Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), Tom Shepherd
Series Code: HPOV
Program Code: HPOV000024A
00:16 Hello, and welcome to Heaven's Point of View.
00:18 We are doing a series on love, marriage, sex, and divorce 00:22 according to the New Testament. 00:24 And our distinguished professor 00:26 who is our co-host for this program 00:29 and the teacher of this program, 00:31 I'm here as a student, is Dr. Tom Sheperd. 00:34 And, Tom, thank you again for being here 00:37 and doing this series. 00:38 Glad to do. 00:40 This is once again, a series that you do in seminary. 00:43 You are the professor for New Testament Interpretation 00:46 at the seminary. 00:47 You're also director 00:49 for the doctoral programs particularly-- 00:51 Not all of them. All right. 00:52 So you do the PhD in religion and the ThD in religion. 00:57 That's right. That's right. 00:58 We have about-- What is the difference? 01:00 Well, the difference, 01:01 first we have six doctoral programs at the seminary. 01:04 We have the Doctor of Ministry. 01:06 Pastors will do the master divinity degree. 01:08 They will go out for some years and then many of them will do 01:12 the Doctor of Ministry, they call the D.Min. 01:15 They have a brand new doctor program 01:17 called the Doctor of Missiology. 01:19 Missions. Yeah, missions, D.Mis. 01:21 Then we have three PhD degrees in the seminary. 01:24 We have the PhD in religion that I oversee those students. 01:27 Now the PhD in religious education 01:30 and that's overseen by Dr. Kathy Beagles. 01:33 Then we have the PhD in archeology, 01:35 biblical archeology that Dr. Randy Younker oversees. 01:39 I also oversee the ThD program. 01:41 Now, that's the Doctor of Theology. 01:43 And the difference between the PhD in religion and the ThD 01:47 is the PhD focuses you in one particular area 01:50 like New Testament or missions or theology 01:54 with a cognate and another area we take a few classes. 01:57 But the ThD takes the same number of classes 01:59 that you would-- same number of hours or credits 02:02 that you would have in one area and divides it between two. 02:05 So it's an interdisciplinary degree. 02:07 So you could link together New Testament and Old Testament 02:10 or theology in church history 02:12 or New Testament in church history 02:14 and it's helpful for getting out some issues 02:19 that bridge between topics like, 02:21 for instance, the change of the Sabbath. 02:23 It would be a perfect study 02:24 between New Testament and church history. 02:28 Because the time period 02:29 when the change of the Sabbath occurs 02:30 is after the first century 02:32 and known into the second century and onwards. 02:34 So that's just an example of what people could do so. 02:38 So now I assume then your doctoral degree is religion? 02:42 It is the PhD. 02:43 I did my studies at Andrews actually about 20 years ago. 02:45 Wonderful. And you wrote your dissertation on what? 02:48 On Gospel of Mark. 02:49 Gospel of Mark which-- Sandwich stories. 02:51 We have been so blessed because Tom did the-- 02:55 it's okay if I call you Tom instead of Dr. Sheperd? 02:56 That's fine. 02:58 But Tom did the series here 02:59 for Books of the Book on the Gospel of Mark. 03:01 He also did a series 03:03 that you're probably familiar with Books of the Book 03:05 and that was on 1 and 2 Peter which you are also an author 03:09 and you have released a new book 03:12 "Inside Out, Upside Down: 03:13 Surprising Lessons from 1-2 Peter." 03:17 And this is hot off the presses, 03:19 my personal copy that I just received 03:21 and I'm very excited about this book. 03:25 All right, last time we began this series 03:28 talking about four rare words for love in the Old Testament 03:33 and then we got to ahab, 03:36 which was one of the more common Old Testament 03:39 words for love. 03:41 This-- today, 03:43 we are going to go through the New Testament words 03:47 but first you have your favorite Old Testament word 03:51 that we didn't cover last time. 03:52 My favorite Old Testament word on love is-- 03:54 On love. Hesed. 