Chapter Five

Leaning on the First Bookend

1. In your own words, what does it mean to “lean” on the First Bookend?

2. Our unchangeable, infallible God provides the bookends—therefore they never move or fail. The problem is our failure to lean our books on them. Describe how this happens. How can we correct this? (65-66)

3. Read Luke 19:1-10.

1. Why did the crowd grumble when Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus’ home?

2. How does Zacchaeus respond to being in the presence of Jesus? (verse 8)

3. Why do you think Zacchaeus responded in this way?

4. Why is it vital for us to see ourselves as desperately lost sinners? (67-68)

5. Explain in your own words what the author means when he says on page 68, “When we step into the light of Christ’s perfect righteousness, our utter depravity is exposed”?

6. In what ways does reviewing the list on page 68 help you “see” yourself as a desperately lost sinner? What happens to our dependence? (69)

7. Read the paragraph that starts on the bottom of page 69 and describe why the righteousness of Christ is all-sufficient for the needs of sinners.

8. It is not enough to merely see the righteousness of Christ as all-sufficient; we must see it as all-sufficient for us. Think about specific areas you desperately need the righteousness of Christ to substitute for your sin and failure. Is his righteousness sufficient for even that? How does this realization make you feel toward him?

9. What does it mean to preach the Gospel to yourself every day and why is it so vital to your spiritual health? (70-72)

10. From the fill-in-the-blank exercise on page 73, identify your functional savior(s).

11. Read Jeremiah 2:11-13. Explain why functional saviors can be described as evil? (72-74)

12. Once we have identified our functional savior(s), what are we to do with them? What can happen when we don’t reject our functional saviors?

13. Currently, what is God doing in your life to help free you from your functional savior(s)? (74)