Participants: Pr. John Lomacang
Series Code: ASHF
Program Code: ASHF000148A
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00:22 Hello Friends, welcome to another Bible Study here at the
00:26 3ABN Worship Center. 00:27 It's Wednesday night, and this is A Shaper Focus, 00:30 and we welcome you with a hearty Amen. 00:32 Can we say Amen? Amen! 00:34 We have Bibles, our pens. 00:36 We've prayed. We're going to pray with you in just a moment. 00:38 But we thank you for taking the time to tune in. 00:40 We're beginning a new topic entitled The Truth About Jesus. 00:44 You know, you might think, what else is there 00:47 to know about Jesus? 00:49 Well, that's a big subject today, because the world is now 00:53 arguing over whether or not He's a good man, whether or not 00:57 He's a prophet, whether He is the Messiah, 01:00 whether the Messiah has yet to come. 01:02 There's so much confusion. 01:03 And what we would like to do is clear up that confusion, 01:07 as best we can, by going to the Word of God. 01:11 And we're going to do that tonight. 01:12 In just a moment I'll tell you where to 01:14 get a copy of the lesson. 01:15 But before we do anything, even before we sing our theme 01:18 song, let's bow our heads and invite the Lord's 01:21 presence to be with us. 01:22 Loving Father, our great God, You have told us tonight that 01:28 our only hope is in Jesus. 01:30 But there are some that don't know that. 01:33 There are many in the world that have put Jesus in the 01:38 category that is not in harmony with the written word, 01:42 nor the living Word. 01:44 And we pray that tonight our minds will be unconfused, 01:48 and that we will find in Jesus our Savior, our Lord, 01:52 our Redeemer, and our soon coming King. 01:54 In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. 01:58 Now we always sing our theme song, but before we do that, 02:01 go to this website to get a copy of Lesson #36. 02:06 What number did I say? 36. 02:09 Every one of us should have a copy of lesson #36. 02:12 36 is entitled, The Truth About Jesus. Download that from: 02:21 And at that website you can also find the prior lessons, 02:24 the prior videos, and anything that you have missed 02:28 is on that website. 02:30 And I think, right now I think we have about 148 videos. 02:34 That's a 148 hours. 02:36 That's 148 program. Amen? 02:39 So you can have a dynamic study. 02:42 We're going to be uploading some of the earlier ones, 02:44 but I know a few months back, and also the latest ones are 02:48 there at that website. 02:49 So download, The Truth About Jesus, Lesson #36. 02:52 And if you download the correct one, we will have 12 questions. 02:56 So tonight let's begin with our theme song. 02:59 Our theme song is, Victory In Jesus. 03:02 Let's sing this song together. 03:10 I heard an old, old story, how the Savior came from glory. 03:18 How He gave His life on Calvary to save a wretch like me. 03:25 I heard about His groaning, of His precious bloods atoning. 03:33 Then I repented of my sin, and won the victory. 03:40 Oh victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. 03:48 He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood. 03:55 He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him. 04:03 He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood. 04:10 I heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory. 04:18 And I heard about the streets of gold beyond the crystal sea. 04:26 About the angels singing, and the old redemption story. 04:33 And some sweet day I'll sing up there the song of victory. 04:39 Key change. Oh victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. 04:47 He sought me, and bought me with His redeeming blood. 04:55 He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him. 05:03 He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood. 05:11 He plunged me to victory beneath the cleaning flood. Amen! 05:22 This topic tonight, I'd like you to say the topic with me today. 05:32 Now in the book of Acts; go with me to the book of Acts. 05:41 I want you to see a very familiar passage, Acts 4. 05:50 Years ago there was a program on television, and it was 05:54 called, The Password Is. 05:56 Now if you're young, you may not have ever heard about it, 06:00 but it was a program called, The Password Is, 06:04 and the password was the key word to the answer. 06:07 In other words, if you didn't know the password, 06:09 you couldn't get in. 06:11 If you knew the password, you can get in. 06:13 And there are some places that have that also. 06:16 Well, in order to get into your Facebook page, 06:18 what do you need to know? 06:20 Right. To get into your e-mail what do you need to know? 06:22 Not just your e-mail address, but the password. 06:26 Now, without the password can you get in? 06:31 You could put anything you want in that slot, 06:34 and you're not going to get in. 06:36 I remember once we had an issue with my iPad, 06:38 a number of years ago, and I called Apple, Apple Computers, 06:42 and they said, Okay, what's your e-mail? 06:44 Well, I knew that. And they said Well, what's your password? 06:48 And I, ah, I gave them one. 06:50 They said, That's not it. 06:53 They said, What's your password? 06:54 I went through like six different passwords. 06:57 They said, Well, they said, Sir, in order to know that you are 06:59 who you say you are, we need to know your password. 07:02 I said, Is there any other way that you can verify 07:05 that I am who I am? 07:06 They said, Sir, there is no other way. 07:08 I said, Ah, what if I give you my Social Security number? 07:12 They said, We don't have access to that. 07:15 What about if I sent a picture of my drivers 07:17 license; if I faxed that? 07:19 Sir, that's not acceptable. 07:20 If you don't know your password, there's no 07:22 way we could help you. 07:24 I started getting upset. 07:25 I said, This is my account! 07:27 I want to get in. There's a, there's something on my 07:30 webpage, I mean that I want to just get rid of it. 07:33 It just keeps... They said, Sir, we cannot delete anything from 07:37 your account unless you know the password. 07:39 I said, Is there somebody else I can talk to? 07:42 They said, Nobody else that you talk to is going to say 07:44 anything differently. 07:46 I said, Is there a manager? 07:47 You know how you get. 07:48 Is there a manager? 