WEBVTT 00:00:02.540 --> 00:00:05.200 I received a very nice review on my new book. 00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:14.500 That was cool. What's her name? The little girl? 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:43.640 Sapphire? Sapphire? Okay, we're going to let 00:00:43.640 --> 00:00:45.320 it start. They'll get in here. We'll catch them 00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:49.299 up. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we praise you 00:00:49.299 --> 00:00:51.659 and thank you for being the awesome God that 00:00:51.659 --> 00:00:53.780 you are. Lord, even though sometimes we don't 00:00:53.780 --> 00:00:57.140 fully understand how good you are to us and all 00:00:57.140 --> 00:01:00.039 the things you've done for us. I mean that we 00:01:00.039 --> 00:01:03.740 want to rush on ahead or we want to complain 00:01:03.740 --> 00:01:09.019 or we want to struggle emotionally. Lord, we 00:01:09.019 --> 00:01:12.319 confess our weakness to you and we ask you for 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:14.340 and are grateful for your forgiveness. Thank 00:01:14.340 --> 00:01:17.299 you for Jesus coming when people didn't deserve 00:01:17.299 --> 00:01:19.640 it, including us, and taking care of what needed 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:22.640 to be done. Thank you that he said it is finished. 00:01:23.640 --> 00:01:26.019 Lord, we ask you to teach us something. Teach 00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:29.030 us from Jesus' words. Teach us from the Bible. 00:01:29.510 --> 00:01:32.750 Teach us from our life experience. Put it all 00:01:32.750 --> 00:01:35.150 together and figure out what we should do because 00:01:35.150 --> 00:01:38.810 of it. Be with the Kids Club. Help them learn 00:01:38.810 --> 00:01:41.129 a lot too. Be with the leaders working in there. 00:01:41.209 --> 00:01:43.689 Give them patience. I think it's awesome that 00:01:43.689 --> 00:01:47.250 our church has a love for kids. And we pray that 00:01:47.250 --> 00:01:50.269 we'll raise up kids who glorify you. You take 00:01:50.269 --> 00:01:54.909 over and lead. In Jesus' name. Amen. Okay. So 00:01:54.909 --> 00:01:58.049 this is a pretty easy worksheet, but the blanks 00:01:58.049 --> 00:02:00.250 aren't real big, so you won't be able to write 00:02:00.250 --> 00:02:03.430 real big. But it's a pretty easy worksheet. But 00:02:03.430 --> 00:02:07.010 the topic is awesome. So we're going to read 00:02:07.010 --> 00:02:09.889 some verses, and we're going to look at two things. 00:02:10.129 --> 00:02:12.210 Our goal is to see two things. Remember, this 00:02:12.210 --> 00:02:14.050 is all part of the apologetics. You're talking 00:02:14.050 --> 00:02:15.909 with people, knowing how do you know that Jesus 00:02:15.909 --> 00:02:18.430 is real, how do you know the Bible is real. We 00:02:18.430 --> 00:02:20.569 went through that from the beginning, from creation, 00:02:20.770 --> 00:02:23.639 understanding how we know that. the kind of who 00:02:23.639 --> 00:02:26.620 God must be, what the character of God is, and 00:02:26.620 --> 00:02:28.759 then we looked at the monotheistic religions, 00:02:28.900 --> 00:02:31.180 Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, which ones 00:02:31.180 --> 00:02:34.360 got it right. Islam and Judaism doesn't accept 00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:37.419 the New Testament. We looked at how the New Testament 00:02:37.419 --> 00:02:39.580 was assembled, first through the New Testament, 00:02:39.620 --> 00:02:42.879 like that. Now, as part of that, we're going 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:46.180 to look at two questions. The first one is, who 00:02:46.180 --> 00:02:51.919 did Jesus say he was? So the question is, who 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:57.680 did Jesus say he was? And if Jesus said he was 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:01.979 God in the flesh, then we've got to listen to 00:03:01.979 --> 00:03:06.020 what he said. And then also, what did Jesus say 00:03:06.020 --> 00:03:09.520 the Bible was? Because if Jesus recognizes the 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:13.099 scripture as we do, then we've got it right. 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:16.120 But if somebody else says, well, the Koran is 00:03:16.120 --> 00:03:18.680 right, and Jesus didn't say the Koran, Clearly 00:03:18.680 --> 00:03:21.560 he didn't say that because that was over 600 00:03:21.560 --> 00:03:23.780 years after the canon, right? That's another 00:03:23.780 --> 00:03:26.199 doctrine that came later that really doesn't 00:03:26.199 --> 00:03:29.340 have anything to do with God at all. So whatever 00:03:29.340 --> 00:03:31.159 Jesus said, that's what we've got to pay attention 00:03:31.159 --> 00:03:33.520 to. So we're looking for the answers to two questions. 00:03:33.699 --> 00:03:36.199 One is, who did Jesus say he was while he was 00:03:36.199 --> 00:03:41.900 on the earth? And the other one is, what did 00:03:41.900 --> 00:03:44.939 he say the Bible was? What text was he referencing 00:03:44.939 --> 00:03:49.719 while he was on the earth? Jesus rarely used 00:03:49.719 --> 00:03:53.539 the titles. He didn't say things like, I am God, 00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:57.879 or God the Son, for example. Instead, he used 00:03:57.879 --> 00:04:01.280 metaphors, authoritative actions, and specific 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:03.819 titles that would have been explosive to his 00:04:03.819 --> 00:04:06.500 audience. So the people that were there, they 00:04:06.500 --> 00:04:09.919 recognized who he was saying that he was. Even 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:11.840 though we might not get it right away, but we'll 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:14.400 see it as we look at the text. So the first one... 00:04:14.929 --> 00:04:17.790 There's a series of I am statements. So Jesus 00:04:17.790 --> 00:04:20.810 said, I am this, I am that, I am the bread of 00:04:20.810 --> 00:04:24.230 life, I am the door, I am. And he made those 00:04:24.230 --> 00:04:27.949 statements. In John 8 .58, and so if you're following 00:04:27.949 --> 00:04:29.910 on your paper there, you see you already have 00:04:29.910 --> 00:04:31.910 most of it. I'm actually going to read the first 00:04:31.910 --> 00:04:37.509 case. That's not the whole thing. So Jesus is 00:04:37.509 --> 00:04:40.930 speaking in John 8 .58, and he says as follows. 00:04:41.910 --> 00:04:44.939 Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:51.500 before Abraham was born, I am. Not I was, but 00:04:51.500 --> 00:04:55.720 I am. Okay? And if you'll recall in the Old Testament, 00:04:55.879 --> 00:05:00.579 they attached godly identity, God's identity, 00:05:00.759 --> 00:05:05.319 to the phrase, I am. And so when, bless you, 00:05:05.379 --> 00:05:08.379 when God is talking to Moses through the burning 00:05:08.379 --> 00:05:10.160 bush, and Moses says, well, what if they doubt 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:12.279 me and they don't know, and who shall I say sent 00:05:12.279 --> 00:05:16.560 me? And God said, say, I am. All right. So that 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:20.639 phrase, I am, meant he was claiming to be God. 00:05:21.180 --> 00:05:24.319 All right. So this is the most direct claim of 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:28.000 divinity that we have in the New Testament. By, 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:30.620 and you're following along under the idea, so 00:05:30.620 --> 00:05:32.459 where it says the idea, by using the phrase, 