Participants:
Series Code: LGS
Program Code: LGS200408S
|
00:01 Hello, I'm Clive Nash.
00:02 Welcome to Let God Speak. 00:05 CS Lewis, the 20th century atheist 00:08 who became a Christian 00:10 once said, "I believe in Christianity, 00:13 as I believe that the sun has risen. 00:15 Not only because I see it, but because by it, 00:20 I see everything else." 00:22 It is like that with the Christian Bible. 00:24 By it, we understand the big questions of life, 00:27 origins, meaning and destiny. 00:30 The Bible tells that story. 00:32 But today, we will look at 00:33 a particular part of that theme. 00:36 God is our teacher on the subject of redemption, 00:38 and our role as His students. 00:41 So have your Bible ready as we begin. 01:09 Hello now. 01:10 On panel today we have David Currie and Steven Groom. 01:13 Good to have you with us together. 01:15 Well, let's pray before we begin our discussion. 01:18 Loving Father in heaven, 01:20 we thank You that we can come and learn from You. 01:23 We thank You, You are the master teacher. 01:25 And we want to sit at Your feet today 01:27 as we discuss this important topic. 01:29 And we ask for a blessing in Jesus' name, amen. 01:35 Now, David, some works of fiction or novels 01:39 or that sort of thing have a good ending to them, 01:42 have a happy ending, some have an unhappy ending. 01:46 But when it comes to real life, 01:48 we don't know what the ending is going to be for us, do we? 01:53 Absolutely not. 01:54 You know, I like to think of the late Billy Graham. 01:57 He was a great Christian evangelist, 02:00 and a very popular speaker around the world. 02:03 And he said one time, 02:05 "I've read the last page of the Bible, 02:08 it's all going to turn out all right." 02:10 Okay. 02:11 The Bible gives us the end of the story, 02:13 as well as the beginning of course. 02:16 As long as we're on the right side of course. 02:19 Absolutely. 02:20 That makes me, prompts me to ask, 02:22 you know, is it going to be a universally happy ending? 02:25 Well, for God's people, yes. 02:28 But for those who are not His people, no. 02:30 And I love this text in Revelation 22. 02:33 It says, "And behold," that's Revelation 22:12. 02:37 "And behold, I am coming quickly, 02:39 and My reward is with Me, 02:41 to give to every man according to his works." 02:43 So for some, it's going to be no, 02:46 but I trust for most of us it's going to be yes for sure. 02:49 And we must choose, 02:51 God gives us the power of choice, 02:52 and we must choose 02:54 which ending we're going to be in. 02:56 And I think it's going to be very important 02:59 that through this life we learn that the grace of God 03:02 is one of the most important things 03:04 that God wants to teach us. 03:06 Well, learning is one of the things 03:08 that seems to happen right 03:09 throughout our lives, doesn't it? 03:10 Absolutely. 03:12 Kind of think of learning is happening 03:13 and when we're in school or university 03:15 or something like that. 03:16 But in fact, life itself is a great teacher for us. 03:18 Absolutely. 03:19 I'd like to have a look at a passage of Scripture 03:23 found in 2 Timothy 3:16. 03:28 And, Steven, 03:29 looking for a comment from you on this one. 03:32 2 Timothy 3:16 says, 03:35 "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, 03:39 and is profitable for doctrine, 03:41 for reproof, for correction, 03:44 for instruction in righteousness." 03:47 What can we imply from this text about 03:49 learning, Steven? 03:51 Well, first of all, notice all the instruction words. 03:53 I mean, doctrine means teachings. 03:56 Reproof means reproving someone. 03:58 We learn from reproof? Yes. 04:00 Correction and instruction in righteousness, 04:04 not unrighteousness. 04:05 And so, we see that God wants to teach us 04:09 in this case through the scriptures, 04:11 and it's our benefit to listen to what He has to say, 04:14 because He has our best interest in at hearts. 04:17 He wants to instruct us on how to prepare for eternity. 04:21 It's not against our, 04:22 I know some people who rebel against God, 04:24 that's not a good thing to do is it, 04:26 when He's got our best interest at heart. 04:28 So Paul is saying, 04:29 this is the purpose of all Scripture, 04:33 that it fulfills all these different functions. 