07:50 Sir, these are the guidelines that Apple has put in place, 07:53 and they are not going to change. 07:54 I didn't know how serious they were until a number of months 07:58 ago, when this terrorist attack happened in California. 08:01 Remember that? And the only thing that was left was the 08:05 terrorists cell phone. 08:07 And so the FBI, the State Department, all these security 08:12 agencies said, We need Apple to help us to 08:16 break into this device. 08:18 And you know what they asked? 08:19 Do you know the password? 08:21 And they said, Sir, without the password Apple will not violate 08:24 that person's right. 08:25 But they said, But this is a suspected terrorist! 08:27 They said, It doesn't matter what they've done. 08:29 If you don't know the name you're not going to get in. 08:32 Well, the good news is I've found out my name, 08:34 and I was able to correct the problem that was there. 08:37 And so the issue is, If you don't know the name, 08:41 are you going to get in? 08:42 Let's go to Acts 4:12, Acts 4:12. 08:45 This is a text to lay the foundation about our topic, 08:47 because there's so much being said about Jesus 08:51 that is just not true. 08:53 But what Bible gives us very clear delineation about 08:56 how important it is to know Jesus. 08:59 Look at this: Acts 4:12. 09:02 It says, well, let me go back to verse 10, and then we'll 09:06 go down to verse 12 together. 09:07 Let it be known... This is Peter and John. 09:10 They're in custody there testifying about 09:13 their stand in Jesus. 09:14 Let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, 09:20 that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, 09:25 whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, 09:29 By Him this man stands here before you whole. 09:33 You know, the problem was they we're saying, By what name 09:37 did you heal this man? 09:39 And they're answering the question. 09:41 Look at verse 11. This is the stone which was rejected by you 09:47 builders; not by your builders, but by you, builders, 09:51 which has become the chief cornerstone. 09:55 And then he makes the point very clear. 09:59 Nor is there salvation in any other... Together. 10:03 ...for there is no other name under heaven, 10:08 given among men by which we must be saved. 10:12 So what's the password? 10:14 Come on, tell me. Jesus! 10:16 There is no other name! 10:18 You could... I'm going to be very respectful, 10:20 but I have to be candid. 10:21 You could say Buddha, you could say Allah, 10:25 you could say Krishna, you could say Gandhi, and all the 10:30 other millions of god's. 10:32 In India there are millions of gods, and various movements 10:35 around the world, and countries that are in Asia, 10:38 and some in the Middle East. 10:40 There are all these names that people use to, 10:44 so to speak, come to God. 10:48 But Jesus made it clear; I'm the password. 10:51 Without knowing who I am, there is no access to the Father. 10:55 Go with me to another one: John 14. 10:58 Just laying some foundation. 10:59 Look at John 14, because if you ask people today, 11:03 most people will say, based on religions... 11:07 Matter of fact, even in non-Christian religions, 11:10 even in religions that are very cultic, they all believe 11:14 in some kind of god. 11:16 They all have a god in their system of beliefs. 11:19 They all have a god, whether it's a god of darkness, 11:23 the dark lord that they call god, or Satan is their god, 11:26 whomever; they all have a god. 11:28 But Jesus made it clear. 11:29 It's not just important to have a god. 11:32 It's not just as important... 11:33 You've got to know the password to the Father. 11:37 Look at... Huh? And, yes, not even Mary. Amen, somebody? 11:44 Not even Mary. John 14:1, Let not your heart be troubled. 11:51 You believe in who? God. 11:54 Believe also in who? Me. 11:57 A lot of people believe in God. 11:59 You know, people say, Oh, I thank God when the rock stars 12:02 get their awards, when the movie stars get their awards. 12:06 They say, I want to thank God. 12:08 Well, when you think of what they do, God Almighty, God, 12:12 righteous God is not into that. 12:14 So He's not empowering them to do that. 12:17 He's not blessing them in that vernacular. 12:20 But the question is, Who is God? 12:24 Who is Jesus? You have to know the password. 12:28 And once you know the password, you have access to the Father. 12:32 Okay? So we want to dive in our lesson tonight and look at some 12:35 of the very, very important questions that are 12:38 listed in the Bible. 12:39 And this is going to be a lesson that's going stem... 12:41 I would say right now we have twelve questions. 12:43 I would guarantee we're going to have about thirty questions 12:46 before this lesson is over. 12:47 Because we're also going to look at some prophecies in the Bible. 12:50 We're going to look at the Old Testament prophecies, 12:53 and the New Testament fulfillment so that we will 12:56 not just establish the fact that Jesus is who He says He is, 13:00 or the Word says He is. 13:02 But we're also going to see that even the world, 13:04 the non-religious world acknowledges Jesus. 13:07 What year is it, somebody tell me. 13:09 Now I'm dating the program. 13:11 It is 2016. Now if you're watching this program at another 13:15 time, this program was from 2016. 13:19 2016 what? We are in B.C. or A.D.? 13:23 Someone tell me. A.D. A.D., anno Domini, Latin, 13:27 meaning the year of our Lord. 13:30 Now whatever country we are on the earth, everybody goes by 13:34 the atomic clock of A.D., whether it's zero time in 13:39 Greenwich time right there in that round sundial on the ground 13:44 outside of the Parliament, whether it's the east coast, 13:46 whether it's the west coast, whether it's Saudi Arabia, 13:48 or whether it's Australia. 13:50 Wherever it is we are all in 2016, which means 2016 years 13:57 ago the Lord established a marker in time. 14:03 It's not data based on Buddha. 14:05 It's not data based on Allah. 14:07 It's not data based on Krishna, or any... 14:10 Not data based on Mary. 14:11 It's all data based on Jesus. 14:13 In the year of our Lord. 14:16 So we can establish right away that whether people look at Him 14:20 as the Savior, whether people say He is the One that we follow 14:24 as a disciple, that's not the issue. 