00:05:32.579 --> 00:05:37.500 I am, which in the Greek is ego eimi, Jesus was 00:05:37.500 --> 00:05:40.199 intentionally echoing the divine name of God 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:43.500 revealed to Moses in Exodus. His listeners immediately 00:05:43.500 --> 00:05:52.040 picked up stones to kill him for blasphemy. That's 00:05:52.040 --> 00:05:55.060 right. So the way they responded when Jesus said, 00:05:55.220 --> 00:05:59.199 I am, before Abraham was born, I am, they picked 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:02.339 up stones for blasphemy. Blasphemy is when somebody 00:06:02.339 --> 00:06:05.579 takes the place of God. They say something against 00:06:05.579 --> 00:06:12.829 God. Go. Blasphemy. B -L -A -S -P -H. E -M -Y. 00:06:13.569 --> 00:06:17.889 Blasphemy. So they picked... Say it again. B 00:06:17.889 --> 00:06:25.370 -L -A -S. Blas. P -H -E -M -Y. Blasphemy. And 00:06:25.370 --> 00:06:27.589 it's the act of life speaking directly against 00:06:27.589 --> 00:06:29.649 God. In this case, they were going to stone him 00:06:29.649 --> 00:06:33.930 because he was saying he was God. Okay? So that's 00:06:33.930 --> 00:06:36.810 what they were doing. Alright, so now we're going 00:06:36.810 --> 00:06:40.910 on to Mark 14. Now, a whole bunch of times throughout 00:06:40.910 --> 00:06:44.410 the Bible, Jesus called himself by another phrase. 00:06:44.910 --> 00:06:48.629 Okay. And so I'm going to read from Mark 14. 00:06:50.569 --> 00:06:56.509 Mark 14. And we're reading verses 61 and 62. 00:07:01.410 --> 00:07:04.990 But he kept silent and did not answer. Again, 00:07:05.050 --> 00:07:07.069 the high priest was questioning him and saying 00:07:07.069 --> 00:07:11.600 to him, are you the Christ, the son? of the blessed 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:13.620 one. So the blessed one was a reference to God. 00:07:13.660 --> 00:07:15.579 They wouldn't say God's name. They wouldn't say 00:07:15.579 --> 00:07:19.199 God. They didn't say Yahweh. They didn't say 00:07:19.199 --> 00:07:21.000 Elohim. They didn't say any of the names for 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:24.680 God as a high priest or in their speaking because 00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:27.279 they had developed a tradition that said that 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:29.259 they were not worthy to say the name of God. 00:07:29.420 --> 00:07:31.240 So they called him by other things. And one of 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:32.839 them was the blessed one. So he's saying, are 00:07:32.839 --> 00:07:36.819 you the Christ, the son of the blessed one? Then 00:07:36.819 --> 00:07:41.800 Jesus said, I am. And you shall see the Son of 00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:45.139 Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming 00:07:45.139 --> 00:07:49.040 with the clouds of heaven. So again, the high 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:51.779 priest asks him, Are you the Messiah? Are you 00:07:51.779 --> 00:07:53.720 the Son of the Blessed One? Are you the Christ? 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:58.939 Jesus said, I am. Jesus' favorite self -designation, 00:07:58.939 --> 00:08:01.360 the favorite thing that he called himself, was 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:06.860 the Son of Man. Now, to us, that sounds like 00:08:06.860 --> 00:08:09.019 it's just saying he's human, right? I am a son 00:08:09.019 --> 00:08:12.620 of a man. I had a dad. He was a man, right? But 00:08:12.620 --> 00:08:15.480 to them, it was referencing Daniel chapter 7, 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:19.740 which is describing a heavenly figure who receives 00:08:19.740 --> 00:08:26.600 an eternal kingdom. He describes a heavenly figure 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:29.220 who receives an eternal kingdom and worship from 00:08:29.220 --> 00:08:32.120 all nations, not just the Jewish nation, but 00:08:32.120 --> 00:08:35.240 from all nations. And so we know who that heavenly 00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:38.080 figure who receives worship from all nations 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:41.740 is. We know it's Jesus, right? But he was calling 00:08:41.740 --> 00:08:44.759 himself that before people knew that. And then 00:08:44.759 --> 00:08:47.360 later, some people would still deny it. Okay, 00:08:47.399 --> 00:08:50.679 so going back up to the blanks. So he said, and 00:08:50.679 --> 00:08:54.379 you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right 00:08:54.379 --> 00:08:57.559 hand of the Mighty One. So it's the right hand. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:00.320 So Jesus said, you will see the Son of Man sitting 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:03.769 at the right hand of the Mighty One. and coming 00:09:03.769 --> 00:09:07.950 on the clouds of heaven. Now, if you go there, 00:09:08.110 --> 00:09:11.610 those exact words almost appear in Daniel 7, 00:09:11.710 --> 00:09:14.549 and they knew it was a reference to the one whom 00:09:14.549 --> 00:09:16.490 God would send that would save all the nations, 00:09:16.590 --> 00:09:19.789 rule over all the nations, receive the worship 00:09:19.789 --> 00:09:23.049 of all the nations. So Jesus was, again, identifying 00:09:23.049 --> 00:09:28.710 himself as God. Then we go to Matthew 11, 27. 00:09:39.820 --> 00:09:42.480 All things have been handed over to me by my 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:46.980 Father. No one knows the Son except the Father. 00:09:47.580 --> 00:09:50.639 Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:54.080 and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him. 00:09:56.080 --> 00:10:00.679 Okay? So no one would know who Jesus was completely 00:10:00.679 --> 00:10:06.100 except God the Father. And the Father, no one 00:10:06.100 --> 00:10:09.179 would know him except... whom the Son reveals 00:10:09.179 --> 00:10:15.519 to him. So Jesus claims an exclusive, reciprocal 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:19.440 relationship with God that no other prophet or 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:22.940 king ever claimed. Now, there were kings that 00:10:22.940 --> 00:10:24.940 claimed to have the word of God, and we kind 00:10:24.940 --> 00:10:28.200 of have one of those today. There is a man on 00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:30.340 the earth today who claims to speak on behalf 00:10:30.340 --> 00:10:34.120 of God. It's the Catholic Pope. Now, we also 00:10:34.120 --> 00:10:36.190 know, if you look at the history of the... the 00:10:36.190 --> 00:10:38.250 popes, right, that a lot of times when they claim 00:10:38.250 --> 00:10:40.809 to be speaking for God, then later another pope 00:10:40.809 --> 00:10:42.350 would come and say, well, that wasn't right. 00:10:42.730 --> 00:10:45.330 So they contradict each other. And that's happening 00:10:45.330 --> 00:10:49.049 right now. This pope is making statements that 00:10:49.049 --> 00:10:52.110 contradicts popes that came before him. And so 00:10:52.110 --> 00:10:54.129 that's a problem because you have God saying 00:10:54.129 --> 00:10:55.529 one thing and you have God saying another thing 00:10:55.529 --> 00:10:57.769 if God was actually speaking through them. Now, 00:10:57.789 --> 00:11:01.690 that being said. Jesus was claiming to speak 00:11:01.690 --> 00:11:04.350 for God. In fact, claiming that when he was speaking, 00:11:04.549 --> 00:11:09.850 it was God talking. And then he says, he positions 00:11:09.850 --> 00:11:13.009 himself as the sole bridge. He's the only way. 00:11:13.149 --> 00:11:15.470 He says that elsewhere, right? I am the way and 00:11:15.470 --> 00:11:17.049 the truth and the life. No one cometh unto the 00:11:17.049 --> 00:11:20.950 Father but by me, John 14, 6. So he is the only 00:11:20.950 --> 00:11:23.070 way that a person can come to God the Father. 