03:56 Try and say that. Hesed. Hesed. 03:58 You got to clear you throat. 03:59 That's a little bit like that, yeah. 04:01 And this is usually translated in many Bible translations 04:05 it says loving kindness or mercy. 04:07 And the interesting thing about this word 04:10 is that it is not associated with inanimate objects. 04:15 You can't have hesed 04:16 for a chair or for your house or something like that. 04:21 Hesed is a relational word between people. 04:25 So it always involves people. 04:27 Second, it's always-- 04:30 it's requested or done for another person 04:33 with whom you already have a relationship. 04:35 So it's love and kindness you show to somebody. 04:38 Third, it's-- hesed refers to a specific action. 04:43 So it's something you do. 04:45 It's not just something, now it can infer like a feeling 04:49 but the-- 04:50 Not necessarily an emotion. 04:51 It's like they say. Yeah, it's an action. 04:53 You help somebody. 04:54 Now there's between individuals 04:57 there's these four common characteristics of hesed 05:00 and the first is that somebody needs help. 05:05 Somebody needs help 05:07 and that help is actually really needed. 05:09 It's essential because if number two, 05:11 if they don't get help, then things are gonna get worse. 05:15 And number three, 05:18 there's one person in particularly, 05:20 who is uniquely capable of supplying their need. 05:23 And four which is a very interesting aspect of this 05:26 is that the person who needs help 05:31 cannot require it of the person who can give it. 05:35 In other words, the person has to freely give it. 05:38 So the giver-- it cannot be demanded, 05:41 it cannot be-- 05:43 it has to be initiated with the giver 05:47 is the one who is giving hesed. 05:48 Right. Right. 05:50 Now, the other person can appeal for that help 05:52 but they cannot demand it. 05:53 So it's not a treaty. 05:55 Remember when we talked about ahab, 05:56 we talked about a relationship with God 05:58 and you are in His kind of treaty relationship with Him. 06:00 That is not hesed. 06:02 Hesed, you can't demand it you can only ask it 06:06 and they have to freely choose to give it. 06:09 So there's kind of an interesting aspect 06:10 of this loving-kindness and mercy that it shows. 06:14 And it's used many, many times in the Old Testament, 06:16 more than 250 times. 06:18 May I just tell you quickly one of my favorites, Psalms-- 06:20 Okay, tell me one of your favorite. 06:22 Psalms 63, where David says, 06:24 "Because Your hesed, your loving-kindness 06:27 is better than life, my lips will praise You." 06:30 You know, he is talking about how he was thirsting for God. 06:34 Yeah, if you've ever been to Israel 06:37 and got down to the Dead Sea areas, 06:39 it is very, very dry. 06:42 So you can imagine somebody saying, this dry thirsty land. 06:45 Amen. Amen. Yeah. 06:47 Now, the wonderful key passage that kind of becomes a-- 06:52 what should we say, 06:53 a over arching concept of this idea of hesed 06:57 is in Exodus 34:6, 7. 07:01 Exodus 34:6, 7. 07:04 Now, this is just after the experience 07:08 of the golden calf which was in Exodus 32. 07:11 And, you know how Moses intercedes for Israel. 07:16 In Exodus 33 then he asks, he wants to see God 07:20 and God says, "You cannot see my face or you will die. 07:25 But I'll put you in a cleft of the rock, 07:27 I will cover you with My hand and when I pass by, 07:31 I'll take My hand away and you could see my back." 07:33 That's the most of my glory you can see. 07:36 So when God does pass by Moses, 07:39 Exodus 34:6 and 7 is what he says. 07:43 So now read these verses. Okay. 07:45 Exodus 34:6, "And the Lord passed before him" 07:49 let me say, so Moses is asked to see His glory. 07:54 And now, "the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, 07:59 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, 08:02 longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 08:05 keeping mercy for thousands, 08:07 forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, 08:11 by no means clearing the guilty, 08:13 visiting the iniquity of the fathers 08:14 upon the children and the children's children 08:17 to the third and the fourth generation.'" 