14:26 The issue is it's a fact right off the bat that this is 2016, 14:31 anno Domini, the year of our? of our Lord. Undisputed fact. 14:37 Let's go to Question #1, and look at a very important 14:40 illustration of how this begins to unfold, 14:42 how this begins to unfold. 14:44 You know, whenever you know the password, you can share it 14:47 with somebody else. 14:49 Uh, and we know how much fun that is. 15:06 Let's go to Matthew 16 and look at that together. 15:09 What question did Jesus ask that relates to His legitimacy? 15:14 We're going to be in Matthew for a little bit. 15:16 So if you have your Bibles and you go there, 15:17 stay there in Matthew 16. 15:20 We're going to look at some very important questions 15:25 unfolding in this particular chapter. 15:27 Well, you know, in this chapter, there was a debate going 15:31 on as to these signs. 15:33 As a matter of fact, the Jews said, Give us a sign. 15:36 And Jesus said, The only sign you're going to get 15:38 is the sign of Jonah. 15:39 As Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days, 15:41 and three nights, so the Son of man will be in 15:43 the heart of the earth. 15:44 And so they kept debating over signs. 15:46 And Jesus had to withdraw from the contention of the signs. 15:50 And then He came down to verse 13, the revelation of who He is. 15:55 And look at Matthew 16:13, and here's the answer. 16:12 What are they saying? 16:14 Who are they telling you that I am? 16:17 So let's put the question there. 16:19 What question did Jesus ask that relates to His legitimacy? 16:22 Okay. Who am I? Who do men say that I am? 16:28 Write that down. What do they say? 16:30 Who are they saying I am? 16:32 You could abbreviate that in the way that you could 16:34 understand that best. 16:35 So if you ask people the question today... 16:38 We had a corner, by the way, when I was working downtown 16:41 Manhattan, and Wall Street, Wall Street and Broad Street. 16:44 And every lunch hour, every day of the week, we called it 16:48 religious debate corner. 16:50 On that corner at lunch time there were Jews arguing with 16:55 Christians, Christians arguing with Muslims, 16:59 and they were in... 17:00 Nothing happens in New York that doesn't have passion. 17:03 And you could hear them as you're approaching the circle. 17:06 Ahhhh, ahhhh, and sometimes they're waving their sign, 17:09 sometimes it's the guy with the little small speaker, Repent! 17:13 The world is coming to an end! 17:14 I mean right in that corner, always at that same spot, 17:18 it became known as the debate corner. 17:20 And so, because a lot of Jews work in the area, when somebody 17:24 will hold up the sign, Jesus is coming again, the Jews say, 17:27 He has not come at all. 17:30 And they would argue, and argue, and I would 17:33 I would periodically stand there. 17:34 But the one thing that I chose not to do is to get involved in 17:38 the argument, because the Bible says, Avoid foolish and 17:40 unlearned questions, knowing that they do gender what? 17:44 It becomes an argument of strife. 17:46 One striving after the other. 17:48 And, you know, as realistically as they got there, 17:53 it was almost like they said, Oh, enough arguing for the day. 17:56 See you tomorrow! Ha! And they walked away almost in peace, 17:59 which is what men can do. 18:00 I don't say that to spite women, but it's hard for women to argue 18:05 and say, See you tomorrow! 18:06 But these guys will get there every day and they had their 18:09 thick Bibles, they had their Koran, they had their Torah, 18:14 and boy the arguments were... 18:15 And really the question was, in many cases... 18:18 You'll see some of the Christians say, 18:20 I believe in Jesus! And the Jews said, the Messiah, 18:23 the Messiah has not come yet. 18:25 And they're saying, Yes, He has! 18:27 And He's soon to come, and whatever debate it was. 18:30 So the issue today in the world, and here's the key why this is 18:33 so vitally important: If you don't know who Jesus is, 18:36 and there is no other way to be saved except by His name, 18:40 are you going to be saved? Yes or No? 18:42 Talk to me, Yes or No? 18:43 No! You're not going to be saved. 18:45 If you don't know the password you're not getting in no matter 18:48 how we cry and get into our tantrums, without knowing the 18:53 name, we are not going to get in. 18:57 Let's look at the next part of this question, because there was 19:00 a response to it, and this is what's happening today. 19:03 Let's go to the next question. 19:15 We're going to look now at verse 14. 19:16 How did he reply? You know, the Lord asked for an answer, 19:21 Peter gave an answer. 19:22 What did he say? Let's look at that. 19:24 Since we're already there, let me go ahead and go 19:26 back to my question. 19:28 Since he's already there, look at what the Bible says. 19:29 Alright, and here it is. 19:45 Now, isn't that amazing? 19:47 Isn't that amazing? 19:48 Some say... Let's look at these answers. 19:50 Some say he is who? together... John the Baptist. 19:55 Some say he is who? Elijah. 19:58 You know why they said Elijah? 20:00 Because the Bible says, Behold, I will send Elijah before the 20:03 great and dreadful day of the Lord. 20:04 So they thought, Oh, Elijah was reincarnated. 20:06 This must be Elijah. 20:08 The problem with it being John is John baptized Jesus. 20:12 But evidently those who were responding are getting these 20:16 answers from the crowd that wasn't there when 20:18 Jesus was baptized. 20:19 So some said, Jesus says, Who do men say that 20:22 I, the Son of man am? 20:23 Well, some say You're John the Baptist. 20:25 Others say You're Elijah. 20:27 Others say You're Jeremiah. 20:28 Because Jeremiah was considered one of the great prophets. 20:31 Jeremiah and Isaiah were considered 20:33 great, great prophets. 20:35 And they're thinking, Wow, if anybody is worthy of this 20:38 kind of attention, it can't be a minor prophet. 20:40 It's got to be a major one. 20:42 And then others say... One of them said, Well, 20:44 You're one of the prophets. 20:45 They really don't know. 20:47 So today some people see Jesus as a prophet. 20:49 Now, let me make it very clear. 20:51 In some disciplines of religion, even in Islam, 20:55 Jesus is talked about, but He's the good prophet, 20:59 but He's not talked about as the way of salvation. 