04:36 Yes. 04:38 And let's go back to 04:39 the first book of the Bible now. 04:41 Genesis Chapter 1, 04:43 and the book of beginnings and verse 26, and 27. 04:50 "And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, 04:55 '" And I just want to focus on this phrase here, 04:58 "in our image" in a moment, "according to our likeness, 05:01 so let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, '" etc. 05:05 And then verse 27, says, 05:07 "So God created man in His own image, 05:10 in the image of God He created him, 05:12 male and female, He created them." 05:16 Now, David, to further this divine teacher idea, 05:23 what does it mean that this image of God 05:26 that's mentioned here, this likeness to be like God? 05:29 I suppose we would say that this is a copy, 05:33 or a very close representation of the divine, 05:37 but doesn't make us divine, 05:39 we are not a part of divinity itself. 05:42 While these two images and likeness 05:46 are very, very similar, one explains the other. 05:50 In some ways, 05:52 we are like God without having divinity. 05:58 So, Steven, you've got anything to add to that? 06:00 What ways do you think you understand we're like God? 06:04 Well, since Genesis Chapter 3, 06:06 it says that they went through a test, 06:11 the tree of knowledge of good and evil, 06:12 they failed that test. 06:14 And Paul says in Romans 7, 06:16 that we've been sold to the devil. 06:19 So a lot of commentators 06:20 have said that we have lost the image of God 06:23 to some degree, 06:25 but we're still like our parents, 06:26 you know, like a child reflects the image of their parents. 06:30 So now, we tend to reflect, 06:33 to some degree might surprise our audience 06:36 to know that we more reflect the devil, 06:39 but God still wants to communicate with us. 06:42 And so, 06:44 He can't commune with us openly, we can't see God, 06:47 but He wants to communicate with us 06:49 to prepare and fix that relationship. 06:52 That's why Jesus came, so that He can restore us. 06:55 So it's become more an urgent thing 06:59 that He has to do now. 07:00 So restoring the image of God in us. 07:02 And that's still possible. 07:04 But it's, it's urgent for us 07:06 to work with His Son Jesus Christ 07:08 in restoring that image. 07:11 I was interested in a little quote 07:12 from the book Education by EG White, 07:15 where she says, "In the highest sense, 07:16 the work of education 07:18 and the work of redemption are one." 07:21 So there's this restoring that image of God 07:24 is part of that restoration, 07:25 isn't it, part of that education? 07:28 Yes. 07:29 Do you think that there is still some 07:32 vestiges of the image of God in us? 07:34 Or has it been completely marred 07:36 by the entrance of sin? 07:38 Well, it's a very essential work, 07:40 you know, in life, 07:42 we know that parents train their little children, 07:45 then they go on to school, 07:47 and the teachers have as a part of their training. 07:50 And teachers can guide the children little by little, 07:54 may become into the likeness of the divine. 07:58 And we begin to reflect His image. 08:01 You know, you often read 08:03 how that they've discovered an old painting, 08:06 and they get their specialists to come in 08:09 and restore that image, they take off the old dust 08:11 and some of the grime that's gone there 08:12 over the centuries. 08:14 And that becomes a beautiful picture once again. 08:17 Whereas when you first see it is very dull, 08:19 you wonder whether it's worth anything at all. 08:22 God does that with us. 08:23 Little by little, He brings us back into His image. 08:28 I'd like to look at another passage 08:30 in the Old Testament, and this time, 08:31 it's in Isaiah Chapter 11. 08:34 And we're going to look at verses 1-3, Isaiah 11:1-3. 08:39 Now this is a prophecy written about 700 years before Christ, 08:43 but it's referring to Christ. 08:46 "Then shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, 08:50 and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. 08:52 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, 08:54 the Spirit of wisdom, notice these words, 08:57 Spirit of wisdom and understanding, 09:00 the Spirit of counsel and might, 09:02 the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." 