone is God.
We are sinful humans for sinful humanity to
access him.
There must be a blood sacrifice for atonement
of sin.
Praise God that Jesus did this for us
and through his atoning blood and resurrection we
too have access to the Father.
We must be careful in this present dispensation
to be holy and be thankful for what
Christ has done for us.
We too must be set apart and live
holy consecrated lives to him who shed his
blood for us.
Well this next book is Numbers and we
want to do a survey of this as
well friends.
The central message of Numbers deals with the
census of Israel, the complaining of Israel and
the failure of Israel to enter Canaan.
It took 40 years to get Israel out
of Egypt but it took 40 years to
get Egypt out of Israel.
This is seen clearly through this account of
the disobedient and discouraged Israelites who give up
on God at the very edge of their
destination, Canaan, the promised land.
They were willing to only go so far
with God and then fell into utter collapse
of faith.
How tragic this book is, how valuable it
is to us today as we study it
since they were examples unto us.
In this wandering period of wilderness travels we
observe two generations of people.
Number one, those who perish in the wilderness
because of their unbelief and disobedience to God.
And number two, the generation of children whose
parents refused to take possession of the land
now inherit the promised land and take possession
of it unto Joshua.
The children of Israel are numbered twice in
this book hence the name numberings or numbers.
Numbers gives us a big glimpse of God
and we see both his tender care for
his people Israel in leading them with the
cloud and the fire.
We also see his unwavering justice as he
issues judgment and death penalties for those who
disobey his commands.
This book also gives us a clear portrait
of Moses as he leads the people, as
he loses his temper with the people, and
as he lays on his face in intercession
for the people between the ceremonial laws and
the description of the various offerings.
We have a sad portrait of a disobedient
people who continually have to be reminded what
God has done for them and what he
has promised to them.
Appropriation is the key word of this book
of numbers.
Canaan is there ready to be appropriated by
faith.
It's not attained because faith is not exercised.
The central events are the pilgrimage of Israel
as they fail to inherit the promised land
and the discipline of the wilderness wanderings.
This can also be labeled the book of
murmurings.
The central figures are Moses and Aaron, Miriam,
Balak and Balaam, Caleb and Joshua.
The central verse, friends, can be found in
chapter 14 and verse 23.
They certainly shall not see the land of
which I swore to their fathers, nor shall
any of those who rejected me see it.
The central application is this, friends.
The key application for today's Christian believer is
found in the word appropriate.
Canaan for the Israelites was a physical promised
land given to them by God.
Canaan for us represents our victory here on
this earth as we live out our Christian
life.
We too can fail to appropriate our Canaan
and experience a life of victory over the
flesh.
Obedience, faith and appropriation is what we need
today.
We will have our battles with the enemy
as we take possession of the fullness of
the Holy Spirit and enter Canaan here on
earth in our spiritual walk with the Lord.
We can choose to murmur like Israel or
possess what is already ours.
And I'm going to look at this fifth
book in Deuteronomy and this will end our
survey of the Bible today, friends.
But let me finish with this.
The central message of Deuteronomy is its theme,
which runs throughout is remember the Lord your
God.
Moses is constantly instructing the Israelites to remember
all that God has done for them as
they prepare to cross over the Jordan to
possess the promised land.
Their initial failure to possess the land which
God gave them has placed them in the
40 years of wilderness wandering.
God has various laws for his people to
follow.
And Moses instructs the people in these laws
concerning diet, divorce, inheritance rights, sexual morality and
other miscellaneous laws.
Moses conveys to the congregation that they are
a special people of God.
There is God's promise to his people in
chapter 11 and verse 24.
Every place on which the sole of your
foot tread shall be yours.
And there is God's presence amidst his people
found in verse five, for the Lord talked
with you face to face on the mountain
from the midst of the fire.
And there is God's punishment for those who
disobey him found in chapter 13 and verse
three for the Lord.
Your God is testing you to know whether
to love the Lord, your God, with all
your heart and with all your soul.
In Deuteronomy, we see the old generation who
came up from Egypt die off directly from
God's displeasure with them.
The failure to enter Canaan and occupy it
came with dire judgment because of Israel's refusal
to enter the land.
They entered the desert years, 40 years of
wandering, also called the murmuring years, and experienced
God's penalty for their rebellion and lack of
faith.
The new generation is instructed in obedience and
warned against idolatry.
They are given the prescribed requirements for a
place of worship found in chapter 12, and
a blessing and a curse is set before
them.
This is seen in chapter 11, verses 26
through 28.
Behold, set before you today a blessing and
a curse, the blessing if you obey the
commandments of the Lord, your God, which I
command you today, and the curse if you
do not obey the commandments of the Lord,
your God.
God is a God like no other, and
he demands strict obedience from his people.
Even Moses is penalized and prevented from entering
the promised land because of earlier disobedience.
The key words of this book are obey
and remember.
Obey God and remember all he has done
for you.
Sadly, God predicts Israel's future rebellion in chapter
31 and verse 16.
This people will rise and play the harlot
with the gods of the foreigners.
They will forsake me and break my covenant.
The central events are the discourses given by
Moses on the plains of Moab.
The central figures are Moses and Joshua.
The central verse is found in chapter 8
and verse 11.
Beware that you do not forget the Lord
your God.
And the central application, friends, for today's Christian
is found in chapter 8.
We too must be watchful not to be
like Israel.
When your heart is lifted up and you
forget the Lord your God who brought you
out of the land of Egypt from the
house of bondage.
Jesus delivered us from the house of bondage
and sin.
He redeemed us by his precious blood, lest
we too forget.
Well, that finishes up our Bible survey that
Pena took for today, friends.
We'll look at some more surveys as we
go through our Bible over the coming weeks.