08:19 All right. 08:21 So see in verse 6 when he says that he is "abounding in" 08:25 well, yours says? 08:27 "His goodness and truth." Mine says, "Steadfast love." 08:29 And I like that better. That's a hesed. 08:32 And the difference is 08:33 that I'm reading from New King James Version 08:35 and you're reading from which version? 08:37 It's called the English Standard Version. 08:39 The ESV, English Standard Version. 08:41 ESV, nice literal translation. It's a quite good. 08:45 Yes. Enjoyed a lot. 08:47 So this is-- this concept of hesed, 08:50 this idea of the Lord God 08:52 that He is merciful and gracious, 08:53 abounding in hesed and truth. 08:56 What a difference though, as you are saying 08:57 goodness and truth compared to steadfast love. 09:00 Well, loving-kindness, steadfast love, God's mercy. 09:03 This becomes like a benediction throughout the Old Testament 09:07 where people, they say, well, we've done wrong, 09:10 we failed but God is a God of mercy. 09:14 And we can turn to Him and we can ask Him, 09:16 maybe He will turn 09:17 and He will forgive us, you see. 09:19 Amen. 09:20 Now one of the very beautiful places 09:22 where this idea of hesed shows up 09:25 is in the Book of Ruth. 09:27 You know, you read the Book of Judges 09:31 and it's just like, "Oh, it's so shocking." 09:33 You know, all these terrible things that happen. 09:35 And just at the end you know, 09:37 when they chopped that poor woman 09:38 up into 12 pieces and send her body parts 09:42 all over the, all over Israel, 09:44 the Book of Judges ends with a phrase 09:47 that its had over and over, said over and over 09:50 the last phrase is and no one, 09:54 everyone did what was right in his eye, in own eyes 09:56 because there was no king in Israel at the time. 09:58 So the time of the Judges seem so gory and violent 10:05 you get this beautiful little gem of a book 10:08 called Ruth 10:09 and it happens during the time of the Judges. 10:11 And everybody knows the story 10:13 that Elimelech and his wife Naomi, 10:15 they go with their sons over to Moab. 10:18 It's a drought and there in Moab, 10:22 the two boys marry Moabite girls. 10:24 Now, I mean, that's like 10:26 you are not supposed to do that. 10:28 And so they marry these girls and then Elimelech dies 10:32 and then the two boys die and Naomi is just heart broke. 10:37 I mean, there's no social security system. 10:39 Her social security has died. 10:42 The children are supposed to take care of her 10:43 and so she is bereft 10:45 and finally she decides to go back to Israel. 10:48 And, you know, the beautiful story 10:50 where the two girls want to go with her 10:53 and she says, "No, no, no, go back." 10:54 These are the two daughter-in-laws. 10:56 Yeah, the two daughter-in-laws, 10:57 they want to go with her and she says, "no, no. 10:59 Go back. Go back." 11:00 You know, if I were to become pregnant tonight, 11:03 you wouldn't wait until my boys were grown to be get married, 11:05 you know, and there is nothing for you. 11:08 And Ruth, the other girl goes back, 11:11 Orpah goes back but Ruth says, 11:13 you know, wherever you go, I'll go. 11:16 You know, your God will be my God. 11:18 She is very loyal to Naomi. 11:21 She goes back 11:23 and then of course, she ends up in the field of Boaz, you know, 11:26 and she is gleaning there 11:28 and Boaz is showing kindness to her in everything 11:30 and Naomi finally says, "Well, look, 11:34 I need to help you to get a husband." 11:36 And she tells her what to do. 11:38 She sends her to a threshing floor 11:40 where Boaz will be, 11:42 you know, lying down with the other guys 11:44 and sleeping and everything. 11:46 They had to protect their grain that nobody would steal it 11:48 during the harvest. 11:49 And she comes and lays down and just uncovers-- 11:52 At his feet? 11:54 Yeah, at his feet and uncovers his feet. 11:55 Now I don't know if you ever had gotten 11:57 cold feet in the middle of the night 11:58 but it will wake you up, you know. 12:01 So he's in the middle of the night, 12:02 he wakes up and he turns over 12:04 and there is this woman lying at his feet. 12:07 And he says, "Who are you?" 12:09 And she says, "I'm Ruth." 12:12 Now this is where we have to read the story. 