Secrets Unsealed

What Jesus Said

Stephen Bohr

1. The Word of God

Now tonight we're going to study about what Jesus said regarding the Word of God.

I have in my hands the most precious treasure that anyone on planet Earth could have.

Even though today there are more Bibles in the hands of people than ever before in the history of the world, the moral condition of the world is worse than ever before in human history.

And I believe that the reason why is because this book, this precious book, has been forgotten.

It's sitting on the table or it's sitting on the shelf gathering dust.

And people don't really realize or understand how precious this book is.

This book is more precious than your home.

It's more precious than your automobiles.

It's more precious than the money that you have in the bank.

It's more precious than the stocks and bonds that you own.

It's more precious than the beautiful clothing that you've bought and worn.

You see, all of these things that I've mentioned will last only as long as this lifetime lasts.

But if we are able to find the treasure of God in this book, we will be able not only to live on this earth and enjoy the few things that we have in this life, but we'll be able to live eternally with Jesus Christ in his kingdom.

And so it's very important that we understand what this book has to tell us, and particularly what Jesus had to say.

Now I'd like to begin by saying that the Lord Jesus accepted the total and complete authority and trustworthiness of the Word of God.

When Jesus was on this earth, there was no New Testament, because after Jesus ascended to heaven many years later, the New Testament was written.

So whenever the Lord Jesus quoted scripture, he was quoting from the Old Testament.

It's interesting that Jesus constantly, while he was on earth, quotes the Scriptures and he accepts them as of unquestionable authority, unquestionable trustworthiness.

Please go with me in your Bibles to John 19, verse 24.

Here we're going to notice some prophecies of the Old Testament which were fulfilled specifically in Christ.

Now I have here, I put it on the piano, a list of 50 Messianic prophecies from the Old Testament which were fulfilled in Jesus.

Tomorrow night, Lord willing, you will be receiving this list of 50 messianic prophecies.

Basically, what this material has is it will present the text in the Old Testament, then it will present the text in the New Testament, it will give you the date in which the prophecy was given in the Old Testament, and it will give you when this was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Amazing prophecies that we find in the Bible which were fulfilled in Jesus.

Here the Lord Jesus is hanging on the cross and it says, They said therefore among themselves, Let us not tear it, that is, let's not tear his clothing, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be.

It says that the scripture might be fulfilled which says they divided my garments among them and for my clothing they cast flocks.

See, that was an Old Testament prophecy which was written a thousand years before this happened.

Notice verse 28, after this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished that the scripture might be fulfilled said, I thirst.

Now this is a prophecy from Psalm 22 and verse 15 where it says that that the mouth of Jesus would be dry and he would cry out for something to drink.

I thirst." Written a thousand years before this event took place.

Notice also verse 36 of this same chapter.

For these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled, Not 1 of his bones shall be broken.

This is a prophecy that comes from Exodus 12, verse 46, where the Passover lamb was slain, but its bones were never broken.

Written 1, 500 years before Jesus was sacrificed for us.

And then notice verse 37, and again another scripture says, they shall look on him whom they have pierced.

This is a prophecy that comes from Zechariah chapter 12 and verse 10, written approximately 600 years before it takes place.

1 further prophecy, which is not on your list, but is very interesting.

You remember when Jesus was on the cross, he cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Do you know that that is found in the beginning verse of Psalm 22?

And actually the very words, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, were written a thousand years before Jesus said them on the cross of Calvary.

In other words, we find that Jesus fulfilled all of the details that we find recorded in the Old Testament.

Now go with me to John chapter 5 and verse 39.

I want you to notice the concept that Jesus had particularly of the scriptures of the Old Testament which is the only Bible that our Lord Jesus had.

Here Jesus is speaking to the Jewish leaders of his day, and he says the following, You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, And they are they which testify of me.

Notice Jesus says the scriptures testify about whom?

Jesus says to these individuals, Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father.

There is 1 who accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust.

For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for He wrote about me.

That's why Jesus quoted the Old Testament, because he was fulfilling every detail of the Old Testament in himself.

Notice also in the Gospel of Luke, just a few pages earlier than the passage that we just read, in Luke chapter 24 and verse 25, there are 2 disciples that are walking to the town of Emmaus near Jerusalem.

Jesus has died, he's been buried, their hopes have been dashed.

And suddenly Jesus catches up to them and starts talking to them.

Now I want you to notice what Jesus says to them in verse 25.

Then he said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.

Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?

And now notice this in verse 27, And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

He begins with Moses, He goes to all of the prophets and all of the scriptures and he speaks about the things concerning himself.

In other words, the scriptures of the Old Testament are a powerful revelation of Jesus Christ.

And that's why Jesus quoted the scriptures because he was fulfilling them to the very letter.

So he accepted the authority, the trustworthiness of scripture.

Then he said to them, here Jesus is speaking, These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning whom?

And then it says in verse 45, and he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scripture.

