3ABN Sabbath School Panel

Lesson 8: Jesus in the Writings of Peter

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), Jill Morikone, Molly Steenson, Pr. Tom Ferguson, Pr. John Dinzey

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Series Code: SSP

Program Code: SSP000020A


00:01 The Bible tells us
00:31 Hello and welcome to 3ABN Sabbath School Panel
00:34 We encourage you to get your Bibles, get a pencil and paper
00:39 and follow along as we study the Adult Bible Study Guide
00:44 and this quarter we're looking at the First and Second Epistles
00:49 of Peter, it's called Feed My Sheep. Today we are going to
00:53 look at lesson 8, Jesus in the Writings of Peter.
00:57 One thing that I appreciate so much about the First Epistle
01:01 of Peter is that you see Christ throughout. Peter's focus is
01:07 on Jesus Christ and he does lift Him high. And if you
01:10 do not have one of these quarterlies, you can go to the
01:15 website of the General Conference of SDAs
01:18 and download these lessons. Their website is
01:23 absg - Adult Bible Study Guide absg.adventist.org
01:31 So that is absg.adventist.org and we encourage you to do that
01:37 and to follow along. I believe you will be blessed in what the
01:41 Lord will be sharing through us today.
01:44 Let me introduce our Panel, great friends of mine, each
01:49 and every one of them great people, great Christians and
01:52 first I have Molly Steenson and Molly is the Vice President and
01:57 General Manager of 3ABN. Thank you for being here.
02:00 We have Pr. Tom Ferguson from the Marion Illinois District
02:04 Pr. Tom, thank you for being here. And then my dear sister
02:08 Jill Morikone who is Assistant to the President. I can just
02:14 give you, I'm just going to give you
02:18 what am I giving you? Promotion. Promotion, I was trying to say
02:21 raise, but that wasn't right either. But that will work for
02:24 you Jill. Well the raise works but not the promotion.
02:29 Not my day. And then we have John Dinzey with us who is
02:33 the General Manager of our Latino channel. So thank you
02:36 so much, each and every one of you for joining
02:39 and to this panel and this study. What I'd like to do is
02:43 Tom please rescue me, we need some prayer, would you say
02:46 a prayer before we start. Heavenly Father, thank you
02:51 for the opportunity to break bread together. Thank you for
02:54 the opportunity to read an Epistle, a letter that was
02:58 written by a man that needed desperately to know the inner
03:03 mind of God. But as we watched his journey throughout the
03:08 New Testament we see him writing these letters which are
03:11 anointed with Your Holy Spirit. So Lord anoint a second time.
03:16 As we read these words may we hear from You. Speak through
03:20 the Panel, speak to each and every heart that is watching
03:23 or listening, in Jesus' name. Amen, Amen.
03:28 So our memory text for this week is 1 Peter 2:24. We're
03:33 going to be reading from the New King James Version
03:36 and we're going to say it together. Why don't you join us
03:41 Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree
03:47 that we having died to sin might live for righteousness
03:53 by whose stripes you were healed.
03:56 And that's one of my favorite verses in the entire New
04:00 Testament, I believe. As I said Peter's Epistle focuses on
04:04 Christ from first to last. He shows us Christ's great
04:08 suffering and speaks of that as an example for us. He speaks
04:14 about Christ's divine nature as being God Himself. And then
04:18 he speaks about His death, His substitutionary sacrifice
04:23 as God for us. He speaks of His resurrection, he presents
04:30 Christ as God who has come into human life so that He could die
04:35 for us so that we might have eternal life. So from Genesis
04:39 to Revelation the overarching theme of the Bible is God's
04:45 work to save fallen humanity. Luke 19:10 you don't have to
04:51 turn there, but Christ said For the Son of Man has come to
04:55 seek and to save what? That which was lost. That's the
05:00 theme in Peter's Epistles as well. So what we're gonna do
05:04 this week is go back to 1 Peter and look more closely at what
05:09 it reveals about Jesus. So let's start with Sunday
05:14 I have Sunday and that is Jesus Our Sacrifice
05:18 Our lesson asks us to read two passages of Scripture
05:21 And we will begin with 1 Peter 1:18 and 19. Molly you seem
05:30 to have that, you want to read that for us?
05:34 For as much as you know you that were not redeemed with
05:38 corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation
05:42 received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious
05:46 blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot
05:50 Alright so there are two key images in this. We see the
05:53 redemption and we see the sacrifice.
05:55 So what does redeemed mean? Redeemed means that you have
06:00 been released upon the receipt of a ransom. You know we think
06:05 about, during Jesus' days the slaves there was a certain
06:11 amount of money that could be paid to ransom them and they
06:16 would have their freedom. But we also think of today, we talk
06:20 about ransom for kidnapped victims. We think about ransom
06:24 for prisoners of war maybe. So what we have here is just
06:29 kind of a picture in my mind that the human race has been
06:33 kidnapped by Satan. That we are prisoners of war, of this
06:38 great controversy that's going on and we can't escape on our
06:42 own. So I need, Jill would you read John 8:34 and then John
06:47 I'm gonna ask you to read Romans6:16
06:51 So when we think about this, this ransom is what Jesus
06:57 paid for us, the price He paid to redeem us, to buy us back.
