His words

• John 1:1, 14, 18
• Luke 9:35 – Listen to Him!
• John 12:48-50; 14:23-26 – The apostles would share Jesus’ words with help from the Holy Spirit.
• Deuteronomy 18:15-19 – Jesus was prophesied!
• Acts 3:22-26; 5:18-21 – All the prophets were looking forward to Jesus.
• We should never try to separate Jesus from His words.
• Our society needs the words of Jesus!

His death

• Luke 23:33-38, 44-49
• Jesus allowed this to happen.
• Crucifixion was a terrible, painful, and shameful method of execution.
• Hebrews 12:2
• Matthew 26:28

His resurrection

• Luke 24:1-7
• Leviticus 23:16
• I Corinthians 16:1-2
• Acts 20:7 – We remember Jesus’ death every first day of the week.
• I Corinthians 11:26; 15:14, 17
• Romans 6:3-12 – Jesus literally died. We must die to sin and rise to walk in newness of life.

Introduction

• Matthew 5:31; 19:3-9 – Henry VIII started the Anglican Church because of marriage, divorce, and remarriage!
• Isaiah 53:5 – Modern-day Jews try to ignore this passage because they don’t believe Jesus is the Messiah.

I should know that the Bible is understandable.

• John 20:30-31
• Ephesians 3:4-6
• Luke 10:25-28 – The Old Covenant law was readable and understandable.
• II Peter 1:12-15; 3:1 – Peter was preserving this for them!

I should be willing to admit, “I don’t know” instead of developing pride.

• Hebrews 5:11-14
• Mark 12:18-27
• Job 23:1-7
• Deuteronomy 29:29
• John 21:22-23
• Acts 2:9-11
• Let us focus on what we do know rather than what is not revealed.

I should try to overcome my bias instead of pretending I don’t have any.

• John 11:47-48
• I Peter 2:2
• Luke 15:11-32 – Parable of the prodigal son.
  • Mark Allen Powell – The Forgotten Famine

I should put the work in to actually read and study the Bible.

• Acts 17:11
• II Peter 3:16

I should apply everything that is relevant to me.

• Ezekiel 33:30-33 – It does us no good if we don’t apply what we study!

Introduction

• First of all, if you have been baptized, and then committed some sin, that by itself does not mean you need to be baptized again.
  • Acts 8:12-23
  • I John 1:9

Back when you were baptized …

… did you understand that you were personally guilty of sin?

• Acts 2:38
• I Peter 3:21
• Acts 9:5-6, 9; 22:16; 2:23, 36-38
• People in the Bible felt relief and joy after baptism
  • Acts 2:46; 8:39; 9:19; 16:34

… did you know the good news?

• Matthew 28:18-20
• Acts 2:40-41; 8:12, 35
• Romans 6:3

… were you truly convinced?

• Mark 16:15-16 – Belief is a prerequisite of baptism.
• Acts 2, 8; 17:2-4, 11-12; 18:8
• Hebrews 11:6
• Romans 10:8-10 – The true believer is able to confess Jesus as Lord.
• John 12:42-43

… did you start a new life?

• Acts 2:38-42
• Ezekiel 18:30-32
• Jonah 3:4-10; Matthew 12:41
• Acts 26:20; 8:13, 18
• Romans 6:4

The Bible itself does NOT give any of these reasons to be baptized:

• To make my family or friends happy.
• Because it seems like a grown-up thing to do.
• I want to start taking the Lord’s Supper.
• Someone told me, “It’s about time,” even though I wasn’t ready.
• Someone else got baptized and I didn’t want to feel left out.
• To join a denomination.
• To accomplish something other than obeying God’s plan to put on Christ and receive forgiveness of sins.

Introduction

• Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell
• God reveals Himself in two ways:
  • The book of scripture
  • The book of nature
  • Psalms 19:1-4, 7, 8; II Timothy 3:14-17; II Peter 1:16-21; Romans 1:18-20
  • If those two do not agree, something is wrong with our understanding!

Patristic (early church fathers’) interpretations

Epoch day view

• 1 creation day = 1000 years
• Taken from II Peter 3:8

Allegorical / figurative day view

• “How could creation take place in time, seeing time was born along with things that exist?” – Clement of Alexandria

24-hour view

• 1 creation day = 1 literal 24-hour day

Modern interpretations (late 1700s+)

Concordist

• Old earth
  • Gap view
    • Popularized by the Scofield Reference Bible. God creates the world, Satan destroys it, then God recreates it.
  • Day-age view
    • Days of creation are long but finite periods of time.
  • Intermittent day view
    • Each “day” of creation is a 24-hour period followed by an extended, finite period of time.
  • Days of divine fiat view
    • The six days of creation are the days that God commanded things to come into existence. Then God caused the different parts of creation to come into an existence over an extended period of time.
• Young earth
  • 24-hour view
    • Creation days were literal 24-hour days.
  • Mature creation view
    • 24-hour literal days, but created to look fully mature.

Non-concordist

• Framework view
  • Seven days is a figurative framework around what really happened.
• Analogical days view
  • Seven days are God’s work days. The length is not specified and are not important.
• Functional cosmic temple view
  • Creation is talking about the functions God created – not the material things.
• Historical creationism view
  • Genesis 1:1 refers to the creation of the universe and all that is in it. Genesis 1:2-2:4 describes God’s work of preparing a land that would eventually be promised to Abraham and his descendants.
• Days of revelation view
  • The Genesis 1 account is a series of statements telling man what God had done in ages past to create the universe and earth. The six days of creation are the time God took to tell man about how He created the universe, not the time it took for it to actually happen.

Introduction

• Acts 8:4
• I Timothy 1:3; Titus 1:4, 12-13

Preach the word.

• II Timothy 4:1-5
• To preach the word, you must preach from the word!
• II Timothy 2:15
• II Timothy 3:13-17 – This is what we want! The scripture that will prepare us.
• Titus 2:1 – Teach sound doctrine.

Fight error.

• I Timothy 1:3-7
• Acts 20:26-32 – You need God’s word to fight off error.
• I Timothy 4:5-8 – We must stay away from far-fetched theories.
• I Timothy 6:3-5
• II Timothy 2:14-18
• Titus 3:9-11 – You will need to take a stand against error!
• Titus 1:13

Speak with authority.

• Titus 3:1
• I Timothy 5:20
• I Timothy 6:18
• II Timothy 1:7