Jesus as God AND Jesus Talks About the BIble

I received a very nice review on my new book.

That was cool. What's her name? The little girl?

Sapphire? Sapphire? Okay, we're going to let

it start. They'll get in here. We'll catch them

up. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we praise you

and thank you for being the awesome God that

you are. Lord, even though sometimes we don't

fully understand how good you are to us and all

the things you've done for us. I mean that we

want to rush on ahead or we want to complain

or we want to struggle emotionally. Lord, we

confess our weakness to you and we ask you for

and are grateful for your forgiveness. Thank

you for Jesus coming when people didn't deserve

it, including us, and taking care of what needed

to be done. Thank you that he said it is finished.

Lord, we ask you to teach us something. Teach

us from Jesus' words. Teach us from the Bible.

Teach us from our life experience. Put it all

together and figure out what we should do because

of it. Be with the Kids Club. Help them learn

a lot too. Be with the leaders working in there.

Give them patience. I think it's awesome that

our church has a love for kids. And we pray that

we'll raise up kids who glorify you. You take

over and lead. In Jesus' name. Amen. Okay. So

this is a pretty easy worksheet, but the blanks

aren't real big, so you won't be able to write

real big. But it's a pretty easy worksheet. But

the topic is awesome. So we're going to read

some verses, and we're going to look at two things.

Our goal is to see two things. Remember, this

is all part of the apologetics. You're talking

with people, knowing how do you know that Jesus

is real, how do you know the Bible is real. We

went through that from the beginning, from creation,

understanding how we know that. the kind of who

God must be, what the character of God is, and

then we looked at the monotheistic religions,

Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, which ones

got it right. Islam and Judaism doesn't accept

the New Testament. We looked at how the New Testament

was assembled, first through the New Testament,

like that. Now, as part of that, we're going

to look at two questions. The first one is, who

did Jesus say he was? So the question is, who

did Jesus say he was? And if Jesus said he was

God in the flesh, then we've got to listen to

what he said. And then also, what did Jesus say

the Bible was? Because if Jesus recognizes the

scripture as we do, then we've got it right.

But if somebody else says, well, the Koran is

right, and Jesus didn't say the Koran, Clearly

he didn't say that because that was over 600

years after the canon, right? That's another

doctrine that came later that really doesn't

have anything to do with God at all. So whatever

Jesus said, that's what we've got to pay attention

to. So we're looking for the answers to two questions.

One is, who did Jesus say he was while he was

on the earth? And the other one is, what did

he say the Bible was? What text was he referencing

while he was on the earth? Jesus rarely used

the titles. He didn't say things like, I am God,

or God the Son, for example. Instead, he used

metaphors, authoritative actions, and specific

titles that would have been explosive to his

audience. So the people that were there, they

recognized who he was saying that he was. Even

though we might not get it right away, but we'll

see it as we look at the text. So the first one...

There's a series of I am statements. So Jesus

said, I am this, I am that, I am the bread of

life, I am the door, I am. And he made those

statements. In John 8 .58, and so if you're following

on your paper there, you see you already have

most of it. I'm actually going to read the first

case. That's not the whole thing. So Jesus is

speaking in John 8 .58, and he says as follows.

Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you,

before Abraham was born, I am. Not I was, but

I am. Okay? And if you'll recall in the Old Testament,

they attached godly identity, God's identity,

to the phrase, I am. And so when, bless you,

when God is talking to Moses through the burning

bush, and Moses says, well, what if they doubt

me and they don't know, and who shall I say sent

me? And God said, say, I am. All right. So that

phrase, I am, meant he was claiming to be God.

All right. So this is the most direct claim of

divinity that we have in the New Testament. By,

and you're following along under the idea, so

where it says the idea, by using the phrase,

I am, which in the Greek is ego eimi, Jesus was

intentionally echoing the divine name of God

revealed to Moses in Exodus. His listeners immediately

picked up stones to kill him for blasphemy. That's

right. So the way they responded when Jesus said,

I am, before Abraham was born, I am, they picked

up stones for blasphemy. Blasphemy is when somebody

takes the place of God. They say something against

God. Go. Blasphemy. B -L -A -S -P -H. E -M -Y.

Blasphemy. So they picked... Say it again. B

-L -A -S. Blas. P -H -E -M -Y. Blasphemy. And

it's the act of life speaking directly against

God. In this case, they were going to stone him

because he was saying he was God. Okay? So that's

what they were doing. Alright, so now we're going

on to Mark 14. Now, a whole bunch of times throughout

the Bible, Jesus called himself by another phrase.