00:11:23.309 --> 00:11:26.049 That is an incredible claim. And it positions 00:11:26.049 --> 00:11:33.350 him as essentially God the Son. And then we go 00:11:33.350 --> 00:11:38.169 to Mark 2. Oh, I'm sorry. Did I not give you 00:11:38.169 --> 00:11:43.509 a blank? Yeah. So no one knows the Son except 00:11:43.509 --> 00:11:47.769 the Father. So that's the first part. And no 00:11:47.769 --> 00:11:50.309 one knows the Father except the Son and those 00:11:50.309 --> 00:11:55.990 to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. So reveal 00:11:55.990 --> 00:11:59.279 is to make a thing known or seen. And so that's 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:01.379 what Jesus was doing. Beautifully, Paul would 00:12:01.379 --> 00:12:04.820 write much later that Jesus was the full embodiment 00:12:04.820 --> 00:12:08.080 of God, that he showed God in totality, which 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:15.759 is really cool. Okay, so Mark 2. Jesus said to 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:19.659 them, the Sabbath was made for man and not man 00:12:19.659 --> 00:12:21.759 for the Sabbath. But he goes on a little further 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:25.320 and he says, so the Son of Man is Lord even of 00:12:25.320 --> 00:12:31.200 the Sabbath. The Son of Man is Lord even of the 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:35.159 Sabbath. So in that first part, you have the 00:12:35.159 --> 00:12:36.759 verse there. You have a blank. It says, Then 00:12:36.759 --> 00:12:38.960 he said to them, The blank was made for man. 00:12:39.059 --> 00:12:43.639 What word goes there? Sabbath. Yep. The Sabbath 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:47.100 was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So 00:12:47.100 --> 00:12:49.440 the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. So 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:52.039 the Sabbath was a divine institution established 00:12:52.039 --> 00:12:56.610 at creation. Who started the Sabbath? God. God 00:12:56.610 --> 00:12:58.629 the Father, right? With Adam and Eve in the garden, 00:12:58.669 --> 00:13:00.210 he told them, you work six days, you rest on 00:13:00.210 --> 00:13:02.769 the seventh. Just as I made all creation in six 00:13:02.769 --> 00:13:04.429 days, rest on the seventh. You work six days, 00:13:04.490 --> 00:13:06.909 rest on the seventh. And it wasn't a rest just 00:13:06.909 --> 00:13:09.289 from labor. It was a rest from labor, but it 00:13:09.289 --> 00:13:12.330 wasn't just that. The idea was to focus on God. 00:13:12.750 --> 00:13:15.970 And so the principle behind Sabbath is that there 00:13:15.970 --> 00:13:19.409 is a connection from God that you can have, you 00:13:19.409 --> 00:13:22.289 can block out time for. And most of you probably 00:13:22.289 --> 00:13:24.860 block out that time on Sunday, right? Pastors 00:13:24.860 --> 00:13:26.399 don't really do that because we work usually 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:28.480 all day Sunday, right? So we have a different 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:30.700 day of the week. And there's nothing wrong with 00:13:30.700 --> 00:13:33.179 that. It wasn't that God said the first day of 00:13:33.179 --> 00:13:36.080 the week is Sunday. A lot of people think that's 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:37.480 the second day of the weekend, but that's not 00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:39.019 actually true. The first day of the week is Sunday, 00:13:39.159 --> 00:13:42.399 right? And we go Sunday through Friday. And then 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:45.159 that's six days. You have to have Saturday off. 00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:47.059 You have to. The Sabbath is Saturday, right? 00:13:47.659 --> 00:13:49.419 Others will argue and say, well, no, no, no. 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:51.399 Sunday is the Sabbath. You have to have that. 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:53.960 It's a holy day, right? Neither one of those 00:13:53.960 --> 00:13:56.980 things are exactly true. We worship on Sunday 00:13:56.980 --> 00:13:58.960 mostly because it's the first day of the week 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:01.740 that puts God first. And secondly, because that's 00:14:01.740 --> 00:14:03.740 the day he was resurrected. He came back to life 00:14:03.740 --> 00:14:08.620 on Sunday. But again, you could worship on another 00:14:08.620 --> 00:14:10.039 day. In fact, you should be worshiping seven 00:14:10.039 --> 00:14:11.960 days a week. But we as the church usually come 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:16.320 together on Sunday. Then also, you could have 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:18.700 any time marked out for Sabbath. In fact, you 00:14:18.700 --> 00:14:20.740 should. If you work a hard day, you work 12, 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:23.059 15 hours, let's say, and you're beat. You should 00:14:23.059 --> 00:14:26.139 take some time to spend with God. You've been 00:14:26.139 --> 00:14:28.700 working all day. You should focus on the Lord. 00:14:29.480 --> 00:14:32.279 There is more strength and recuperation, like 00:14:32.279 --> 00:14:34.700 building your strength back up in God, than there 00:14:34.700 --> 00:14:37.000 ever is in sleeping or there ever is in resting. 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:41.179 So the idea was that after your work is done, 00:14:41.399 --> 00:14:44.200 there would be a time to truly focus on the Lord 00:14:44.200 --> 00:14:49.779 and rest. But notice then, he says, he has lordship 00:14:49.779 --> 00:14:52.659 over the Sabbath. Jesus was claiming the authority 00:14:52.659 --> 00:14:56.480 to redefine or interpret the very laws given 00:14:56.480 --> 00:15:00.759 by God at Sinai. So when Moses received the order 00:15:00.759 --> 00:15:02.259 on the Sabbath, one of the Ten Commandments, 00:15:02.299 --> 00:15:04.759 right? Keep the Sabbath holy. When Moses received 00:15:04.759 --> 00:15:06.779 that order, Jesus was saying, I can tell you 00:15:06.779 --> 00:15:11.259 what that means. I will organize you to make 00:15:11.259 --> 00:15:13.899 sure you get that right. And Jesus was saying 00:15:13.899 --> 00:15:16.480 that. So he was claiming that he had the correct 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:19.580 interpretation of Scripture when a lot of other 00:15:19.580 --> 00:15:24.330 people did not. And then back in that same chapter 00:15:24.330 --> 00:15:26.870 in verses 5 -7, this is the last one where we'll 00:15:26.870 --> 00:15:35.509 look at who Jesus was saying he was. Mark 2, 00:15:35.710 --> 00:15:38.570 verses 5 -7 say as follows, And Jesus, seeing 00:15:38.570 --> 00:15:42.409 their faith, said to the paralytic, Son, your 00:15:42.409 --> 00:15:46.629 sins are forgiven. Okay, and that's the blank. 00:15:47.830 --> 00:15:51.539 So what was the word? Sean, you got it? Yes. 