GENESIS 42:

Guilt the Gift that Keeps on Giving

Guilt the Gift that Keeps on Giving *

Outline *

Guilt the Gift that keeps on Giving - based on comic lines *

Guilt is served up by Parents *

For the parents - Guilt really is useful *

For Society - Guilt really is useful *

All of these things are human observations *

Guilt was an important aspect of Mosaic Law *

But our feeling of Guilt cannot save us *

Jesus' Sacrifice to take upon himself our *

Guilt is the Gift that Keeps on Giving *

Outline

Guilt the Gift that keeps on Giving - based on comic lines

Garison Keilor - standard skit about Mid-Westerners

Ray Stevens - I'm Giving Guilt this Christmas

Guilt is something your parents lay up on you till you can escape to live the perfect life.

Guilt is served up by Parents

Often resented by Children

"Do this and Don't do that"

Often peaks during the 12-25 years when children try to assert their independence

Parents remember their own youth and the errors they made

children react " but I'm not you"

Parents try to pass on "family values"

Children resist

swear they will never be like their parents

try to be their own person

my youth the popular things were opposing the war & long hair

nowadays it seems to be body piercing

If pushed hard enought they rebel

All this, though painful, is natural and normal

if your child is to live independently he has to practice

I would tell you about this more

but that is another message

and you don't want a two-in-one message today

It is also a dangerous message because it is hard to deliver it without inserting "doctrines of men"

I leave it to someone who has raised his children well to teach

Often cited as a reason to leave spiritual and moral life base

Make no mistake about it this serious and a major contributor

More of a problem

the more wealth you have

the more you try to control your children

They are trying to be independent

One excuse is as good as another

don't be fooled

Young people will rebel against something

using this as an excuse to do as they please

Yielding to do as they please just makes it harder on everyone

Understanding what is happening is the key for parents and children

For the parents - Guilt really is useful

Trains our Conscience

Reminds us to do the things we Should

Makes us feel guilty when we do what we ought not

It has been used by Society to teach morals and regulate the conduct of citizens for as long as we know.

For Society - Guilt really is useful

Without it, fathers would desert their families ( or at least not support them)

Mothers would not make sacrifices for their children

Mothers and Fathers would quit their jobs on a whim

or have affairs, or other destructive behavior

Children would never grow up, learn a trade, establish their own households & families

It really is the Gift that keeps on giving!

Guilt will make you: come to Church, Bring the kids to Sunday School, Teach Classes, Clean the building, Put Money in the Plate, ...

The world is filled with examples of how Guilt is used by the others around us that would influence us to do good.

By it nations call their young men to arms, cause many to do good, and prevent others from doing wrong (sometimes this takes the form of involutary guilt, i.e. judging a criminal to be guilty and putting him in prision for the common good.)

All of these things are human observations

Worth all you paid for them

But let's turn to the Bible ...

Guilt was an important aspect of Mosaic Law

Numerous definintions of Guilt

Constant offerings being made for it Lev 4-6

Concepts of Bloodguiltiness and Blood Sacrifice and Blood-is-Life Lev 17:11

The Mosaic World was well schooled in guilt.

God wanted the Jews to understand Guilt and Blood Sacrifice before his Son sacrificed himself fortheir Sins.

Consider this passage where the Jews have been returned to Jerusalem and have rebuilt the walls and are tring to re-establish their nation Neh 9:33-37

God wants us to understand our guilt

Until we realize we are lost and condemned in our sins we don't understand the value of Jesus' sacrifice

Like the Law was a tutor, so is our understanding of our guilt

But our feeling of Guilt cannot save us

We sin if we violate our Conscience - but being of clear conscience is not righteousness.

Our Guilt makes us deserving of Death - We cannot buy our release because we have nothing with which to redeem ourselves.

Good Deeds do not redeem us of our sin.

Understanding this is useful but does not save Rom 3:1-4

Good Deeds are good - even if you do them from guilt - they benefit others - but not you. (Rom 3:20)

Jesus' Sacrifice to take upon himself our Guilt is the Gift that Keeps on Giving

He gave himself that you might be bought back and live.

