Participants: Stephen Bohr
Series Code: BOT
Program Code: BOT000004
|
00:30 Welcome to lecture number four in the series,
00:33 The Bible or Tradition. 00:35 And the title of our subject for today is 00:40 Jesus and Theological Conflict. 00:43 Now the introductory music that you hear to each one of these 00:47 lectures on the DVD's and on television comes from what 00:51 has been called the Battle Hymn of the Protestant Reformation. 00:55 You know, every time that I hear this hymn, 00:58 which is a paraphrase of Psalm 46, and was written by 01:03 Martin Luther, I can imagine Martin Luther standing before 01:08 Emperor Charles V, and all of the dignitaries of the 01:12 Roman Catholic Church, and pronouncing those famous words 01:17 at the Diet of Worms, with a face like flint saying 01:22 the following: My conscience is captive by the Word of God. 01:28 Therefore I cannot, and will not recant, since it is difficult, 01:35 unprofitable, and dangerous, indeed to do anything against 01:41 one's conscience. So help me God, Amen. 01:45 Those have become the famous words of Martin Luther 01:48 at the Diet of Worms in the year 1521. 01:53 Now Protestantism and Catholicism are distinguished 01:58 in many different ways. 02:00 But if I had to choose only one word that characterizes 02:05 Protestantism it would be the word Sola. 02:09 That's a Latin word that means only or alone. 02:14 You see Protestantism believes in Sola gratia. 02:18 That means grace alone. 02:21 Solo cristo, that means Christ alone. 02:25 Sola fida, which means faith alone. 02:29 Sola scriptura; scripture alone. 02:33 And Soli Deo gloria, which means all of the glory for God alone. 02:39 Now if you had to characterize Roman Catholicism, you would 02:44 have to add a little three letter word, the word ant. 02:49 You see in the Roman Catholic Church it is 02:52 grace and human effort. 02:55 It is Christ and Mary. 02:59 It is faith and works. 03:02 It is glory to God and all the holy ones who have achieved 03:08 sainthood by their good works. 03:10 It is scripture and tradition. 03:14 And so the one distinguishing word between Protestants and 03:18 Catholics could be summarized by the word and, 03:21 as far as Catholicism is concerned, 03:24 and the four letter word in Protestantism 03:27 which is the word Sola. 03:30 Now Ellen White has described the meaning of Sola Scriptura 03:35 in the book, The Great Controversy, page 595. 03:40 This is how she states the principle of scripture alone, 03:45 Sola Scriptura. 03:56 There you have the word Sola. 04:42 That is one of the best descriptions that I've ever read 04:44 on Sola Scriptura; that is scripture alone. 04:48 Scripture explains itself. 04:51 Scripture contains all of the information that we need, 04:55 spiritually speaking, to get to heaven. 04:58 Now Ellen White continues this statement on page 595, 05:04 by pointing out the severe danger of trusting 05:08 in the judgment of theologians and so called scholars. 05:14 Notice how she continues this statement that I just read. 05:45 And I want you to notice the reason she gives why 05:48 the religious leaders, why the Devil would want the religious 05:51 leaders to dictate what people need to believe. 05:54 At the end of the statement she says: 06:05 Is that true of what happened in the days of Christ? 06:09 We've been discussing the Jewish view of tradition in the days of 06:11 Christ, and we noticed that their view of tradition led the 06:16 Jewish nation to reject Jesus Christ as the Messiah. 06:20 And so it's very dangerous to trust in bishops, pastors, 06:24 professors of theology, and their concepts. 06:27 I'm not saying that we shouldn't read what they have to say, 06:30 but what they say cannot be equalized with scripture. 06:36 We must go to scripture and study for ourselves, 06:39 and see if what they teach is in harmony with the 06:43 written Word of God. 06:44 And, of course, we have our great exemplar, Jesus Christ, 06:50 who points out that this is the only way in which we can be 06:54 certain about what to believe and what to practice. 06:57 So the question that we want to answer in our study today is, 07:01 how did Jesus face theological conflicts and controversies 07:08 that He had with the ministers and the theologians of His day? 07:12 Did Jesus ever appeal, even once, to tradition to defend any 07:20 point of belief, or any point of practice? 07:23 I'm going to tell you from the get go that there is not a 07:27 single case in the gospels where Jesus ever quoted any rabbi 07:32 or any scholar to defend any point of doctrine, 07:35 any point of practice. 07:37 Jesus, as we're going to study, always pointed people to the 07:42 written scriptures. 07:44 He never quoted the rabbi's. 07:46 He never quoted the scholars. 07:48 And, furthermore, we know that He did not attend 07:51 the schools of the rabbi's. 07:53 In fact, He was home schooled. 07:56 And the reason why He was home schooled was so that He would 07:59 not become defiled with the concepts that were being taught 08:03 in the theological schools. 