Lesson 1

GAMES, PUZZLES & RIDDLES

Table of Contents

– Introduction to the Game: Spot the Difference
– The Puzzle
– The Riddle
– Final Assessment Question

Scriptures Cited:

Romans 10:17; Mark 16:16; Acts 17:30; Romans 10:10; Acts 2:38; Revelation 2:10; 1 Peter 3:15; Acts 1:1-2; John 16:13; John 20:30-31; Luke 24:44-47; Mark 16:14-16; Matthew 28:19-20; Proverbs 30:4; Hebrews 1:1-4; Ephesians 3:9-15; Zechariah 14:7-9; Revelation 19:16; John 4:10; John 7:37-39; Luke 11:11-13 Acts 9:1-5; Acts 4:7-12

THE GAME

Let’s begin by playing a little game. Looking at the terms below, let’s play the “can you spot the difference game” or “one of these things is not like the other”.

• Hear (Romans 10:17)
• Believe (Mark 16:16)
• Repent (Acts 17:30)
• Confess (Romans 10:10)
• Be Baptized (Acts 2:38)
• Live Faithfully (Rev 2:10)

Answering in your own mind, which one of these things is not like the others?

In reality, all of the above are unique although they have many things in common, so let’s take a closer look at each one individually.

The answer to the question “which one of these things is not like the other?”… is, to be baptized.

The reason baptism is different is because it is the one thing listed that you will only do once if done right.

All of the other things, you do continually in your life as a believer. You will do them today, you did them last week, and hopefully you will continue to do them.

In hearing, you have heard the Word in the past, and you’ll hear the Word again in the future.

You should have believed the Word when you heard it, and should continue to believe it.

Repentance is something that we must continue to do as well. When we fall short, we have to turn to God and repent.

When we confess, our confession is that Jesus Christ is Lord and the Son of God – this is something that we must hold until the end of our lives, so that whenever anyone asks us, we should be ready to give an answer by letting the faith which is in our heart, come out of our mouths. (1 Pet 3:15)

Living faithfully is something we will continue to do. It is an ongoing process.

So, what makes baptism different is that if you did it last week, you don’t have to do it again next week. It is something that you do one time, you do it right the one time – but, it is listed here as one of the things necessary for salvation. With that being said, if we look at the above verse associated with being baptized, it is listed as Acts 2:38.

Side Note: There will be a final assessment question at the end of this lesson to see how well you are paying attention. Don’t worry, it is just one question to make sure everyone stays engaged as we go into the scriptures.

Acts 2:38
³⁸ Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

This is one of many scriptures that is associated with baptism. On the day of Pentecost, Peter being filled with the Holy Spirit stood up and preached the gospel of who Jesus is and what He had done. The response from the crowd was to ask “what shall we do?”

Peter then answered them – to repent, and to be baptized – every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission for your sins – and you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:38).

Now to give this a little more context, let’s go to the beginning of the book of Acts in chapter 1. It is probably something that gets read over, because many times we are eager to get into the “meat” of these books, and the beginning can seem like a meaningless introduction – but there’s something in here I want us to take a look at, which is going to lead us to the next part of our lesson.

Acts 1:1-2
¹ The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

² Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen

It is important to note that Luke is the author of the book of Acts. He wrote the book of Acts as well as the Gospel of Luke, and here he is making reference to the book of Luke, calling it “the former treaties” that he wrote.

And what he is saying is that there (Luke), as well as here (Acts), he was writing his account of all that Jesus both did and taught. Then, it is interesting to note in verse 2 – it says “until the day which he was taken up”. And after that He gave commandments through the Holy Ghost (John 16:13).

Normally we think that Jesus stopped teaching after He died on the cross, rose, and ascended – but what we see here is that Jesus continued to teach through the Holy Spirit, as reflected in Acts 2:38. When Peter got up to speak, he was speaking by the authority of Jesus through the Holy Spirit – instructing them to repent, to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.

So keeping that in mind(what was taught after He ascended), let’s take a look at the other parts, which are “All that He began to do and teach” before He ascended – by looking at the endings of the four Gospels. And we are going to use all of these, along with the beginning of Acts as puzzle pieces.

THE PUZZLE

Now for our puzzle, we will use Acts 1:1-2 as the box that the puzzle comes in. It will show us what the puzzle will look like when it is complete (what was taught prior to and after He ascended).