21:04 He's not talked about as the way of salvation. 21:07 Let me got to another level. 21:08 Wow, this is really amazing. 21:12 I'm going to try to be candid today. 21:14 Some religions think of Jesus as a lesser god. 21:20 And they consider themselves Christian. 21:21 I want to be kind. I'm not going to say it's Jehovah's Witnesses. 21:24 But it's Jehovah's Witnesses. 21:27 They think of Jesus as a lesser god. 21:30 I had a discussion with a young man in California, 21:33 and also in Brooklyn, when I was in New York. 21:35 That was how I almost said Brooklyn. It just came out. 21:38 And he was saying to me, Jesus cannot be God. 21:42 He is a lesser god. He was created. 21:46 Well, you know, the problem with that is if Jesus is created 21:50 He is not sufficient to save those that are created, 21:54 because He Himself was created. You see the point? 21:56 So He can't be Elijah, because Elijah was created. 22:00 John the Baptist was created. 22:03 Jeremiah: created. And all the other prophets were procreated 22:07 from their mom's and dad's. 22:09 Now, but somebody said, But didn't Jesus come from a woman? 22:15 Hold onto your horses. 22:16 We'll get there in just a moment. 22:18 So put the answer down. 22:20 How did Peter reply to the question that Jesus posed? 22:23 You've got to be somebody other than the one 22:26 that you think you are. Alright? 22:28 You can put any one of those answers down 22:30 and you will be correct. 22:31 Let's go to #3. Let's go to #3. 22:33 And we're still in Matthew. 22:35 We're still in Matthew. Alright? 22:37 And here's the question: 22:51 Okay? This is really interesting. 22:54 And this is Matthew 16:15, 16, is where we're going to find 23:00 the answer to this one. Alright? 23:03 Let's look at... Since we're already in the book. 23:05 I'm sure you didn't turn because I said stay there. 23:07 Let's look at the question. 23:09 Let's look at the answer now. 23:23 You know, that's how he personalizes it. 23:34 And, you know, Jesus went on and said, Well, flesh and blood 23:38 did not reveal that to... I mean flesh and blood did 23:40 not reveal that to you. 23:42 That's a spiritual revelation. 23:43 Spiritual things are spiritually what? discerned. 23:46 So who Jesus is... And Peter testified to the... 23:50 You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. 23:55 Now notice, what's the personal responsibility? 23:58 Because that's what I want to pull out. 24:00 How did Jesus personalize our responsibility? 24:03 Write the answer down. 24:05 What is the answer? 24:06 Somebody tell me. But who do you say that I am? 24:12 Write that down. We're not looking necessarily for the 24:15 answer that Peter gave at the very end of verse 16, 24:17 but the personal responsibility is you have to have an answer 24:23 when somebody says to you, Who is Jesus? 24:26 Isn't that right? Because He is the only hope of humanity. 24:30 If we cannot describe who Jesus is; if we cannot put Him in the 24:35 proper light, then somebody can walk away with 24:37 a distorted view of Jesus. 24:39 Let's go to John 3. Let's look at something else here. 24:42 John 3. John 3 is a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. 24:53 But in that, in those passages is so much beautiful truth. 25:00 Alright? Ha ha, wow! 25:04 Ha ha, I'm going to give you a preview, a preview. 25:11 John 3, and let's look together, hum, I'll start with verse 14. 25:21 Verse 14 and 15. John 3:14, 15. 25:27 This is a reiteration of what we just read 25:30 a moment ago in Acts 4:12. Alright? 25:33 Well, let's go to verse 13, because that pulls 25:37 the context together. 25:38 Are you ready to go to 13? 25:40 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from where? 25:46 from heaven. Where did Jesus come? He came from heaven. 25:50 That is the Son of man who is where? in heaven. 25:55 He came from somewhere. 25:57 But look at verse 14 and 15. 25:59 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, 26:04 even so must the Son of man be what? lifted up, that whoever 26:10 believes in Him should not perish, 26:12 but have what? eternal life. 26:14 We often read verse 16. 26:15 So who should be lifted up? 26:18 Who should be lifted up? 26:19 Jesus should be lifted up. 26:20 The Son of man should be lifted up; the One who 26:22 came down from heaven. 26:24 You know, the issue that came along even after this another 26:27 discussion ensued, because in John 8, when Jesus continued 26:31 talking to the Jews about who He is they said, 26:34 Abraham is our father. 26:36 And He said, Before Abraham was... What did He say? I Am. 26:40 Immediate, present tense, not I was, or I will be, 26:44 but Jesus is always who? I Am. 26:47 And be careful of that today because the world, 26:49 in the secular world, they have done their job. 26:52 Some of these music artists, some pop stars, 26:56 have taken the name I am. 26:58 Even some commercials on television; I am. 27:01 They've taken that name that belongs only to Jesus, 27:04 and have escribed it to humanity, 27:06 which He is the only I Am. 27:08 And they looked at Jesus and said, Wait a minute. 27:11 Uh, help us to understand this. 27:13 How old are you? How could you be before Abraham? 27:17 Even the woman at the well, in John 4 and Matthew 4... 27:21 Jesus is having a discussion with the woman at the well. 27:24 John 4. I said Matthew, didn't I? 27:26 John 4. And the woman said, Our father gave us this well. 27:32 Well, who is he? Our father gave it. 27:36 This is Abraham's well. 27:37 And He says to her, If you only knew who you're standing in 27:44 front of... Can you imagine standing in front... 27:48 Amen, somebody. Can you imagine having a conversation 27:51 with Jesus and He's saying, I'm thirsty? 27:55 And He is the water of life. 27:57 You know, there's got to be an ulterior motive there. 27:59 I'm thirsty. And then she says, You don't even, you don't even 28:03 have anything to get water with. 28:05 Jesus could have spoken to the water, and the water could have 28:10 easily come out of the well. 28:11 But that's not what He intended. 28:12 He wanted to communicate to her, I am your 28:15 only means of salvation. 28:17 Let me give you one other example. 28:19 Thank You, Lord, my mind is flowing. 28:21 John 5:39. Look at this. 28:23 I want to put this in the proper light, because we often use 28:26 this Scripture for the intended purpose of saying we 28:29 should study the Bible. 