O. S. Hawkins - The Jesus Code

TO

FROM

OCCASION

The Jesus Code

2014 by O. S. Hawkins

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson.

Cover design by Bruce DeRoos at Left Coast Design.

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the KING JAMES VERSION.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE. The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

ISBN-13: 978-0-529-10082-5

ISBN-13: 978-0-718-01887-0 (eBook)

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DEDICATION

To those special and sacrificial pastors, their wives, and in most cases, their widows in Mission:Dignity who have given their lives to serving others so often in out of the way places, and who are now in their declining years. While in ministry they lived in church-owned homes and received smaller salaries, and now, in their retirement years, are in financial need. We are on a mission to bring them dignity, and it is an honor being Christs hand extended to them. All royalties from The Jesus Code and The Joshua Code go to support these sweet servants through Mission:Dignity.

(Learn more about Mission:Dignity at www.guidestone.org/missiondignity)

TABLE of CONTENTS

R ecently, while reading through the four GospelsMatthew, Mark, Luke, and JohnI was captured by something I had read a thousand times but had never really seen: on page after page, I noticed the Lord asking questions.

Think about that. Our omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscient (all-knowing) Savior was always asking questions. It mattered not whether He was one-on-one, in a small group, or among a crowd. He was continually probing and questioning His listeners. I became so intrigued by this observation I decided to count His questions. The Gospels alone record over 150 questions that escaped the lips of our Lordand these are just the ones written down for posterity. John informed us near the end of his gospel that if everything Jesus said and did had been recorded, all the books of the world could not contain it (John 21:25).

The more I thought about this phenomenon, the more I became convinced that this was a distinctive code, a Jesus code, for us to follow as we journey through Gods written truth. And one thing this code clearly reveals: it is okay to ask questions. In fact, good leadership is more often characterized by the question mark than the period, exclamation mark, or comma. Those who continue to grow in spirit and in wisdom ask a lot of questions. We have reached a dangerous point in our spiritual journey when we feel that we have all the answers and we stop asking questions.

Among the hundreds of questions asked in the pages of the Bible are fifty-two (one for every week of the year) that every believer should be able to answer. TheJesusCode will guide you on a journey through Scripture by challenging you to study a question a week and then meditate on the answer until it is firmly fixed in your heart. The journey begins with the first question asked in the Bible, Has God indeed said... ? and continues with every question believers should desire to answer before they get to heaven.

So let me pose a personal question: Are you ready to begin looking at the fifty-two questions in TheJesusCode, questions with answers that impact not only today but eternity? After all, some answers for life just cant be found on Google! Lets turn the page and begin with the first question recorded in Scripture.

W e had a really good start. Life began in a perfect paradise. The climate was never too warm and never too cold. We had no aches or pains, heartache or worries. We lived in perfect peace and harmony in the midst of a perfect garden. And we had dominion over everything except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden us to eat (Genesis 2:17). We were doing wonderfully well... until the devil slithered into our world and asked the first recorded question in Scripture. It was cleverly designed to cause us to doubt God, His word, and His heart: Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? (3:1). That simple seed of doubt took root in our hearts. From that time on, we have wondered, Has God indeed said?

Satan entered the scene of life just three chapters into the Bible, and the last time we encounter him is three chapters from the end. And the damage he has caused is seen on every page in between. This cunning creature was smart enough to know that doubt is deadly. He did not try to force us to eat the forbidden fruit. He simply tossed a seed of doubt our way, and we took it from there: Has God indeed said?

This cosmic conflict has not changed through the millennia. Satan is still very much at work causing us to doubt what God has said to us in His Word. Satans tactic is a clever three-pronged strategy designed to lead usjust as he led Adam and Eveto personal defeat and separation from God.

SATANS DECEIT BRINGS A SELFISH DESIRE

The plan was simple. The devil made a brief appearance in the garden, and all he did was ask a question: Do you think God really meant that? Come on. Do you think you would really die if you took a bite of that single little fruit? Be realistic. God knows that if you did, you would become a god yourself; you would know both good and evil. And that is the last we hear from our enemy. He is gone. That is all he did. And that is all he had to do (Genesis 3:15).

Our minds are like a hotel. The manager cant keep people from coming into the lobby, but he can keep them from getting a room. It is the same with our thoughts. It is not a sin when an impure thought goes through our minds. The sin comes when we give it a room and let it settle down there.

And Satans deceit brings to the surface our sinful, selfish desires as well as a lack of trust. It was true then, and it is true now: once doubt gets a room in your mind, Satans battle is half won.

A SELFISH DESIRE BRINGS A SINFUL DECISION

Once doubt had its foot in the door, three things happened in rapid succession. Eve saw that the tree was good for food... pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise (Genesis 3:6). Next she took it... and ate. Then she gave her husband a piece, and he ate. Bam! Did things ever change! Adam and Eve were booted out of the garden, and they ran in an attempt to hide from God.