He gave himself for everyone Isa 53:1-12

He gave himself for every kind of sin Rom 5:1 ff

He never stops giving.

Such a gift demands that you give yourself

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

If we truly love God then we must die to ourselves that we can live to him Rom 6:1 ff

Scripture texts

Genesis 42:

^{21Then they said to one another, "Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us."

Exodus 23:
^{6"You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute. ⁷"Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent or the righteous, for I will not acquit the guilty.

Exodus 28:
^{40"For Aaron’s sons you shall make tunics; you shall also make sashes for them, and you shall make caps for them, for glory and for beauty. ⁴¹"You shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him; and you shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them, that they may serve Me as priests. ⁴²"You shall make for them linen breeches to cover their bare flesh; they shall reach from the loins even to the thighs. ⁴³"They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they enter the tent of meeting, or when they approach the altar to minister in the holy place, so that they do not incur guilt and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and to his descendants after him.

Leviticus 4: ^outline ^
The Law of Sin Offerings
^{1Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ²"Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If a person sins unintentionally in any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and commits any of them, ³if the anointed priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him offer to the LORD a bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed. ⁴‘He shall bring the bull to the doorway of the tent of meeting before the LORD, and he shall lay his hand on the head of the bull and slay the bull before the LORD.

^{13‘Now if the whole congregation of Israel commits error and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly, and they commit any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and they become guilty; ¹⁴when the sin which they have committed becomes known, then the assembly shall offer a bull of the herd for a sin offering and bring it before the tent of meeting. ¹⁵‘Then the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the LORD, and the bull shall be slain before the LORD.

^{22‘When a leader sins and unintentionally does any one of all the things which the LORD his God has commanded not to be done, and he becomes guilty, ²³if his sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a male without defect. ²⁴‘He shall lay his hand on the head of the male goat and slay it in the place where they slay the burnt offering before the LORD; it is a sin offering. ²⁵‘Then the priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering; and the rest of its blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering. ²⁶‘All its fat he shall offer up in smoke on the altar as in the case of the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him in regard to his sin, and he will be forgiven.
^{27‘Now if anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and becomes guilty, ²⁸if his sin which he has committed is made known to him, then he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without defect, for his sin which he has committed. ²⁹‘He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slay the sin offering at the place of the burnt offering.
Leviticus 5:
The Law of Guilt Offerings
^{1‘Now if a person sins after he hears a public adjuration to testify when he is a witness, whether he has seen or otherwise known, if he does not tell it, then he will bear his guilt. ²‘Or if a person touches any unclean thing, whether a carcass of an unclean beast or the carcass of unclean cattle or a carcass of unclean swarming things, though it is hidden from him and he is unclean, then he will be guilty. ³‘Or if he touches human uncleanness, of whatever sort his uncleanness may be with which he becomes unclean, and it is hidden from him, and then he comes to know it, he will be guilty. ⁴‘Or if a person swears thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to do good, in whatever matter a man may speak thoughtlessly with an oath, and it is hidden from him, and then he comes to know it, he will be guilty in one of these. ⁵‘So it shall be when he becomes guilty in one of these, that he shall confess that in which he has sinned. ⁶‘He shall also bring his guilt offering to the LORD for his sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin.
^{7‘But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring to the LORD his guilt offering for that in which he has sinned, two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. ⁸‘He shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer first that which is for the sin offering and shall nip its head at the front of its neck, but he shall not sever it. ⁹‘He shall also sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar: it is a sin offering. ¹⁰‘The second he shall then prepare as a burnt offering according to the ordinance. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin which he has committed, and it will be forgiven him.
^{11‘But if his means are insufficient for two turtledoves or two young pigeons, then for his offering for that which he has sinned, he shall bring the tenth of an ^£ephah of fine flour for a sin offering; he shall not put oil on it or place incense on it, for it is a sin offering. ¹²‘He shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it as its memorial portion and offer it up in smoke on the altar, with the offerings of the LORD by fire: it is a sin offering. ¹³‘So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin which he has committed from one of these, and it will be forgiven him; then the rest shall become the priest’s, like the grain offering.’"
^{14Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁵"If a person acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against the LORD’S holy things, then he shall bring his guilt offering to the LORD: a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation in silver by shekels, in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering. ¹⁶"He shall make restitution for that which he has sinned against the holy thing, and shall add to it a fifth part of it and give it to the priest. The priest shall then make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and it will be forgiven him.
^{17"Now if a person sins and does any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment. ¹⁸"He is then to bring to the priest a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation, for a guilt offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his error in which he sinned unintentionally and did not know it, and it will be forgiven him. ¹⁹"It is a guilt offering; he was certainly guilty before the LORD."