We’ve already looked at what was taught after His ascension through Peter (Acts 2:38). Now we’re going to go look at what Jesus taught before He ascended, by looking towards the end of each of the four Gospels. Then we will put the pieces together to see the full picture.

Since our first puzzle piece came from the book of Acts, let’s go back into the Gospels, in reverse order starting with the book of John. The book of John is a bit different than the other Gospels. The other three are called Synoptic, because they tell the account of Jesus from a similar angle.

In John’s Gospel, near the end of chapter 20, I want to point out verses 30 & 31 – this is after Thomas had been doubting the resurrection and Jesus came to him, proving that He had risen. That account is only found in the book of John, and in verses 30 & 31 we read a summary of the whole book:

John 20:30-31
³⁰ And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:

³¹ But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

John being a very different account lets us know that Jesus did many other things – but the purpose of what is written here is that you might believe and have life through His name.

As we move on to the endings of the other Gospels, we will see the things that Jesus did prior to His ascension, and one would figure – if He’s going away, He’s going to leave His marching orders before He departs. His last words are obviously very important.

But keep in mind that the book of John summarizes its purpose by saying that “these things were written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”

So now we’re going to the book of Luke, and we’ll look at the end of Luke’s gospel to see how he sums up his “former treaties”. In Luke 24, once again this is after Jesus was crucified, He was buried, He rose again. We read starting in verse 44:

Luke 24:44-47
⁴⁴ And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

⁴⁵ Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

⁴⁶ And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

⁴⁷ And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

So now we can see in:

• Book of Acts, it said “repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ”
  
• Book of John we read “that you might have life through His name”
  
• and here in the book of Luke we see “repentance and remission of sins shall be preached in His name”

Let’s now go back to the next gospel, in the reverse order, to the book of Mark – in chapter 16. Once again this is right before Jesus is going to ascend; these are His last “marching orders”.

Mark 16:14-16
¹⁴ Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

¹⁵ And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶ He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

So that’s our 4^th puzzle piece. We saw in

• Book of Acts, there was baptism “in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins”
  
• Book of John we read “that you might have life through His name”
  
• Book of Luke it says “repentance and remission of sins shall be preached in His name”
  
• And here in the book of Mark it’s “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved“

So we can see how all of these are pretty much saying the same thing in slightly different ways. Now we’re going to look at the last puzzle piece, which will be in the book of Matthew. In chapter 28, we once again see Jesus’ last marching orders to His disciples before He ascended.

Matthew 28:19-20
¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

This puzzle piece looks a little bit different. In all the other pieces we saw that everything – the baptism and remission of sins, was in the name of Jesus – in His name. But here it says in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

So now if this is our puzzle, how does this puzzle piece fit in with the others, because it looks like He said something different in the book of Matthew than in all the other books where we have collected our pieces from.

To start, let’s look carefully at verse 19: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

Note that this word “name” is singular. It says “name”. If this was speaking of three different names, it would say “names”. If Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were actually names, it would say “in the names of the Father…” but Jesus said “the name” …which is puzzling…

THE RIDDLE

So this leads us to our riddle. Many people are not aware that there is a riddle in the bible and that the answer to that riddle can help us to make sense of the last piece of the puzzle.

The “riddle” found in Proverbs 30, can shed light on the dilemma stemming from Matthew 28:19, which is: If I’m going to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, I would need to know what the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is. That might not seem like a biblical question to ask, but it is exactly the question posed in Proverbs 30:4.

Proverbs 30:4
⁴ Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son’s name, if thou canst tell?

So right here in the book of Proverbs we can see our riddle. It is: who is he that has ascended and descended, who gathered the wind in his fists, bound the waters in his garment and established all the ends of the earth… what is his name, what is his son’s name, if you can tell? Now we have the riddle.

By looking at some other scriptures, we may find clues to help us solve the riddle, and make the puzzle pieces fit together perfectly.

Hebrews 1:1-4
¹ God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, ² Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

³ Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high: ⁴ Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

We can see that the previous verses speak of creation and how it relates to Jesus Christ. But in Hebrews 1:4, the clue that relates to our riddle is, “as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”

Question: What does “inheritance” mean to you?

If you inherit something from your mother or your father, what does that mean? What would have to had taken place in order for you to inherit it?… They must have had it first in order for you to inherit it. That’s how inheritance works. And here, we see that Jesus – by inheritance, obtained a more excellent name than they – than the angels.