08:04 In fact, in the book, The Story of Jesus, page 30, we find this 08:10 remarkable statement about Mary's instruction of Christ. 08:14 It says: 08:24 Notice it doesn't say her son. 08:27 It says His Son. The Father says, I want to tell you 08:30 how to bring up My Son. 08:31 And then notice what she continues saying. 08:38 ...writings of the rabbi's. 08:40 No, that's not what it says. It says: 08:54 So Jesus knew scripture backwards and forwards. 08:57 The reason why is that Jesus studied scripture. 09:01 Now the Spirit of Prophecy also tells us that His mother was 09:07 heartbroken many times when she saw how the religious 09:11 leaders were opposed to Jesus Christ. 09:13 And in some cases, she even tried to convince Jesus 09:17 to go along with the traditions of the elders. 09:20 And I want you to notice what Jesus had to say in response. 09:26 Signs of the Times, August 6, 1896, we find these words: 09:53 rabbi's. No, that's not what it says. 09:57 Notice once again: 10:11 What did Jesus base His religious faith 10:14 and His practices on? 10:16 The written scriptures, never oral tradition. 10:20 Thus whenever Jesus defended His teachings or His actions, 10:25 He always appealed to the written words 10:28 of the Old Testament. 10:29 He never, even once, quoted or referred to the supposed 10:35 oral sayings that came from Moses, or from the 10:39 tradition of the elders. 10:40 We find in the book, Councils to Teachers, page 447, 10:46 these significant words: 10:59 So if you didn't have a PhD from the schools of the rabbi's, 11:02 you were an ignoramus, according to them. 11:04 So Jesus and John, that's John the Baptist by the way. 11:23 There it is again. They were just absolutely dumfounded 11:28 and astonished at the knowledge that John the Baptist 11:31 and Jesus had of the holy scriptures. 11:34 Now Jesus, as you know, when He was 12 years old, 11:38 visited the temple for the first time. 11:40 It was at the period of the Passover. 11:42 And Ellen White has a very interesting comment about this 11:46 first visit, and the comment is found in The Desire of Ages, 11:50 page 85. It says there: 12:11 Because He was nice. 12:18 Now here comes one of those key expressions: 12:31 What does writ mean? writings, writings, yes. 12:36 He asked for their authority in holy writ. 13:15 That's a remarkable statement, isn't it? 13:17 Jesus always required the defense of any view, 13:24 or any practice based on holy scripture. 13:28 Now what I want to do in the rest of the time that we have 13:31 together is take a series of examples from the gospels 13:36 on how Jesus responded to the Jews when they came at Him with 13:42 objections, and they came at Him with different comments 13:45 about what He was teaching. 13:46 And we're going to see that in every single case in the gospels 13:51 whenever Jesus answered an objection, or had a theological 13:55 controversy with the scribes and the Pharisees, 13:57 He always used scripture to defend His point of view; 14:02 never tradition, or never said, I think, or I believe. 14:06 It was always based on the writings of the Old Testament. 14:09 Now Jesus set the tone of how He would deal with these objections 14:15 at the very beginning of His ministry when He was 14:18 tempted of the Devil. 14:19 As you all know, the Devil hurled three temptations 14:24 at Christ in the Mount of Temptation. 14:26 I want you to notice how Jesus responded. 14:29 And I know that you know this, but it's good to read the text 14:33 anyway, because this is the beginning of Christ's ministry. 14:36 It tells us how Jesus was going to deal with things 14:40 from the very beginning of His ministry. 14:43 Temptation 1. is found in Matthew 4:3, 4. 14:51 Now the tempter came to Him... 14:53 And, by the way, the Spirit of Prophecy emphasizes that the 14:56 tempter came to Him as an angel of light from heaven. 14:59 And he said to JC, Jesus had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, 15:03 and He was thin, you know, and He was emaciated. 15:06 And so the Devil says, You know, I've heard that an angel has 15:10 fallen from heaven, and you've got to be that angel, 15:13 by your appearance. 15:14 He says, But if you've not that angel... 15:15 Then he tells Him to turn the stones into bread. 15:19 So let's read. 15:29 Jesus saw through the Devil's comment immediately. 15:32 He knew that He was not an angel from heaven. 15:34 Do you know how He knew? 15:35 Because when Jesus was baptized a voice came from heaven 15:39 that said, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. 15:43 And now the Devil comes and says, If you are the Son of God. 15:47 The Father had said that He was the Son of God. 15:50 And now the Devil says, If You are. 15:52 Jesus says, Think it? 15:53 What do you mean? My Father said that I am His Son. 15:56 Immediately when Jesus detected the words of doubt, 15:59 He knew that it was the Devil. 16:01 Now how did Jesus answer the Devil? Notice verse 4. 