So the first point that we want to notice in our seminar tonight is that the Lord Jesus accepted the Scriptures of his day, the Old Testament, as of unquestioned authority, unquestioned trustworthiness, because he fulfilled them to the very letter.

But now we want to go to our second point, and that is that the reason why, according to Jesus, we must study the Word of God is because in the Word of God we find Jesus.

In other words, we're supposed to study the Word of God not to discover facts, not to discover information.

The purpose of searching the Word of God, of searching the Scriptures, is to discover a person.

The purpose is to form a relationship with someone.

The purpose of Bible study, of the study of the Word, is not to learn something, but to come to know someone.

The importance of coming to the Bible is not to know the what we should believe, but in whom we should believe.

Go with me to John chapter 5 and verse 39, which we already read, but let's notice again a very particular and important detail that we find here.

Here Jesus is speaking to the leaders of his day and he says, You search the scriptures, For in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of me." But now notice verse 40.

But you are not willing to come to me that you may have what?

You read, for example, the Gospels, the Jewish leaders.

I mean, they studied, they knew the scriptures of the Old Testament backwards and forwards.

They could quote Isaiah, they could quote Jeremiah, they knew what the rabbis had said, they had full information, fully knew the facts of the Old Testament.

2. The Unconditional Love of God

Tonight we have 1 of the most fascinating presentations in the whole series in this seminar, the Unconditional Love of God.

You know, the Lord Jesus had a favorite way of teaching, And that method was the use of parables.

Now parables were stories drawn from real life in his day that illustrated tremendous spiritual truth.

Now we need to understand that parables generally teach 1 central truth.

But parables also have different actors and different action.

And each action is also symbolic of something.

Now in this seminar we're going to be studying a lot of parables of Jesus because the parables of Jesus illustrate many of the great spiritual truths that we find elsewhere in God's Word.

Now, there are some theological words that we've all heard.

The Apostle Paul uses that word, reconciliation.

We find in the Bible the word repentance.

We find in the Bible the word justification.

You know, usually these words are used in the writings of the Apostle Paul.

Now this evening we're going to study a story that doesn't use any of these theological words.

However, the story contains in principle every single 1 of these theological ideas that I've mentioned just a moment ago.

I'd like to invite you this evening to turn in your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Luke chapter 15.

You should have your list of Bible texts so that you can follow along.

And we're going to begin with verses 1 and 2 because the parable that we're going to study tonight has a special historical setting.

In fact, this parable speaks about 3 kinds of sinners.

The first kind of sinner is the unrighteous sinner.

The second kind of sinner is the self-righteous sinner.

And the third kind of sinner is the repentant sinner.

So we're going to deal with 3 types of sinners in this parable of Jesus this evening.

It's known as the parable of the prodigal son.

Who doesn't know the parable of the prodigal son?

But we're going to learn many interesting things tonight, perhaps new things that you haven't thought of before.

Notice the setting of this parable in Luke 15, verses 1 and 2.

It says, then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.

You know, I find it very interesting that the greatest sinners in the days of Christ were the ones that were most attracted to Jesus.

Here you have Jesus, holy, blameless, without sin, and the publicans and sinners, they just enjoyed themselves in the presence of Jesus.

Ironically, the Pharisees and the scribes, who considered themselves to be righteous and holy felt very uncomfortable in the presence of Jesus.

And the reason is the scribes and Pharisees had sin inside that they needed to hide and they knew that Jesus could read them like a book.

The publicans and the sinners on the other side, they knew that Jesus knew that they were sinners.

They didn't have anything to hide and besides, differently than the scribes and the Pharisees, they felt a need and that's the reason they were attracted to Jesus because they said maybe this individual can help us in our need.

So it says in verse 1, then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him to hear him.

Then you have on the other side, and the Pharisees and scribes murmured saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them.

Basically what they're saying is that if Jesus eats with someone, he should eat with us.

He should not be eating with those publicans and those sinners.

If he's gonna invite anybody to lunch or he's going to accept an invitation to lunch, he should accept the invitation to our houses and he should invite us out to lunch.

Now notice a parallel passage that we find in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 2 and verse 15.

This is speaking about the experience of Levi Matthew, who was a tax collector.

When Jesus called him, it says that Levi called a party at his house, and he invited Jesus, and he invited several of his friends.

Now it happened, as he was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him.

And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to his disciples, how is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?

When Jesus heard it, he said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

So we have 2 groups that are spoken of in these 2 introductory passages that we've read this evening as we start.

We have on 1 side the publicans and the sinners, and on the other side we have the scribes and the Pharisees.

The sinners and the publicans, they feel their need.

The scribes and the Pharisees, they feel no need, and they feel repelled from Jesus.

Now, in this context, Jesus tells this wonderful story known as the story of the prodigal son.

And as I said, this story illustrates 3 kinds of sinners.

In the first place, the unrighteous sinner.

In the second place, the self-righteous sinner.

And in the third place, the repentant sinner.

Then he said, a certain man had 2 sons, and the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.

