2020-09
2020-09
Wednesday Sep 23, 2020
"Moses" (Ch. 10) and "A Nation of Priests" (Ch. 11)
Wednesday Sep 23, 2020
Wednesday Sep 23, 2020
Created to Draw Near: Our Life as God’s Royal Priests
by Edward T. Welch
“Moses” (Chapter 10)
From Jacob to Levi
Jacob’s son Levi would be the father of the priestly line in Israel.
Transition from Father/Patriarch priests to Levite priests
A Levite Had a Son
Exodus 2:1–2 NIV
1 Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.
“This couple would have a priestly son, and he would stand in the gap between heaven and earth. He would receive words from the Lord to give to the people, and he would hear the pleas of the people to give to the Lord. In Moses, humanity’s true identity would become more vivid than in anyone before Jesus.” - Ed Welch
1. Meeting God in a bush.
Exodus 3:1–5 NIV
1Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” 4When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” 5“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
A moveable Most Holy Place - wherever God is, there is holy ground.
A fire that does not consume - awe and nearness.
Removed sandals - cleansing in the presence of the holy
A conversation - a back and forth dialogue between the Lord and Moses.
“This is an image-bearing priest on grand display. We alone are like God in such a way that he speaks to us, we listen, we speak to him, and he listens—back and forth. This is what can happen when God comes close, and it was a distinctive feature of Moses’s life.” - Edward Welch
2. Meeting God on a mountain.
Heaven and earth meet at Sinai.
A vision of heaven
Exodus 24:10 NIV
10and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky.
With God on the summit - the Most Holy Place
Exodus 24:16 NIV
16and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud.
Moses - a new Adam walking and talking with God on the seventh day.
A shining face - drawing near to the Lord is transformational.
Exodus 34:30 NIV
30When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.
3. Meeting God in a small tent.
The Lord descends and came to Moses at the tent of meeting.
Face to face
Exodus 33:11 NIV
11The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
Moses’ Priestly Role
Established altars and made sacrifices and burnt offerings
Guarded and kept the temple mountain to protect the people
Made a stand for God’s holiness (Ex. 32:21)
Led people into war (Ex. 17:8)
Taught and applied the words of the Lord to the people (Lev. 10:11; Deut. 33:10)
Preeminently, it was his nearness to God that identified him as a priest unto the Lord.
“Levites worked in the tabernacle courts, but they couldn’t get as near to the Most Holy Place as the priests who descended from Aaron. Moses and Aaron came from Levi, but Moses did not come from Aaron. Since Moses clearly came close to the Lord—closer than any Aaronic priest—he is a small reminder that non-credentialed people like us might also be able to come near to God, and he might come near to us.” - Edward Welch
“A Nation of Priests” (Chapter 11)
Exodus 19:5–6 NIV
5Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
Priests among a Nation of Priests
Priestly line was demarcated and specific
Levi
Aaron
“Priests represented the people, and the high priest actually wore symbols of the people on his vestments, but the people in general were not priests... But we have reason to think that the line of priests was going to expand.” - Edward Welch
Priests outside the Line of Aaron
Moses
Samuel
1 Samuel 16:2 NIV
2But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’
King David’s sons
2 Samuel 8:18 NIV
18Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were priests.
Family-father priests (Passover, Ex. 12:1-11)
“It wasn’t the temple or Levi that defined the priesthood. The key was holiness, and holiness—an essential condition for priests in which they were chosen by God, set apart for him and cleansed—was going to be available to everyone (Lev. 19:2; 20:7–8).” - Edward Welch
“The people as priests came first. The Levitical priesthood did not replace the people as priests. It simply offered a more concentrated version of priestly life that would eventually be redistributed to all the people.” - Edward Welch
“This means that you are a treasured possession. Out of all creation, God determined that those whose allegiance is to him are of great worth, and when you have a treasured possession, you keep it close and never let it go.” - Edward Welch
“You are among a kingdom of priests. Men, women, and children wear the priestly garments. As per the original calling, you go out and serve as priests to the nations that are presently far off.” - Edward Welch
“You are brought into a holy nation. You are not holy because you are pure in yourself or closer to perfection than your neighbor. Only God makes us holy. Humility and thanks, therefore, are the natural response of all priests.” - Edward Welch
Leviticus 26:11–12 NIV
11I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. 12I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.