16:09 What? There Jesus sets the tone. 16:22 It is written. Do you know where that quotation comes from? 16:25 It comes from Deuteronomy 8:3. 16:29 So Jesus is quoting from the writings of Moses. 16:32 He's not giving some oral tradition. 16:33 He's quoting written scripture; what Moses wrote. 16:38 And then we have temptation 2. 16:40 The Spirit of Prophecy says that the Devil is still there 16:43 as an angel of light. 16:44 He doesn't unveil his real identity until 16:46 the third temptation. 16:48 But in the second temptation we're told: 16:54 And Ellen White explains that he wanted to impress Jesus 16:57 with his great power by flying Jesus to the pinnacle 16:59 of the temple. And now notice: 17:05 Once again expressing doubt. 17:11 Huh, interesting! The Devil heard Jesus say, It is written 17:14 in the first temptation, and he says, Hey, this guy lives by 17:18 It is written, so let's give Him a little bit of It is written. 17:21 And so the Devil says, It is written,... 17:33 Do you know what? 17:34 This quotation comes from Psalm 91. 17:36 But the Devil left out a phrase purposely, because he knew that 17:42 if he put it in, Jesus would immediately detect 17:45 what he was trying to do. 17:47 And this is the part that was omitted: 17:51 ...to keep thee in all thy ways. 17:54 If Jesus had jumped from the temple tower, He would not 17:57 have been keeping His Father's ways. 17:59 And the Devil knew it, so he says, I've got to hide that 18:01 portion of scripture. 18:03 Now how did Jesus answer the Devil? Notice verse 7. 18:09 How did He answer? 18:15 Now a better translation would be, It is also written. 18:18 So the Devil says, It is written. 18:20 Jesus says, Yeah, but it is also written... 18:22 And this quotation comes from Deuteronomy 6:16. 18:32 And so in the second temptation Jesus faces the Devil 18:36 in the same way that He did in the first temptation. He says: 18:43 Quotations from Deuteronomy 6: 16. 18:47 And then we have the third temptation. 18:49 The Devil takes Jesus to a high mountain and shows Him all 18:52 of the kingdoms of the world. 18:53 Let's read about it in Matthew 4:8. 19:11 And, by the way, Ellen White explains that at this point 19:14 the Devil had revealed his true identity. 19:16 And notice verse 10: 19:23 And then what do we have? 19:27 You shall worship the Lord your God, 19:30 and Him only you shall serve. 19:32 These quotations come from Deuteronomy 6:13, 19:35 and Deuteronomy 10:20, from the writings of Moses. 19:40 Jesus is not appealing to tradition, to some supposed 19:44 oral tradition, or the maxims of the rabbi's. 19:47 Jesus doesn't say, I think, or I believe. 19:50 Jesus answered by quoting the written scriptures. 19:53 Jesus lived by Sola Scriptura. 19:57 Now I want you to notice how Jesus introduced Himself 20:01 at the beginning of His ministry after His baptism. 20:03 Jesus goes to the synagogue. 20:05 He's asked to do the scripture reading. 20:08 And He opens up the scroll to Isaiah 61:1, 2. 20:13 And when He finishes reading that passage, He says, 20:18 and this is in Luke 4:21, 20:28 So how did Jesus introduce His public ministry? 20:31 By appealing to what? 20:33 By appealing to scripture: Isaiah 61:1, 2. 20:38 Now go with me to John 5:45- 47. 20:43 This is an interesting passage. 20:44 You know, there's a group of Jews... 20:46 Jesus had just healed a paralytic. 20:49 And, you know, then He had a dialogue with the Jews after 20:53 He had healed the paralytic. 20:54 And I want you to know how Jesus concludes His argument. 20:57 Notice John 5:45. Jesus says to them: 21:10 So who accused them? 21:12 Jesus says, I don't have to accuse you. 21:15 There's one who accuses you. 21:17 Moses in whom you trust is the one who accuses you. 21:21 And then notice verse 46: 21:31 Is Jesus speaking about some oral tradition 21:33 that comes from Moses? 21:35 No, no, no, Jesus is saying: 21:38 And then in case that wasn't clear, in verse 47 it says: 21:50 So if you don't believe his what? 21:52 If you don't believe his writings, 21:54 how will you believe My words? 21:57 So what did Jesus appeal to when He was discussing things 22:00 with the Jewish nation? 22:01 He appealed to the written scriptures. 22:05 Now lets refer to Mark 7. 22:07 We already discussed this in our last study together. 22:10 Remember we talked about the concept of tradition, 22:13 and the washing of the hands, and the washing of pots, 22:16 and so on? Now I'm only going to refer to this briefly, 22:19 because we did a full study on Mark 7. 22:22 How did Jesus respond to the objections of the rabbi's 22:28 that He did not have His disciples wash 22:30 ceremonially as they should? 22:33 Did Jesus quote contrary views of the scribes, 22:37 and of the Pharisees to say, Listen folks, you know, 22:39 there's another tradition that says just the opposite 22:42 of what you're doing. 22:43 Absolutely not! Jesus quoted scripture three times. 22:47 Isaiah 29:13 was the first quotation. 22:51 Jesus said, You know the prophet Isaiah spoke 22:53 very well about you. 23:00 And then you have another quotation: 23:08 Jesus is quoting Isaiah 29:13 when He's in 23:13 controversy with them. 23:14 Then a little later on Jesus speaks about the 23:17 tradition of Corban. 