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:55.179 Very good. So your sons are forgiven. Now, some 00:15:55.179 --> 00:15:57.480 teachers of the law were thinking to themselves, 00:15:57.559 --> 00:15:59.299 and it kind of is abbreviated there, so I'll 00:15:59.299 --> 00:16:01.860 read it to you out of the Bible. It says, but 00:16:01.860 --> 00:16:03.679 some of the scribes, which are teachers of the 00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:06.460 law, or writers, really, of the law, were sitting 00:16:06.460 --> 00:16:08.240 there and reasoning in their hearts, why does 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:12.840 this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. There's 00:16:12.840 --> 00:16:16.580 that word again. Who can forgive sins but God 00:16:16.580 --> 00:16:21.889 alone? So by forgiving sins, who was Jesus claiming 00:16:21.889 --> 00:16:27.470 to be, according to them? God, right? So they 00:16:27.470 --> 00:16:29.789 were saying, who can forgive sins alone? Jesus 00:16:29.789 --> 00:16:33.230 was a Jew. He knew only God can forgive sins. 00:16:33.509 --> 00:16:36.570 So when he's saying, I can forgive sins, he's 00:16:36.570 --> 00:16:38.830 claiming to, he's taking the position of God. 00:16:38.990 --> 00:16:41.429 And they call it blasphemy. They don't pick up 00:16:41.429 --> 00:16:43.519 stones that time to kill him. But they are very 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:46.019 concerned. And he goes on to explain to them 00:16:46.019 --> 00:16:47.279 that he understands what they're thinking in 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:48.980 their hearts and that he has the right to do 00:16:48.980 --> 00:16:51.820 that. And then and then only after that does 00:16:51.820 --> 00:16:53.460 he actually heal the paralytic. We make a huge 00:16:53.460 --> 00:16:56.279 deal. This guy's paralyzed and he can't walk. 00:16:56.360 --> 00:16:58.519 He gets healed and everything. But the truth 00:16:58.519 --> 00:17:00.899 is, Jesus thought it was more important to forgive 00:17:00.899 --> 00:17:03.799 that guy's sins and teach everybody present that 00:17:03.799 --> 00:17:07.059 he was God in the flesh than it was to heal him 00:17:07.059 --> 00:17:13.099 from paralysis. Right. So Jesus didn't just pray 00:17:13.099 --> 00:17:16.039 for God to forgive the man. He forgave the man 00:17:16.039 --> 00:17:19.599 himself. In the Jewish mindset, since all sin 00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:22.019 is ultimately against God, only God has the right 00:17:22.019 --> 00:17:25.319 to write off that debt to forgive those sins. 00:17:25.799 --> 00:17:31.559 Okay? So very simply put, based on these texts, 00:17:31.660 --> 00:17:33.880 and there are probably 20 others, when Jesus 00:17:33.880 --> 00:17:37.279 was walking the earth, who was he claiming to 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:43.009 be? God. Not specifically God the Father, right? 00:17:43.150 --> 00:17:45.170 Because he called God the Father, Father. He 00:17:45.170 --> 00:17:47.089 still talked to him as Father. Remember, we have 00:17:47.089 --> 00:17:48.569 the Trinity. We have God the Father, God the 00:17:48.569 --> 00:17:50.869 Son, God the Holy Spirit. But all three of them 00:17:50.869 --> 00:17:55.490 are God. Just one God. Three persons, one God, 00:17:55.650 --> 00:17:58.309 right? And if you look at his baptism, you see 00:17:58.309 --> 00:18:01.069 Jesus was baptized, right? Who was baptized? 00:18:01.470 --> 00:18:05.650 God the Son. While he was being baptized, the 00:18:05.650 --> 00:18:08.119 Holy Spirit comes and settles on him. It says 00:18:08.119 --> 00:18:09.619 the Holy Spirit comes and settles on him like 00:18:09.619 --> 00:18:13.039 a dove. So that's God the Holy Spirit. And God 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:15.559 the Father speaks from heaven at that same instant. 00:18:15.700 --> 00:18:17.759 And he said, this is my son with whom I am well 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:20.059 pleased. So at the baptism of Jesus, you see 00:18:20.059 --> 00:18:22.519 God the Father in heaven, God the Holy Spirit 00:18:22.519 --> 00:18:25.299 ascending on Jesus, and God the Son being baptized. 00:18:25.660 --> 00:18:27.960 When we baptize people, for example, it says 00:18:27.960 --> 00:18:30.500 baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, 00:18:30.660 --> 00:18:33.809 and the Holy Spirit. But that's God. That's because 00:18:33.809 --> 00:18:37.369 we baptize them in the name of all of the personage 00:18:37.369 --> 00:18:40.390 of God, all the ways that we experience God. 00:18:40.650 --> 00:18:43.849 Who gives Holy Spirit gifts, like the gift to 00:18:43.849 --> 00:18:46.049 preach or the gift to give or the gift to serve? 00:18:46.150 --> 00:18:49.930 Who gives those? God. Who determines which one 00:18:49.930 --> 00:18:54.130 you get? God, the Holy Spirit. The Bible says 00:18:54.130 --> 00:18:57.269 God, the Holy Spirit, gives to each man the right 00:18:57.269 --> 00:19:00.710 gift or each person the right gift. So God the 00:19:00.710 --> 00:19:04.220 Father sent the Spirit. The gifts may be from 00:19:04.220 --> 00:19:06.400 God on the whole, right? You could say Jesus, 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:08.420 Holy Spirit, God, right? But the Holy Spirit 00:19:08.420 --> 00:19:11.779 determines who gets what gifts. See, who was 00:19:11.779 --> 00:19:16.000 crucified on the cross? Jesus, and he's God the 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:19.299 Son, right? The Holy Spirit may have ministered 00:19:19.299 --> 00:19:21.359 to him while he was experiencing that time on 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:23.160 the cross. We don't actually know that for sure, 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:28.279 right? But God the Son was on the cross, and 00:19:28.279 --> 00:19:31.339 God the Father was in heaven. In fact, it says, 00:19:34.089 --> 00:19:38.210 Jesus cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou 00:19:38.210 --> 00:19:41.029 forsaken me? He cried that out in prayer to God 00:19:41.029 --> 00:19:44.069 the Father. But we know that's the first verse 00:19:44.069 --> 00:19:46.750 of Psalm 22, which describes everything that 00:19:46.750 --> 00:19:48.329 was happening right then. So really, that was 00:19:48.329 --> 00:19:50.829 a confirmation of what was happening in Jesus' 00:19:50.990 --> 00:19:53.089 life. He was showing people that it was happening 00:19:53.089 --> 00:19:56.529 exactly the way it was supposed to happen. So 00:19:56.529 --> 00:19:58.650 bottom line is, we have God the Father, God the 00:19:58.650 --> 00:20:00.849 Son, and the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit, 00:20:00.970 --> 00:20:04.640 right? But Jesus was clearly claiming to be God. 00:20:05.720 --> 00:20:08.960 And he was. God was not. All right. All right. 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:11.319 Now we move on to how Jesus saw the Bible. I 00:20:11.319 --> 00:20:13.480 told you this was going to go fast. So here we 00:20:13.480 --> 00:20:18.440 go. So Jesus viewed the scriptures not just as 00:20:18.440 --> 00:20:20.980 a history book. So if you read your Bible just 00:20:20.980 --> 00:20:22.660 thinking it's a history book, you're making a 00:20:22.660 --> 00:20:24.990 mistake. That is not how Jesus thought of the 00:20:24.990 --> 00:20:27.190 Old Testament. The Old Testament was only up 00:20:27.190 --> 00:20:29.210 until the New Covenant. That's the New Testament, 00:20:29.309 --> 00:20:31.849 the old books of the Bible, Genesis through Malachi. 00:20:32.150 --> 00:20:33.730 We don't really have to deal with that anymore 00:20:33.730 --> 00:20:36.329 because that ended with Jesus. No, that's wrong. 