07:05 Jesus answered them, most assuredly I say to you
07:08 whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
07:12 Johnny Romans 6:16 Know ye not that to whom ye
07:17 yield yourselves servants to obey, His servants you are
07:21 to whom you obey. Whether of sin unto death or of obedience
07:25 unto righteousness. You know the reason I wanted to point
07:28 these two out is because Peter's actually talking mostly with
07:33 people who when you talked about paying a ransom what they
07:36 were thinking of is redeeming a slave. And we are all slaves
07:43 to sin. That's what the Bible tells us. Whoever commits sin
07:46 is a slave to sin. So this fallen humanity of ours
07:49 I love how Paul writes it. We don't think of ourselves as
07:55 slaves, but he says you're slaves to whomever you obey
07:58 either you're slaves to the one of sin that's leading to death
08:03 or slaves of obedience leading to righteousness and we can go
08:08 into a whole teaching on that because righteousness, our only
08:14 righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus Christ
08:16 But when we're made righteous by Him, He will impart to us
08:21 the ability to walk in righteousness. And as John wrote
08:26 in 1 John, he said don't be deceived. Only those who
08:31 practice righteousness are righteous. So that Scripture
08:35 1 Peter 1:18 says that you were redeemed from your aimless
08:41 conduct. He was talking about the futile philosophy of
08:46 paganism. Their vain, fruitless, empty way of life.
08:50 They had no satisfaction, no satisfactory meaning or no hope
08:56 for the future. And although the Jews did make the wrong
09:00 use of tradition this reference seems to be mostly to the
09:03 Gentiles. So what was the price of redemption?
09:07 He says it's not with corruptible, what does that
09:10 word corruptible mean? It means it can decay, it can rust
09:15 it can be ruined. It's not with something that was perishable
09:19 The freedom for the slaves was bought with gold or silver
09:24 But he says, no no no. You were bought with the precious blood
09:29 our spiritual ransom required something infinitely more
09:34 precious than gold or silver. It actually took, it took God
09:42 the Father, as Romans 5:8 says He demonstrated His love for us
09:48 in that while we were yet sinners He sent Jesus to die
09:53 for us and I wanna tell you something. You may have heard
09:55 someone say to you, you are worthless. Maybe you grew up
09:58 and they said you'll never amount to anything. That is a
10:02 lie of Satan because you are worth nothing less than the
10:06 price that God paid for you. With the precious lifeblood of
10:10 His Son. That's the value that God puts on your life.
10:14 So he talks about here the Lamb that Jesus was as a lamb
10:20 without spot or blemish. It makes you think of the Old
10:25 Testament substitutionary system which all pointed to
10:29 Jesus Christ. You know what did John say when he first saw Jesus
10:32 John is baptizing at the Jordan, what did he say?
10:35 Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the earth
10:41 or the world. But then it makes you think of how in the day of
10:48 the Sanctuary, in the Temple, when someone sinned they had
10:53 to bring in a precious Lamb unless they were poor they
10:56 could bring a dove. But they would have to slice his throat
11:00 then they laid their hands on him to transfer their sin to
11:05 him and then that blood was sprinkled on the four altars
11:09 of the Altar of Burnt Offering which is a type of what?
11:13 The Altar of Burnt Offering is a type of the cross
11:16 in the Old Testament, you know the cross in the New Testament
11:20 is what it was showing, so Christ was burnt, if you will,
11:25 quote unquote on the Altar of Burnt Offering and then the
11:28 rest of the blood it says in Leviticus 4:34 was poured out
11:33 at the base of the altar. It also reminds us of the pascal
11:39 lamb, the Lamb of the Passover and remember in Exodus what
11:44 did they have to do
11:47 with the blood of the lamb? They had to apply it
11:51 to the doorpost and it was by faith then that the angel of
11:55 death, when they applied that they believed the angel of death
11:59 as God said, would pass over them. We have to by faith apply
12:06 the blood of the lamb to us as well. You know sometimes
12:09 people will say Why does God require sacrifices? Is He
12:15 just a God of blood and violence No. What the Old Testament
12:21 Sanctuary services what the temple services showed them
12:25 this was theology in physical form. So the wages of sin
12:32 is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus
12:40 was going to take our penalty for sin and He would redeem
12:48 all sinners who would accept Him as Savior. Now I need to
12:51 hurry. Colossians 1:13-14 is the next Scripture that we're
12:56 to look at. It says He has delivered us from the power
13:02 of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His
13:05 love in whom we have redemption through His blood,
13:10 the forgiveness of sins. So we've been delivered by the
13:14 person of Jesus Christ from Satan's kingdom, his bondage
13:18 of darkness and we've been redeemed and rescued being
13:24 justified freely, excuse me, by His grace through the redemption
13:29 that is in Christ Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 20
13:34 verse 28, Just as the Son of Man did not come to serve, come to
13:40 be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many
13:47 So Christ came to pay the debt that you owed, that debt which
13:56 is death. The wages of sin is death. He came to pay that
14:00 vicariously for you so that you could be justified before God
14:05 and He also wants to sanctify us and this is how God operates
14:12 So Shelley you looked at Christ as our sacrifice
14:16 Well on Monday we look at the Passion of Christ.
14:21 And, let me just lay a foundation. Remember Peter
14:27 is talking to or writing his letters to people that are
14:33 under much persecution. They are suffering. I think Jill
14:37 you're the one, a few lessons ago, that pointed out about
14:42 Nero and he was the emperor of Rome at that time and the
14:46 horrendous things that he was doing to Christians under grave
14:51 persecution. And so Peter writes one of the things is on Christ's
14:59 sufferings in the books of Peter and the reason for that
15:03 would be to show the people that he's writing to, your
15:08 suffering but our Lord and Savior suffered also.