We clearly see here that Jesus’ name was actually inherited, which must mean someone had it first.

Let’s now go to the book of Ephesians, chapter 3. Remember, we’re trying to find out what is His name, and what is His son’s name?

Ephesians 3:9-15
⁹ And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

Note: We see here part of that riddle from Proverbs 30:4, in that it was very much referencing creation. And here we see that God created all things by Christ Jesus.

¹⁰ To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

¹¹ According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

¹² In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

¹³ Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

¹⁴ For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

¹⁵ Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

So there we are, back to the name. And we can see by this, not only was Jesus’ name inherited, but that there is one name that the whole family of heaven and earth share – one name.

Let’s go back to a prophesy in the book of Zechariah chapter 14. This prophesy was written approximately 500 years before Jesus walked the earth. And actually, that riddle in Proverbs 30 that we read earlier was written approximately 1000 years before Jesus.

Zechariah 14:7-9
⁷ But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.

⁸ And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

⁹ And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

If we keep in mind the whole picture of the puzzle, what is the name that He is referring to in Matthew 28:19? Is it the One name of the LORD?

Above in Zechariah 14:9, it says the LORD will be king – and we should know this is referencing Jesus (Rev 19:16) and when it talks about the living waters, we know the story of Jesus and the woman at the well (John 4:10). And if you really pay attention to that story, Jesus is pretty much telling her “if you knew who you were talking to – you would ask ME and I would give you living waters” and we can see in John 7:37-39 that the living water is the Holy Spirit.

Now think about this – who is it that gives the Holy Spirit? Is it Jesus or is it God the Father?

Well, Jesus said in Luke 11:11-13 – “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”

So the Father is the one who sends the Holy Spirit, but remember Jesus said, ‘if you knew who was talking to you, you would ask me and I would give you living waters.’

I hope you are starting to see the puzzle pieces coming together.

We can also look in the book of Acts, at the conversion of Saul/Paul to see what is the name of the Lord.

Acts 9:1-5
¹ And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

² And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

³ And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

⁴ And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

⁵ And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Note: And we just read in Zechariah – the Lord would be the king of the earth. And here we see Saul asking “who art thou, Lord?”

Once again, we see who the Lord is. We could go into this from a lot of different angles. I could keep going and keep going…but let’s go to Acts 4. For context, this is after Peter had healed the lame beggar and was asked “By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?” (Acts 4:7)

Acts 4:8-12
⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,

⁹ If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;

¹⁰ Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. ¹¹ This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.

¹² Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

So right there we can see that there is only one name given under Heaven whereby we must be saved.

With all that being said, we can now see how the puzzle piece of Matt 28:19 fits perfectly with all the rest. And this is why in Acts 2:38, when it was actually time to implement the command given by Jesus in Matt 28:19, Peter being filled with the Holy Spirit told the people to “repent everyone of you, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

There is only one name to be saved by – one name that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in, and only one name to be baptized in. That one name belongs to Jesus Christ.

FINAL ASSESSMENT QUESTION:

By now, hopefully we have solved all the riddle, and hopefully the puzzle pieces have all come together. We could go on and on, but we won’t. Now let’s go to our assessment question to see if you have been paying attention…

HAVE YOU BEEN BAPTIZED
IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST,
FOR THE REMISSION OF YOUR SINS?

If the answer to that question is no, don’t say to yourself “well, I was ‘baptized’ when I was a child and had someone sprinkle some water on me and they called it a baptism” or “I was baptized once, but I don’t think it was in the name of Jesus Christ.” That is not baptism according to scripture, and we would not be so loose with any of the other things necessary for salvation.

For example, we would not say in regards to hearing the truth, “I heard something, it may not have been the truth, but I still believed it anyway”. We wouldn’t take that attitude with any of the others (believing, repentance, confession, etc.)

With being baptized, don’t reason your way around it. If you haven’t been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ according to scripture – then the answer to that question is No.

In this lesson we played a game, but don’t play that game with your salvation. Don’t play the game of reasoning your way around the scriptures or say to yourself “maybe it’s not that important” (Mark 16:16).

Don’t play that game with the scriptures or with God, and especially don’t play that game with your soul. If your answer today was No, and you now realize that you need to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, as the scripture shows us is necessary for salvation, there is a simple solution.

You can contact us by clicking here, and we will guide you by the scripture, and answer any questions you may have concerning what Jesus established as the way to be saved.