Okay. And so I'm going to read from Mark 14.

Mark 14. And we're reading verses 61 and 62.

But he kept silent and did not answer. Again,

the high priest was questioning him and saying

to him, are you the Christ, the son? of the blessed

one. So the blessed one was a reference to God.

They wouldn't say God's name. They wouldn't say

God. They didn't say Yahweh. They didn't say

Elohim. They didn't say any of the names for

God as a high priest or in their speaking because

they had developed a tradition that said that

they were not worthy to say the name of God.

So they called him by other things. And one of

them was the blessed one. So he's saying, are

you the Christ, the son of the blessed one? Then

Jesus said, I am. And you shall see the Son of

Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming

with the clouds of heaven. So again, the high

priest asks him, Are you the Messiah? Are you

the Son of the Blessed One? Are you the Christ?

Jesus said, I am. Jesus' favorite self -designation,

the favorite thing that he called himself, was

the Son of Man. Now, to us, that sounds like

it's just saying he's human, right? I am a son

of a man. I had a dad. He was a man, right? But

to them, it was referencing Daniel chapter 7,

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

which is describing a heavenly figure who receives

an eternal kingdom. He describes a heavenly figure

who receives an eternal kingdom and worship from

all nations, not just the Jewish nation, but

from all nations. And so we know who that heavenly

figure who receives worship from all nations

is. We know it's Jesus, right? But he was calling

himself that before people knew that. And then

later, some people would still deny it. Okay,

so going back up to the blanks. So he said, and

you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right

hand of the Mighty One. So it's the right hand.

So Jesus said, you will see the Son of Man sitting

at the right hand of the Mighty One. and coming

on the clouds of heaven. Now, if you go there,

those exact words almost appear in Daniel 7,

and they knew it was a reference to the one whom

God would send that would save all the nations,

rule over all the nations, receive the worship

of all the nations. So Jesus was, again, identifying

himself as God. Then we go to Matthew 11, 27.

All things have been handed over to me by my

Father. No one knows the Son except the Father.

Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son,

and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him.

Okay? So no one would know who Jesus was completely

except God the Father. And the Father, no one

would know him except... whom the Son reveals

to him. So Jesus claims an exclusive, reciprocal

relationship with God that no other prophet or

king ever claimed. Now, there were kings that

claimed to have the word of God, and we kind

of have one of those today. There is a man on

the earth today who claims to speak on behalf

of God. It's the Catholic Pope. Now, we also

know, if you look at the history of the... the

popes, right, that a lot of times when they claim

to be speaking for God, then later another pope

would come and say, well, that wasn't right.

So they contradict each other. And that's happening

right now. This pope is making statements that

contradicts popes that came before him. And so

that's a problem because you have God saying

one thing and you have God saying another thing

if God was actually speaking through them. Now,

that being said. Jesus was claiming to speak

for God. In fact, claiming that when he was speaking,

it was God talking. And then he says, he positions

himself as the sole bridge. He's the only way.

He says that elsewhere, right? I am the way and

the truth and the life. No one cometh unto the

Father but by me, John 14, 6. So he is the only

way that a person can come to God the Father.

That is an incredible claim. And it positions

him as essentially God the Son. And then we go

to Mark 2. Oh, I'm sorry. Did I not give you

a blank? Yeah. So no one knows the Son except

the Father. So that's the first part. And no

one knows the Father except the Son and those

to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. So reveal

is to make a thing known or seen. And so that's

what Jesus was doing. Beautifully, Paul would

write much later that Jesus was the full embodiment

of God, that he showed God in totality, which

is really cool. Okay, so Mark 2. Jesus said to

them, the Sabbath was made for man and not man

for the Sabbath. But he goes on a little further

and he says, so the Son of Man is Lord even of

the Sabbath. The Son of Man is Lord even of the

Sabbath. So in that first part, you have the

verse there. You have a blank. It says, Then

he said to them, The blank was made for man.

What word goes there? Sabbath. Yep. The Sabbath

was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So

the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. So

the Sabbath was a divine institution established

at creation. Who started the Sabbath? God. God

the Father, right? With Adam and Eve in the garden,

he told them, you work six days, you rest on

the seventh. Just as I made all creation in six

days, rest on the seventh. You work six days,

rest on the seventh. And it wasn't a rest just

from labor. It was a rest from labor, but it

wasn't just that. The idea was to focus on God.