28:31 And we should. But I want you to see this in the proper light. 28:34 The proper light is amazing; how this verse is used. 28:37 Okay, ha ha. Jesus had a hard time breaking down the 28:47 preconceived ideas. 28:48 We're in John 5. And we're going to look at verse 39. 28:51 Now I want you to notice this very carefully. 28:53 And we'll go back to the screen in a moment. 28:56 He says, You search the what? Scriptures, for in them... 29:02 What are the next two words? you think you have eternal life. 29:06 And these are they which do what? testify of Me. 29:11 But look at what He says in verse 40, verse 40. 29:14 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. 29:18 You know what he was in essence saying? 29:19 He was saying to them... 29:20 Look at this. Let me make the illustration clear. 29:22 Jesus is tapping me on my shoulder and saying, Ah, John, 29:28 could I have a conversation with you? 29:30 And I'm saying, Wait! 29:31 I'm studying my Bible. 29:33 I'm studying about Jesus. 29:34 Would you stop bugging me? 29:35 He says, John, I'm right here. 29:38 I'm almost done with my Bible study. 29:41 If you could just wait; because I'm studying about 29:43 Jesus; a very important person. 29:44 Would you just hold on? 29:45 He said, So John, so here's the issue: You're searching the 29:49 Scriptures, and you think you have eternal life in them? 29:51 Hey, they are pointing you to Me. 29:53 Pay attention to Me! And He says in verse 40 29:56 but you are not willing to come to Me. 29:58 There are many people that read their Bible 30:01 that don't know Jesus. 30:02 Some atheists read their Bible to argue with Christians, 30:05 but they don't know Jesus. 30:08 They don't know the Man. 30:10 They may know the doctrine, but it is not knowing the 30:13 doctrine alone, it is knowing the Man, Christ Jesus. 30:19 Right? So we see clearly when Peter said, You are the Christ, 30:24 the Son of the living God. 30:25 Jesus said, boy that is spiritual, flesh and blood 30:29 couldn't have told you that because I'm in, 30:31 I am with my own people, they're denying who I am 30:34 the religious leaders are denying who I am. 30:37 So the popular opinion is on John the Baptist, on Elisha, 30:41 on Jeremiah or some other prophet 30:43 so you could not have had that revelation from anybody in this 30:46 crowd, that's in essence what he's saying. 30:48 The spirit revealed that to you. 30:51 And Peter in an unconverted manner, the spirit spoke to that 30:54 young man as he was still filing Peter down 30:58 to get him ready for ministry. 30:59 Let's go to number 4. 31:01 See so it's important to know that this man Jesus... 31:04 and Jesus is, this whole passage... 31:09 um, matter of fact, are you still in John 4? 31:14 Are you still in John 5? 31:16 Just go very quickly because a portion of it that 31:19 I want you to see. 31:21 Ok. Huh. Whew. Wow. 31:30 Verse 46, I mean this is the whole contention verse 39-47 31:34 is the contention about Jesus. 31:36 Look at verse 46. For if you believed Moses, 31:41 you would have believed Me for he wrote about Me. 31:45 See, we're not going to... For he wrote about... 31:48 but if you do not believe His writings, 31:50 how will you believe my words? 31:53 See you are not even... You know who he is talking to? 31:55 He's talking to His own people cause they had the writings 31:59 of Moses. He's talking to the Jews to whom He gave the message 32:03 for two thousand years. 32:05 And He's saying, you wouldn't listen to Moses 32:07 so if you ain't going to listen to him. 32:09 you are not going to listen to me. 32:11 Because in John 3, remember we read John3 32:13 As Moses lifted up the serpent, 32:15 so must the Son of man be lifted up. 32:17 They remember Moses lifting the serpent 32:20 but they would not lift up Jesus. 32:22 Wow! 32:23 Now question number 4. 32:24 Sorry about that with our guys with the graphics, 32:26 I appreciate it very much. 32:27 Question # 4. 32:38 Let's go to a very difficult book to find. 32:41 Genesis 1:1. 32:46 We're not going to dive into a beautiful pa... 32:49 Do you need to look it up? 32:50 But let's look it up anyway. 32:52 Huh. Say that again. 32:55 That's right, when the first man landed on the moon 33:00 they said this...I'm going to turn to the passage first. 33:02 You know one small step for humanity... 33:06 and then he read, In the beginning God 33:09 created the heavens and the earth. 33:11 You young people don't remember that... 33:12 It's on You Tube by the way. 33:14 But that was a moment in history. 33:18 When we heard those words from the moon and we saw 33:22 the earth in the yonder, as they would say here 33:25 in the Midwest, way yonder. 33:26 When we saw the earth from a long distance... 33:28 You know there are some people still today 33:30 that don't ever believe that man has gone to the moon, 33:34 but that's their prerogative. 33:35 Let's look at Genesis 1:1 and I want us all to read this 33:39 together. 33:40 Let's put some energy behind this. Together! 33:47 Isn't that wonderful? 33:49 Beautiful passage. 33:50 I should of remembered at this point, 33:52 you know I was thinking about it but my 33:54 electricity went off and I had to revert to plan B. 33:57 I was going to show a picture of the earth 33:59 how small and insignificant and dot, little dot, it's out... 34:03 We're, we're just out there some...we are one golf ball, 34:07 we are one golf ball floating on the floor of an 34:11 ocean somewhere. 34:13 You know it's like saying would you go find that 34:15 golf ball that fell off of the Titanic 34:18 some 70 years ago? 34:20 It's somewhere in the ocean. 34:21 Can you imagine the search for a golf ball that emits no signals? 34:26 We're like that...we're just like a golf ball. 34:29 Let me even go further than that. 34:31 Earth is like a grain of sand in God's universe 34:38 and if somebody said, if Sister Zita said, 34:42 I dropped a blue grain of sand 70 years ago in the 34:47 ocean, would somebody please find it for me, 34:50 it's valuable to my family? 