Now, it's gonna tell us in the next verse that this son, this younger son, decided that he was not going to stay at home anymore.

And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

Now immediately we ask the question, why would this son get the preposterous idea of leaving home?

There's no doubt whatsoever that this son felt restricted by the laws of the household.

He considered that the laws of his house, the laws of the father were too restrictive of his freedom.

Also, he thought, if I have to wait till much later to get the inheritance, then I won't enjoy it now.

Instead of living for the sweet by and by, he said, I'm going to live for the here and now, because I'm not sure whether the sweet by and by is actually going to ever come.

And so I better enjoy life in the present.

So He takes the inheritance, according to the story, tired of the restrictions of the home, tired of the rules of the father, tired of being watched by his father, tired of working in the household, and he says, now I'm going to be independent of the house, I'm going to be independent of the Father.

Notice what he continues saying in verse 13.

And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country.

Notice he wants to be as far away from home as possible, as far away from the supervision of the father as possible, as far away from the rules and regulations of the house as possible.

And it says, there he wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

Now, there's no doubt that at first, as long as he had the money from his inheritance, things went well in the far country where he went.

In fact, the story tells us later on that he had lots of friends.

That is, he had lots of so-called friends as long as he had the money.

But when the money was gone, we're gonna find that the friends were also gone in a moment.

In other words, they were not real friends.

And the irony of this story is that this son, who wanted to be free from the laws of the house, he wanted to be free from the supervision of his father, now when he goes to this far country, he throws away the inheritance, living for the present, thinking nothing of the future, and the 1 who wanted to be free now ends up being a slave.

Now in this story, the father represents God.

The home represents the household of God, the church.

So in other words, this individual is saying, I'll be happier without God in my life, I'll be happier without the church in my life, I'll be happier if I just have my freedom and independence and I don't have to worry about the rules of my father and the rules and regulations and the law of the house.

And he thinks he's going to be a lot happier when he's free at last and independent.

You see, when he leaves God, when he leaves the house, like when we leave God and we leave the church, God's household on earth, we think we're going to be free, but the Bible says that we end up slaves, we end up in bondage.

3. How Jesus Understood His Self Identity

Tonight we have a very, very important subject that we're going to study.

We're going to deal with how Jesus understood his self-identity.

And I'd like to begin by reading a passage that we find in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 8 and verses 23 to 27.

This is speaking about the experience that Jesus had when he was in a boat.

If you'll remember, the disciples were struggling to keep the water out of the boat in a storm.

Now when he got into a boat, His disciples followed him.

And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves, but he was asleep.

Then his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we are perishing.

But he said to them, why are you fearful O you of little faith?

Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm.

And the men marveled, saying, Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey him?

Actually, this question, who is this man, was asked on repeated occasions during the ministry of Jesus.

In fact, once the Lord Jesus himself asked that question, Who are men saying that I am?

The disciples said, well, some say that you're Elijah, others say Jeremiah, 1 of the prophets.

Then Jesus said, and who do you say that I am?

And of course, Peter said, you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Time and again, throughout the ministry of Jesus, this crucial and critical question was asked.

Now the answer that has been given throughout the centuries as well as in the days of Jesus has been varied.

Some people believe that the Lord Jesus was simply a great prophet.

Other individuals believe that he was a great faith healer, and of course, he healed the diseases of many.

Still others believed that he was the greatest moral teacher that has ever existed on planet Earth.

And even the Pharisees believed that Jesus was demon possessed and he was deranged mentally.

And Albert Schweitzer, very well known probably by most of us, believed that Jesus was a deluded fanatic, even though he believed that Jesus was a great moral teacher, that Jesus did many wonderful things, He believed that Jesus believed that the kingdom was going to come through his work, and the kingdom never came.

And so, Jesus was a deluded fanatic, according to Schweitzer.

The question is, according to the Bible, who is Jesus?

Now there are 3 aspects of Jesus that we find in the Gospels.

Number 1, we have a lot of material on who he is.

And then we have a good amount of material on what Jesus did, his works.

And then there is another considerable portion of material that has to do with what Jesus said, what Jesus taught.

Now what Jesus taught and what Jesus did are based on who Jesus is and so it's vital that we understand in our lecture tonight exactly who Jesus was.

Now, we're going to study tonight 10 great facts about Jesus.

And we're gonna gather this material mostly from the Gospels.

We'll make a few references to other Bible verses, but we want to see what the Bible, what the Gospels particularly have to say about who Jesus is, what he taught, what he believed, and what he did.

Our first great fact is found in the Gospel of John, chapter 1.

If you'll turn with me there, John, chapter 1, and we want to read verses 1 to 3.

This is a passage very well known probably by most of us and it says there, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made.

The first great fact that we want to notice is that according to the New Testament, according to the Gospels, Jesus Christ is God, and He was already in the beginning.

Notice that it doesn't say in the beginning became the word.

In other words, He already existed in the beginning.

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