And so the principle behind Sabbath is that there

is a connection from God that you can have, you

can block out time for. And most of you probably

block out that time on Sunday, right? Pastors

don't really do that because we work usually

all day Sunday, right? So we have a different

day of the week. And there's nothing wrong with

that. It wasn't that God said the first day of

the week is Sunday. A lot of people think that's

the second day of the weekend, but that's not

actually true. The first day of the week is Sunday,

right? And we go Sunday through Friday. And then

that's six days. You have to have Saturday off.

You have to. The Sabbath is Saturday, right?

Others will argue and say, well, no, no, no.

Sunday is the Sabbath. You have to have that.

It's a holy day, right? Neither one of those

things are exactly true. We worship on Sunday

mostly because it's the first day of the week

that puts God first. And secondly, because that's

the day he was resurrected. He came back to life

on Sunday. But again, you could worship on another

day. In fact, you should be worshiping seven

days a week. But we as the church usually come

together on Sunday. Then also, you could have

any time marked out for Sabbath. In fact, you

should. If you work a hard day, you work 12,

15 hours, let's say, and you're beat. You should

take some time to spend with God. You've been

working all day. You should focus on the Lord.

There is more strength and recuperation, like

building your strength back up in God, than there

ever is in sleeping or there ever is in resting.

So the idea was that after your work is done,

there would be a time to truly focus on the Lord

and rest. But notice then, he says, he has lordship

over the Sabbath. Jesus was claiming the authority

to redefine or interpret the very laws given

by God at Sinai. So when Moses received the order

on the Sabbath, one of the Ten Commandments,

right? Keep the Sabbath holy. When Moses received

that order, Jesus was saying, I can tell you

what that means. I will organize you to make

sure you get that right. And Jesus was saying

that. So he was claiming that he had the correct

interpretation of Scripture when a lot of other

people did not. And then back in that same chapter

in verses 5 -7, this is the last one where we'll

look at who Jesus was saying he was. Mark 2,

Mark 2:5–7

verses 5 -7 say as follows, And Jesus, seeing

their faith, said to the paralytic, Son, your

sins are forgiven. Okay, and that's the blank.

So what was the word? Sean, you got it? Yes.

Very good. So your sons are forgiven. Now, some

teachers of the law were thinking to themselves,

and it kind of is abbreviated there, so I'll

read it to you out of the Bible. It says, but

some of the scribes, which are teachers of the

law, or writers, really, of the law, were sitting

there and reasoning in their hearts, why does

this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. There's

that word again. Who can forgive sins but God

alone? So by forgiving sins, who was Jesus claiming

to be, according to them? God, right? So they

were saying, who can forgive sins alone? Jesus

was a Jew. He knew only God can forgive sins.

So when he's saying, I can forgive sins, he's

claiming to, he's taking the position of God.

And they call it blasphemy. They don't pick up

stones that time to kill him. But they are very

concerned. And he goes on to explain to them

that he understands what they're thinking in

their hearts and that he has the right to do

that. And then and then only after that does

he actually heal the paralytic. We make a huge

deal. This guy's paralyzed and he can't walk.

He gets healed and everything. But the truth

is, Jesus thought it was more important to forgive

that guy's sins and teach everybody present that

he was God in the flesh than it was to heal him

from paralysis. Right. So Jesus didn't just pray

for God to forgive the man. He forgave the man

himself. In the Jewish mindset, since all sin

is ultimately against God, only God has the right

to write off that debt to forgive those sins.

Okay? So very simply put, based on these texts,

and there are probably 20 others, when Jesus

was walking the earth, who was he claiming to

be? God. Not specifically God the Father, right?

Because he called God the Father, Father. He

still talked to him as Father. Remember, we have

the Trinity. We have God the Father, God the

Son, God the Holy Spirit. But all three of them

are God. Just one God. Three persons, one God,

right? And if you look at his baptism, you see

Jesus was baptized, right? Who was baptized?

God the Son. While he was being baptized, the

Holy Spirit comes and settles on him. It says

the Holy Spirit comes and settles on him like

a dove. So that's God the Holy Spirit. And God

the Father speaks from heaven at that same instant.

And he said, this is my son with whom I am well

pleased. So at the baptism of Jesus, you see

God the Father in heaven, God the Holy Spirit

ascending on Jesus, and God the Son being baptized.