34:52 You know somebody would say Sister Zita 34:54 are you feeling well? Are you feeling well? 34:56 No one would be able to find it. 34:59 Do you realize what you are asking us to do? 35:02 If you spend time on astronomy, not astrology 35:06 you will see how insignificant, the further away you 35:08 pull away from the earth... Even within our own planetary 35:12 community...you go... My very educated mother 35:15 just served us nine pickles. You remember that? 35:17 Those are all the planets, Mars, Venus, Earth, what was the 35:21 other one? No, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, 35:29 Neptune, Pluto alright, if I missed one, Uranus, exactly. 35:37 It's all the way out, that's right, all the way out. 35:39 So you find that in this little solar system. 35:43 If you defer the way... you go to, you go to 35:45 Jupiter, you go to Saturn, it's like somebody help me 35:49 find the earth, it's out there somewhere. 35:52 Yet when you read passages like "God so loved the world." 35:59 Amen! 36:01 He didn't think about us as insignificant. 36:03 We are a dot of sand on a beach of time, 36:08 and we are dots on a dot. 36:11 Our little dots only last for the lifetime of a vapor 36:16 and then we are gone. 36:17 People are passing off into eternity as we sit here, 36:20 others are coming in. 36:21 These dots are blipping on the screen of life in such 36:24 an insignificant short span of time and then all of a sudden 36:27 it's gone. 36:29 It's like a digital dot, we're here and we are gone, 36:31 and God loves us so much. 36:33 Isn't that wonderful? 36:35 So when the Bible says "In the beginning God 36:37 created the heavens and the earth"... 36:38 Oh the heavens, the Bible says, declare the glory of God 36:42 and the earth shows His handiwork. 36:44 And the Bible, when the Bible speaks about the skies 36:47 as night after night, the stars pour forth speech. 36:52 There is no place where their language is not heard. 36:56 If the stars and the planets can uplift Jesus 37:00 why can't we? 37:01 See, there's no issue about who Jesus is to the earth, 37:05 to the planets, to the things He created, 37:08 so we want to unconfuse the issue about who Jesus is 37:14 to humanity on earth. 37:15 So write the answer down. 37:17 What truth is accepted by all Bible believers? 37:20 What's the truth? 37:22 The creation story, the creation story is accepted. 37:28 God created. That's right. Praise the Lord for that. 37:31 Now we are going to look at another aspect of that 37:33 because we're going to expand on the word God. 37:35 We're going to expand on the word God. 37:37 There are some people that have an issue when you mention 37:40 Jesus and God in the very same breath 37:42 because they forget that Jesus was pre-existing. 37:45 Matter of fact you don't find the name Jesus 37:49 anywhere in the Old Testament, just in the New. 37:54 Is it then therefore conclusive to say that Jesus did not exist 38:01 until the New Testament? 38:03 Oh I beg to differ. We're going to see tonight 38:06 that the name Jesus, the name Jesus 38:11 is what He was given for His earthly sojourn, 38:14 He still has that name today. 38:17 Even after He ascended to heaven, the apostles were 38:20 preaching in the name of Jesus. 38:22 It was foreign, you know why it was so difficult for them? 38:25 Because it wasn't a name that was heard but for such a 38:28 short period of time. 38:30 Jesus was just in His 30's when He ascended 38:32 back to heaven. 38:33 That is in His earthly life but in fact, 38:37 He was from everlasting to everlasting. 38:40 He had no beginning, He had no end. 38:44 So to say the name Jesus... can you imagine if they 38:48 just 30 years ago started saying Jesus 38:50 and people say, who is this guy? 38:53 I've only heard His name for the last 30 years. 38:56 So what's the big deal about Him? 38:59 how long have we been talking about Abraham? 39:01 Oh, for a couple thousand years. 39:04 What about Isaiah? 39:05 What about Jeremiah? What about Moses? 39:07 Long time, oh, maybe longer than that. 39:11 So who is Jesus? 39:13 Can you see the difficulty? 39:15 You know, huh. Yeah, oh yeah. 39:19 Oh a beautiful story I heard. 39:21 A very famous man, he's passed now, 39:25 he was Ike and Tina Turner, remember that name? 39:28 If you had been around long enough, 39:29 you may have heard that name. 39:30 You may have heard that song Rolling on the River, 39:33 it was an old song. 39:34 When I was in the secular world, I remember that. 39:36 But we know of a person, I am going to be very vague about him 39:41 had given Ike Turner a book about Jesus 39:45 and Ike Turner's response to him was. 39:47 I never knew that Jesus died for me. 39:51 I never knew that He loved me so. 39:54 I never knew that He came to forgive my sins. 39:57 I never knew that with tears in his voice, I never knew that. 40:00 That truth can transform a life from hopelessness 40:04 to hopefulness. 40:06 As one person says, life without Jesus is the hopeless end, 40:14 But life with Jesus is an endless hope. 40:17 Amen to that. Beautiful! 40:20 So we look now at the creation of the world, 40:22 the heavens and the earth. 40:24 Let's look at John the apostle how he added to this. 40:27 There are in fact, I refer to it as three Genesis' in the Bible. 40:31 Genesis is the first one, John is the next one 40:35 and Hebrew is the third one. 40:36 Let's look at the second Genesis as it is. 40:39 Question number 5. 40:53 Now if we went to Genesis 1. 40:55 Where should we go in the book of John? 40:57 John 1. In the beginning. 41:01 Ok. Let's go to John 1. 41:03 We're going to John 1:1-2. 41:10 Alright. Beautiful passage. 41:14 Ok, here it is. 41:30 So how does the apostle John record the account of creation? 41:35 What title does he give to Jesus? 41:38 What description does he give to Jesus? 41:41 The Word! 41:42 This could be confusing if you think of it 41:47 in terms of humanity. 41:49 Come here Janeck, hurry, quickly, you're athletic, 41:52 come over here. Hurry up. 41:55 That's not Russian. 41:56 This is Janeck. 41:58 Yaneck is from Russia, no Poland. 42:01 Ok, sorry. 42:03 I'm giving him a wrong point of origin. 42:05 Now, in the beginning was Janeck, 42:09 wow, this is going to be hard. 42:13 I said it was going to be hard, right? 42:15 Ok, In the beginning was the word, okay, the word was 42:22 both of us and the word was with both of us. 42:28 Is that hard to do? 42:31 It is, because I have to you and you have to be me. 42:35 So you are with me but you are me but we are together. 42:40 Is that difficult to do in the human sense? 