15:11 He's not above you in that suffering and he points out
15:17 how strongly he suffered. Now again the title today is the
15:21 Passion of Christ. And that word passion is strong or
15:27 barely controllable emotions. Synonyms are crucifixion
15:32 suffering, agony or martyrdom The Greek word for passion
15:38 means to suffer. And the phrase the Passion of Christ usually
15:43 refers to Jesus' suffering in the final period of His life
15:48 So that's what we're going to look at, I have two sections
15:53 of Scripture that I'm going to look at. The first one is
15:57 1 Peter 2:21-25. Then we're going to go over to Isaiah 53
16:05 But let's look first at Isaiah pardon me, 1 Peter 2:21-25
16:13 Pastor if you have that would you read it for me please?
16:18 For to this you were called for Christ also suffered for us
16:22 leaving us an example that you should follow His steps
16:25 who committed no sin nor was deceit found in His mouth.
16:28 Who when He was reviled did not revile in return,
16:31 When He suffered He did not threaten but committed Himself
16:34 to Him who judges righteously. Who Himself bore our sins
16:39 in His own body on the tree that we having died to sin
16:43 might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed
16:48 And verse 21 as Pr. Tom read He did this Peter says, leaving
16:57 us an example that we should follow His steps.
17:01 And I love 1 Peter 2:24, I think I quote this a lot. Shelley
17:06 I think you do too. Who Himself bore our sins in His own body
17:12 on the tree that we having died to sin might live to
17:16 righteousness, by whose stripes we were, look at that word were
17:21 that word were is past tense. By His stripes we were healed
17:27 He goes on to say in verse 25, For you were like sheep going
17:32 astray but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer
17:37 of your souls. Why is that? Because you were redeemed
17:40 Amen. As Shelley was saying we were redeemed.
17:43 Now I want to take you to Isaiah chapter 53.
17:47 And I want us to go through this maybe a little more closely
17:52 Isaiah 53 we're going to start reading in verse 3.
17:58 And the Scripture says, now this is talking about Jesus
18:01 He is despised and rejected of men
18:07 A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief
18:11 And we hid as it were, our faces from Him
18:14 He was despised and we did not esteem Him
18:18 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows
18:23 For we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted
18:29 Verse 5, but He was what? He was wounded. What was He
18:35 wounded for? Shelley you covered this beautifully
18:38 He was wounded for our transgression. What is a
18:42 transgression? That's presumptuous sin
18:46 It means to choose to intentionally disobey, willful
18:54 sin. He was wounded for us willfully sinning. He covered
19:01 that, He was wounded and I thought about whether or not I
19:07 should do this but I'm going to read an account of His
19:12 suffering, of His wounding's. Because sometimes I think
19:16 we see the pictures of Him and maybe there's barely a stripe
19:20 on Him, just a little blood, maybe the crown of thorns
19:23 Oh I want you to know, this wounding, He was barely
19:27 recognizable as a man. This wasn't a light thing
19:31 He was wounded for all of the willful sinning that we did
19:36 He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised
19:40 for our iniquities. What are iniquities?
19:43 Our immoralities. The chastisement, that's pain
19:48 inflicted for punishment and correction. The chastisement
19:53 for our peace was upon Him and by His stripes we are
19:57 present tense, what was it in 1 Peter 2:24, past tense
20:01 Here we have in Isaiah 53:5 present tense, and by His
20:06 stripes we are healed. Although Scripture doesn't say how many
20:11 stripes Jesus received the practice at that time was for
20:17 those who were scourged to receive 40 stripes minus 1
20:23 And lashes were inflicted, I think I'll read that to you in
20:28 just a moment. Let me go on with verse 6. All we like sheep
20:34 have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own
20:38 way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all
20:44 So how much of our iniquity was laid upon Him? All
20:47 Let me ask you, by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
20:50 by this wounding, by these stripes, by this blood that He
20:55 shed how many of your sins were completely eradicated?
21:01 How many of your sins were covered, Johnny?
21:03 All our sins. All of them and think of this whole world
21:08 of everybody that ever was and ever will be, all of those sins
21:13 where were those sins placed? They were placed on our Lord
21:17 and Savior Jesus Christ. Romans 3:23, who can quote that?
21:23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
21:28 Jesus died a horrible death in our stead and He wasn't
21:35 protected or some way immune to the pain, the anguish and the
21:40 suffering. He didn't have any chloroform. He didn't take a
21:44 pain pill beforehand. He received that pain, He felt that
21:50 pain. While in the Garden of Gethsemane, that's Matthew 26:39
21:56 Let me read this, the Scripture says, He went a little farther
22:00 and fell on His face and prayed saying, Oh Father if it is
22:06 possible let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will
22:11 but as You will. See He knew He was about to go through a
22:15 horrendous experience. He didn't know exactly what was gonna
22:21 happen. He knew it was gonna be horrible. It was gonna be
22:25 horrible, bitter cup but what did He say? Nevertheless
22:29 not as I will but as You will. Now let me read you the
22:33 suffering of Christ. Jesus suffers a severe physical
22:38 beating. During a flogging, a victim was tied to a post
22:43 leaving his back entirely exposed. The Romans used a whip
22:47 called a flagon which consisted of small pieces of bone
22:52 and metal attached to a number of leather strands. The number
22:57 again isn't given in the Gospel but we know that is probably was
23:01 39. The victim often died from the beating. 39 hits were
23:07 believed to bring the criminal to one from death. During the
23:11 flogging the skin was stripped from the back exposing a bloody
23:16 mass of muscle and bone. Extreme blood loss occurred from this
23:21 beating, weakening the victim perhaps to the point of being
23:26 unconscious. So I felt it important for us to realize
23:33 how horrendous this was. And now the reason He did it,
23:37 Ellen White says in the Desire of Ages, page 25, Christ was
23:45 treated as we deserved. We deserved those stripes, that we
23:50 might be treated as He deserves He was condemned for our sins
23:54 in which He had no share that we might be justified by His
23:59 righteousness in which we had no share. He suffered the death
24:04 which was whose? which was ours that we might receive the life
24:08 which was His. With His stripes we are healed. Praise God
24:14 for our Lord and Savior that suffered for us
24:18 that we don't have to suffer. Amen.