09:05 And then verse 3 says, 09:07 "His delight is in the fear of the Lord, 09:09 and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, 09:13 nor decide by the hearing of His ears." 09:16 Steven, this old prophecy about Jesus, 09:21 how does the idea of Jesus as a teacher come through here? 09:25 Well, if I'd like to, I'd like to read verse 2 again. 09:28 Notice these words here, 09:31 the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, 09:35 the Spirit of counsel and might, 09:37 the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 09:40 So once we, once again we have strong education terms here. 09:45 So we know that the Lord wants to redeem us. 09:48 These are very strong counseling words 09:51 to bring us back into restoration with God. 09:54 And if we cooperate with Him, 09:56 in a life of obedience, this will happen. 09:59 We can be fully restored into the image of God. 10:01 Okay. 10:02 So how does this passage here finish up by then, Steven? 10:08 What promise is there? 10:10 Redemption will be complete. 10:14 Okay, I'm thinking, for example of verse 9, 10:18 if you could read that for us, please? 10:20 Isaiah 11:9. 10:23 Okay, so it's speaking about 10:25 redeemed to the kingdom of heaven, isn't it? 10:28 So it says, "They shall not hurt or destroy 10:31 in all My holy mountain, 10:32 for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, 10:35 as the waters cover the sea." 10:38 So redemption is about education, it says here. 10:42 Yes, if we acknowledge here, 10:44 I assume Christ quite strongly there, doesn't it? 10:45 And responding to that knowledge 10:47 in a positive way. 10:49 One of the stories that I like in the New Testament, 10:54 which brings out the idea of Jesus as a teacher, 10:57 is in John Chapter 3. 11:00 It's interesting that you got a couple of chapters here, 11:02 which deal quite extensively 11:05 with Jesus talking with individuals, 11:06 Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, 11:08 but Chapter 3 of John 1-3, I'm going to read now. 11:13 "There was a man of the Pharisees 11:14 named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews." 11:18 So he was an important person, wasn't he, a ruler of the Jews? 11:22 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, 11:25 "Rabbi, 11:26 we know that You are a teacher come from God, 11:29 for no one can do these signs 11:31 that You do unless God is with him." 11:34 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, 11:38 I say to you, unless one is born again, 11:41 he cannot see the kingdom of God." 11:45 "So here's, there's Nicodemus. 11:47 Why does he call 11:49 even though he's a ruler of the Jews? 11:51 David, why does he call him Rabbi? 11:54 Rabbi means my teacher, or my master. 11:59 And even though Nicodemus was himself 12:01 a ruler of the Jews, 12:02 he saw in Jesus something greater. 12:04 And the answer that comes in, you're a teacher come from God, 12:08 for no one can do these signs 12:10 that you do, unless God is with him. 12:12 So Nicodemus was acquainted with what Jesus was doing. 12:16 The very signs that He was fulfilling, 12:17 the people that He was healing. 12:19 Nobody could else do that. 12:20 So he was his teacher, 12:22 or he was the one who was his master as it were. 12:27 He must have seen something special in Jesus, doesn't he? 12:33 Well, Jesus got that from His heavenly Father. 12:35 And so He was now passing on. 12:37 Yes. 12:39 It is quite interesting that Nicodemus was quite high 12:42 in the church in the Jewish church. 12:45 But Jesus said he needed to be born again. 12:48 Yes. 12:49 As you said. 12:50 If Jesus is teaching him something, 12:52 He's teaching 12:54 a very important lesson here, isn't He in verse 3? 12:56 Yes. 12:58 By coming straight to the point 12:59 I know what your hearts need is, Nicodemus, 13:02 you know, and a good teacher will do that. 13:05 And Jesus is certainly the master teacher. 13:09 Our opening texts we had today was Paul writing to Timothy. 13:14 And I'd like to go again to 2 Timothy, 13:19 we looked at verse 16, didn't we, early on? 13:24 So let's have a look at the two verses before. 13:28 2 Timothy 3: 13:32 14-15. 13:37 "But you must continue 13:38 in the things which you have learned." 13:40 So here's the older person 13:42 talking to the younger man in Timothy. 