Leviticus 6:
Guilt Offering
^{1Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ²"When a person sins and acts unfaithfully against the LORD, and deceives his companion in regard to a deposit or a security entrusted to him, or through robbery, or if he has extorted from his companion, ³or has found what was lost and lied about it and sworn falsely, so that he sins in regard to any one of the things a man may do; ⁴then it shall be, when he sins and becomes guilty, that he shall restore what he took by robbery or what he got by extortion, or the deposit which was entrusted to him or the lost thing which he found, ⁵or anything about which he swore falsely; he shall make restitution for it in full and add to it one-fifth more. He shall give it to the one to whom it belongs on the day he presents his guilt offering. ⁶"Then he shall bring to the priest his guilt offering to the LORD, a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation, for a guilt offering, ⁷and the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD, and he will be forgiven for any one of the things which he may have done to incur guilt."

Leviticus 17:
Blood for Atonement
^{1Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ²"Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘This is what the LORD has commanded, saying, ³"Any man from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or who slaughters it outside the camp, ⁴and has not brought it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to present it as an offering to the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD, bloodguiltiness is to be reckoned to that man. He has shed blood and that man shall be cut off from among his people. ⁵"The reason is so that the sons of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they were sacrificing in the open field, that they may bring them in to the LORD, at the doorway of the tent of meeting to the priest, and sacrifice them as sacrifices of peace offerings to the LORD. ⁶"The priest shall sprinkle the blood on the altar of the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and offer up the fat in smoke as a soothing aroma to the LORD. ⁷"They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demons with which they play the harlot. This shall be a permanent statute to them throughout their generations."’
^{8"Then you shall say to them, ‘Any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice, ⁹and does not bring it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to offer it to the LORD, that man also shall be cut off from his people.
^outline ^
^{10‘And any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. ¹¹‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’ ¹²"Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘No person among you may eat blood, nor may any alien who sojourns among you eat blood.’ ¹³"So when any man from the sons of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, in hunting catches a beast or a bird which may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.
^{14"For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.’ ¹⁵"When any person eats an animal which dies or is torn by beasts, whether he is a native or an alien, he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening; then he will become clean. ¹⁶"But if he does not wash them or bathe his body, then he shall bear his guilt."

Numbers 5:
On Defilement
^{5Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶"Speak to the sons of Israel, ‘When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the LORD, and that person is guilty, ⁷then he shall confess his sins which he has committed, and he shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it one-fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has wronged.

The Adultery Test
^{11Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ¹²"Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him, ¹³and a man has intercourse with her and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and she is undetected, although she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act, ¹⁴if a spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has defiled herself, or if a spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has not defiled herself, ¹⁵the man shall then bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring as an offering for her one-tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of memorial, a reminder of iniquity.
...
^{27‘When he has made her drink the water, then it shall come about, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, that the water which brings a curse will go into her and cause bitterness, and her abdomen will swell and her thigh will waste away, and the woman will become a curse among her people. ²⁸‘But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will then be free and conceive children
^{29‘This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, being under the authority of her husband, goes astray and defiles herself, ³⁰or when a spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife, he shall then make the woman stand before the LORD, and the priest shall apply all this law to her. ³¹‘Moreover, the man will be free from guilt, but that woman shall bear her guilt.’"

Numbers 14:
Moses Pleads for the People
^{11The LORD said to Moses, "How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? ¹²"I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they."
...
^{17"But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, ¹⁸‘The LORD is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.’ ¹⁹"Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now."