12:14 It's in the Book of Ruth 3:9-11. 12:19 Ruth 3:9-11. You read it for us. 12:22 Okay. So Boaz says to her "'Who are you?' 12:27 So she answered, 'I am Ruth, your maidservant. 12:30 Take your maidservant under your wing, 12:32 for you are a close relative.' 12:34 " So this would be the kinsman-redeemer. 12:36 Kinsman-redeemer, exactly. Okay. 12:38 And verse 10 "Then he said, 12:40 'Blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter! 12:43 For you have shown more kindness at the end 12:46 than at the beginning,'" 12:47 That's hesed. Yeah, that's hesed. 12:49 "You have shown more kindness" or hesed "at the end 12:52 than at the beginning, 12:54 in that you did not go after young men, 12:57 whether poor or rich. 12:59 And now, my daughter, do not fear. 13:01 I will do for you all that you request, 13:04 for all the people of my town know 13:07 that you are a virtuous woman." 13:09 Yes. 13:11 Okay now-- Isn't that-- that's beautiful. 13:12 It's beautiful and it's very interesting. 13:14 Now most people they say, 13:15 "Well, what in the world is going on here when she says, 13:18 you know, put your cloak over me." 13:22 Some people want to suggest that they had sex that night. 13:25 No, there's no-- 13:26 you know, the whole book is all about 13:28 how she such a wonderful, virtuous, faithful woman. 13:32 That would be completely out of character. 13:33 Who even became part of the genealogy of Jesus. 13:36 She does. 13:37 So this is not what she is doing. 13:40 But she is actually proposing marriage to him. 13:42 She says-- 13:44 And explain the kinsman-redeemer. 13:45 Yeah, kinsman-redeemer, 13:47 they had this thing called levirate marriage 13:48 in the Old Testament where-- 13:51 L-E-V-E-R-I-T-E? 13:53 L-E-V-I-R-A-T-E, levirate marriage 13:57 and it was, the idea was that if a man died, 14:00 now we think that's just strange. 14:01 We don't do this in our culture but if a man died, 14:05 then his brother would marry his widow 14:08 in order that he would have children. 14:10 Any children that she bore to this brother 14:14 would be actually the dead man's children. 14:16 So when Ruth does this, 14:18 the kinsman-redeemer the idea is if Boaz marries her, 14:23 then the children become 14:25 the children of her dead husband. 14:27 And so the line of Elimelech does not die out 14:30 and his property does not die out. 14:33 So Boaz, to do this actually has the risk of losing money. 14:38 And so, you know, it's a noble-- 14:39 And he had to be in kin to her husband. 14:41 Yes, but it was a noble thing for him to do this for her. 14:46 And so she-- 14:48 the interesting thing though was in verse 10 14:54 when he speaks to her. 14:55 See, she is the person who needs hesed. 14:58 She is the person who is in the vulnerable situation 15:01 and she says, "Won't you help me?" 15:03 So the thing he is going to do when he gets down to verse 11, 15:07 he says, "Don't fear, I'll do what you've asked." 15:10 That is showing hesed. 15:13 But when he describes it, 15:15 he doesn't describe it that way. 15:17 Notice in verse 10 "And he said, 15:19 'May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. 15:21 You have made this last kindness" 15:23 this last hesed "greater than the first 15:28 in that you have not gone after young men, 15:30 whether poor or rich." 15:32 Now what was the first hesed that she showed? 15:36 Well, that was kindness to Naomi. 15:38 She didn't have to come back. 15:40 She came back and she helped Naomi. 15:42 She was to support Naomi. 15:44 She was the lost son or the son that-- 15:47 she didn't have-- Naomi had nobody 15:49 but she had Ruth and Ruth took care of her. 15:51 So Boaz is referring back to the hesed 15:55 that Ruth showed to Naomi. 15:57 But that's not the end of it 16:00 because he says, now this last hesed that you've shown 16:04 is greater than the first. 