13:46 "Continue in the things which you have learned, 13:49 and being assured of 13:51 knowing from whom you have learned them." 13:53 And again he's talking about education really, isn't he? 13:57 And then verse 15, "And that from childhood, 14:00 you have known the Holy Scriptures, 14:02 which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, 14:06 which is in Christ Jesus." 14:09 David, what scriptures is Paul talking about here? 14:13 Yes, well, of course, 14:15 the New Testament wasn't formed at that time. 14:17 So the scriptures that he was talking about 14:19 and the scriptures that Jesus referred 14:21 to was the Old Testament as we know it today. 14:24 And I like that text in Luke 24, 14:27 where Jesus is reminding the disciples 14:32 of things that had happen. 14:34 In verse 27, 14:36 He says, "In beginning at Moses and all the prophets, 14:39 He expounded to them in all the scriptures 14:42 the things concerning Himself." 14:44 Now he talks about Moses and the prophets 14:46 a little bit later on in Chapter 44, the last part. 14:50 He says, "Are still with you that all things 14:53 must be fulfilled was written in the law of Moses, 14:55 the prophets and the Psalms." 14:58 And the Jews understood this 14:59 as being the Old Testament as we understand it today, 15:03 they understood them as that is the scriptures. 15:06 And so here we have the scriptures 15:09 that Paul was talking about, was the law of Moses, 15:12 which are the first five books of the Bible, 15:15 then we have the Psalms, and we have all the prophets, 15:19 and that comprises the whole of the Old Testament. 15:23 Okay. 15:24 Yes, a few years ago, 15:26 I was in Israel and met with a Samaritan priest, 15:31 and they only accept the Torah as scriptures, 15:35 just the writings of Moses. 15:37 So, Steven, 15:39 what was the purpose of the writings of Moses 15:43 that are referred to here by Jesus? 15:46 What's the purpose of the Torah? 15:47 The first five books? 15:49 It's interesting to note that the whole of the Old Testament 15:52 is summarized in three things, 15:54 the law, prophets and the writings. 15:58 That's the heading of the Hebrew Bible. 16:00 But well, Torah means law. 16:02 First five books, it also means teachings or instructions. 16:05 And those books, we know are full of instructions. 16:08 Through Moses, God teaches us about creation, 16:12 the fall into sin, the promise of a redeemer, 16:16 and His working out of that plan. 16:18 Well, that was veiled somewhat in the sanctuary service. 16:21 But it did teach about a Messiah to come. 16:27 Yes, see, the writings of Moses are foundational 16:31 to the whole of the plan of redemption 16:33 really, aren't they? 16:35 Because it tells us why we're here, 16:37 you know, the creation story, 16:39 and why there is so much evil in the world. 16:41 It's so sad that some Christians 16:45 don't place any authority on the Old Testament 16:47 when there's so much to learn. 16:50 And that is still authoritative in the Old Testament. 16:53 Okay, so the writings of Moses are very important. 16:56 What about the prophets, David? 16:59 What teaching role do they have to play? 17:02 Yes, well, while the Torah, the law, 17:05 showed the relationship of people to God, 17:08 and He to them, 17:09 the prophets of historical books 17:12 tell us how well the people didn't practice, 17:15 and also how they need to improve. 17:17 And the prophet particularly showed them 17:19 how they should improve. 17:20 Even the song book of the Bible, 17:22 the Psalms that is contained educational Psalms, 17:27 like Psalms 1, for instance. 17:28 And then you're going to come to Psalms 37. 17:32 And then if you reverse that to Psalm 73, 17:35 they're all educational Psalms, and very important 17:38 in it as they are in the song book of the Bible. 17:43 And, Steven, do we find 17:45 elements of teaching in the New Testament? 17:48 Oh, most definitely. 17:50 Jesus was the master teacher. 17:51 So we must turn and see how He taught people. 17:55 If you go to Matthew 13:34, 17:59 it says, after speaking a parable to them, 18:05 it says, "All these things, 18:07 Jesus spoke unto the multitude in parables, 18:10 and without a parable, He did not speak unto them." 18:13 And so, Jesus spoke or taught 18:16 through short stories or parables, 18:19 a great teaching method, 18:21 even though even non-Christians know a lot of them, 18:25 you know, the story of the Good Samaritan, 18:26 the sheep and the goats, the wheat and the tares. 