23:19 Do you remember we talked about Corban, and how it 23:21 opposed the commandment of God? 23:23 Well, Jesus quoted Exodus 20:12 where it says what? 23:32 Jesus says, Look, the writings of Moses say, 23:35 Honor your father and your mother, but you have Corban 23:38 as one of the traditions, which contradicts that commandment. 23:41 In other words, your traditions are contrary to the commandments 23:44 of God; the written commandments of God. 23:46 Oral tradition contradicts the written word. 23:50 And then Jesus quotes Exodus 21:17 where Moses wrote: 23:59 And so how did Jesus face this issue of ceremonial washing 24:03 of the hands? Did He speculate? 24:05 Did He say, I think, I believe. 24:07 You know, the other rabbi said something different? No, no, no. 24:10 Jesus, three times quoted scripture as the authority 24:15 to respond to this particular situation. 24:18 Now once a scholar, a certain scholar or theologian, 24:22 came to Jesus to test Him. 24:24 In other words, he wanted to trick Jesus. 24:26 And he says to Jesus, What do I need to do 24:29 to inherit eternal life? 24:31 And I want you to notice in Luke 10:26 that Jesus answers 24:37 his question with another question. 24:38 Jesus says, What is what? 24:42 You can say what do the rabbi's say? 24:46 You know, what does the oral tradition that is handed down 24:50 from the times of Moses say? No, Jesus says: 24:54 When it says the law, by the way, 24:56 it's referring to the Torah, the five books of Moses. 24:59 How do you read? Are these the writings of Moses? 25:04 Absolutely! And then do you know what the young man does? 25:07 He quotes Deuteronomy 6:4, and he quotes Leviticus 19:18. 25:13 And then Jesus says to this young man: 25:20 So how did Jesus answer this young man? with a question. 25:25 But by His question He led the man to quote what? 25:30 to quote scripture; which the two scriptures are 25:34 Deuteronomy 6:4, and Leviticus 19:18. 25:38 You know, the enemies of Jesus once came to Him and said 25:42 to Him, We can't accept Your testimony as being valid 25:45 and true, because according to what Moses said, there needs to 25:50 be two witnesses to make a testimony true. 25:53 Now lets read John 8:17, 18 to see how Jesus responded to this 25:59 accusation that because Jesus supposedly was giving testimony 26:03 about Himself, there wasn't anybody else giving 26:05 testimony of Him, then His word could not be true. 26:09 John 8:17, 18. It says: It is also what? 26:18 That is in the writings of Moses. 26:20 And, incidentally, He's quoting here, or referring to 26:23 Deuteronomy 17:6, and Deuteronomy 19:15, 26:28 where it says that one witness was not sufficient or enough 26:31 to prove something. And so it says: 26:39 And then notice what Jesus says: 26:49 So I do have two witnesses, Jesus says. 26:52 I have My witness and I have the witness of My Father. 26:57 And He appealed to what? to written scripture 27:00 to prove His point. 27:02 Now Jesus had also many Sabbath controversies, 27:06 as you're very much aware. 27:07 And one of those Sabbath controversies that Jesus had 27:11 was about the disciples picking ears of corn on the Sabbath. 27:17 Do you remember that particular episode? 27:18 And they came at Jesus and they said, Why do you allow Your 27:22 disciples to disobey this regulation that you're not 27:25 supposed to pick ears, and you're not supposed to eat 27:28 what you take from those ears on the Sabbath. 27:33 Well, notice how Jesus answered this. Matthew 12:3-5. 27:42 What? There it is, it's written in scriptures again. 27:45 And He's quoting, by the way, 1 Samuel 21:6. 28:07 And so how is Jesus defending His point of view; 28:11 defending what His disciples did? 28:13 He's referring to what? 28:14 He's referring to an experience that was written in 1 Samuel. 28:18 He's referring to the writings of the Old Testament. 28:21 And then Jesus refers to another interesting passage 28:25 in the second part, actually in verse 5, Jesus continues saying: 28:33 That is the law of Moses. 28:39 Now when it says that they profaned the Sabbath 28:40 it's because they continued offering sacrifices, 28:43 and lighting the lamps, and doing everything on the Sabbath. 28:47 And, actually, they offered twice as many sacrifices 28:50 on the Sabbath than any other day. 28:51 And they were blameless! 28:53 And so Jesus is arguing from scripture. 28:56 He's arguing from Numbers 28: 9, 10, as well as from 29:00 1 Samuel 21:6 that His disciples have a perfect right to eat 29:06 the ears of corn that they had picked on the Sabbath. 29:09 Now you also remember that there was once a dispute between 29:13 Jesus and the religious leaders concerning marriage. 29:16 Do you remember that dispute over marriage? 29:19 You know, the scribes came to Jesus and they said, You know, 29:22 Moses allowed us to get divorced for any reason. 29:25 So they're going to actually pit Moses against Moses. 