The Lord Pardons and Rebukes
^{32‘But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. ³³‘Your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness. ³⁴‘According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition. ³⁵‘I, the LORD, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die.’"

Numbers 15:
Law of the Sojourner
^{27‘Also if one person sins unintentionally, then he shall offer a one year old female goat for a sin offering. ²⁸‘The priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who goes astray when he sins unintentionally, making atonement for him that he may be forgiven. ²⁹‘You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the sons of Israel and for the alien who sojourns among them. ³⁰‘But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from among his people. ³¹‘Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt will be on him.’"

Nehemiah 9
The People Confess Their Sin
(after completing the wall of Jerusalem after years of captivity and return.)
^{1Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them. ²The descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. ³While they stood in their place, they read from the book of the law of the LORD their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the LORD their God. ⁴Now on the Levites’ platform stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Chenani, and they cried with a loud voice to the LORD their God.
^{5Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah, said, "Arise, bless the LORD your God forever and ever!

O may Your glorious name be blessed
And exalted above all blessing and praise!
^{6 "You alone are the LORD.
You have made the heavens,
The heaven of heavens with all their host,
The earth and all that is on it,
The seas and all that is in them.
You give life to all of them
And the heavenly host bows down before You.
^{7 "You are the LORD God,
Who chose Abram
And brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees,
And gave him the name Abraham.
^{8 "You found his heart faithful before You,
And made a covenant with him
To give him the land of the Canaanite,
Of the Hittite and the Amorite,
Of the Perizzite, the Jebusite and the Girgashite—
To give it to his descendants.
And You have fulfilled Your promise,
For You are righteous.
^{9 "You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt,
And heard their cry by the Red Sea.
^{10 "Then You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh,
Against all his servants and all the people of his land;
For You knew that they acted arrogantly toward them,
And made a name for Yourself as it is this day.
^{11 "You divided the sea before them,
So they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground;
And their pursuers You hurled into the depths,
Like a stone into raging waters.
^{12 "And with a pillar of cloud You led them by day,
And with a pillar of fire by night
To light for them the way
In which they were to go.
^{13 "Then You came down on Mount Sinai,
And spoke with them from heaven;
You gave them just ordinances and true laws,
Good statutes and commandments.
^{14 "So You made known to them Your holy sabbath,
And laid down for them commandments, statutes and law,
Through Your servant Moses.
^{15 "You provided bread from heaven for them for their hunger,
You brought forth water from a rock for them for their thirst,
And You told them to enter in order to possess
The land which You swore to give them.
^{16 "But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly;
They ^£became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments.
^{17 "They refused to listen,
And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You had performed among them;
So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.
But You are a God of forgiveness,
Gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness;
And You did not forsake them.
^{18 "Even when they made for themselves
A calf of molten metal
And said, ‘This is your God
Who brought you up from Egypt,’
And committed great ^£blasphemies,
^{19 You, in Your great compassion,
Did not forsake them in the wilderness;
The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day,
To guide them on their way,
Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go.
^{20 "You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them,
Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth,
And You gave them water for their thirst.
^{21 "Indeed, forty years You provided for them in the wilderness and they were not in want;
Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell.
^{22 "You also gave them kingdoms and peoples,
And allotted them to them as a boundary.
They took possession of the land of Sihon the king of Heshbon
And the land of Og the king of Bashan.
^{23 "You made their sons numerous as the stars of heaven,
And You brought them into the land
Which You had told their fathers to enter and possess.
^{24 "So their sons entered and possessed the land.
And You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites,
And You gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land,
To do with them as they desired.
^{25 "They captured fortified cities and a fertile land.
They took possession of houses full of every good thing,
Hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves,
Fruit trees in abundance.
So they ate, were filled and grew fat,
And reveled in Your great goodness.
^{26 "But they became disobedient and rebelled against You,
And cast Your law behind their backs
And killed Your prophets who had admonished them
So that they might return to You,
And they committed great ^£blasphemies.
^{27 "Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their oppressors who oppressed them,
But when they cried to You in the time of their distress,
You heard from heaven, and according to Your great compassion
You gave them deliverers who delivered them from the hand of their oppressors.
^{28 "But as soon as they had rest, they did evil again before You;
Therefore You abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they ruled over them.
When they cried again to You, You heard from heaven,
And many times You rescued them according to Your compassion,
^{29 And admonished them in order to turn them back to Your law.
Yet they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your ordinances,
By which if a man observes them he shall live.
And they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen.
^{30 "However, You bore with them for many years,
And admonished them by Your Spirit through Your prophets,
Yet they would not give ear.
Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
^{31 "Nevertheless, in Your great compassion You did not make an end of them or forsake them,
For You are a gracious and compassionate God.
^{32 "Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness,
Do not let all the hardship seem insignificant before You,
Which has come upon us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers and on all Your people,
From the days of the kings of Assyria to this day.
^outline ^
^{33 "However, You are just in all that has come upon us;
For You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly.
^{34 "For our kings, our leaders, our priests and our fathers have not kept Your law
Or paid attention to Your commandments and Your admonitions with which You have admonished them.
^{35 "But they, in their own kingdom,
With Your great goodness which You gave them,
With the broad and rich land which You set before them,
Did not serve You or turn from their evil deeds.
^{36 "Behold, we are slaves today,
And as to the land which You gave to our fathers to eat of its fruit and its bounty,
Behold, we are slaves in it.
^{37 "Its abundant produce is for the kings
Whom You have set over us because of our sins;
They also rule over our bodies
And over our cattle as they please,
So we are in great distress.}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