00:20:37.430 --> 00:20:40.210 All of the Word of God is useful from beginning 00:20:40.210 --> 00:20:45.289 to end. So Jesus was not looking at Genesis or 00:20:45.289 --> 00:20:49.910 Exodus or Psalms or Malachi as history only. 00:20:50.549 --> 00:20:54.849 He was thinking of it as the inspired word of 00:20:54.849 --> 00:20:59.170 God. And he was seeing it as authoritative, which 00:20:59.170 --> 00:21:03.009 means God the Father has all the authority. God 00:21:03.009 --> 00:21:05.390 in general. God the Father, God the Son. They 00:21:05.390 --> 00:21:08.329 have all the authority. He has all the authority 00:21:08.329 --> 00:21:10.170 because it's God the Father, God the Son, God 00:21:10.170 --> 00:21:12.849 the Holy Spirit, but it's still he. They have 00:21:12.849 --> 00:21:16.529 all the authority. So, when you look at the Old 00:21:16.529 --> 00:21:19.690 Testament, you have laws. People write down laws. 00:21:19.950 --> 00:21:22.250 You have the Bible. Which one has authority and 00:21:22.250 --> 00:21:27.609 which one doesn't? The Bible has the authority. 00:21:28.269 --> 00:21:32.869 The laws only have authority if God says so. 00:21:33.150 --> 00:21:35.910 If tomorrow, if they make a law saying you can't 00:21:35.910 --> 00:21:37.190 worship Jesus anymore, are you still going to 00:21:37.190 --> 00:21:40.250 worship Jesus? Absolutely. So does the law have 00:21:40.250 --> 00:21:43.069 any authority inherent to itself? It does not. 00:21:43.349 --> 00:21:47.089 The law attempts to give authority into the hands 00:21:47.089 --> 00:21:50.150 of person or to capture authority. and put it 00:21:50.150 --> 00:21:52.089 in the hands of people. So our law talks about, 00:21:52.109 --> 00:21:53.569 well, we have a governor for this reason. We 00:21:53.569 --> 00:21:55.630 have police officers who can do this and whatever. 00:21:55.769 --> 00:21:59.210 And we try to give them authority, right? But 00:21:59.210 --> 00:22:02.589 the reality is all of that authority is subject 00:22:02.589 --> 00:22:04.369 to God's authority. God has all the authority. 00:22:04.549 --> 00:22:06.450 And that's why when the Declaration of Independence, 00:22:06.670 --> 00:22:08.890 for example, where it says we believe that men 00:22:08.890 --> 00:22:11.450 were created equal to certain inalienable rights, 00:22:11.630 --> 00:22:14.849 right? So in other words, that's God's authority 00:22:14.849 --> 00:22:18.690 that made people what they are, not... Men saying, 00:22:18.750 --> 00:22:21.049 oh, you can be this and you can be that. God 00:22:21.049 --> 00:22:25.950 did it. So Jesus sees the book, the Bible, Genesis 00:22:25.950 --> 00:22:27.549 through Malachi, and we'll explain that in a 00:22:27.549 --> 00:22:30.710 second, as authoritative. He sees it as divine, 00:22:31.049 --> 00:22:34.630 which means it's God's book. It's not just anybody's 00:22:34.630 --> 00:22:38.490 book, it's God's book. And a cohesive, that means 00:22:38.490 --> 00:22:40.410 it all sticks together, it all works together. 00:22:41.329 --> 00:22:44.210 Narrative, that means it's a story that pointed 00:22:44.210 --> 00:22:47.640 directly to him. So everything from Genesis to 00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:51.359 the last little bit, the last dot or stroke of 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:55.660 a pen in Malachi points to Jesus. And he was 00:22:55.660 --> 00:22:58.200 saying, look, it's been 400 years, but everything 00:22:58.200 --> 00:23:00.900 that was accumulated in that was pointing to 00:23:00.900 --> 00:23:03.519 me. And now here I am. And some people will get 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:05.759 it and some people won't get it. And that's exactly 00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:09.140 what happened. And Jesus spoke in parables. And 00:23:09.140 --> 00:23:11.279 he says he spoke in parables because for some, 00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:13.799 they were blind and they were kind of comfortable 00:23:13.799 --> 00:23:16.069 being blind. And to take that away from them 00:23:16.069 --> 00:23:18.190 would be very damaging. It would take away their 00:23:18.190 --> 00:23:21.089 ability to get free, to get saved. They have 00:23:21.089 --> 00:23:23.210 to have faith to open the channel of salvation. 00:23:23.869 --> 00:23:27.430 And so the parables were not direct. Everything 00:23:27.430 --> 00:23:29.190 wasn't a direct teaching. Now do this exactly. 00:23:29.329 --> 00:23:31.670 Now do this exactly. Now do this exactly. Because 00:23:31.670 --> 00:23:33.769 it was a form of protection for the people that 00:23:33.769 --> 00:23:37.750 existed who would not accept him. So we're going 00:23:37.750 --> 00:23:40.190 to look at some texts that support that. The 00:23:40.190 --> 00:23:42.650 first one is the indestructible law. It's in 00:23:42.650 --> 00:23:47.000 Matthew 5. Josh, you want to look up Luke 24, 00:23:47.059 --> 00:23:51.140 44, and you can read it when we get there? That'll 00:23:51.140 --> 00:23:54.700 be our last verse of the day. I'd let you read 00:23:54.700 --> 00:23:59.839 Matthew 5, but I'm already out of it. Okay, so 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:03.440 Matthew 5. So this is kind of like toward the 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:04.960 beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Anytime 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:06.920 you see Matthew 5, you realize he's talking to 00:24:06.920 --> 00:24:10.000 a huge crowd of thousands of people here. Okay, 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:13.440 so Matthew 5, 17 says this. Do not think that 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:16.519 I came to abolish the law. So that first blank 00:24:16.519 --> 00:24:23.700 there is abolish. It's A -B -O -L -I -S -H. And 00:24:23.700 --> 00:24:28.000 to abolish something is to wipe it out, to eliminate 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:31.359 it, to be done with it. It's no more. And Jesus 00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:34.700 is saying, do not think that I came to abolish 00:24:34.700 --> 00:24:44.259 the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish, 00:24:44.259 --> 00:24:48.039 but to fulfill. For truly, I say to you that 00:24:48.039 --> 00:24:51.180 until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest 00:24:51.180 --> 00:24:54.920 letter or stroke shall pass from the law until 00:24:54.920 --> 00:24:58.220 all is accomplished. So Jesus viewed scripture 00:24:58.220 --> 00:25:02.279 as true down to the last stroke. If there were 00:25:02.279 --> 00:25:04.579 spaces, which there weren't. The spaces would 00:25:04.579 --> 00:25:06.900 be true. That's how Jesus looked at it. He saw 00:25:06.900 --> 00:25:11.099 the law as the perfect revelation, gift, if you 00:25:11.099 --> 00:25:15.079 will, from God. And he was not like, oh, well, 00:25:15.079 --> 00:25:17.220 this is pretty good, or this part got messed 00:25:17.220 --> 00:25:20.799 up along the way. He saw it as perfect. And he 00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:24.460 saw his life not as a replacement for the Bible. 00:25:24.579 --> 00:25:26.460 So what Jesus was doing was not replacing the 00:25:26.460 --> 00:25:30.000 Old Testament, but as its intended fulfillment. 