When we baptize people, for example, it says

baptized in the name of the Father, the Son,

and the Holy Spirit. But that's God. That's because

we baptize them in the name of all of the personage

of God, all the ways that we experience God.

Who gives Holy Spirit gifts, like the gift to

preach or the gift to give or the gift to serve?

Who gives those? God. Who determines which one

you get? God, the Holy Spirit. The Bible says

God, the Holy Spirit, gives to each man the right

gift or each person the right gift. So God the

Father sent the Spirit. The gifts may be from

God on the whole, right? You could say Jesus,

Holy Spirit, God, right? But the Holy Spirit

determines who gets what gifts. See, who was

crucified on the cross? Jesus, and he's God the

Son, right? The Holy Spirit may have ministered

to him while he was experiencing that time on

the cross. We don't actually know that for sure,

right? But God the Son was on the cross, and

God the Father was in heaven. In fact, it says,

Jesus cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou

forsaken me? He cried that out in prayer to God

the Father. But we know that's the first verse

of Psalm 22, which describes everything that

was happening right then. So really, that was

a confirmation of what was happening in Jesus'

life. He was showing people that it was happening

exactly the way it was supposed to happen. So

bottom line is, we have God the Father, God the

Son, and the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit,

right? But Jesus was clearly claiming to be God.

And he was. God was not. All right. All right.

Now we move on to how Jesus saw the Bible. I

told you this was going to go fast. So here we

go. So Jesus viewed the scriptures not just as

a history book. So if you read your Bible just

thinking it's a history book, you're making a

mistake. That is not how Jesus thought of the

Old Testament. The Old Testament was only up

until the New Covenant. That's the New Testament,

the old books of the Bible, Genesis through Malachi.

We don't really have to deal with that anymore

because that ended with Jesus. No, that's wrong.

All of the Word of God is useful from beginning

to end. So Jesus was not looking at Genesis or

Exodus or Psalms or Malachi as history only.

He was thinking of it as the inspired word of

God. And he was seeing it as authoritative, which

means God the Father has all the authority. God

in general. God the Father, God the Son. They

have all the authority. He has all the authority

because it's God the Father, God the Son, God

the Holy Spirit, but it's still he. They have

all the authority. So, when you look at the Old

Testament, you have laws. People write down laws.

You have the Bible. Which one has authority and

which one doesn't? The Bible has the authority.

The laws only have authority if God says so.

If tomorrow, if they make a law saying you can't

worship Jesus anymore, are you still going to

worship Jesus? Absolutely. So does the law have

any authority inherent to itself? It does not.

The law attempts to give authority into the hands

of person or to capture authority. and put it

in the hands of people. So our law talks about,

well, we have a governor for this reason. We

have police officers who can do this and whatever.

And we try to give them authority, right? But

the reality is all of that authority is subject

to God's authority. God has all the authority.

And that's why when the Declaration of Independence,

for example, where it says we believe that men

were created equal to certain inalienable rights,

right? So in other words, that's God's authority

that made people what they are, not... Men saying,

oh, you can be this and you can be that. God

did it. So Jesus sees the book, the Bible, Genesis

through Malachi, and we'll explain that in a

second, as authoritative. He sees it as divine,

which means it's God's book. It's not just anybody's

book, it's God's book. And a cohesive, that means

it all sticks together, it all works together.

Narrative, that means it's a story that pointed

directly to him. So everything from Genesis to

the last little bit, the last dot or stroke of

a pen in Malachi points to Jesus. And he was

saying, look, it's been 400 years, but everything

that was accumulated in that was pointing to

me. And now here I am. And some people will get

it and some people won't get it. And that's exactly

what happened. And Jesus spoke in parables. And

he says he spoke in parables because for some,

they were blind and they were kind of comfortable

being blind. And to take that away from them

would be very damaging. It would take away their

ability to get free, to get saved. They have

to have faith to open the channel of salvation.

And so the parables were not direct. Everything

wasn't a direct teaching. Now do this exactly.