16:07 And commentators are like scratching their heads, 16:09 they are like, now wait, 16:11 "She is the one who needs hesed, 16:13 how can she be showing hesed?" 16:16 Well, it's irony actually and Boaz is talking kindly. 16:20 He is-- we would put it this way. 16:22 You know, he said to her, 16:24 "You're awful sweet not to run after young guys. 16:28 You're willing to marry an old guy like me?" 16:31 You know, so he is making it 16:33 appear as though she is doing him a favor 16:36 by marrying him 16:37 when actually he is the one that's covering for her. 16:40 Right. Yeah. 16:41 So it's beautiful, beautiful description of hesed. 16:44 Well, we've got to move to the New Testament pretty quick now. 16:48 But I love this Old Testament stories. 16:49 Oh, yeah, our time is rapidly going, isn't it? 16:52 All right. Okay. 16:55 So in the New Testament, 16:58 in the Greek what are there, four words? 17:00 Four different words that are used for love. 17:04 And so we got to talk about these quickly 17:05 but the first is Eros. 17:07 We get the word erotic from this. 17:09 And that word doesn't even appear in the New Testament. 17:11 It doesn't appear in the New Testament. 17:13 It doesn't even appear in a vice list 17:15 in the New Testament which is a little surprising. 17:17 But the idea of Eros was, well, 17:21 you know, the kind of physical love 17:23 but actually the Greek god Eros, 17:26 the god of love was-- 17:28 he was the son of two gods and the two gods, 17:32 the two gods in Greek mythology the two gods-- 17:34 the goddess was Penia 17:36 and so that means poverty or a want or need. 17:41 And his father was Porus 17:43 which means resourceful, initiative and energy. 17:46 So here a combination of resourceful energy and need. 17:50 So Eros is actually the love for the beautiful and the good. 17:55 And when Plato talked about it, 17:57 he said it was love for the ideas, 17:59 the real world of ideas 18:01 that what's he thought as a duelist. 18:02 He thought of the real world being the world of ideas. 18:05 And the soul has this memory and this hunger for that world. 18:09 So-- 18:10 Wouldn't he be shocked to see how we use Eros 18:13 because that is the real word of our word erotic. 18:15 Erotic, yeah. 18:16 And where did they make that change? 18:18 Well, it must have been-- 18:19 Well, I mean, it was the god of love in those times 18:21 and so when it came into English, 18:23 you know, it's used as the love for that physical love 18:27 and it's today being used to speak 18:29 of pornography and things like that. 18:31 Well, that's about as far from the what Plato thought 18:34 as you could get. 18:36 Now the other words, 18:37 that word doesn't appear in the New Testament. 18:39 The other word that is, 18:41 another term that doesn't appear in the New Testament 18:43 is the verb for storge, 18:47 which means to be benevolent or to have affection for. 18:50 But the two words that do appear in the New Testament 18:53 are the words phileo, or philia or philos 18:57 those noun, verbs, adjective. 18:59 And agape and agapao. 19:02 And these two terms phileos means friend. 19:06 Brotherly kind of. 19:08 Yeah, and we have the word Philadelphia, 19:10 the brotherly kindness. 19:12 So phileos is a friendship kind of love. 19:15 Agape is the love that of God. 19:18 So when it talks about 19:20 "God so love the world" uses agapao, 19:22 uses the verb for love. 19:24 Now there's a very interesting place in the Gospel of John 19:27 that summarizes. 19:28 Well, now let's talk about agape means unconditional love. 19:32 It's a love that doesn't expect 19:35 that the other has to respond to you. 19:37 He is gonna love anyways. 19:39 It's going to-- it's an outgoing love. 19:40 It's a love that will help 19:44 even when there is not expectation necessarily return. 19:48 So when God loves the world 19:50 does not because the world loved God. 19:51 Yes. Love came from Him first. 19:54 And actually, we will study next time 19:56 in 1 Corinthians 13, another passage 19:59 and its all about love and we will talk about 20:01 how Paul describes in a beautiful terms. 