Isaiah 61:6 NIV
6And you will be called priests of the Lord, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast.
Sunday Sep 20, 2020
"Dependence and Humility" (Luke 9:37-50)
Sunday Sep 20, 2020
Sunday Sep 20, 2020
"Dependence and Humility" (Luke 9:37-50)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday AM, September 20, 2020Luke 9:37-50, NIV37 The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. 38 A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. 40 I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.”
41 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”
42 Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. 43 And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.
While everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples, 44 “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” 45 But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.
46 An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. 47 Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. 48 Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.”
49 “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.”
50 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”
Everything that we have and can do comes from God’s gracious hand.
There is no room for spiritual pride.
Philippians 2:5-11, NIV
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:3-4, NIV
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
Main Idea: Because everything that we have and are able to do comes from God’s gracious hand, there is no room for spiritual pride.
Wednesday Sep 16, 2020
"Sanctuaries & Ladders" (Ch. 8) & "Jacob" (Ch. 9)
Wednesday Sep 16, 2020
Wednesday Sep 16, 2020
Created to Draw Near: Our Life as God’s Royal Priests
by Edward T. Welch
Part 2: Israel
“Sanctuaries & Ladders” (Chapter 8)
When God Comes Close
Altars - where heaven came to earth
God’s voice and heavenly visions - when God speaks, he is present.
Blessings and promises
When he blesses us, we will, in turn, pass that blessing to others, and a prized priestly job is to pronounce blessings. - Edward Welch
Holy
people, places, special days, and objects that God has brought close to himself
Priests
Job - one of our priestly ancestors
Job 1:5 NIV5When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.
Abraham
Genesis 12:8 NIV8From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
Melchizedek
As God’s priest Melchizedek shared in the status of God himself, which means that he was Jesus. - Edward Welch
Was Melchizedek Jesus?
Melchizedek described with names, locations, etc. suggest he was a normal man.
Melchizedek, king of Salem parallel with king of Sodom in Gen. 14, who met Abram simultaneously (Wenham, Hamilton).
Hebrews 5-7 understands him to be a “type” of Christ, but not Christ himself. Melchizedek’s priesthood becomes a paradigm for the priesthood of Christ.
Both Jewish interpretation and early church interpretation understood Melchizedek to be a historical figure.
It has been suggested that he is the pre-incarnate Messiah. However, the author of the epistle to the Hebrews teaches against such an identification (see Heb. 7:3–4). - John Currid
Jacob
Genesis 28:12–13 NIV12He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.
Genesis 28:16–17 NIV16When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
Genesis 28:18–19 NIV18Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
It was only a stone or two, but that’s how temples get started. This temple was the house of God, and from it was a ladder that traversed into heaven itself. - Edward Welch
When the veil of heaven is pulled back for a moment, as it was with the ladder, we see that much is happening. And God is resolute—he was making a way for his royal priests to be with him. He is never far. - Edward Welch
“Jacob” (Chapter 9)
...Priests are the ones brought close to God, and Jacob was very close. - Edward Welch
Genesis 32:24–30 NIV24So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. 28Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” 29Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. 30So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
Meeting God a Second Time
Jacob was alone, and it was dark.
Facing danger
Would he and his family survive his meeting with Esau?
God met him.
God responds to our fears.
God assures his people of his presence.
God emptied himself of strength.
The “man” who wrestled with Jacob was most likely a Christophany - a preincarnate appearance of Christ.
This event gives us a glimpse of the incarnation in which Christ humbled himself and took on the weakness of humanity.
God revealed his strength gently.
God and his strength were revealed with he “touched” Jacob’s hip.
...Those who know God accurately know that he is inclined to be near, and to be near is to bless. - Edward Welch
God blessed him.