Now do this exactly. Now do this exactly. Because

it was a form of protection for the people that

existed who would not accept him. So we're going

to look at some texts that support that. The

first one is the indestructible law. It's in

Matthew 5. Josh, you want to look up Luke 24,

44, and you can read it when we get there? That'll

be our last verse of the day. I'd let you read

Matthew 5, but I'm already out of it. Okay, so

Matthew 5. So this is kind of like toward the

beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Anytime

you see Matthew 5, you realize he's talking to

a huge crowd of thousands of people here. Okay,

so Matthew 5, 17 says this. Do not think that

I came to abolish the law. So that first blank

there is abolish. It's A -B -O -L -I -S -H. And

to abolish something is to wipe it out, to eliminate

it, to be done with it. It's no more. And Jesus

is saying, do not think that I came to abolish

the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish,

but to fulfill. For truly, I say to you that

until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest

letter or stroke shall pass from the law until

all is accomplished. So Jesus viewed scripture

as true down to the last stroke. If there were

spaces, which there weren't. The spaces would

be true. That's how Jesus looked at it. He saw

the law as the perfect revelation, gift, if you

will, from God. And he was not like, oh, well,

this is pretty good, or this part got messed

up along the way. He saw it as perfect. And he

saw his life not as a replacement for the Bible.

So what Jesus was doing was not replacing the

Old Testament, but as its intended fulfillment.

Again, like I said, so he's saying there is the

Bible, all of it, and all of it's pointing to

this moment in time. And then from here on out,

you're going to be living the whole thing. You're

going to have the whole, not just little bits

of it, like rules you have to follow or things

like that, but the relationship with God that

was talked about here. And then notice that he

gives us a two -part nomenclature for the scripture

there. It is the law. and the prophets. And so

in the temple, when they talked about the Bible,

that's the phrase they used. They meant Genesis

through Malachi. It was sealed. It had Psalms,

it had Proverbs, it had wisdom teachings like

that, but they wouldn't say, a lot of times they

wouldn't say Genesis, Psalms, and the prophets,

or Genesis, Proverbs, Genesis, wisdom, and the

prophets. They wouldn't do that. They'd just

say the law, which was the penance, the first

five books of the Bible, right? and then the

prophets and they meant that and everything it's

like if i said that beginning of the shelf and

the end of the shelf right or if i said from

the beginning of the shelf to the end of the

shelf you know i meant everything in between

and that's how they did it they say the law starts

genesis and the prophets ends malachi and everything

in between so jesus had those feelings about

everything that was in the old testament okay

you read luke 24 44. Now he said to them, these

are my words, which I spoke to you while I was

there, that all things which are written about

me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the

Psalms must be fulfilled. Okay, so now we see

Jesus using the term, the law of Moses. So again,

that's the penitent, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,

Numbers, Deuteronomy. And then he says the Psalms.

Now, the Psalms is the largest part of those

other books that are in the middle. And so for

him to say the Psalms was to say, don't forget

that Proverbs is in there. Ecclesiastes is in

there. Lamentations is in there. Those things

are part of the scripture, too. So he was being

clear to say that all of those things pointed

to him. Right. And so that's what he does. He

takes them through when this is when the two

disciples are walking. They're walking from Jerusalem

to Emmaus. This is the day he's been crucified,

but they've not known that he's alive yet. And

they're walking, and he starts at Genesis. I

could do this, too. It would take a long time.

The walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus is like five

-plus miles. It's like five to eight miles, something

like that. And I think it's longer because it

winds. But anyway, the point is, that's a long

walk, right? So we have quite a bit of time.

Can you push that door open? I don't think we

cranked it down. She was trying to get in. Sorry.

And so if we took that hour, I could work through

most of it for you. And you could do the same

thing. But let's do it together real quick. Think

about the scripture, right? So in Genesis, we

have the fall. You know that, right? Mankind

sins against God. Does anybody remember in Genesis

3 when God is talking to Adam and Eve how or

a little bit of how Jesus was promised? Anybody

got that? What does God say to Adam about Jesus

in the book of Genesis? What does God say to

Adam about Jesus in the book of Genesis? He doesn't

say the name Jesus, but what does he say that

we know he's talking about Jesus? I'll paraphrase

it. Say it again. Kind of. He doesn't use that

terminology. The Jews use it for that later.

They adapt that terminology for him later. Okay,

so he says that a son of Eve, eventually a son

of Eve, will rise up and save them. I'm paraphrasing.

But it also says he'll bite the heel of the serpent.

That's what it says. And then it says that...

