Chapter # 11 Paragraph # 1 Study # 3
July 7, 2009
Lincolnton, N.C.
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• I. Paul's Appeal to "What the Scripture Says."
  • A. This is not the "bottom line", but it is a crucial element in arriving at that "bottom line".
    • 1. Just because "the Scripture says" something does not mean that the hearer of its content will have any confidence in that content.
      • a. The Scripture says multiplied thousands of things.
      • b. People are often aware of the content of those things.
        • 1) Paul does admit by the way he phrases his question that it is possible that the people are not aware: "Or do you not know...?"
        • 2) But, even if there is a specific ignorance of a specific fact in the Scripture, most have more "knowledge" of what the Scriptures say than they practice.
      • c. And people are notorious hypocrites.
    • 2. We know that the persuasion of a biblical truth comes from the Spirit.
    • 3. But we also know that the persuasion can be, and is, very often resisted because of the price that is involved.
    • 4. However, the Spirit typically uses the Scripture to exercise His ministry of persuasion.
      • a. Paul would not have appealed to the Scripture if it were simply an addendum to the work of the Spirit.
      • b. Paul depended upon the Spirit to use his reference to the Scripture to do His work.
      • c. He clearly desired that his readers would not only see his argument from the Scripture, but would "believe" it.
  • B. He intended to "box" his readers in by giving them no "out".
    • 1. People can easily reject what is claimed to be "of the Spirit" when there is no evidence that it is.
      • a. They often do not because they like what they are being told is "of the Spirit".
      • b. But, if they do not like what they are hearing, or if what they are hearing seems too good to be true, they often do.
    • 2. Thus, what the Spirit really wants is typically located in Scripture.
• II. Paul's Use of the Elijah Event.
  • A. He found in the records regarding Elijah an example of a man who was foundering on the appearance of divine failure: this was how Paul saw his readers.
  • B. He used "Elijah" because he was so "above" the norm for "believers".
    • 1. He was a "prophet".
      • a. As such, he was supposed to have had an inside track on God's thinking.
      • b. As such, he was supposed to be "aware" of the true nature of what was going on.
    • 2. He was capable of using significant miraculous powers.
      • a. This implied a high level of harmony with God's way of doing things.
      • b. This implied that his doing of "out-of-the-norm" things did not muck up the Plan of God.
  • C. He used Elijah because he was wrong and needed to be corrected.
    • 1. He was not wrong about his "accusations".
      • a. "Israel" had killed many of His prophets.
      • b. "Israel" had destroyed His altar.
      • c. "Israel" was out to kill his soul.
    • 2. He was wrong about his sense that God was seriously failing.
      • a. He knew about the "Israel within Israel" concept.
      • b. He knew about God's promises to the fathers.
      • c. He thought he knew that he was the only one left, perhaps in the Exodus 32:9-13 sense.
    • 3. He needed to be corrected, so God corrected him.
• III. Paul's Use of the Correction.
  • A. The issue of the text is God's faithfulness to "His people".
  • B. The issue of "His people" is further explained.
    • 1. They are the "foreknown" in the earlier statement.
    • 2. In this statement they are "the reserved by God".
    • 3. In this statement they are "they who have not bowed the knee to Baal."
      • a. This is the most helpful part because it moves us out of the "private thinking and acting of God".
      • b. This is the element that is discernible in the world men inhabit.
      • c. This is also the "telling trait" of those God calls "His reserved-unto-Myself people".