Live blogging should begin at about 6pm EDT.

Pat is leading the group tonight. Focus: Christ the King.

6:00 – Pat read next weeks chapter instead of this weeks. Were having a fun time giving him a hard time as his wife, Pam, totally bailed him out and typed all the notes.

6:04 – We are reflecting on what we have studied so far. The change in our relationship with God in the new covenant. The change in heaven and the fall of Satan. The blood of Christ ratifying the new covenant.

6:08 – Talking about the friendships we have as an indication of our salvation. It is so difficult to fellowship regularly with those who are not saved. There is not much to talk about.

If you find that you prefer hanging out with those who are not saved, question where your heart is. Don’t miss understand, this is not talking about witnessing, but about friendships and true relationships. There is a common saying in many Spanish speaking cultures that essentially says, “Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are.”

6:15 – Still discussing fellowship with unregenerate vs a deep love for the unregenerate. We need to be in the world to evangelize but not become one of the worldly.

6:27 – Long discussion on the fellowship discussion, now getting back on track with the study. Christ’s death benefited more than just mankind. The whole universe benefited. The angles in heaven benefited from the fall of Satan. When Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world.”

6:34 – Talking about common grace vs special grace. God’s common grace allows even the unregenerate to heal from sickness etc. Special grace is the grace of redemption.

6:40 – David points out that Johnathan Edwards (paraphrase) noted that the entire Earth would not produce food for us or refrain from destroying us if it were not submitting to God. Think about this! God tells the ocean where to stop, the mountain to grow this high, the rain when to fall, the wind how hard to blow, the birds where to fly, the fish where to swim, and all obey Him. Then He says to man, love thy neighbor and man says, “No.” Man is God’s only creation in the whole world that argues back against God. How sinful we are!

6:46 – How many kings in all the world would give up all for his people? How many would be willing to sacrifice himself for his own people? At Christ’s ascension, He was publicly and formally declared the mediating King.

6:50 – The mediating Kingship will last until the new heaven and the new earth has been brought into being (Rom 8:21). It will last until the great passage in (1 Cor 15) is fulfilled.

6:58 – This whole country in a benefactor of common grace. We are wrapping up and carrying on small discussions over tonight’s topics. Today’s lesson had a lot of meat and I fear I did not do any justice with these notes. Please feel free to ask lots of questions and somebody from the group will get back to you.

7:02 – Closing.

5:50 – David opens in prayer.

5:53 – Tim is continuing with the lesson.  Reviews last time we discussed Christ’s blood had to be shed.  It ratified the new covenant.

5:55 – Tim points out that he feels this group is his church.  Sunday’s he is in his mission field.  I agree completely.  Here I am fed, Sunday’s I minister.

6:03 – Tim is talking about how under the new covenant we no longer follow the law just externally.  As Christian’s we strive to follow the law because it is who we are.

6:05 – Doug gently corrects Tim and says that the law is who God is.  That is why Christ lived to obey the law.  Because He is God.  The law is His heart.  Romans 7 shows Paul believed the law is holy because God is law.  The law is the expression of God and that is why the law condemns us.

6:07 – Tim makes a good point: Most of today’s misdirected church does not see the law as holiness, they see the law only as condemning.  David reminds us that they are not taught the commandments of a Holy God, but the laws of man.

6:10 – David: Most of the people at church who claim to be Christian do not have any contemplation of how bad their sin truly is.  If sin was as light an ordeal as most make it, why would Christ have even come?  David is currently reading a book called The Sinfulness of Sin, an amazing book about how absolutely evil sin is.  Tim points out that riding tandem with this lack of understanding is a lack of fearing God.

6:16 – David: The law was not the starting point.  The Holiness of God was the starting point which was expressed through the law.

6:20 – Tim: In the old order, the Priest would enter the Holy of Holys in trembling, not knowing if he would leave there alive.  Under the new order, we can enter boldly into God’s throne room. The priest entered once a year, we can enter any time. Word of warning, it must be holy.  This access has been granted to us through the blood of Christ.  Rom 5 – the word access (KJV) literally means granted an introduction.

6:27 – Tim: We are no longer under law, but under grace. We are dead to the law.  When Christ died to the law, we also died.  The ten commandments still apply to us but Christ is fulfilling the law.  Romans 8 is often misread and misunderstood as talking about a carnal “Christian.”  There is nothing to support carnal Christianity in the Bible.  Romans 8 illustrates the difference between a lost person and a saved person.

6:35 – Tim: There is no value in profession if there is no change in our lives. Martyn Lloyd-Jones denounces antinomionism.

6:39 – David: The more I learn of Christ and truth, the more I realize how bad I am. What, other than the leading of the Holy Spirit, could possibly lead a person to desire to learn more of Christ when doing show only makes us more aware of how aweful we are?  Monergism!

6:41 – Tim: Not only does Christ start our salvation, He sees it through to the end.

6:45 – We are finishing up the study and discussing somewhere we can begin giving (financially and any other way needed).  As a group where can we give?  If you read this blog and have an idea of a need, leave a comment.

7:00 – Doug closes in prayer. Pat is being nominated for next weeks study. (He’s not here tonight).