I'm trying to remember the phrasing exactly,

but I can't. Tim, help me. Crush the head of

the serpent. That's it. So the son of man will

rise up and crush the head of the serpent, but

the serpent will bite his heel. Now, who does

that sound like? If it's a son of Eve, a descendant

of Eve, it's a man, right? It's not just God

will do it, but it's a man. So Jesus, God becomes

a man. And then he crushes the head of the serpent,

the serpent being Satan, the tempter. But the

serpent bites his heel. That's the crucifixion.

That's Genesis 3. And you can go through them

all over again and work your way through. And

in pretty much every book, you can find the picture

of the crucifixion. It may not be described in

those words. Some of the books don't even have

the word God in them. There's a couple of them

that don't even use the word God. But you can

clearly see God at work in the book. You don't

have to say God in order to know that he's at

work, especially if you know him. Jesus is walking

on the road to Emmaus. He goes through those

books and he explains to them how they all showed

who he was. Boy, if I was not saved, that really

speaks to me. But as a saved person, it speaks

to me huge. I don't know if you've ever seen

this, but they have this... This illustration

that they use, it talks about how one text touches

another and they lay out all the books of the

Bible and they draw lines like this in different

colors. There's like thousands of lines. Like

you can't do that. This is written by 40. Is

that right? Yeah, by 40. That's not right. 14

different authors. 40 different countries or

something. Anyway, I messed up my numbers. Now

I can look it up. But anyway, the point is it's

written by a ton of different people from all

different places. They didn't know each other

a lot of times. They're from all different careers.

They don't write the same. But it all fits together

perfectly to point to Jesus. After a nap, I try

to remember those numbers. Jesus believed the

entire Bible was a unified... Meta -narrative,

that's a word you don't need to know, but basically

it just means it goes across everything. It arcs

over everything. It's a story that touches everything.

People say it's the greatest story ever told,

and they think they're just talking about the

death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, but

it is the whole story, right? And it goes over

everything. He did not see the Old Testament

as a collection of random rules, but as a long

form, I mean, stretched out prophecy about the

Messiah. In other words, God was going to come

in the form of a man. He was going to live the

sinless life and die on the cross for sins and

be buried and be rose again. All right. So we

need to connect this to the material that we've

been studying. This will make sure I understand

it. And then we're done already. OK, so here's

how it connects. We started at the beginning.

What does creation show us God is like? And we

came up with ten parameters. We may not be able

to name them all. It's on your worksheets. But

the point is that we know he's intelligent. He's

powerful. He's involved. He's doing things. He's

creative. He's caring. So we've got these traits

of who God is. And then we compare those traits,

and we also know he's one. Based on what we learned

from creation, we know he's just one God. And

so then we look at what's got to be a monotheistic

religion. So that's Christianity, Islam or Judaism.

They're the only ones that are monotheistic religions

and true. Right. And then Judah and Islam do

not accept the New Testament. But we looked at

how we know even outside Christ, even without

a confirmation miracle, without the Holy Spirit

testifying to you, how you can prove that the

New Testament is correct. And the final one of

those proofs is Jesus. who proved by miracles,

by his death, burial, and resurrection, who he

was, recognized the Bible. He recognized the

teaching, recognized what was going on. His teachings

are divine. They have divine authority. So we've

come to the point of recognizing, okay, monotheistic

religion, the only one that actually works is

Christianity. Because the New Testament is real.

And Jesus is real. And when Jesus walked the

earth, There's an argument that says that he

either had to be crazy, a madman, because he

claimed to be God, or a liar, right, because

he claimed to be God, or he has to be Lord, he

has to be God. And if he was crazy, you don't

see that in the story at all. And he was saying,

I can do this, I did that. He said, I forgive

sins, thereby claiming to be God. He said, but

I know what you're thinking in your heart right

now. You're thinking only God should be allowed

to do that. So let me show you. And then he told

the paralytic to get up and walk. Jesus said,

if you won't believe me based on the testimony,

right, or based on what you see in the word of

God, then believe based on the miracles. So he

was able to back it up. So he's not crazy and

he's not stupid, right? He's not a liar. Because

he told the truth. There's nowhere in the scripture

that you can see a disconnect in anything that

he's ever reported as saying. There's no lies

in it. Now, if you don't believe in Jesus, you

really don't want to believe in Jesus, and you

really don't want to believe in God, you really

don't want to submit to him as Lord, that means

he tells you what to do, and you do it, then

you're going to keep on looking. You're going

to keep picking apart, keep trying to find a

way. And you will find people who will do that.