A new name
No longer “deceiver”
Now “prevailer with God”
Priests typically were models of decorum when they came near to the Lord. There were, however, especially desperate times during which they learned that they could not make life work through their own cunning. At those times desperation emboldened them. Like the impudent midnight caller who kept asking a neighbor for bread until he finally got out of bed and gave him bread (Luke 11:5–8), we have the option of holding on to the Lord even tighter as we remember his power and love. There is more than one way to be near and receive the blessing he promises. - Edward Welch
Sunday Sep 13, 2020
"The Glorified Messiah" (Luke 9:28-36)
Sunday Sep 13, 2020
Sunday Sep 13, 2020
"The Glorified Messiah" (Luke 9:28-36)Pastor Cameron JungelsEastside Baptist ChurchSunday AM, September 13, 2020
Luke 9:28-36, NIV
28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. 31 They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)
34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” 36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.
2 Peter 1:16-18
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
Main Idea: The Suffering Messiah will one day come again as the Glorified Messiah.
Wednesday Sep 09, 2020
"Discernment Lost" (Ch. 6) & "Living outside the Most Holy Place" (Ch. 7)
Wednesday Sep 09, 2020
Wednesday Sep 09, 2020
Created to Draw Near: Our Life as God’s Royal Priests
by Edward T. Welch
“Discernment Lost” (Chapter 6)
Genesis 3:22 NIV
22And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
Humanity Downgraded
Humanity suffered a loss of status after the Fall.
The created order was inverted: serpent -> woman -> man.
Like God, Knowing Good & Evil?
How did Adam & Eve become “like God”?
How did Adam & Eve “know good & evil”?
An experiential knowledge vs. a theoretical knowledge?
Did “know good & evil” before the Fall but then lost it?
Self-gained knowledge sought by human autonomy rather than by submission to divine revelation.
Knowledge by Revelation or by Autonomy?
Seeking our own knowledge and wisdom makes us “like God” in one sense in terms of our own autonomy and self-determination, but it makes us less “like God” in every other sense.
Disregarding God’s revelation actually makes us less “like God” and makes us “less human.”
In order to be full-functioning priests we need a steely, moral discernment. To lose it is to become less noble and honorable. It is to become less human. - Edward Welch
Yet the Lord has determined that nothing will interfere with his priestly call on our lives, so he will do it. He will set us on a course of wisdom and discernment that will culminate in the Spirit of wisdom being poured out on all of us. That wisdom and discernment will be essential for our closeness to God, which is our destiny. - Edward Welch
Deuteronomy 4:5–6 NIV
5See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. 6Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
1 Kings 3:9–10 NIV
9So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” 10The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.
Isaiah 5:20 NIV
20Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Jeremiah 4:22 NIV
22“My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.”
Jeremiah 31:33 NIV
33“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Hebrews 5:14 NIV
14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to dis
Obedience to Christ is not a burden to bear. Instead it points the way to being truly human—an unfettered conscience, an unhindered nearness to him, and the pleasure of his hospitality and protection. - Edward Welch
“Life outside the Most Holy Place” (Chapter 7)
The March of Death
Physical Death
Spiritual Death
Breach in relationship with God
Breach in relationship with one another
Blind to personal wrongdoing
Magnifying the wrongs of others
Genesis 3:11–13 NIV
11And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Point and Accuse
Excusing ourselves and passing blame is our default setting.
Proverbs 14:12 NIV
12There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.
Pointing and accusing is our means of covering up our own sins.
The accusations start flying when we want to cover up certain behaviors. So when you blame, consider what you are trying to hide. - Edward Welch
Nakedness and Shame
Rebellion brought guilt, which brought shame, which revealed our nakedness.
God clothed Adam and Eve.
Covering of Atonement
Reminder of Atonement
Among our many spiritual disabilities is that we so quickly forget reality. As a way to jostle a dull memory, the Lord clothed humanity with animal skins. For the ancient Hebrew the message was clear: if you follow an animal, you will look like an animal; if you forsake the path of life, you will wear death… Being draped with a dead animal was no reason for boasting. It was a statement of spiritual need. - Edward Welch
Inside Out
Humanity’s search for independence and autonomy only brought separation.
Adam’s original role was to work and protect the garden (Gen. 2:15).
Now the Garden would be protected from Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:24).
Genesis 3:24 NIV
24After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
In Our Place
A substitute could stand in our place.