29:31 And I want you to notice how Jesus answers this particular 29:35 objection that they bring up. 29:37 Matthew 19:4-6, Matthew 19:4-6. 29:47 What? There it is again; Jesus using the scriptures 29:51 to present His point. 29:59 Where's that quotation come from? 30:00 Genesis 1:27, right? 30:14 That's Genesis 2:24. 30:25 So how is Jesus proving His point to these 30:28 religious leaders: to the scribes, and the theologians, 30:32 and the scholars, and ministers of His day? 30:34 He's not speculating. 30:35 He's not referring to what other rabbi's said. 30:38 He's not referring to oral tradition. 30:39 He says, Have you not read in the scriptures? 30:43 And then He refers to Genesis 1: 27, 30:46 and He refers to Genesis 2:24. 30:49 Now you remember when Jesus entered triumphantly 30:52 into Jerusalem sitting on a donkey? 30:55 You know, and the religious leaders, they were saying, 30:58 You should rebuke those people who are saying, 31:01 Hosanna to the King. 31:03 You shouldn't allow them to say that. 31:06 How did Jesus defend the people, and particularly the children, 31:11 in that crowd who were glorifying Jesus, 31:14 who was marching into Jerusalem? 31:16 Notice Matthew 21:16. 31:24 What? There it is again! 31:27 He's quoting Psalm 8:2, by the way. 31:39 So Jesus is saying, Listen, don't tell me that they can't 31:42 say this, because there were already writings in the 31:44 Old Testament that pointed to the moment when 31:46 they were going to say this. 31:47 But Jesus is defending what they're doing based not on 31:51 oral tradition, or on what has been handed down, 31:54 or passed along, or received. 31:56 He's defending it on the basis of scripture. 31:59 Now you remember when Jesus cleansed the temple, right? 32:03 This is the cleansing of the temple at the end 32:06 of His ministry, because He also cleansed the temple 32:08 at the beginning of His ministry. 32:09 This is at the end. 32:10 And in Matthew 21:13 notice the justification that Jesus uses 32:18 for cleansing the temple. It says there: 32:23 What's the next phrase? 32:25 There it is again: It is written! 32:31 He's referring to Isaiah 56:7, by the way; written scripture. 32:43 Now do you remember the parable that Jesus told 32:46 about the vineyard workers? 32:47 Remember that there were some messengers that were sent out 32:51 at vintage time to get the fruit? 32:53 And what did they do with those messengers? 32:56 Oh they killed them, and they rejected them. 32:57 And so God sent out a second group of messengers. 33:00 Incidentally, this is really telling the story of Israel. 33:03 The first messengers are between Mount Sinai 33:06 and the Babylonian captivity. 33:07 The second group are the ones that are sent out 33:11 after the Babylonian captivity, up to the times of Christ. 33:14 And so two groups of messengers are sent out. 33:17 And then, last of all, God sends His what? 33:21 God sends His own Son. 33:23 And He says, They're going to respect my Son. 33:25 But instead of respecting the Son they said, This is the heir. 33:28 Lets take Him and cast Him out of the city, and kill Him, 33:32 and take His inheritance. 33:35 Well, I want you to notice that after telling this parable, 33:38 Jesus asks the question: 33:47 This is in Matthew 21 by the way. 33:51 What will the owner of the vineyard, the Father, 33:54 do to those individuals? 33:56 They answered. They still didn't understand the parable. 34:00 They indicted themselves. They answered: 34:13 And then Jesus quotes scripture. 34:17 He's quoting Psalm 118:22. He says: 34:22 What? Almost adnauseam you come to this way that Jesus 34:28 faced theological objections. 34:30 He did not have 150 footnotes in a paper quoting the opinions, 34:38 the learned opinions of the scholars. 34:41 There's nothing wrong with scholarship, but you have to 34:44 come fresh to scripture. 34:45 We have to use scripture in order to defend 34:49 our points of view, and to defend our practices. 34:52 So He says: 34:55 Then He quotes Psalm 118:22. 35:08 So Jesus, once again, is quoting scripture and applying it 35:13 to them in this particular case. 35:16 Now the Sadducees were an interesting denomination 35:21 in the days of Christ. 35:22 The Sadducees only accepted the five books of Moses 35:27 as being fully inspired. 35:28 In fact the Sadducees did not believe 35:32 that a person had an afterlife. 35:36 They did not believe in the immortality of the soul, 35:39 and they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. 35:41 They were kind of fatalists. 35:43 They believed that when a person died, that was it. 35:46 And so they come to Jesus to try to trick Jesus with this 35:50 scenario of seven brothers. 35:52 And you know the story, right? 35:54 Seven brothers, all of them married a certain woman 35:58 because, you know, one died and so the next one came and 36:01 married the woman, and that one died. 36:03 The next one came and married the woman. 36:05 So the seven brothers married the same woman. 