18:30 And all these are very well- known stories. 18:33 And so Jesus used things of nature 18:37 to teach hidden things, spiritual things. 18:40 And I believe this is a carry on from the Old Testament, 18:42 I believe the sanctuary service was redemption in parables 18:49 that many of the Jews failed to see. 18:53 The danger is that they saw that fulfilling these rituals 18:58 was a way of redemption, rather than seeing 19:01 the teaching elements 19:02 that were actually in the sanctuary service. 19:04 Yeah. 19:05 And certainly, with Jesus using illustrations 19:09 from, for example nature, 19:11 you know, when people looked at those kinds of scenes later, 19:15 they would remember the stories that Jesus told, 19:18 wouldn't they? 19:19 Yes, there's... 19:20 It's, I mean, nature is just a lesson book. 19:23 I mean, Jesus made ant, 19:24 you see the industriousness of the ants, 19:27 and the wise man Solomon has a lesson for lazy people. 19:32 He says, "Go to the ant, 19:33 you sluggard and watch them, and learn from them, 19:36 so we can learn so much from animals 19:38 and nature around us." 19:39 Yeah. 19:41 I'd like to go over 19:42 to the last book of the Bible now, 19:44 the Book of Revelation, 19:46 because there's an interesting scene 19:48 in Revelation Chapter 5, 19:50 and we have to look at the first five verses here. 19:54 "And I saw in the right hand of him 19:56 who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, 20:01 sealed with seven seals. 20:04 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 20:08 'Who is worthy to open the scroll 20:10 and to loose its seals?' 20:12 And no one in heaven or on the earth 20:14 or under the earth was able to open the scroll, 20:17 or to look at it.'" 20:19 Well, this perplexed to John, 20:20 he says, "So I wept much, 20:23 because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, 20:26 or to look at it. 20:28 But one of the elders said to me, 'Do not weep. 20:31 Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, 20:34 the Root of David, 20:36 has prevailed to open the scroll 20:38 and to loose its seven seals.'" 20:40 David, who's able to unlock this sealed scroll 20:45 that he is, is here? 20:47 Yes, here we have a very wonderful prophecy 20:51 actually from Revelation. 20:52 And it actually reminds us of a prophecy in Genesis 49, 20:58 where Jesus also is predicted way back in the 1,500 years, 21:03 before Jesus came. 21:04 Here is Moses predicting Him as being the lion 21:07 of the tribe of Judah, 21:09 and the great messianic prophecy 21:11 at the center of King David. 21:13 And this, of course, brought out here, 21:16 and Jesus indeed was all of that. 21:19 And He was a great teacher, there's no question. 21:21 And when you use the terms, in Genesis of lion and scepter, 21:27 He's foretelling the Messiah. 21:29 And this is one of the 300 prophecies, 21:31 at least, 21:33 about the Messiah in the Old Testament itself. 21:36 And so, Jesus teaches us so much about salvation, 21:42 and the future that we have in the redemption 21:44 that He's offering to us. 21:47 One of the books of the Bible, I guess, in the Old Testament, 21:50 which really focuses quite a bit on wisdom, 21:55 which we would hope 21:56 is something we get from education, 21:58 particularly with regard to the plan of redemption, 22:02 is the Book of Proverbs. 22:04 And I'm going to have a look at Chapter 16 of Proverbs, 22:08 and verse 23. 22:11 This simply says, 22:13 "The heart of the wise teaches his mouth, 22:17 and adds learning to his lips." 22:21 Steven, is this... 22:22 this wisdom that's spoken of here, 22:25 who is writing about this? 22:27 Oh, we believe that Solomon, 22:30 wise man Solomon wrote most of the Book of Proverbs, 22:34 and certainly the early parts. 22:36 And I'd like to prove that from 1 Kings 4:34. 22:42 It says that all, 22:44 "There came all of the people 22:45 to hear the wisdom of Solomon from all kings of the earth, 22:49 who had heard of his wisdom." 22:51 And we know he is wise because he, 22:54 he got this wisdom from God as a present. 