The blood of an animal for the blood of humanity
This became a key insight for God’s priests: God will, in fact, accept substitutes in our place. - Edward Welch
An imperfect system: an animal cannot truly stand in the place of a human being
Grounded in the mercy of God
Farther from God’s Presence
Self-justification, others’ condemnation
Jealousy, envy, hatred, and murder
Blame is a form of judgment: “I am right; you are wrong.” It is a kind of curse: “May you be damned [rather than me].” We want the best for ourselves and punishment to fall on another. Murder was inevitable. - Edward Welch
Cain ventured farther and farther from Eden, farther from the presence of God.
Humanity was farther from God’s inner room. Yet nothing had changed. God created us to be a priesthood and to live at the meeting place of heaven and earth, and he would do it. - Edward Welch
Sunday Sep 06, 2020
"The Cost of Discipleship" (Luke 9:18-27)
Sunday Sep 06, 2020
Sunday Sep 06, 2020
"The Cost of Discipleship" (Luke 9:18-27)Pastor Cameron JungelsEastside Baptist ChurchSunday AM, September 6, 2020
Luke 9:18-27 (NIV)
18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”
19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”
21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 26 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
27 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”
Jesus is the Anointed One of God.
Jesus is the Anointed One of God who came to die as a sacrifice for sin.
Because Jesus is the anointed one of God who came to die as a sacrifice for sin, he deserves the highest loyalty and sacrifice from his disciples.
Wednesday Sep 02, 2020
“Discern Right from Wrong” (Chapter 4) & “An Intruder” (Chapter 5)
Wednesday Sep 02, 2020
Wednesday Sep 02, 2020
Created to Draw Near: Our Life as God’s Royal Priests
by Edward T. Welch
“Discern Right from Wrong” (Chapter 4)
Two Trees, Two Paths
Genesis 2:17 NIV17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
To be fully human, which means to be close to the Lord, we must know that there are two paths.
The path that is with God and to God is life and honor. It says yes with his yes and no with his no.
The path that leads away from God can feel like pleasure for a moment, but it goes headlong into death. It says yes to his no and no to his yes.
“Moral Discernment… is a premiere feature of our humanity… Obedience, knowing right from wrong are… essential for a fruitful and good life to those who are replicas of the heavenly God on earth.” - Ed Welch
Moral Discernment, True Humanity
Image of God, Imitating God
Essential to All Relationships
Human Relationships
Divine-Human Relationship
To be human—God’s priest—is to discern what is best and what is deadly.
To be human is to act on that discernment and obey. This demands confidence in what God says and the humility to place his words above our own understanding and our own desires. It demands faithful love.
To be human is to teach and encourage others in their discernment.
“An Intruder” (Chapter 5)
Keeping Watch
The world has been filled with danger from the beginning.
“Everyday life was not intended for our relaxation and entertainment.” - Ed Welch
A part of Adam’s role to keep and care for the garden was to protect it from danger.
In the Garden, Satan (as the serpent) encountered a spiritually drowsy and unprepared humanity.
Genesis 3:1 NIV1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
Satan’s Schemes
God is not good. (Creating doubt)
Genesis 3:2–3 NIV2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”
Sin is not bad. (Creating desire)
Genesis 3:4–5 NIV4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:6 NIV6When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
“The serpent’s goal is for humanity to be remade in his image and imitate him. His twofold strategy remains his most prominent and effective weapon. Every failed spiritual test can be traced to our tacit agreement with him and these two lies. 'Go ahead,' he says, 'you will like it; rest in your own understanding. Look at the evidence. God is not that good, sin is not that bad. To put it bluntly, God is not good; sin is good.'” - Ed Welch
You are lost. (Creating despair)
“When we follow him into disobedience, Satan will add one final strategy: 'You are now irredeemably bad, and God could never forgive or love you.' … Shame replaces communion and fellowship, and everything is injected with hopelessness. We are fooled into thinking that we can never regain what’s been lost.” - Ed Welch
“Before priests could protect the holiness of the garden temple, they first had to learn to protect their own hearts.” - Ed Welch
Application of Chapters 4-5
Drawing near to God as his holy priests requires moral discernment, trusting in and obeying God’s commands.
Drawing near to God as his holy priests requires guarding our hearts against Satan’s schemes.