42:42 Ok you may be seated, we're already confused. 42:45 That's my point. That's my point. 42:49 Some people say wait a minute, wait a minute. 42:52 How can the word be with God and the word be God? 42:58 I don't know about that. 43:01 Let me get this again. In the beginning was the word, 43:07 the word was with God and the word was God. 43:14 I don't know. So who was first? 43:19 That was the big question. 43:21 People are still struggling today to find out who was first. 43:26 So let's go ahead, we are going to walk through this 43:28 tulip garden slowly, we're going to tip toe through the 43:31 scriptures to make this point clear, so write it down... 43:34 How does the Apostle John record the account of creation? 43:37 Word was God, Word was with God. 43:40 You can even highlight that and refer to the first verse. 43:44 Word was with God, word was God. 43:47 Wow! 43:48 Then it says in verse two. 43:51 He was in the what? 43:53 Beginning with God. 43:57 Wait a minute. 43:59 Ok, I am really confused now, He was in the beginning with God 44:02 and He is God? 44:03 Which one is it? 44:05 Exactly. 44:06 Did you follow me? 44:08 He is with God and He is God and He was in the beginning 44:15 with God so which one is God? 44:17 Exactly. 44:18 The word is God and the word is with God. Exactly. 44:21 In the sense of humanity, somebody once described it 44:26 this way and we are going to get deeper into this 44:28 in just a moment. 44:30 I want you to go now to questions...as you are going... 44:32 Well you are already in John, just wait, we are going to 44:34 walk through this a little bit but let me just make this point. 44:36 Somebody says okay, if you have an egg, 44:41 anybody know what an egg is? 44:42 Have you ever seen an egg before Nori? 44:46 It's got a funny thing. 44:47 Pastor what are you asking me? 44:50 How many components does an egg have? 44:53 Let's start. 44:55 What's the first thing you see about an egg? 44:56 The shell. Ok. 44:59 So if we saw shells on the ground, what do we call that? 45:03 Egg shells. 45:05 Now if we boiled it, have you ever had a boiled egg before? 45:11 and you crack the shell, now what do you have next? 45:16 Huh! The white, the egg white. Do we still have an egg? 45:21 Yes. 45:23 Now if you go past the egg white, what do you have? 45:26 The yolk. Do we still have an egg? 45:28 So if you separate them all, egg shell, egg white, egg yolk, 45:35 are they still described as an egg? 45:36 Yes. 45:38 But wait a minute, the shells are there, 45:40 the egg white is there, the yolk is there. 45:42 What are they all together? Egg. 45:44 What are they separately? Egg. Egg. 45:47 The name is egg as in all three of them, egg shell, 45:50 egg white, egg yolk, egg, egg, egg. 45:53 Three yet one. 45:59 I know you know where I am headed but we're going to 46:02 drag it out and pull you with us. 46:04 Let's go to the next question. 46:06 Question number six. 46:08 We want to remove any fleeting doubt. 46:12 Alright. 46:13 What function does John the Apostle give? 46:23 What function does he give to the word of God? 46:26 John 1:3. Wow! 46:31 And both translations are beautiful on this. 46:36 The King James says... 46:37 Well let's read the New King James then I'm going to 46:41 keep King James in my head, 46:42 I was raised with the King James Version. 46:43 Let's look at the answer here. 46:45 John 1:3. It says... What's the first word? 46:49 What is the first two words? 46:54 What's the King James Version say? 46:55 By Him. 46:58 What else 47:03 So let's pause and ask the question now. 47:05 Was anything made that wasn't made by Jesus? yes or no? 47:10 So therefore, now this is a quandary 47:13 This could really confuse you. 47:15 If nothing was made that wasn't made by Jesus, 47:20 what was made by Jesus? 47:22 Hey...You got... Praise the Lord. 47:27 Say it together. What was made by Jesus? 47:29 Everything. Say it again. Everything. 47:33 Everything was made by Jesus. 47:35 How many things are made by Jesus? 47:37 Everything. 47:38 So, my wife cooks, if you're expecting dinner 47:42 and you come to my house, nothing will be made by me. 47:45 How many did I say? 47:48 Nothing. I made... I can't even make the napkins 47:50 and the knives and the forks. Nothing will be made by me. 47:53 So...but if you come to my house and there is dinner 47:57 on the table, I can say to you all things were made by Angie 48:01 and without her was not anything made 48:03 You get my point. 48:05 From the vegie scallops to the mashed potatoes 48:09 to the, oh, I'm getting hungry, just cut it out. 48:12 Everything was made by her right? 48:15 So let's look at this again. 48:16 Question number six. 48:18 All things...together say that with me. 48:20 All things were made through or by Him 48:23 and without Him, nothing was made that was made. 48:28 So right away... Let's put this answer down in number six. 48:30 On your page question number six and John 1:3. 48:35 So how does the Bible confirm that the Word is the creator? 48:39 Sorry. What function does John the Apostle give to the Word? 48:44 What function does he give? 48:45 Creator! 48:47 All things. All things. 48:49 This is important because some people will in the, in the 48:53 theological world, there's a phrase used called 48:55 exegesis which means you exegy the text. 48:58 Simply you describe or you read from the text, 49:01 you take from the text what it says. 49:02 There's another phrase called isojesus which means 49:05 you added to the text what is not there. 49:07 You know what is not there? 49:09 It doesn't say everything was made by Jesus 49:12 after He was made. 49:13 You follow me? 49:16 Because that's what some people say. 49:17 Some people say yeah, yeah, everything was made by Jesus 49:19 but after He was made. 49:21 No, that's not what it says. 49:22 How many things were made by Jesus Bro Hutchison? 49:24 All things. How many Janeck? 49:27 Jane. All things. 49:29 Everybody, how many things? 49:30 All. That means without Him, what was made? 49:34 Zero! 49:36 So you look at this big limitless place called space 49:39 and what do you find out there that wasn't made by Him? 49:41 Nothing! 49:42 Everything was made by Jesus. 49:45 So let's go on the verse ten. 49:47 Let's go on to verse 10 now. Verse 10. Okay. 49:54 Did I put verse 10 in there? 