00:25:30.890 --> 00:25:33.170 Again, like I said, so he's saying there is the 00:25:33.170 --> 00:25:35.910 Bible, all of it, and all of it's pointing to 00:25:35.910 --> 00:25:38.410 this moment in time. And then from here on out, 00:25:38.490 --> 00:25:40.549 you're going to be living the whole thing. You're 00:25:40.549 --> 00:25:42.089 going to have the whole, not just little bits 00:25:42.089 --> 00:25:44.009 of it, like rules you have to follow or things 00:25:44.009 --> 00:25:45.990 like that, but the relationship with God that 00:25:45.990 --> 00:25:51.890 was talked about here. And then notice that he 00:25:51.890 --> 00:25:58.150 gives us a two -part nomenclature for the scripture 00:25:58.150 --> 00:26:02.349 there. It is the law. and the prophets. And so 00:26:02.349 --> 00:26:04.329 in the temple, when they talked about the Bible, 00:26:04.450 --> 00:26:07.329 that's the phrase they used. They meant Genesis 00:26:07.329 --> 00:26:11.309 through Malachi. It was sealed. It had Psalms, 00:26:11.309 --> 00:26:13.069 it had Proverbs, it had wisdom teachings like 00:26:13.069 --> 00:26:15.670 that, but they wouldn't say, a lot of times they 00:26:15.670 --> 00:26:18.769 wouldn't say Genesis, Psalms, and the prophets, 00:26:18.970 --> 00:26:22.529 or Genesis, Proverbs, Genesis, wisdom, and the 00:26:22.529 --> 00:26:23.930 prophets. They wouldn't do that. They'd just 00:26:23.930 --> 00:26:28.509 say the law, which was the penance, the first 00:26:28.509 --> 00:26:32.170 five books of the Bible, right? and then the 00:26:32.170 --> 00:26:34.369 prophets and they meant that and everything it's 00:26:34.369 --> 00:26:35.869 like if i said that beginning of the shelf and 00:26:35.869 --> 00:26:38.369 the end of the shelf right or if i said from 00:26:38.369 --> 00:26:39.849 the beginning of the shelf to the end of the 00:26:39.849 --> 00:26:41.430 shelf you know i meant everything in between 00:26:41.430 --> 00:26:44.269 and that's how they did it they say the law starts 00:26:44.269 --> 00:26:47.470 genesis and the prophets ends malachi and everything 00:26:47.470 --> 00:26:50.349 in between so jesus had those feelings about 00:26:50.349 --> 00:26:53.289 everything that was in the old testament okay 00:26:53.289 --> 00:26:58.210 you read luke 24 44. Now he said to them, these 00:26:58.210 --> 00:27:00.869 are my words, which I spoke to you while I was 00:27:00.869 --> 00:27:03.750 there, that all things which are written about 00:27:03.750 --> 00:27:06.509 me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the 00:27:06.509 --> 00:27:11.069 Psalms must be fulfilled. Okay, so now we see 00:27:11.069 --> 00:27:15.069 Jesus using the term, the law of Moses. So again, 00:27:15.109 --> 00:27:17.269 that's the penitent, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, 00:27:17.390 --> 00:27:20.690 Numbers, Deuteronomy. And then he says the Psalms. 00:27:20.690 --> 00:27:24.289 Now, the Psalms is the largest part of those 00:27:24.289 --> 00:27:26.900 other books that are in the middle. And so for 00:27:26.900 --> 00:27:28.720 him to say the Psalms was to say, don't forget 00:27:28.720 --> 00:27:32.720 that Proverbs is in there. Ecclesiastes is in 00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:36.599 there. Lamentations is in there. Those things 00:27:36.599 --> 00:27:40.440 are part of the scripture, too. So he was being 00:27:40.440 --> 00:27:43.539 clear to say that all of those things pointed 00:27:43.539 --> 00:27:47.220 to him. Right. And so that's what he does. He 00:27:47.220 --> 00:27:49.819 takes them through when this is when the two 00:27:49.819 --> 00:27:52.059 disciples are walking. They're walking from Jerusalem 00:27:52.059 --> 00:27:54.700 to Emmaus. This is the day he's been crucified, 00:27:54.859 --> 00:27:57.380 but they've not known that he's alive yet. And 00:27:57.380 --> 00:27:59.500 they're walking, and he starts at Genesis. I 00:27:59.500 --> 00:28:01.720 could do this, too. It would take a long time. 00:28:01.900 --> 00:28:07.799 The walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus is like five 00:28:07.799 --> 00:28:10.859 -plus miles. It's like five to eight miles, something 00:28:10.859 --> 00:28:13.559 like that. And I think it's longer because it 00:28:13.559 --> 00:28:15.839 winds. But anyway, the point is, that's a long 00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:17.700 walk, right? So we have quite a bit of time. 00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:20.299 Can you push that door open? I don't think we 00:28:20.299 --> 00:28:23.279 cranked it down. She was trying to get in. Sorry. 00:28:24.619 --> 00:28:28.140 And so if we took that hour, I could work through 00:28:28.140 --> 00:28:32.140 most of it for you. And you could do the same 00:28:32.140 --> 00:28:34.880 thing. But let's do it together real quick. Think 00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:40.140 about the scripture, right? So in Genesis, we 00:28:40.140 --> 00:28:42.559 have the fall. You know that, right? Mankind 00:28:42.559 --> 00:28:45.519 sins against God. Does anybody remember in Genesis 00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:50.539 3 when God is talking to Adam and Eve how or 00:28:50.539 --> 00:28:54.529 a little bit of how Jesus was promised? Anybody 00:28:54.529 --> 00:29:00.109 got that? What does God say to Adam about Jesus 00:29:00.109 --> 00:29:08.269 in the book of Genesis? What does God say to 00:29:08.269 --> 00:29:11.170 Adam about Jesus in the book of Genesis? He doesn't 00:29:11.170 --> 00:29:13.049 say the name Jesus, but what does he say that 00:29:13.049 --> 00:29:17.890 we know he's talking about Jesus? I'll paraphrase 00:29:17.890 --> 00:29:20.880 it. Say it again. Kind of. He doesn't use that 00:29:20.880 --> 00:29:23.019 terminology. The Jews use it for that later. 00:29:23.400 --> 00:29:26.740 They adapt that terminology for him later. Okay, 00:29:26.779 --> 00:29:31.240 so he says that a son of Eve, eventually a son 00:29:31.240 --> 00:29:37.220 of Eve, will rise up and save them. I'm paraphrasing. 00:29:37.339 --> 00:29:40.920 But it also says he'll bite the heel of the serpent. 00:29:41.039 --> 00:29:42.960 That's what it says. And then it says that... 00:29:47.079 --> 00:29:48.500 I'm trying to remember the phrasing exactly, 00:29:48.680 --> 00:29:53.200 but I can't. Tim, help me. Crush the head of 00:29:53.200 --> 00:29:56.299 the serpent. That's it. So the son of man will 00:29:56.299 --> 00:29:58.519 rise up and crush the head of the serpent, but 00:29:58.519 --> 00:30:01.019 the serpent will bite his heel. Now, who does 00:30:01.019 --> 00:30:04.420 that sound like? If it's a son of Eve, a descendant 00:30:04.420 --> 00:30:07.019 of Eve, it's a man, right? It's not just God 00:30:07.019 --> 00:30:09.640 will do it, but it's a man. So Jesus, God becomes 00:30:09.640 --> 00:30:12.319 a man. And then he crushes the head of the serpent, 00:30:12.440 --> 00:30:15.970 the serpent being Satan, the tempter. But the 00:30:15.970 --> 00:30:19.089 serpent bites his heel. That's the crucifixion. 00:30:19.509 --> 00:30:22.769 That's Genesis 3. And you can go through them 00:30:22.769 --> 00:30:27.109 all over again and work your way through. And 00:30:27.109 --> 00:30:31.710 in pretty much every book, you can find the picture 00:30:31.710 --> 00:30:36.769 of the crucifixion. It may not be described in 00:30:36.769 --> 00:30:39.609 those words. Some of the books don't even have 00:30:39.609 --> 00:30:41.680 the word God in them. There's a couple of them 00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:43.460 that don't even use the word God. But you can 00:30:43.460 --> 00:30:45.619 clearly see God at work in the book. You don't 00:30:45.619 --> 00:30:47.380 have to say God in order to know that he's at 00:30:47.380 --> 00:30:51.460 work, especially if you know him. Jesus is walking 00:30:51.460 --> 00:30:53.180 on the road to Emmaus. He goes through those 00:30:53.180 --> 00:30:56.059 books and he explains to them how they all showed 00:30:56.059 --> 00:31:02.019 who he was. Boy, if I was not saved, that really 00:31:02.019 --> 00:31:05.140 speaks to me. But as a saved person, it speaks 00:31:05.140 --> 00:31:07.000 to me huge. I don't know if you've ever seen 00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:09.559 this, but they have this... This illustration 00:31:09.559 --> 00:31:12.099 that they use, it talks about how one text touches 00:31:12.099 --> 00:31:13.680 another and they lay out all the books of the 00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:15.839 Bible and they draw lines like this in different 00:31:15.839 --> 00:31:19.400 colors. There's like thousands of lines. Like 00:31:19.400 --> 00:31:24.720 you can't do that. This is written by 40. Is 00:31:24.720 --> 00:31:27.779 that right? Yeah, by 40. That's not right. 