24:24 Thank you for sharing that. You know I'm to talk about
24:30 the Resurrection of Jesus and every time I think about
24:34 His resurrection, I think about where He came from
24:41 He's a God that cannot die. He actually tells us in
24:48 1 Timothy 6:16 that He has immortality dwelling in
24:52 unapproachable light in His being. Well this is what He did
24:58 for me. Let's turn to Philippians 2
25:03 We'll look at verses 6-8.
25:12 Philippians 2 beginning with verse 6, it says, who being
25:15 in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal
25:19 with God but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form
25:23 of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men and being
25:26 found in the appearance of men He humbled Himself and became
25:29 obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross
25:35 I, it just always has been overwhelming for me to think of
25:40 the level of, how far God reached out for me because it is
25:45 my sin that caused Him to do this and I think about the fact
25:51 that He, because of His perfect character, everything about Him
25:56 is life and brings life and when He became sin for me He actually
26:02 became the very thing He abhors
26:05 He hated sin but He loves the sinner so much that He was
26:11 moved with such compassion that He came and dwelt among us
26:15 and hung out with the wretched refuse of the universe.
26:21 Those who had bought into the lie that the highest of all
26:24 angels had sold and, but the fact that He came to save
26:30 and rescue me and to rescue you and to rescue everyone around
26:34 this table by paying that penalty for breaking His own law
26:39 See, someone had to pay the penalty. And the only one that
26:45 really could for Jesus to win, to be righteous, just and
26:50 to justify us was to do what He did for us in condescending
26:54 to the point of the death of the cross. He gave all to do
26:57 this. He emptied Himself out completely. We know that when
27:01 we see Jesus, we see whom? We see the Father. We see the
27:06 character of God being demonstrated before our very
27:09 eyes. You know it's my sin, it's our sin that separated Him
27:13 from us because His, that unapproachable light would
27:17 devour us if we did, so He wraps Himself in flesh, the veil
27:22 so that He can actually dwell with me.
27:26 He had victory over sin so that I can have eternal life
27:31 with Him. He's wanting to retrieve, you know you think
27:35 about what was lost by sin what did humanity have
27:38 what we had before and what Adam and Eve gave away
27:42 we all are under the curse by that choice
27:46 and to know that, you know sometimes when you look at the
27:51 universe you feel pretty insignificant
27:53 Uh you feel real small when you see how big this universe is
27:57 And to know that He spoke things into existence, that He has
28:00 that kind of power. What would motivate Him to care so much
28:05 so much for us? Well the thing that He wanted to give us
28:08 is victory over the grave. The wage of sin is death
28:13 When you unplug from the light source the wage of that
28:15 is death. So He decided to pay that price. Let's turn together
28:20 to John chapter 11
28:27 and we're gonna look at verses 23-25
28:31 Shelley would you be so kind as to read that?
28:37 John 11:23, Jesus said to her your brother will rise again
28:42 He is speaking to Martha of Mary, Martha and Lazarus
28:47 Mary and Martha were Lazarus' sisters.
28:50 Lazarus was their brother. Yeah I said that right.
28:53 Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said
28:57 to Him, I know that He will rise again in the resurrection
29:00 of the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection
29:05 and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die
29:11 he shall live. And I think about this that Martha had an
29:16 expression of faith in verse 24 when she said I know that
29:19 he will rise in the resurrection at the last day. She wasn't
29:22 confused. You know the church leaders were confused as to
29:25 whether or not there even was a resurrection.
29:27 And here you could tell that she wasn't listening to the
29:30 confused leaders, she was listening to Jesus. She was
29:32 actually having faith in His own words. But then He corrects
29:37 her, instructs her and tells her that He is the resurrection
29:40 and the life. And He also says here in verse 26, whoever
29:44 lives and believes in me shall never die, do you believe this?
29:47 Now sometimes Christians take this to think that when you die
29:51 you're going straight to heaven, there's your evidence.
29:53 But what He's talking about, cause He talks about our first
29:56 death as a sleep, He's talking about the second death,
29:59 eternally separated from God, it will never happen for you
30:02 Second death is mentioned several times in Revelation
30:05 Absolutely! Lots of people don't know about it
30:08 Absolutely, Let's turn to Revelation chapter 5
30:12 And I like this chapter because
30:16 we're looking at a special scene here. This is the coronation of
30:20 Jesus and I'm going to start with verse 1.