^outline ^
Isaiah 53:
The Suffering Servant

^{1 Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
^{2 For He grew up ^£before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
^{3 He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
^{4 Surely our ^£griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
^{5 But He was ^£pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
^{6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
^{7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
^{8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?

^{9 His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
^{10 But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,

He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
^{11 As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
^{12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.}}}}}}}}}}}}

Nahum 1:
God Is Awesome.

^{2 A jealous and avenging God is the LORD;
The LORD is avenging and wrathful.
The LORD takes vengeance on His adversaries,
And He reserves wrath for His enemies.
^{3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,
And the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.
...}}

Matthew 5:
Personal Relationships
^{21"You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be ^£liable to the court.’ ²²"But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘^£You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before ^£the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the ^£fiery hell. ²³"Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

^outline ^

Matthew 23:
^{29"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹"So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³²"Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. ³³"You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?

^{34"Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, ³⁵so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶"Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

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Romans 3
All the World Guilty
^{1Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? ²Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. ³What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? ⁴May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written,

"That You may be justified in Your words,
And prevail when You are judged."

^{5But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.) ⁶May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world? ⁷But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? ⁸And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), "Let us do evil that good may come"? Their condemnation is just.
^{9What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; ¹⁰as it is written,

"There is none righteous, not even one;
^{11 There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
^{12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one."
^{13 "Their throat is an open grave,
With their tongues they keep deceiving,"
"The poison of asps is under their lips";
^{14 "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness";
^{15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood,
^{16 Destruction and misery are in their paths,
^{17 And the path of peace they have not known."
^{18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."}}}}}}}}

^{19Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; ²⁰because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

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Justification by Faith
^{21But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²²even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; ²⁵whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; ²⁶for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
^{27Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. ²⁸For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. ²⁹Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.
^{31Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.
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Romans 5
Results of Justification
^{1Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. ³And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; ⁴and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; ⁵and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
^{6For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. ⁸But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. ¹⁰For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. ¹¹And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
^{12Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— ¹³for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. ¹⁴Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a ^£type of Him who was to come.
^{15But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. ¹⁶The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. ¹⁷For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
^{18So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. ¹⁹For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. ²⁰The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, ²¹so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Romans 6
Believers Are Dead to Sin, Alive to God
^{1What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? ²May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? ³Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? ⁴Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. ⁵For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; ⁷for he who has died is freed from sin.
^{8Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. ¹⁰For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 11:
The Lord’s Supper
^{23For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; ²⁴and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." ²⁵In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." ²⁶For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
^{27Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. ²⁸But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.

James 2:
^{8If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well. ⁹But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

Before Paul "saw the light" he was first blinded !}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}