20:03 But this is passage in John I want you to see 20:06 because it illustrates nicely the difference between 20:09 phileo and agapao 20:11 and it's John 21:15-21. 20:17 John 21 and verses, oh, yes, I know this story, 20:22 15-21 "So when they had eaten breakfast, 20:27 Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of Jonah, 20:31 do you love Me more than these?' 20:34 And he said to Him, 'Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.' 20:39 He said to him, 'Feed My lambs.' 20:43 Then He said to him a second time, 20:45 'Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?' 20:49 He being Simon or Peter said to Him, 20:53 'Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.' 20:55 So Jesus said to him, 'Tend My sheep.' 20:58 Then Jesus said to Simon the third time, 21:01 'Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?' 21:05 And Peter was grieved 21:06 because He said to him the third time, 21:08 'Do you love Me?' 21:10 And he said to Him, 'Lord, You know all things, 21:14 You know that I love You.' 21:16 Jesus said to him, 'Feed My sheep.'" 21:21 Keep going through verse 20. 21:23 Through verse 20, okay. 21:24 "'Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, 21:27 you girded yourself and walked where you wished, 21:29 but when you are old, 21:31 you will stretch out your hands, 21:32 and another will gird you 21:34 and carry you where you do not wish.' 21:36 This He spoke, signifying 21:38 by what death he would glorify God. 21:42 And when He had spoken this, 21:43 He said to him, 'Follow Me.'" 21:45 Okay, stop there. 21:47 All right, now, 21:48 this is the restoration of Peter to ministry. 21:51 He denied Jesus three times 21:54 and this is after Jesus' resurrection 21:55 there at the Sea of Galilee 21:57 and Jesus ask him this question three times. 22:00 It's like he denied Him three times. 22:02 Now he has to profess his love for Jesus three times. 22:07 Interesting thing is that 22:08 there's two different words are used here. 22:11 Now, some commentators will suggest that 22:13 "Well, that's really just synonymous, 22:16 you know, and so it's back and forth this way." 22:18 But actually there is a pattern here 22:20 that seems to me that suggest something quite different. 22:24 Jesus asked the question with agapao, 22:26 the verb for of agape. 22:29 Peter answers with phileo, 22:32 the verb for of philia or philos, so friendship. 22:37 So Jesus says, first 22:39 "Do You love me?" With God's kind of love, 22:41 "Do you love Me 22:42 more than the rest of these disciples loved me?" 22:45 And Peter-- Do you agape? 22:47 Yeah. Yeah. You have agape, yeah, agapao. 22:50 He says, "Do you have this love for me?" 22:52 Peter doesn't answer with that. 22:54 He answers with phileo, "You know that I love you." 22:58 Now Jesus asks-- In that brotherly kind of love. 23:00 Brotherly kind of love. So then Jesus asks again. 23:04 Now He doesn't compare him to the other disciples. 23:05 He kind of brings the bar down a little bit. 23:08 He says, "Do you love Me?" Simply not more than these. 23:11 Just, you know, "Do you got that kind of love for Me?" 23:13 Peter responds with phileo again. 23:15 But here again, Jesus has used the agape. 23:18 The big one. Yeah, the higher one. 23:19 Now the third time, 23:22 Jesus comes down and He uses phileo. 23:25 And then it says Peter is hurt 23:27 because He asked him the third time, 23:30 if he loved Him and He uses phileo. 23:32 And he says, "Lord, you know everything. 23:34 He says, you know that I love You." 23:35 But he still uses phileo. Now this is weird. 23:40 When you-- 23:41 when Peter responds to Jesus in this way each time, 23:44 Jesus will say, you know, "Tend My sheep." 23:47 "Tend My lambs." Tend My sheep." 23:48 "Feed My sheep." 23:50 You know, He does all this kind of thing. 23:52 He says, what in the world is going on here? 23:54 But when He talks about tending the sheep, 23:56 feeding the lambs, that's restoration to ministry. 23:58 He is gonna be a pastor. 24:00 He is gonna take care of the sheep. 24:01 He's gonna be a minister again. 