30:31 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne
30:33 a scroll, written inside and on the back, sealed with 7 seals
30:37 It's interesting that theologians say that could be
30:39 the Book of Life, it could be the Book of Covenant,
30:41 the title deed to the universe, the judgment scroll or record
30:45 of human history. In any case it's our hope for the future
30:49 that is sealed. Then I saw a strong angel, verse 2
30:52 proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll
30:56 and loose its seals. And no one in heaven or on earth or under
30:59 the earth was able to open the scroll or look at it.
31:01 So I wept much. John is in vision. He's seeing that this
31:05 scroll must be opened because no one was found worthy to open
31:09 and read the scroll or look at it. But one of the elders said
31:12 Do not weep. Behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root
31:16 of David has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose it's 7
31:19 seals. And I looked and beheld in the midst of the throne
31:23 and the four living creatures, in the midst of the elders
31:25 stood a Lamb as though it had been slain having seven horns
31:29 seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out to all
31:33 the earth and there we have the day of Pentecost. Then He came
31:37 and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat
31:39 on the throne. Jesus was victorious over the grave
31:43 and that sacrifice was accepted in heaven. And as a matter
31:49 of fact it caused all of heaven to rejoice. because now there's
31:52 victory over the grave. And the evidence that this price had
31:58 been paid. You know you think about on resurrection morning
32:01 He said do not touch me for I have not yet ascended to my
32:04 Father but then later on He's saying touch me.
32:06 You know that this scene had been taking place. Amen.
32:10 So now, verse 8, when He had taken the scroll the four living
32:14 creatures and 24 elders fell down before the Lamb
32:16 we're here at the throne room of God. Each having a harp of
32:20 golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the
32:23 saints and they sang a new song saying, You are worthy to take
32:26 the scroll, to open its seals for you were slain, You've
32:29 redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and
32:32 tongue and people and nation and have made us kings and
32:35 priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth. Amen
32:38 So victory is because of the resurrection of Jesus. He had
32:41 victory over sin and the only reason why God was able to
32:45 raise from that grave is He was victorious against all
32:49 the wiles of the devil. Every thing that Eve and Adam fell
32:52 by He did not when He was at the tree and tempted, He did not
32:56 Um let's turn to 2 Corinthians
33:02 Chapter 5
33:08 2 Corinthians 5 and we're gonna look at verse 18
33:15 Oh I love this verse
33:18 I'm going to start with 17.
33:21 Therefore, this is 2 Corinthians 5:17, therefore if anyone is
33:25 in Christ he's a new creation. Old things have passed away
33:29 behold all things have become new and now all things are of
33:33 God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ
33:38 God is in the reconciliation business. He has paid the price
33:43 for all to receive. He has predestined them, we are with
33:47 Him and we are redeemed and we are in His presence again.
33:51 He has given us the ministry of reconciliation. The good news
33:54 of the Gospel is that this world is not all there is
33:58 that there is hope beyond the grave. Only those that truly
34:03 believe what the Bible teaches about the resurrection of Jesus
34:06 and what it means for humanity have a hope that is beyond
34:10 the grave and it is life that God wants to give every one of
34:13 us and life eternal and that is the good news this world needs
34:17 to hear. Amen. Thank you Tom That's precious.
34:20 Thank you so much. I'm just so thankful for Jesus.
34:25 As Molly shared it just ministered to my heart what
34:28 He went through for me, for you for each one of us and He was
34:35 victorious, completely without sin, the perfect sacrifice
34:40 now seated at the right hand of the Father making intercession
34:47 for us. On Wednesday we look at Jesus as the Messiah
34:52 and let's go to Matthew chapter 16. This is the first time that
34:58 Peter, one of the 12 disciples apostles, identifies Jesus
35:04 as the Messiah and we're gonna take a look at that.
35:08 We discussed this, I think it was actually in our first
35:10 lesson on Peter. But we're gonna take another look at
35:13 this and then we're gonna look at some Old Testament passages
35:17 dealing with the promise of the Messiah. So Matthew 16
35:21 Now the setting for this, what took place here. It took place
35:26 in Caesarea, Philippi. That's a town about 25 miles north
35:30 of the Sea of Galilee. Now I know Shelley and Molly and
35:34 I don't know if Bro. Johnny you've been to Israel
35:37 the Holy Land? Yes. Ok. Have you been to Israel? No I haven't
35:40 Ok, so four of us have been, but if you go to Caesarea
35:43 Philippi and you see what is there, there is that huge wall
35:48 of rock like a massive wall of rock and then there's a cave
35:53 kind of at the base of it and in that time they had a temple
36:00 right there at the base of the rock to the god Pan
36:05 and it was a heathen temple, heathen sacrifices and just a
36:11 little ways away from where that took place, Jesus is with
36:15 His disciples and to me it's interesting that Peter would
36:18 identify Jesus as the Messiah, as the Christ where you can just
36:23 look over a stone's throw and you can see where they had that
36:26 idolatry, that heathen worship. So we're in verse 16
36:31 Matthew 16:16. Jesus had said who do you say I am?