36:06 And so they asked Jesus, Well tell us, who will be this 36:11 woman's husband in the resurrection? 36:14 And how did Jesus answer what they were saying? 36:18 Well, the answer is found in Mark 12:24-27. 36:23 You know, Jesus didn't say, Oh you're so ridiculous! 36:26 You know, He didn't say, Well, you know, what do your scribes, 36:28 or your scholars have to say? 36:31 No, no, no, Jesus is going to use scripture to answer 36:35 their trick that they're trying to lead Him into. 36:39 And so it says in Mark 12:24: 36:53 Why did He say, Nor the power of God? 36:56 Well, He's saying, You don't know the scriptures, 36:59 because the scriptures predict a resurrection. 37:01 And you don't know the power of God because you don't believe 37:05 that God is powerful enough to resurrect people. So He says: 37:25 What? So is Jesus going to say there is a 37:30 resurrection of the dead? Yes. 37:32 Is He quoting the rabbi's to defend that point of view? No! 37:35 He says it's in the scriptures. Notice: 37:41 Not oral tradition, but in the book of Moses. 37:46 Incidentally, that's in Exodus 3:6. 37:56 Now He's quoting. 38:01 Now let me ask you, when Jesus said those words, 38:05 were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dead? 38:07 They were dead. They'd been dead for a long time. 38:11 And so Jesus says: 38:29 Now was Jesus saying that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob 38:32 were living at that time? No. 38:34 What He was saying is that for God what is potential is actual. 38:39 Because God was going to resurrect Abraham, Isaac, 38:43 and Jacob. That means that God is the God of the living, 38:46 not of the dead. In other words, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 38:49 were not going to remain dead. 38:50 They were going to resurrect. 38:52 Are you understanding? 38:53 And how did Jesus defend His point of view? 38:55 He defended His point of view not on the basis of tradition, 38:59 oral sayings that had been passed on from Moses, 39:02 He defended His point of view by referring to what? 39:05 By referring to the scriptures; time and again in the gospels. 39:11 Now the scribes came to Jesus when Jesus entered the temple 39:18 for the last time, and they asked Jesus an interesting 39:23 question. It says, While the Pharisees were... 39:26 Actually Jesus asked the Pharisees the question. 39:30 This is Matthew 22:41. 39:35 The word Christ means the Messiah. 39:41 In other words, whose Son is the Messiah? 39:45 Piece of cake! 39:50 Are you understanding the difficult situation 39:54 that Jesus is putting them in? 39:55 You know, who's greater, the Father or the Son? 39:59 Let me ask you, in human terms, who's greater, 40:04 the Father or the Son? 40:05 The Son owes respect to the Father, right? 40:08 The Father is greater than the Son. 40:09 And yet Jesus is here saying, Why did David call his son 40:13 Lord? It must be that his son is great than he is. 40:17 So the Messiah can't merely be literally the son of David. 40:21 Are you understanding this point? 40:22 And then notice that Jesus actually quotes scripture 40:26 to prove His point. 40:28 He's quoting Psalm 110:1. 40:43 So how did Jesus present this case of Him being the Messiah, 40:48 and being greater than David? 40:49 He did it by referring to Psalm 110:1 that 40:54 proved His Messiahship. 40:56 Now after the resurrection, as you know, Jesus was walking 41:00 to a village called Emmaus. 41:02 And there were two disciples, followers of Jesus, 41:05 that were walking on that road. 41:07 And Jesus caught up to them and started entertaining a 41:10 conversation with these two men. 41:12 And I want to pick up this conversation in Luke 24:25-27. 41:19 Some very interesting and important information here 41:22 on how Jesus proved that He was the Messiah, 41:27 the promised Messiah. 41:28 It says there in Luke 24:25: 41:37 rabbi's have spoken. 41:38 Thank you! The prophets have spoken. 41:55 ...oral traditions... No, no, no! 42:00 How did Jesus prove to these two men that He was 42:03 the promised Messiah? 42:04 By appealing to the written scriptures once again. 42:08 A little later Jesus... 42:10 You know the two disciples on the road to Emmaus? 42:12 They turned around and came back to Jerusalem, 42:14 and found the disciples in the upper room. 42:16 They knocked. They identified themselves. 42:18 They went in and through the door went someone else, 42:22 which was Jesus, and they didn't see Him. 42:24 He was hidden by the angel of light several times 42:26 during His ministry. 42:27 And I want you to notice the record as it's found 42:30 in Luke 24:44-47. Jesus says: 42:55 the oral traditions. No! The scriptures folks! 43:13 So let me ask you, How did Jesus face 43:16 theological opposition? 43:18 Did He argue with them? 43:19 Did He pit oral tradition against oral tradition? 43:22 Did He say what the rabbi's had said, and what the theologians 43:26 of His day, and the ministers said? Absolutely not! 43:28 Jesus' standard was Sola scriptura; scripture alone. 