14 00:31:27.779 --> 00:31:31.910 different authors. 40 different countries or 00:31:31.910 --> 00:31:34.109 something. Anyway, I messed up my numbers. Now 00:31:34.109 --> 00:31:35.509 I can look it up. But anyway, the point is it's 00:31:35.509 --> 00:31:37.069 written by a ton of different people from all 00:31:37.069 --> 00:31:39.309 different places. They didn't know each other 00:31:39.309 --> 00:31:41.190 a lot of times. They're from all different careers. 00:31:41.349 --> 00:31:44.269 They don't write the same. But it all fits together 00:31:44.269 --> 00:31:48.750 perfectly to point to Jesus. After a nap, I try 00:31:48.750 --> 00:31:50.769 to remember those numbers. Jesus believed the 00:31:50.769 --> 00:31:54.700 entire Bible was a unified... Meta -narrative, 00:31:54.779 --> 00:31:56.740 that's a word you don't need to know, but basically 00:31:56.740 --> 00:31:59.180 it just means it goes across everything. It arcs 00:31:59.180 --> 00:32:01.759 over everything. It's a story that touches everything. 00:32:02.059 --> 00:32:03.920 People say it's the greatest story ever told, 00:32:03.980 --> 00:32:05.059 and they think they're just talking about the 00:32:05.059 --> 00:32:06.519 death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, but 00:32:06.519 --> 00:32:10.039 it is the whole story, right? And it goes over 00:32:10.039 --> 00:32:12.160 everything. He did not see the Old Testament 00:32:12.160 --> 00:32:15.119 as a collection of random rules, but as a long 00:32:15.119 --> 00:32:18.319 form, I mean, stretched out prophecy about the 00:32:18.319 --> 00:32:22.380 Messiah. In other words, God was going to come 00:32:22.380 --> 00:32:24.920 in the form of a man. He was going to live the 00:32:24.920 --> 00:32:26.960 sinless life and die on the cross for sins and 00:32:26.960 --> 00:32:29.660 be buried and be rose again. All right. So we 00:32:29.660 --> 00:32:31.220 need to connect this to the material that we've 00:32:31.220 --> 00:32:32.519 been studying. This will make sure I understand 00:32:32.519 --> 00:32:34.500 it. And then we're done already. OK, so here's 00:32:34.500 --> 00:32:36.779 how it connects. We started at the beginning. 00:32:37.700 --> 00:32:41.819 What does creation show us God is like? And we 00:32:41.819 --> 00:32:43.819 came up with ten parameters. We may not be able 00:32:43.819 --> 00:32:45.740 to name them all. It's on your worksheets. But 00:32:45.740 --> 00:32:47.519 the point is that we know he's intelligent. He's 00:32:47.519 --> 00:32:51.099 powerful. He's involved. He's doing things. He's 00:32:51.099 --> 00:32:56.000 creative. He's caring. So we've got these traits 00:32:56.000 --> 00:32:58.519 of who God is. And then we compare those traits, 00:32:58.759 --> 00:33:03.640 and we also know he's one. Based on what we learned 00:33:03.640 --> 00:33:05.859 from creation, we know he's just one God. And 00:33:05.859 --> 00:33:07.599 so then we look at what's got to be a monotheistic 00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:10.619 religion. So that's Christianity, Islam or Judaism. 00:33:10.880 --> 00:33:13.359 They're the only ones that are monotheistic religions 00:33:13.359 --> 00:33:17.720 and true. Right. And then Judah and Islam do 00:33:17.720 --> 00:33:19.980 not accept the New Testament. But we looked at 00:33:19.980 --> 00:33:22.359 how we know even outside Christ, even without 00:33:22.359 --> 00:33:24.420 a confirmation miracle, without the Holy Spirit 00:33:24.420 --> 00:33:27.220 testifying to you, how you can prove that the 00:33:27.220 --> 00:33:29.819 New Testament is correct. And the final one of 00:33:29.819 --> 00:33:34.059 those proofs is Jesus. who proved by miracles, 00:33:34.119 --> 00:33:36.000 by his death, burial, and resurrection, who he 00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:40.960 was, recognized the Bible. He recognized the 00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:42.920 teaching, recognized what was going on. His teachings 00:33:42.920 --> 00:33:47.819 are divine. They have divine authority. So we've 00:33:47.819 --> 00:33:50.500 come to the point of recognizing, okay, monotheistic 00:33:50.500 --> 00:33:53.119 religion, the only one that actually works is 00:33:53.119 --> 00:33:56.059 Christianity. Because the New Testament is real. 00:33:56.400 --> 00:33:59.119 And Jesus is real. And when Jesus walked the 00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:01.779 earth, There's an argument that says that he 00:34:01.779 --> 00:34:06.440 either had to be crazy, a madman, because he 00:34:06.440 --> 00:34:10.500 claimed to be God, or a liar, right, because 00:34:10.500 --> 00:34:14.840 he claimed to be God, or he has to be Lord, he 00:34:14.840 --> 00:34:19.840 has to be God. And if he was crazy, you don't 00:34:19.840 --> 00:34:22.920 see that in the story at all. And he was saying, 00:34:22.940 --> 00:34:25.639 I can do this, I did that. He said, I forgive 00:34:25.639 --> 00:34:28.840 sins, thereby claiming to be God. He said, but 00:34:28.840 --> 00:34:30.420 I know what you're thinking in your heart right 00:34:30.420 --> 00:34:31.980 now. You're thinking only God should be allowed 00:34:31.980 --> 00:34:35.219 to do that. So let me show you. And then he told 00:34:35.219 --> 00:34:38.320 the paralytic to get up and walk. Jesus said, 00:34:38.340 --> 00:34:40.260 if you won't believe me based on the testimony, 00:34:40.500 --> 00:34:42.360 right, or based on what you see in the word of 00:34:42.360 --> 00:34:45.239 God, then believe based on the miracles. So he 00:34:45.239 --> 00:34:47.900 was able to back it up. So he's not crazy and 00:34:47.900 --> 00:34:52.639 he's not stupid, right? He's not a liar. Because 00:34:52.639 --> 00:34:55.440 he told the truth. There's nowhere in the scripture 00:34:55.440 --> 00:34:58.340 that you can see a disconnect in anything that 00:34:58.340 --> 00:35:00.760 he's ever reported as saying. There's no lies 00:35:00.760 --> 00:35:03.559 in it. Now, if you don't believe in Jesus, you 00:35:03.559 --> 00:35:05.000 really don't want to believe in Jesus, and you 00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:06.300 really don't want to believe in God, you really 00:35:06.300 --> 00:35:07.860 don't want to submit to him as Lord, that means 00:35:07.860 --> 00:35:10.199 he tells you what to do, and you do it, then 00:35:10.199 --> 00:35:12.360 you're going to keep on looking. You're going 00:35:12.360 --> 00:35:14.019 to keep picking apart, keep trying to find a 00:35:14.019 --> 00:35:16.119 way. And you will find people who will do that. 00:35:17.719 --> 00:35:19.820 But if you can get somebody to follow that train 00:35:19.820 --> 00:35:23.480 of logic that we just followed, If Jesus is God, 00:35:23.659 --> 00:35:26.179 and he basically proved it while he walked the 00:35:26.179 --> 00:35:29.420 earth, if he's God, then we say, well, what does 00:35:29.420 --> 00:35:32.579 God say is the teaching that we should follow? 