36:38 And they said, well some say John the Baptist, or prophets or
36:40 whatever and then Peter makes his confession of faith
36:44 Verse 16. Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ
36:48 the Son of the Living God. Now that word for Christ in Greek
36:53 is Christos, it means Anointed One, the Messiah. That word
36:59 is used over 500 times in the New Testament. It comes from the
37:04 Hebrew word Anoint and we're gonna do just a little word
37:07 study here. Times in the past, times in the Old Testament
37:12 where this word was used because the disciples at that time,
37:15 they didn't have the New Testament. They had maybe a
37:19 faulty understanding of what the Messiah was going to do
37:22 um all they had was the Old Testament. And some of Paul's
37:27 writings they had, that's true but I'm talking of the time
37:30 when Peter made this declaration in Matthew. They didn't have
37:34 Paul's writings at that point. All they're looking at is just
37:37 looking previous the Old Testament.
37:39 So we're going to look at that. The Hebrew word that would be
37:43 translated as Christos in Greek, the Hebrew word, if I can
37:47 pronounce it, Mashiach. Is that correct, Mashiach.
37:50 And it literally means to anoint. It's used in the
37:53 Old Testament many different times and we're gonna go to
37:56 several of those references. Let's look at 1 Samuel 24
38:04 These are all references referring to using references
38:09 to this Mashiach - Messiah or anointed.
38:13 To be anointed, usually they were referring to a consecrated
38:19 person who is set apart as a king, or a priest
38:24 for a special prophetic function
38:26 some sort of special function. We're in 1 Samuel 24 verse 6
38:30 You wanna read that Shelley? Verse 6, And he said to his men
38:35 The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master
38:39 the Lord's anointed, to stretch out my hand against him seeing
38:44 he's the anointed of the Lord. So that word the Lord's anointed
38:49 is the use of that word and here it's referring to King Saul
38:52 David was not wanting to kill King Saul because he said
38:56 He is the Lord's anointed. So Peter, in his knowledge
39:00 of what was in the Old Testament he would've known that this word
39:03 refers to someone who would be coming as a king
39:06 someone who would be a king. Let's look at another reference
39:09 We're in Psalm chapter 2
39:13 Now Psalm talks about two ways for individuals. Psalm chapter 2
39:21 talks about two ways for nations. Or the rebellion of
39:26 the nations against the Messiah. It talks about how the nations
39:29 relate to the Messiah and how the Messiah relates to the
39:32 nations. Verse 1 says, why do the nations rage and the people
39:36 plot a vain thing. Or plot literally means meditate
39:40 So the righteous are meditating on God's law while the wicked
39:44 are meditating on ways that they can rebel against
39:49 the law of God. Then we look at verse 2 and we see this Hebrew
39:52 word come out again. The kings of the earth set themselves
39:56 and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord
40:00 and against His anointed. There's that word anointed
40:05 Here we see this religious conflict against God and His
40:09 anointed King and the people of the world, the wicked
40:13 the rebellious people. So Peter looking back, we're looking at
40:17 Old Testament references for this word. He would know that
40:21 this word meant someone anointed as King. This word was referring
40:26 to the coming Messiah who would be in conflict or controversy
40:32 against the forces of evil. Then we look at Isaiah 45
40:36 Now this is an interesting passage. Isaiah 45 verse 1
40:44 This is referring to Cyrus a pagan king but this is actually
40:49 a type of Christ. Isaiah 45:1 Molly, do you have that?
40:54 Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus whose right
40:57 hand I have holden to subdue nations before him and I will
41:02 loose the loins of kings to open before him the two leaved
41:06 gates and the gates shall not be shut.
41:09 So Cyrus, this is this word His anointed. The Lord to His
41:14 anointed, to Cyrus, he was a pagan king. But this is still
41:18 a reference, he was a type of Christ. He was raised up by
41:22 God to release God's captives, the children of Israel
41:26 He did God's pleasure on the nation of Babylon
41:30 Now we're gonna look at a reference, the same Hebrew word
41:33 but instead of using it and translating it in English into
41:37 anointed, it's actually translated Messiah
41:39 This is the two times in Scripture in the Old Testament
41:42 this is translated Messiah. We're going to Daniel
41:45 Daniel chapter 9
41:49 verses 25 and 26
41:53 You have that Pr. Tom?
41:56 Yes. Know therefore and understand that from the going
41:59 forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until
42:01 Messiah the Prince there shall be 7 weeks, 62 weeks
42:04 the streets shall be built again and the wall even in
42:08 troublous times. And after 62 weeks the Messiah shall be
42:11 cut off, but not for Himself, and the people of the prince
42:14 who is to come shall destroy the city and the Sanctuary
42:17 and the end of it shall be with a flood unto the end of the war
42:19 desolations are determined.
42:21 So the word we're looking for this Mashiach in Hebrew
42:25 is translated in verse 25, until Messiah the Prince
42:30 That's the first time in Old Testament that word is
42:32 translated Messiah. And what was the purpose of the Messiah?
42:35 Verse 24, to make an end of sin to make reconciliation for
42:41 iniquity. To bring in righteousness. To confirm
42:45 prophecy. You notice it says verse 25, Messiah the Prince
42:51 The word for prince sometimes in the Old Testament is
42:54 translated as king. Sometimes it's translated as a priest
43:00 You think about Melchizedek that's another type of Christ
43:04 and he was not only a king but he was also a priest
43:09 a type of Christ, cause in the Old Testament times they were
43:13 either a king or a priest but not both. And Jesus fulfilled
43:18 both roles when he came as a King and as a Priest.