But if you can get somebody to follow that train

of logic that we just followed, If Jesus is God,

and he basically proved it while he walked the

earth, if he's God, then we say, well, what does

God say is the teaching that we should follow?

What has God given us that we should read, learn,

and live by? And the answer is the Bible. And

most of what Jesus taught and then what Jesus'

apostles taught, that's what the New Testament

is. It's the whole thing. Remember what we studied

the books of the Bible. None of the books of

the Bible got in there unless they were written

by an apostle or had apostolic authority. People

that saw Jesus. People that got the word from

the Holy Spirit and Jesus. And so Jesus is God.

Jesus says the Bible is the Bible. The Bible

is the Bible. And that's where we're at. There

are a couple of other pieces that you can use.

proofs for the resurrection and a few other things

that we'll go through yet but uh if you if you

don't have it like if you say well i missed some

worksheet i don't have certain pieces or like

that i can help you go back and recap that stuff

and maybe we'll do a review or something just

like a sketch all the dots together but the truth

is jesus christ said genesis through malachi

clearly points to me i am the messiah i am god

the son And then he showed by authority, by all

the miracles that he did, and ultimately by the

miracle, which was he was crucified, he was buried,

and he rose again. And then he said to us the

same as he said to them, which is, come follow

me. Now, we are not, as much as people want to

say it, and it's kind of fun to say it, we are

a people of the book. People like to say, we

are people of the book, right? We are not a people

of the book. Everything in the Bible is good.

Don't get me wrong. And we should use it and

we should learn it, memorize it, meditate on

it. Those are spiritual disciplines, right? Apply

it to your life every single day, right? But

we are a people of the Lord Jesus Christ. And

so we remember that Jesus himself is the one,

the Holy Spirit is the one who helps us understand

and interpret scripture. If you go to the Bible

right now, you can find right now in the Bible

that you cannot have tattoos. And if you have

a tattoo, you're probably going to hell because

it's a sin, right? You can find that you cannot

wear clothing as two types together. You can't

if you build a house, you have to build a low

wall around the roof of your house in case somebody

should roll over and possibly fall off of it.

And all kinds of social construct laws. Right.

And what Jesus would say to us is there's a way

to interpret everything that's in there that

aligns with me and what I'm doing in your life

and where I'm taking you when you die or I'm

taking you if I come back before you die. OK.

All right. So. That was one of the easiest ones

of the three, but also one of the most exciting

ones because it's really cool to see who Jesus

said he was and what Jesus said about the Bible.

And there's 20 more texts on both that you could

use. We're going to pray and we're going to be

done. Snacks in the cafeteria. Lemonade and tea

as well. I baked pastries. If you don't like

my baked pastries, I put some Oreos on the table.

But I didn't eat them. So I can't tell you if

they're good or not because I can't eat them

right now. So let's pray. Father in heaven, we

thank you that Jesus blazed a path for us. I

can only imagine when Adam and Eve were reaching

for that forbidden fruit that you saw. You knew

it was all part of the plan, part of the, quote,

meta -narrative, unquote. You knew that people

have to truly be free. They cannot come to you

because they are told they must. They cannot

come to you because they fear the ramifications.

You can't use hell or threats of violence or

whatever to convert people into Christians. It

doesn't work that way. You can't lure people

in like the world does with money or sex or better

treats. But, Lord, it just so happens that if

a person wants to be free, if they come to Jesus,

if they follow Jesus, then they will know the

truth. And the truth will set them free. For

some of us, it's a struggle. And I kind of like...

day to day trying to make different decisions

or whatever Lord and maybe some folks aren't

really there and your word says for those who

aren't really there you'll reach down from heaven

and take away their heart of stone and give them

a heart of flesh so they can truly hear and when

I think about to this day I've been safer going

on 30 years now it's over 30 years now and When

I think about what Jesus went through to procure

my salvation, it breaks my heart. If I think

too hard on the crucifixion or if I watch a show

that has it in it, I just want to cry. It makes

me so sorry. And yet, at the same time, so grateful.

Thank you, Lord, that Jesus came, that he clearly

declared who he was. And we can look back on

it now because we've seen his death, burial,

and resurrection. And we could even make excuses

for them as to why they didn't get it because

they haven't done that yet. There are no more

excuses now. We know who he is. We know what

we have to do. We turn to you through Jesus.

We ask you to make him Lord of our lives. Forgive

us and lead us daily. We pray all these things

in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you very much.