1. Scheme Of
Redemption

2. Goals of Our Study
To learn how God moved from man's problem of sin to His solution of Jesus on the cross
To understand how everything in the scriptures relates to, and points to, Jesus and the cross
To understand how everything in the Bible reveals God to mankind who He is and what He is like
Get a better understanding of how we got here tonight on the orange carpet

3. Main concepts of our study
"Scheme of Redemption" The plan of God, established before creation, to redeem mankind from sin
View the Bible as a novel, with 66 different chapters
The real division taking place at Genesis 3:6 rather than between Malachi and Matthew
This division covers two drastically different worlds: The world prior to sin and the world after sin

4. Main concepts of our study
Genesis 1-2: God and perfection, man and innocence
Genesis 3-12 – The Background of Redemption
Genesis – Redemption through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph
Exodus 1-12 – Slavery In and Judgement On Egypt
Exodus – Two Month Journey to Sinai
Exodus 19-Numbers 10 – One Year at Sinai
Number – Unbelief
Number 15-Deut 34 – 40 Years of Wandering
Joshua – Canaan Conquered and Divided

5. Recap
Deception of Gibeon, and how their recognition and fear of God saved them from destruction, even though it led to a life of servitude for them. This was better than destruction, and they lived with Israel for many hundreds of years more (850 years or more perhaps)
Joshua and Israel destroy numerous cities/kingdoms. Joshua and Israel followed the Lord fully. Achan’s keeping things under the ban the only hiccup they had

6. Recap Cities of refuge and 48 cities of Levi established
Tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half tribe of Manasseh return to their land on the east side of the Jordan after fulfilling their work in conquering Canaan with the rest of Israel
Conflict arises between tribes on the east- side and west-side of the Jordan
Picking back up here tonight to discuss more

7. Joshua 22 – Tribes return beyond Jordan
Vs. 1-6 – Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and said to them, “You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and have listened to my voice in all that I commanded you. You have not forsaken your brothers these many days to this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God. And now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, as He spoke to them; therefore turn now and go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan. Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God and walk in all His ways and keep His commandments and hold fast to Him and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.

8. “Ed” the altar (Joshua 22:34)
Vs – When they came to the region of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a large altar in appearance. And the sons of Israel heard it said, “Behold, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan, on the side belonging to the sons of Israel.” When the sons of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the sons of Israel gathered themselves at Shiloh to go up against them in war.
Shiloh was where the tabernacle was set up in Canaan before the temple was built in Jerusalem

10. What is happening?
East-Israel tribes have constructed an altar on the west side of the Jordan river
A replica of the real altar in the tabernacle where the God-sanctioned sacrifices are to take place
West Israel sees this and has a conniption!

11. Why the west responded so harshly
Deut 12:1-7 - These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth. You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. You shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place. You shall not act like this toward the Lord your God. But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come. There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. There also you and your households shall eat before the Lord your God, and rejoice in all your undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

12. Why the west responded so harshly
Deut 12: Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see, but in the place which the Lord chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.
Moses had made it clear that the lawful sacrificing was only to take place how, when, and where God commanded

13. Why did west want to war over it?
Deut. 13: “If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom you have not known), then you shall investigate and search out and inquire thoroughly. If it is true and the matter established that this abomination has been done among you, you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it and its cattle with the edge of the sword

14. Why did west want to war over it?
This is what Israel-west did
They gathered themselves together at Shiloh to go to war against Israel
They sent over a delegation to “investigate, search out, and inquire thoroughly
So, they were truly only doing what they had been instructed by God, through Moses, to do

15. The delegation’s concern
Joshua 22: "Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, ‘What is this unfaithful act which you have committed against the God of Israel, turning away from following the Lord this day, by building yourselves an altar, to rebel against the Lord this day? Is not the iniquity of Peor enough for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although a plague came on the congregation of the Lord, that you must turn away this day from following the Lord? If you rebel against the Lord today, He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel tomorrow.
Peor was the place in Numbers 25 where Israelite men began to ‘play the harlot’ with Moabite women and messing around with false gods. 24,000 Israelites died by the hand of God

16. The delegation’s concern
Joshua 22: If, however, the land of your possession is unclean, then cross into the land of the possession of the Lord, where the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and take possession among us. Only do not rebel against the Lord, or rebel against us by building an altar for yourselves, besides the altar of the Lord our God. Did not Achan the son of Zerah act unfaithfully in the things under the ban, and wrath fall on all the congregation of Israel? And that man did not perish alone in his iniquity.’”
West Israel offers east Israel some of their land on the west side!