43:35 And in this way He gives us an example of what our standard 43:38 should be. Our standard should be scripture alone. 43:43 Now the people were constantly wondering where Jesus 43:47 had gotten His knowledge and His authority from, 43:50 being that He had never studied in the schools of the rabbi's. 43:52 Go with me to Matthew 13:53-57. 43:59 Now the context of this is that in Matthew 13 Jesus has just 44:04 told a series of parables, beautiful parables. 44:07 You know, the wheat and the tares, and the fishing 44:10 expedition, and many other parables, the sower, 44:13 and many other parables Jesus had told. 44:16 And after He told these parables, you know, the people 44:19 marveled at His teaching. 44:20 Notice we'll begin at verse 53. 44:32 That's Nazareth, by the way. 44:42 Huh, this guy didn't study in the schools of the rabbi's. 44:49 This guy's not a theologian. 44:52 This guy was home schooled! 44:55 How can He teach such wise words? Notice: 45:23 So Jesus had sisters, didn't He? 45:25 Interesting! Interesting! 45:28 We'll come back to that a little bit later on in this series. 45:31 Now notice what it continues saying in verse 56. 45:44 And instead of saying, Wow, this guy has to be from God! 45:48 This man has to be from God! They were what? 45:52 It says there in verse 57: 45:57 And, by the way, in the next verse Jesus says, 46:00 Haven't I told you that a prophet is without 46:02 honor among his own? 46:04 They just could not accept the fact that Jesus was the greatest 46:09 theologian on earth, because He had never studied in the schools 46:13 of the theological experts of His day. 46:18 Now lets go to John 7:15, John 7:15. 46:23 This was at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, 46:26 which is the last feast of the Hebrew year. 46:31 And Jesus went to the temple, and we're 46:34 told there in verse 15: 46:38 The feast, by the way, lasted eight days. 46:51 Had Jesus studied? 46:53 Oh, you'd better believe He had studied. 46:56 He just had not studied the maxims and the traditions 47:00 of the rabbi's, and the theological experts, 47:02 but He had studied, as we noticed, 47:04 the scriptures for Himself. 47:05 He could have never quoted so many scriptures, 47:08 in so many circumstances, unless He knew the scriptures 47:11 backwards and forwards. 47:13 And so they asked the question, How does this man know letters 47:17 having never studied? 47:19 A little bit later on in the chapter, in chapter 7, 47:23 and verses 21 to 24, Jesus refers back to the healing of 47:28 the paralytic in chapter 5. 47:29 And I want to read those verses, because they were still thinking 47:32 about Jesus healing that paralytic on the Sabbath, 47:35 of all things. They said, This guy has broken the Sabbath, 47:38 because He healed on the Sabbath. 47:39 Now notice verse 21. 47:57 They say when the eighth day, since the birth of an individual 48:02 comes on the Sabbath, you circumcise on the Sabbath. 48:04 He says: 48:24 And so once again Jesus is referring to what? 48:27 He's referring to the law of Moses as He encounters them 48:31 in this particular situation. 48:33 At the end of chapter 7, you know the religious leaders 48:39 had sent the officers to where Jesus was teaching 48:43 to arrest Jesus and bring Him back. 48:45 And I want you to notice that these individuals, 48:47 instead of arresting Jesus, and bringing Him back, 48:50 they come back empty handed. 48:52 And I want you to notice what they said 48:53 to the religious leaders. 48:55 Chapter 7, and verses 45 and 46. 49:07 We sent you out to pick Him up and bring Him back. 49:16 They were amazed at His teaching. 49:20 What gave power to the teaching of Jesus? 49:23 The power in the teaching of Jesus is that it was based 49:27 on the Word of God, the written Word of God. 49:30 Why didn't the scribes and the Pharisees have any power 49:32 in their teaching? Because it was based on the traditions, 49:36 and the commandments of men, and with men there is no power. 49:39 Notice Mark 11:27, 28 the religious leaders were 49:45 constantly questioning Jesus to ask Him, Where did You 49:48 get Your authority from? 49:49 Who gave You the authority to preach? 49:51 Notice Mark 11:27, 28. 50:18 And you'll find several times in the gospels that they're asking 50:22 Jesus, Where do You get Your authority from? 50:25 And, of course, the answer of Jesus was invariably, 50:28 I get My authority from My Father 50:31 through the written scriptures. 50:33 Now, it is clear as we examine the gospels, that the religious 50:40 leaders believed that the right to teach was theirs, 50:45 and belonged to them alone. 50:48 Because they were the ones that had studied in the schools. 50:51 They were the ones that knew all of the traditions. 50:55 They knew all of the ideas that had been passed along 50:58 from generation to generation. 51:00 But Jesus said none of this counts. 51:02 It is the written scriptures that count; Sola scriptura. 51:07 I'd like to bring our study to an end by referring 51:10 to Matthew 7:28, 29. 