The simpleton believes that what he sees is reality
Judges 10-11 / Proverbs 23 / Hebrews 7-9
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OT
Judges 10:11-16 The LORD replied, “Did I not rescue you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites? When they oppressed you, you cried out to me, and I rescued you. Yet you have abandoned me and served other gods. So I will not rescue you anymore. Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen! Let them rescue you in your hour of distress!” But the Israelites pleaded with the LORD and said, “We have sinned. Punish us as you see fit, only rescue us today from our enemies.” Then the Israelites put aside their foreign gods and served the LORD. And he was grieved by their misery.
Proverbs 23:17-18 Don’t envy sinners, but always continue to fear the LORD. For surely you have a future ahead of you; your hope will not be disappointed.
NT
Hebrews 7:24-25 But Jesus remains a priest forever; his priesthood will never end. Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save everyone who comes to God through him. He lives forever to plead with God on their behalf.
8:4-5 If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law of Moses. They serve in a place of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the design I have shown you here on the mountain.”
OT Flash Points
The only rational response to the drawing back of God’s protection and provision…
Quickly discard the thing that has drawn your heart away from God
Proverbs: Your future depends on it
NT Flash Points
The things here in this carbon-based, light-reflecting “reality” are only shadows of what is real
They imperfectly represent the actual article which is created and either dwells in the presence of its Creator or perishes
Perspective
Because we don’t have an understanding of substitution, the “Blood of sacrifice” makes no sense, so “coming to Jesus” may still mean, “I’m going to try to be better.”
– Don’t let your concentration on God be diverted
You will suddenly feel the crushing weight of all the burden you had been only carrying a fraction of
Note: This only happens when we start to think the things we can see are more real than the real things in God’s world, which simply do not fall into the range of light that our physical eyes can perceive