43:22 So Peter, there's many more verses, but Peter looking back
43:26 when he said to Christ, Thou art the Christ
43:30 his knowledge, now we don't know how much he had studied
43:33 the Old Testament but we know that Jewish leaders knew
43:37 many of these verses in the Old Testament, had studied the
43:40 Messiah. They had a faulty understanding. They knew He was
43:44 coming as a king. They thought he was coming to overthrow the
43:48 Romans. But they had this understanding He was going to
43:51 bring salvation and bring reconciliation and put
43:53 an end to sin, confirm that prophecy.
43:59 As we talk about, and I know Bro. John is going to talk about
44:03 the Divine Messiah, but as we talk about Christ, I just wanna
44:06 leave you with this. Who is Christ to you?
44:11 We can say who is Christ to Peter. Well that's good and
44:14 well. Who is Christ to the disciples or the apostles
44:17 or in 1st and 2nd Peter he had a fuller understanding
44:22 of Jesus as the Messiah as opposed to what he did when he
44:26 actually walked with Jesus. He knew more the sacrificial side
44:29 the sacrificial lamb, but who is Christ to you. I just want
44:33 to appeal to you at home. If you have not accepted the Lord
44:37 Jesus Christ as your Savior make a decision now.
44:40 Say God I want to give you my heart, I want to give you
44:44 my life. I want to make you Lord and Savior of my life
44:48 Amen, Amen, Amen.
44:50 Amen, praise the Lord.
44:52 We move to Thursday's lesson and that brings in another
44:56 wonderful and precious teaching and that is Jesus as the Divine
45:00 Messiah. And it is interesting when we look at this topic
45:05 how marvelously it is also presented to us in 1 Peter
45:11 chapter 5 as well. I would like to go at this time to 1 Peter
45:18 and we're going to look at a few Scriptures where we see
45:22 Peter identifying Christ in a wonderful way.
45:27 And I would like to ask Sister Molly to read 1 Peter 1:3
45:32 Pr. Tom, 2 Peter 1:8 and Sister Jill maybe you can read 2 Peter
45:39 chapter 1 verse 14 and 16. So if we're ready with 1 Peter 1:3
45:45 According as His divine power has given unto us all things
45:50 pertaining unto life and godliness through the knowledge
45:53 of Him that has called us to glory and virtue
45:57 You must be reading another 2 Peter, it's 1 Peter chapter 1
46:00 verse 3. If you'll go there please.
46:06 You know I was in 1 Peter 1:3 and I thought you said 2nd, ok
46:08 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which
46:12 according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a
46:16 lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
46:20 Thank you very much and Pr. Tom 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 8
46:25 For if these things are yours and abound you will be neither
46:28 barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus
46:31 Christ. Thank you. And Sister Jill.
46:34 2 Peter chapter 1, verses 14 and 16.
46:39 Knowing that shortly I must put off my tent just as our
46:43 Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Verse 16, for we did not follow
46:48 cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and
46:52 coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eyewitnesses of His
46:56 majesty. Thank you very much. We see some references
46:59 here to Jesus being called Lord and even though in secular terms
47:05 in those days a Lord was somebody that was in charge
47:08 of things. And even today, in England, you hear them say
47:12 lord so and so and he's just a human being.
47:14 However, when we're talking about Jesus we have to
47:17 understand that he's not only talking about Him as Master
47:21 as Leader but also as divine. I would like to show
47:27 an interesting discussion that took place and this brings us
47:30 to Matthew, no Luke chapter 20
47:35 and we're going to read a few verses in Luke chapter 20
47:38 that's verses 41-44. Luke 20 verses 41-44
47:43 And we have Sister Shelley that didn't read yet. We'd like to
47:48 ask you, Luke 20:41-44. Luke 20 verse 41, Then He said to them
47:54 How can they say that the Christ is the Son of David? Now David
47:58 himself said in the book of Psalms, The Lord said to my Lord
48:02 sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool
48:06 Therefore David calls Him Lord
48:09 How many, Therefore David calls Him Lord, how is He then
48:16 his son? thank you very much. Here Jesus is quoting a Psalm
48:23 Psalm 110. And it is understood in the Jewish community that
48:28 this is talking about the Messiah.
48:30 And it's an interesting wording- The Lord said to my Lord
48:35 showing the divinity of Christ. And when Jesus talks to the
48:39 scribes and Pharisees, how is He his Son when David said
48:44 The Lord said to my Lord, they were alarmed at Jesus claiming
48:48 this. And even when Jesus spoke of His pre-existence
48:54 uh when He talked about Abraham and you say you're not even
48:57 50 years old and you've already seen and heard Abraham?
49:01 So it was a mystery to them that were in Jesus' time and it has
49:05 been somewhat of a mystery among Christians that even
49:08 today you have some religious bodies not understanding that
49:12 Jesus is God, the divine Son of God. So let's move to John
49:16 chapter 1. In John 1 you find one of the clearest revelation
49:23 if I say that, revelation of Jesus' divinity, that He is God
49:29 John 1:1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
49:35 God and the Word was God. Very, very clear of course
49:41 you go to verse 14 of John chapter 1 and it says the Word
49:44 was made flesh and dwelt among us. Talking about the moment
49:48 when Jesus became flesh. Now prior to this He was not flesh
49:56 He was God. And you can, if you had the capacity, go to eternity
50:01 past to try to find a beginning for Christ and there is no
50:05 beginning because He has always existed. He is eternal
50:10 So in the beginning, wherever that beginning was known
50:13 we can go and keep going, trying to find a beginning
50:16 and there is no beginning for Christ because He is God
50:19 has always existed, has declared Him as God here in John,
50:23 chapter 1, verse 1. So there are other places we can go
50:28 and here is one that I'd like to point out in John 20:28
50:34 And Sister Jill if you help us with John chapter 20, verse 28
50:41 And Thomas answered and said unto Him, my Lord and my God
50:46 Wow! What a powerful message we have Thomas revealing.