51:14 These verses, I've mentioned them before, and I'll probably 51:17 mention them many times during this series. 51:19 In fact the last presentation, number ten, is a study of this 51:24 parable that Jesus told which concludes the 51:27 Sermon on the Mount, the parable of the man who built 51:30 his house upon the rock, and the man who built 51:32 his house upon the sand. 51:34 And I want you to notice that after Jesus tells this parable, 51:38 of the man who built his house on the rock, and when we study 51:42 this we're going to notice that building the house upon the rock 51:46 means building upon the teachings of Jesus, 51:49 that are based upon the Word of God. 51:50 And building on the sand means to build on the traditions 51:55 that had been passed along by the religious leaders, 51:58 the scholars, and the rabbi's. 51:59 So to build on the sand means to build on human opinions. 52:03 To build on the rock means to build on the sayings of Jesus, 52:06 which are based on the scriptures. 52:08 And I want you to notice what happens when this story 52:13 comes to an end. 52:14 It says there in Matthew 7: 28,29: 52:30 The word doctrine probably is better translated teaching. 52:34 They were astonished at His teaching. 52:42 And then Matthew adds... 52:49 Did the scribes have much authority? 52:53 No, because their authority was quoting other authorities. 52:56 And you know what, perhaps even in our own 53:01 Seventh-day Adventist Church we've fallen into that pitfall. 53:05 You know, when I examined some of the papers, for example, 53:08 that were presented at the Theology Ordination Committee, 53:12 and you have page, after page, after page, after page of 53:15 footnotes of what scholars have to say about a Biblical text, 53:18 it makes me wonder. 53:20 Very little scripture, and a lot of the opinions of other 53:25 individuals. And human opinions have no power! 53:28 The power is in the Word of God! 53:31 Now I'd like to end by, once again, reading that statement 53:35 from Ellen White, that classic statement from 53:37 The Great Controversy, page 595. 53:39 And, you know, you're going to hear this majestic hymn 53:43 of the Protestant Reformation: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, 53:47 based on Psalm 46. 53:48 And Luther had this severe struggle... 53:50 You know, and there's some Protestant leaders today 53:53 that are saying, Well, you know, the Protestant Reformation 53:56 is over, because the Catholic Church and Protestants believe 54:00 the same thing on righteousness by faith. 54:02 That we're justified by grace through faith. 54:05 But what these individuals are forgetting is that the clarion 54:10 call of the Protestant Reformation was not 54:13 that man is justified by grace through faith. 54:18 It was Sola scriptura! 54:20 Because there were many other practices of the Roman Catholic 54:22 Church which were criticized by Martin Luther 54:25 and the Protestant leaders. 54:26 It was not only righteousness by faith, 54:29 that Catholics and Protestants can come to an agreement on 54:32 righteousness by faith. 54:33 But there are so many other things like the Sabbath, 54:36 like praying to and for the dead, 54:37 like celebrating Lent, confessing your sins 54:40 to a priest, getting indulgences. 54:42 I mean the list goes on, and on, and on. 54:45 Things that are based only on tradition and not 54:47 on the Word of God. 54:48 This is the statement from Ellen White: 54:58 See, Sola scriptura. 55:47 What a majestic statement! 55:49 And then, as I mentioned before, she warns us about trusting 55:54 the opinions of the bishops, and the pastors, 55:58 and the professors of theology, taking them as guides instead 56:04 of searching the scriptures to learn our duty from God Himself. 56:10 And, of course, she warns that by controlling the minds 56:15 of the people, the Devil can control basically the world. 56:19 Because if people blindly trust their religious leaders, 56:24 they'll do what their religious leaders say. 56:27 So if their religious leaders say, Hey, everybody is supposed 56:31 to keep Sunday in honor of the resurrection. 56:33 If people don't go to the Bible to study this for themselves, 56:36 and they simply accept what the theologians say, 56:39 because they say, Hey these people, 56:41 they went to the seminary. 56:42 You know, they've studied this out, and so we can trust 56:44 what they're saying. 56:45 And people don't go to the scriptures for themselves 56:48 to see if it is so. 56:50 And it applies not only to the Sabbath, but to any other 56:54 doctrine, or to any other practice that we are going to 56:58 believe in, or that we are going to implement in our lives. 57:01 We must absolutely have as our foundation the Word of God, 57:07 the written Word of God, the writings of the Old 57:11 and the New Testament are our foundation rock. 57:15 And when the tempest comes, which it will come, 57:18 the house that is built upon the rock will stand. 57:21 It will withstand the winds, and the floods because 57:25 we are built on the eternal Word of God. |
Revised 2014-12-17