23:00 As a matter of fact, 23:02 he didn't ask for riches, did he? 23:05 He asked for wisdom. 23:06 He didn't ask for fame, he asked for wisdom. 23:08 And God was very pleased with him asking about that. 23:12 Also I have 1 Kings 3:9-12. 23:19 And this is the test where he asked if... 23:23 Where Solomon requests, he says to God, 23:27 "Give therefore my servant, your servant an understanding 23:30 how to judge your people 23:32 that I may discern between good and bad, 23:34 for who is able to judge this Your so great a people. 23:37 And the speech pleased the Lord, 23:39 that Solomon had asked this great thing, 23:42 and God said to him, 23:44 'Because you have asked this thing 23:45 that had not asked for long life, or riches, 23:49 or the life of your enemies but have asked for yourself, 23:54 understanding, discern, judgment, 23:55 behold, I've done according to your words. 23:58 So I have given you a wise and an understanding heart. 24:01 So there was none like you before you, 24:04 neither shall there be any after you.'" 24:08 A good thing to ask for wisdom. 24:12 So we can ask the same thing of God, can we? 24:14 Sure. 24:16 So there's instruction 24:17 and many hard things to understand in the Bible. 24:19 But if we ask of God, who is the author of the Word, 24:23 He will help us understand it as well through His Spirit. 24:26 Now, gentlemen, I'd like to put a question 24:27 to perhaps both of you like, I'd like to consider, 24:30 how do we generally gain wisdom? 24:33 Well, first of all, we gained it from our parents, 24:37 then we gained it from our school teaching, 24:39 from our teachers. 24:41 But, you know, frankly, I think that we can gain 24:43 even more by reading the scriptures, 24:46 learning the scriptures. 24:48 Yes, Steven? 24:50 As a secondary revelation, 24:51 I believe that God speaks through nature. 24:54 And as I already mentioned before in Chapter 6... 25:03 On Proverbs, you mean? 25:04 Proverbs Chapter 6, it's, where it says, God, 25:08 God says, "Go to the ant you sluggard," verses 6, 6-8. 25:13 "Go to the ant, you sluggard. 25:16 Consider her ways and be wise which having no guide, 25:19 overseer or ruler, 25:20 provides her meat in the summer 25:22 and gathers her food in the harvest." 25:24 So here we have a call to be industrious in our life. 25:30 In the New Testament, 25:32 we have very much give a focus of Jesus 25:35 about what would happen after He went back to heaven. 25:39 He has cared for His disciples, 25:41 and He was offering the gift of the Holy Spirit. 25:46 I like to have a look here at John 14:16-17. 25:51 Well, matter of fact, 25:53 I see our time is running away from us. 25:55 But let me just remind you and our viewers, 25:58 that the Holy Spirit had the advantage over Jesus, 26:02 in that He was able to be everywhere present. 26:06 And the gift of the Holy Spirit was very important 26:09 for the education of the early Christian church, 26:12 in matters of redemption. 26:15 And Paul gives us 26:17 some simple truth about that 26:19 in 1 Corinthians 2:2, 26:25 6, and 7. 26:28 1 Corinthians 2, 26:29 and I'll just read verse 2 there. 26:32 "I determined not to know anything among you, 26:35 except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." 26:39 Here we have the gospel simply put, don't we? 26:41 Yes. Absolutely. 26:43 To know Jesus and Him crucified. 26:46 Well, you know, we've only 26:47 just touched on the relationship today 26:50 between education and redemption. 26:53 Just as Jesus increased 26:55 in wisdom during His formative years, 26:58 so we can continue to grow into a deeper relationship 27:01 and understanding of God's will for our lives. 27:05 We began with a quote from CS Lewis, 27:07 let me close with another. 27:10 "If all the world were Christian, 27:12 it might not matter 27:13 if all the world were educated. 27:15 Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, 27:19 because bad philosophy needs to be answered." 27:23 Well, we're glad you joined us today on Let God Speak. 27:25 Remember, all past programs plus teacher's notes 27:29 are available on our website 3abnaustralia.org.au. 27:35 Email us if you wish on lgs@3abnaustralia.org.au. 27:41 Join us again next time. 27:42 Until then, may God bless you all. |
Revised 2021-01-27