49:55 Okay, let me see. 49:57 I must have missed it. 49:58 That's okay, that's the human side of me. 50:01 I think that's when the power went off right there. 50:03 But let's go ahead, they are not going to put it 50:06 on the screen, but let's read it in our Bible's. 50:07 Thank the Lord for the written Word. Amen somebody. 50:09 Let's look at verse 10 and this is in our Bible's. 50:13 It says: 50:14 "He was in the world, and the world was made how, 50:20 through Him and the world did not what, know Him." 50:24 So was the world made through Jesus? 50:29 Was the world made by Jesus? 50:31 He made His own place to live. 50:36 He made His own planet. He made His own constellation. 50:41 He made His own solar system and we'll find out 50:44 in just a moment some beautiful things about this whole 50:47 creation aspect. 50:48 So write it down under John 1:10. 50:51 He was in the world and the the world was made how? 50:56 By Him. 50:58 So put John 1:10, Jesus is the creator of the world. 51:01 Jesus is the creator of the world. John 1:10 51:03 Okay. 51:10 Okay, now let's look at the next question. 51:12 Question number 7. Question number 7. 51:23 You know where we are going next? 51:25 We're going to Hebrews chapter one. 51:27 Now this is the third Genesis. 51:31 Genesis chapter one is the first Genesis. 51:34 John chapter one is the second Genesis. 51:37 And by the way are you ready to get blown away? 51:40 Are you ready to get blown away? 51:42 John one goes further back than Genesis one. 51:49 Did you know that? 51:51 Now we're going to go further back than Genesis one again. 51:56 Because the Bible says "In the beginning God created 51:58 the heavens and the earth right? 52:01 If the world is dated to be about 6,000 years old, 52:05 then 6,000 years ago God created the what? 52:10 Heavens and the what? Earth. 52:12 But when we read John. When we read John, 52:15 we know that this is not... 52:18 We know that this is not the only world, is it? 52:23 According to astronomy there are millions and they suggest 52:28 billions of galaxies which each one suggested 52:33 since we haven't gone to any of them. 52:34 It is suggested that each galaxy, life is possibly there. 52:38 Well, if there is life in our galaxy, 52:41 can we conclude that there's life in other galaxies? 52:44 Well let's not even speculate, let's let the Bible speak. 52:48 Alright. Let's go question number seven. 52:55 Hebrew's chapter one, let's go to Hebrew's chapter one. 52:58 Okay. 53:00 Hebrews chapter one. There we are. 53:03 Okay 53:04 Somebody once said ahh, what could we possibly learn 53:09 about Jesus? Are you learning anything? 53:11 Praise the Lord. 53:13 Okay, look at this. 53:15 Wow-man. This is beautiful. 53:19 I'm actually giving you verse eight and ten, 53:21 but I want to go ahead and read verse one and two 53:23 before I ask those, our generator guys to bring 53:27 the slides up on the screen. Let's look at verse one and two 53:29 first of all. 53:30 Hebrews one verse one and two says: 53:32 "God who at various times and in different ways, 53:37 spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets," 53:40 has in these last days spoken to us by His what? 53:45 "His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things through whom 53:50 also He made the what? Worlds." 53:56 Is that more than one? 53:57 Yes, more than one. 54:01 But now let's go right to the answer. 54:02 How does the Bible confirm that the Word is the Creator? 54:05 Look at Hebrews 1:8, it's on the screen. 54:07 But to the Son He says: Look at this. 54:30 He calls the Son. What does He call the Son? 54:36 What does the Father call the Son? 54:40 God! Right there. To the Son He says: 54:46 "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; 54:50 A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. 54:53 He calls the Son God. God calls the Son God. 55:00 Now who called the Son God? God did. 55:04 Does God make mistakes? NO! 55:07 If anybody wouldn't make a mistake, 55:10 the Father wouldn't make a mistake about 55:12 the title of the Son. 55:13 Somebody said Ah ha, got you now. 55:16 If He's the Father and He's the Son 55:20 is it possible that the Father created the Son? 55:26 We're going to answer that. We're going to answer that 55:28 in just a moment, so write the answer down. 55:30 How does the Bible confirm that the Word is the Creator? 55:33 Hebrews 1 verse 8 calls Jesus... What does he call Him? 55:37 God. G- O-D. 55:41 That's right and by the way he doesn't say A god, 55:47 he says God. 55:49 Let's look at now verse 10, Hebrews 1:10. 55:54 Wow! And here it is: 56:14 Jesus, the Father saying to the Son, 56:16 You laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens 56:21 are the work of Your hands. Is there any in heaven about 56:24 who did it? None at all. 56:26 The Father saying you did that and you did that. 56:30 He's the Creator, only the Creator can be the Redeemer. 56:36 Isn't that wonderful? 56:38 Matter of fact...They have this thing called parental rights, 56:41 not grandparents rights but parental rights. 56:46 You know they have this...and it's called a...um, 56:50 let me use the right word... I might be, I might be incorrect 56:54 in my order of terminology I'm using. 56:57 But it's something that if the father...if somebody dies 57:03 and the property left goes to the who? 57:07 To the who? To the next of kin. 57:11 It might be a son or daughter. To the next of kin. 57:14 If that next of kin...let's just say there's a father 57:20 and there's son and the son already died, 57:23 but the son had children. So if the son doesn't get it, 57:26 who gets it next? 57:28 The grandchildren. 57:29 There's this continual line of heredity, 57:33 in other words, the inheritor's of. 57:35 We have been called sons and daughters of God, 57:37 Jesus died, He rose again and He's made us inheritor's of 57:43 what belongs to Him. 57:44 Now you might be frustrated that our topic is coming to an 57:48 end and so am I, but I want you to stay tuned for the next 57:51 round of the truth about Jesus. He's...You see, in the world 57:55 there is so much said about Him...He's not Elijah, 57:57 He's not John the Baptist, He's not Mohammad, 57:59 He's not Buddha, He's not Christian, He is the Christ. 58:02 Keep studying and one day it will come into a Sharper Focus. 58:05 God Bless you! |
Revised 2018-06-27