00:35:32.860 --> 00:35:35.860 What has God given us that we should read, learn, 00:35:36.119 --> 00:35:40.659 and live by? And the answer is the Bible. And 00:35:40.659 --> 00:35:44.320 most of what Jesus taught and then what Jesus' 00:35:44.519 --> 00:35:46.460 apostles taught, that's what the New Testament 00:35:46.460 --> 00:35:51.500 is. It's the whole thing. Remember what we studied 00:35:51.500 --> 00:35:52.980 the books of the Bible. None of the books of 00:35:52.980 --> 00:35:54.679 the Bible got in there unless they were written 00:35:54.679 --> 00:35:59.239 by an apostle or had apostolic authority. People 00:35:59.239 --> 00:36:02.820 that saw Jesus. People that got the word from 00:36:02.820 --> 00:36:08.860 the Holy Spirit and Jesus. And so Jesus is God. 00:36:09.079 --> 00:36:11.219 Jesus says the Bible is the Bible. The Bible 00:36:11.219 --> 00:36:14.539 is the Bible. And that's where we're at. There 00:36:14.539 --> 00:36:17.760 are a couple of other pieces that you can use. 00:36:19.289 --> 00:36:22.130 proofs for the resurrection and a few other things 00:36:22.130 --> 00:36:25.369 that we'll go through yet but uh if you if you 00:36:25.369 --> 00:36:27.909 don't have it like if you say well i missed some 00:36:27.909 --> 00:36:29.710 worksheet i don't have certain pieces or like 00:36:29.710 --> 00:36:32.809 that i can help you go back and recap that stuff 00:36:32.809 --> 00:36:35.670 and maybe we'll do a review or something just 00:36:35.670 --> 00:36:39.590 like a sketch all the dots together but the truth 00:36:39.590 --> 00:36:43.070 is jesus christ said genesis through malachi 00:36:43.070 --> 00:36:47.170 clearly points to me i am the messiah i am god 00:36:47.170 --> 00:36:51.530 the son And then he showed by authority, by all 00:36:51.530 --> 00:36:53.849 the miracles that he did, and ultimately by the 00:36:53.849 --> 00:36:56.610 miracle, which was he was crucified, he was buried, 00:36:56.710 --> 00:37:00.329 and he rose again. And then he said to us the 00:37:00.329 --> 00:37:01.829 same as he said to them, which is, come follow 00:37:01.829 --> 00:37:05.329 me. Now, we are not, as much as people want to 00:37:05.329 --> 00:37:09.070 say it, and it's kind of fun to say it, we are 00:37:09.070 --> 00:37:11.090 a people of the book. People like to say, we 00:37:11.090 --> 00:37:13.789 are people of the book, right? We are not a people 00:37:13.789 --> 00:37:17.340 of the book. Everything in the Bible is good. 00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:19.059 Don't get me wrong. And we should use it and 00:37:19.059 --> 00:37:21.159 we should learn it, memorize it, meditate on 00:37:21.159 --> 00:37:22.980 it. Those are spiritual disciplines, right? Apply 00:37:22.980 --> 00:37:25.400 it to your life every single day, right? But 00:37:25.400 --> 00:37:29.500 we are a people of the Lord Jesus Christ. And 00:37:29.500 --> 00:37:32.260 so we remember that Jesus himself is the one, 00:37:32.300 --> 00:37:34.440 the Holy Spirit is the one who helps us understand 00:37:34.440 --> 00:37:35.900 and interpret scripture. If you go to the Bible 00:37:35.900 --> 00:37:37.340 right now, you can find right now in the Bible 00:37:37.340 --> 00:37:39.780 that you cannot have tattoos. And if you have 00:37:39.780 --> 00:37:41.239 a tattoo, you're probably going to hell because 00:37:41.239 --> 00:37:43.840 it's a sin, right? You can find that you cannot 00:37:43.840 --> 00:37:46.670 wear clothing as two types together. You can't 00:37:46.670 --> 00:37:49.309 if you build a house, you have to build a low 00:37:49.309 --> 00:37:51.429 wall around the roof of your house in case somebody 00:37:51.429 --> 00:37:53.409 should roll over and possibly fall off of it. 00:37:53.469 --> 00:37:57.510 And all kinds of social construct laws. Right. 00:37:57.730 --> 00:38:00.170 And what Jesus would say to us is there's a way 00:38:00.170 --> 00:38:03.050 to interpret everything that's in there that 00:38:03.050 --> 00:38:05.829 aligns with me and what I'm doing in your life 00:38:05.829 --> 00:38:09.130 and where I'm taking you when you die or I'm 00:38:09.130 --> 00:38:11.769 taking you if I come back before you die. OK. 00:38:12.670 --> 00:38:17.059 All right. So. That was one of the easiest ones 00:38:17.059 --> 00:38:18.659 of the three, but also one of the most exciting 00:38:18.659 --> 00:38:21.079 ones because it's really cool to see who Jesus 00:38:21.079 --> 00:38:24.539 said he was and what Jesus said about the Bible. 00:38:24.760 --> 00:38:28.820 And there's 20 more texts on both that you could 00:38:28.820 --> 00:38:31.679 use. We're going to pray and we're going to be 00:38:31.679 --> 00:38:35.420 done. Snacks in the cafeteria. Lemonade and tea 00:38:35.420 --> 00:38:41.000 as well. I baked pastries. If you don't like 00:38:41.000 --> 00:38:43.400 my baked pastries, I put some Oreos on the table. 00:38:44.690 --> 00:38:48.090 But I didn't eat them. So I can't tell you if 00:38:48.090 --> 00:38:49.909 they're good or not because I can't eat them 00:38:49.909 --> 00:38:53.510 right now. So let's pray. Father in heaven, we 00:38:53.510 --> 00:39:00.550 thank you that Jesus blazed a path for us. I 00:39:00.550 --> 00:39:06.610 can only imagine when Adam and Eve were reaching 00:39:06.610 --> 00:39:13.730 for that forbidden fruit that you saw. You knew 00:39:13.730 --> 00:39:16.650 it was all part of the plan, part of the, quote, 00:39:16.769 --> 00:39:20.150 meta -narrative, unquote. You knew that people 00:39:20.150 --> 00:39:23.530 have to truly be free. They cannot come to you 00:39:23.530 --> 00:39:26.889 because they are told they must. They cannot 00:39:26.889 --> 00:39:29.230 come to you because they fear the ramifications. 00:39:30.630 --> 00:39:36.269 You can't use hell or threats of violence or 00:39:36.269 --> 00:39:40.309 whatever to convert people into Christians. It 00:39:40.309 --> 00:39:42.860 doesn't work that way. You can't lure people 00:39:42.860 --> 00:39:47.639 in like the world does with money or sex or better 00:39:47.639 --> 00:39:53.719 treats. But, Lord, it just so happens that if 00:39:53.719 --> 00:39:58.079 a person wants to be free, if they come to Jesus, 00:39:58.300 --> 00:40:03.559 if they follow Jesus, then they will know the 00:40:03.559 --> 00:40:07.579 truth. And the truth will set them free. For 00:40:07.579 --> 00:40:10.360 some of us, it's a struggle. And I kind of like... 00:40:11.309 --> 00:40:13.789 day to day trying to make different decisions 00:40:13.789 --> 00:40:18.730 or whatever Lord and maybe some folks aren't 00:40:18.730 --> 00:40:21.869 really there and your word says for those who 00:40:21.869 --> 00:40:24.570 aren't really there you'll reach down from heaven 00:40:24.570 --> 00:40:26.769 and take away their heart of stone and give them 00:40:26.769 --> 00:40:30.650 a heart of flesh so they can truly hear and when 00:40:30.650 --> 00:40:33.650 I think about to this day I've been safer going 00:40:33.650 --> 00:40:39.269 on 30 years now it's over 30 years now and When 00:40:39.269 --> 00:40:41.489 I think about what Jesus went through to procure 00:40:41.489 --> 00:40:45.889 my salvation, it breaks my heart. If I think 00:40:45.889 --> 00:40:48.210 too hard on the crucifixion or if I watch a show 00:40:48.210 --> 00:40:53.510 that has it in it, I just want to cry. It makes 00:40:53.510 --> 00:40:58.909 me so sorry. And yet, at the same time, so grateful. 00:40:59.809 --> 00:41:02.750 Thank you, Lord, that Jesus came, that he clearly 00:41:02.750 --> 00:41:06.139 declared who he was. And we can look back on 00:41:06.139 --> 00:41:07.619 it now because we've seen his death, burial, 00:41:07.659 --> 00:41:09.940 and resurrection. And we could even make excuses 00:41:09.940 --> 00:41:11.639 for them as to why they didn't get it because 00:41:11.639 --> 00:41:14.280 they haven't done that yet. There are no more 00:41:14.280 --> 00:41:18.639 excuses now. We know who he is. We know what 00:41:18.639 --> 00:41:21.280 we have to do. We turn to you through Jesus. 00:41:22.320 --> 00:41:26.880 We ask you to make him Lord of our lives. Forgive 00:41:26.880 --> 00:41:30.380 us and lead us daily. We pray all these things 00:41:30.380 --> 00:41:33.599 in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you very much.