17. East side tribes respond
Joshua 22: Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered and spoke to the heads of the families of Israel. “The Mighty One, God, the Lord, the Mighty One, God, the Lord! He knows, and may Israel itself know. If it was in rebellion, or if in an unfaithful act against the Lord do not save us this day! If we have built us an altar to turn away from following the Lord, or if to offer a burnt offering or grain offering on it, or if to offer sacrifices of peace offerings on it, may the Lord Himself require it. But truly we have done this out of concern, for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your sons may say to our sons, “What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you sons of Reuben and sons of Gad; you have no portion in the Lord.” So your sons may make our sons stop fearing the Lord.’

18. East side tribes respond
Joshua 22: "Therefore we said, ‘Let us build an altar, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice; rather it shall be a witness between us and you and between our generations after us, that we are to perform the service of the Lord before Him with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices and with our peace offerings, so that your sons will not say to our sons in time to come, “You have no portion in the Lord.”’ Therefore we said, ‘It shall also come about if they say this to us or to our generations in time to come, then we shall say, “See the copy of the altar of the Lord which our fathers made, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice; rather it is a witness between us and you.”’ Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away from following the Lord this day, by building an altar for burnt offering, for grain offering or for sacrifice, besides the altar of the Lord our God which is before His tabernacle.”
Notice that the altar they built was a replica of the altar in the temple!

19. West Israel is appeased
Vs – So when Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the congregation, even the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the sons of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them. And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is in our midst, because you have not committed this unfaithful act against the Lord; now you have delivered the sons of Israel from the hand of the Lord.”

20. West Israel is appeased
Vs – Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders returned from the sons of Reuben and from the sons of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the sons of Israel, and brought back word to them. The word pleased the sons of Israel, and the sons of Israel blessed God; and they did not speak of going up against them in war to destroy the land in which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad were living. The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called the altar Witness; “For,” they said, “it is a witness between us that the Lord is God.”

21. A slippery slope?
Could “Ed” the altar have been a dangerous thing for Israel? If yes, why?
Perhaps someone would have eventually performed sacrifices on it (think Jeroboam)
Perhaps God would not approve of it, since He did not authorize it, and He would rain down judgement upon them
Would it had been safer to err on the side of caution and not build such an altar?

22. “It’s better to be safe than sorry”. What is meant by this statement?
Better safe than sorry?
“It’s better to be safe than sorry”. What is meant by this statement?
Typically means that something is being considered that is not necessarily unauthorized by God, but may be questionable. Therefore we should not do it (Consider when PowerPoint started to be used in worship)
Is this an incorrect way to operate?
Is it appropriate to judge others as sinful using this approach?

23. Judging one’s opinions
Romans 14:1-4 - Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

24. Judging one’s opinions
Romans 14: One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

25. But it’s a stumbling block!
Romans 14:13 - Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.
Was “Ed” the altar not a stumbling block??
“Y’all can’t do that! I have issues with that altar, it makes me feel like I’m sinning against the Lord! Tear it down!”

26. But it’s a stumbling block!
Romans 14: So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.

27. Romans 14 summary Two people: God says:
One thinks it is sinful to perform a certain action
The other thinks it is not sinful to perform the same action
God says:
You’re BOTH correct! What???
To person A, performing that action is sinful because he doubts that it is a righteous thing, and if he did it he would not be doing it in faith
To person B, performing the action is not sinful because he does it in faith
BUT, the two must not judge one another!

28. Joshua 22 – Tribes return beyond Jordan
The people in Joshua 22 execute this perfectly!
The east side guys built the altar in full confidence that they were not violating God’s law
The west side guys had a conniption, calling the east-side guys rebellious and unfaithful and threatening war!
But, after hearing one another out, they saw there was no way to condemn “Ed” as a violation of God’s law, EVEN THOUGH they had concerns, so they praised God and continued on in unity!

29. The lesson for us?
James 1: This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
Proverbs 18:13 - He who gives an answer before he hears, It is folly and shame to him

30. The lesson for us?
We must be incredibly cautious when judging another’s actions performed in service to the Lord
While the action may seem sinful, rebellious, and of unfaithfulness, it MAY NOT BE SO!
Let we as God’s people stop judging one another over the things that may not be as clear, or even as important (don’t make mountains out of molehills)
Instead, let us maintain peace, unity, and the building up of one another
Note that unity does not mean that are we in perfect agreement on everything. Rather, it means we have a common purpose and goal

31. Coming up
Judges