50:51 And Thomas before doubted that Jesus was resurrected.
50:55 But realizing that Jesus is standing right there in front
51:00 of him, he declared those powerful words
51:04 You are my Lord and my God
51:08 To Thomas there is no doubt now he knows this, You're the
51:15 understanding-the Messiah is God. Of course unfortunately
51:22 then they did not accept Him. He came unto His own but His
51:25 own received Him not. But we know that thousands and
51:28 thousands of Jews did. Accepted Him as the Messiah, accepted Him
51:32 as their Redeemer and Peter is one of them. So now we go to
51:35 Peter. In 1 Peter, 2 Peter actually. Now we go to 2 Peter
51:42 2 Peter chapter 1. We have Peter now making a
51:53 powerful declaration and I'm going in 2 Peter. Now we have
51:59 here in 2 Peter the following words.
52:03 Simon Peter a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ to
52:07 them that have obtained like precious faith with us through
52:11 the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ
52:17 At first glance people may not see it here, but this is a
52:20 declaration by Peter because the Greek construction of the words
52:26 used here, it is talking about the same person. When it says
52:31 our God, of God and our Savior Jesus Christ, it is talking
52:36 about the same individual. Yes. And you can do research, you can
52:44 go from one scholar to another and they say the Greek
52:50 the Greek grammatical construction is talking about
52:54 one person, not two in this verse. So Peter is saying
52:59 that Jesus Christ is our God, our Savior and that is Jesus
53:08 Christ. And I could quote to you some sources but you know
53:12 um there is one Coshmeter, Winishmeter, Robertson, I mean
53:17 source after source of Greek scholars say that the divinity
53:21 of Jesus is unquestionable. So in Jesus Christ is life
53:26 in Him was life. So what it talks about in Him was life
53:29 in Jesus is life-original, unborrowed, underived
53:36 because He is God. Amen And to understand this, that He
53:43 became flesh and dwelt among us and as Molly described and
53:48 Jill and Pr. Tom and Sister Shelley, that this very God
53:53 in order to save us, became a man not giving up His divinity
53:58 but in order to save us became a man to die for us
54:01 speaks to us volumes of the wonderful, majestic and supreme
54:07 love of God. Amen. And in the little time that I have,
54:12 I have to say this
54:14 Only one as divine as the law because the law of God was
54:19 broken, could really offer the sacrifice that would meet the
54:25 specifications required to be able to forgive us for our sins
54:29 So only one as holy as the law that was broken when man sinned
54:34 could actually save us. So it's not the life of an angel that
54:38 could make it possible, it's not the life of a created being
54:41 only one divine being, the divine being Jesus Christ
54:45 came to die for us. And the Bible says that God so loved
54:48 the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever
54:51 believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life
54:54 I join Jill and say if you have not accepted Jesus Christ
54:57 as your personal Savior do it today. Amen.
55:00 Thank you so much Bro. Johnny. You know it is amazing to think
55:04 that He stepped out of eternity to this earth, that He took on
55:11 our form, that He became like us in every way and tempted
55:15 like us in every way, just, He came here to show us the Father
55:21 to pay our ransom. He came here to redeem us and He went through
55:30 all of the suffering that, it's just so mind boggling
55:35 when you really concentrate on that you know, Sister White said
55:38 that if you would spend one hour daily on the life of Christ
55:43 particularly the closing chapters it would change you
55:47 and I know for a Camp Meeting once I did this, Christ covering
55:51 the Sanctuary, on the suffering, the Passion of Christ and the
55:55 crucifixion and it was life changing. I need to go back
55:59 and I did it for a while but I haven't been doing it lately
56:02 So you think of how He paid the price, He suffered. But if He
56:07 had only suffered and died He would not be our Savior
56:12 it's because He came up out of that grave, hallelujah
56:17 So it's the resurrection of Jesus that really proves that
56:25 He is our Divine Messiah. And the root of it all
56:29 the reason He did it all, Johnny quoted the Scripture
56:33 For God so loved the world. He loves us. I think it's
56:37 incomprehendable, is that a word, that we can't comprehend
56:45 the breadth and height and depth of the love that the Lord Jesus
56:51 Christ has for us; God Himself has for us that He would suffer
56:55 such a horrendous death that we could be redeemed.
57:00 Amen, and you know I think of Peter's life before and as I
57:03 said before that he walked with Jesus the living Word
57:08 for three and a half years, but it didn't quite prepare him
57:14 to really appreciate Christ as his Messiah. I mean mentally
57:19 he knew it but it took the baptism of the Holy Spirit
57:21 and when the Holy Spirit came into his life then he could
57:25 really understand this and throughout 1 Peter you see
57:30 that Jesus is woven into every part of that epistle and it's
57:35 just beautiful. Well I hope you've enjoyed visiting
57:39 my tongue is tangled today I hope you've enjoyed studying
57:44 with us and our prayer for you is that the grace of our Lord
57:48 and Savior Jesus Christ, the love of the Father and the
57:51 fellowship of the Holy Spirit will be with you always.
57:55 Join us again next time, we are going to be doing Lesson
57:59 No. 9, Be Who You Are. God bless.


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