24:04 And so you kind of wonder well, how does this work? 24:07 What's going on? 24:09 What's actually going on is this. 24:11 Jesus is testing Peter to see if he is humble. 24:15 Has he learned his lesson from going through the cross, 24:18 going through his denial and everything 24:20 because before that he would always insisted, 24:22 "Though everyone else deny you, I never will. 24:25 I'll always be faithful to you." 24:28 I love you unconditionally. I will put up with anything. 24:31 I will do-- I'm ready to die for You. 24:32 Right. He learned his lesson. 24:34 And so instead of responding with the high love, 24:37 you know, out of this world kind of love, 24:41 he doesn't dare do that. 24:42 That would be cheeky. 24:43 He instead, responds with a this low, 24:47 simple friendship love. 24:49 He doesn't dare claim agape. 24:52 I've never seen, you know, I have studied this out 24:54 and I've always thought that Peter just didn't love Him 24:57 in with all of his heart. 24:59 Oh, no. 25:00 He loved Him but he was-- he had learned his lesson. 25:03 That's so good. He was, he was humble. 25:05 He wouldn't insist that he-- you see when He asked him 25:09 "do you love Me more than these other men there?" 25:13 He doesn't respond with this, you know, bold, you know, 25:17 "everybody else will deny You but not me." 25:20 Oh, I like that. 25:21 And the second time He comes around now 25:22 what happens is Jesus drops the bar every time 25:26 and yet when He restores him to ministry, 25:28 He raises it every time. Yes. 25:30 He starts out with feeding the lambs, 25:31 we would say that was like, 25:32 "okay, you can teach children Sabbath school," 25:35 children Sabbath school. 25:36 That's all right. 25:37 The new believers can comes and sit with you, okay. 25:39 When He says, "Now you'll tend my sheep." 25:42 Now we will send you out and let you go do some things. 25:45 But if you are gonna be the senior pastor, 25:47 feed my sheep at the very end. 25:49 That's like now you are at the top of the line. 25:52 What is that made the difference for Peter 25:54 was this humility, you see. 25:58 And so he stops depending-- 26:01 the point of reference is shifted. 26:04 You see, he had a point of reference before of himself 26:07 "though everybody else denies You I will not." 26:12 I'm the best, there he is. 26:15 Now, you notice whenever he responds, 26:18 he says, "Lord, you know that I love You." 26:23 He always says, You know, You know that I love You. 26:27 Second time, "Lord, you know that I love You." 26:30 Third time, "Lord, you know, everything. 26:34 You know that I love You." 26:36 No longer depending on himself. 26:38 And that's-- you know, that's the whole gospel, 26:41 the gospel of salvation is to learn 26:44 total dependence upon God 26:46 and the whole qualification for ministry 26:49 is that same type of humility depending upon God, isn't it? 26:54 But when you see yourself as someone great, 26:58 that's where love starts to go out. 27:00 When you see yourself as someone 27:02 who can't make a mistake, 27:04 that's when you will make mistakes. 27:06 But Peter came to totally trust in Christ. 27:11 Now this is very interesting 27:12 because this is one of the greatest evidences 27:16 that Jesus rose from the dead 27:18 because this man would not have been restored to ministry 27:22 by anybody, except Jesus. 27:26 Excellent point. 27:28 So if he-- 27:30 somehow you have to explain how is it that he became a pastor. 27:33 He became a pastor again because Jesus restored him. 27:35 Amen. What an excellent point. 27:37 Well, this time just has flung by 27:40 but this is a beautiful study 27:41 and thank you again so much for this. 27:44 I think that this is what Jesus is asking us all today 27:48 is to you... 27:49 Agapao. 27:51 Agapao, I'll say that right. 27:53 Do you agapao me 27:55 and I hope that He will increase our humility, 27:59 but to learn to be totally dependent upon Him. 28:02 Now our prayer for you 28:04 is that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 28:06 will be with you always. 28:08 Thank you for joining us. |
Revised 2016-02-25