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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. All it must mean, the only thing it must mean, it merely means Jesus saying, my Father and I are on the same page. We're one in purpose.
We're one in our mission statement. Jesus said, I and my Father are one. And the word, the language, the syntax of the original language connotes that Jesus is saying, I and my Father have one in the same essence, nature. I'm of the same essence.
I'm of the same nature and essence as the Father, which is deity. Now somebody hearing that might say, well, that's your interpretation, right? You've heard that.
That's everybody's favorite line. That's your interpretation. You know, there are so many different interpretations. We don't know what to believe. Everybody has our interpretation.
Ah, thank you for bringing that up. That's where context helps. All you have to do is read the next verse. It's unmistakable what Jesus meant because they understood what he meant. It says, then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. They understood he was claiming to have the same nature as God the Father. And according to Leviticus chapter 24, the punishment of claiming to be God, which is blasphemy, is to be stoned to death.
Most of that chapter, Leviticus 24, is about a man whose mother was a Hebrew, father was an Egyptian. He's out and he blasphemes God and he's taken outside the camp and stoned. And then the law is given. Anybody who blasphemes, you pick up stones and stone him.
That's an Old Testament directive. So Jesus said, I and my father are one. They understood what he was saying. They did not understand him to say, I and my father have the same vision statement and same purpose and same mission.
I and my father are of the same essence and same nature as being God. They took up stones to stone him. Jesus said to them, many good works, he referred to his works, he does it again, many good works I have shown you from my father. For which one of these works do you stone me? You know, Jesus had made some pretty incredible claims, right?
So far. So let's just keep that in mind. When people want to say that the Bible never says or Jesus never said or the New Testament never records where Jesus said he is God, you've got some obstacles to get around when you make that statement. Just think of all the claims Jesus made so far. I am the bread of life. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever. I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness. Whoever believes in me as the scripture has said, out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. All of the statements. And before Abraham was, I am. If you don't believe that I am the Old Testament construction for God, you will die in your sins.
So many claims he made. So now he says, okay, you don't believe my claims, but here's my works. So I've done a lot of good works.
I've done a lot of miracles. Which one of those works are you going to kill me for? Are you going to stone me for? The Jews answered him saying, for a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy. Now they're referring in their minds back to Leviticus 24.
And because you, being a man, watch this, make yourself whom? God. Listen, even Jesus' enemies understood what he was saying. So when somebody knocks at your door to give you an awake magazine or bicycles up to your house with an elder pin and says Jesus never claimed to be God, understand that they might not understand what Jesus was saying, but his enemies certainly did in the original context. Because you, being a man, keep on making yourself out to be God.
That's what it's saying. Now I disagree with them in this sense. The truth is really in reverse. This is not a man making himself to be God. This is God who has made himself of no reputation and took on the servant, a humble servant, Philippians 2, and came as a man. They just thought, you're a man making yourself God. No, this is God who made himself a man. That's the theological truth.
That's the full truth. Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law I said you are gods? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came and scripture cannot be broken, do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, you are blaspheming because I said I am the Son of God? If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me. But if I do, though you do not believe, believe the works that you may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him.
Therefore, they sought again to seize him, but he escaped out of their hands. Now, I hope that you have read this in advance and that you are just dying to know what it means when Jesus says, have not I said, hasn't it written in your law, have not I said you are gods? What is he referring to? Because this is a very important argument. It is a rabbinical argument. It is the argument from lesser to greater.
So you're ready for the explanation? He is referring to a psalm in the Old Testament, Psalm 82. Psalm 82 isn't written in your law.
I have said you are gods. Now turn with me to Psalm 82 so you can read it for yourself. Psalm 82 is the quote that Jesus refers to. Psalm 82 one, God stands in the congregation of the mighty. He judges among the gods.
How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the poor and fatherless. Do justice to the afflicted and the needy. Deliver the poor and the needy. Free them from the hand of the wicked. They do not know, nor do they understand.
They walk about in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are unstable. I said you are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High, but you shall die like men and fall like one of the princes. Okay, you see in Psalm 82 the word gods, it's used twice. It is the Old Testament word Elohim.
Have you heard that word before? Elohim. Elohim is plural in Hebrew for gods. It is also used of God himself. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, Elohim, a compound unity. We've talked about the Trinity from that verse before, but Elohim is used in the Old Testament 2,605 times, most often referring to God, but every now and then it refers to people, to men.
You say, well, which men? Men in the Old Testament who adjudicated court cases, judges they were called. Judges, not from the book of Judges, but in the book of Exodus chapter 22, they're called judges or rulers. Rulers of your people. Don't bring a reviling accusation against Elohim, a ruler of your people.
If somebody commits a crime, bring them before the judges. The word is Elohim. So it most often refers to God, but sometimes it refers to men. So Psalm 82 said, have I not said you are gods, but you'll die like men. You have the responsibility of representing God by being a judge. So you are God, small g, but you'll die like men because you're human beings. So Jesus quotes Psalm 82 and he says, isn't it written in your law? Have I not said you are gods, Elohim, small g, judges, those who take the place in a court case to give an authoritative statement that takes the authority from God and gives it to men?
Have not I said that? So he's arguing from lesser to greater. If in your law, Jesus would say, there are some men who are given the title gods and they are gods in some sense, why do you take umbrage with the fact that I say I am the son of God? Because I do have the same nature as the father.
So it's an argument from the lesser to the greater. I who have done these works, I who have made these claims substantiated by the works that I do, those are gods and they die like men. I say that I'm the son of God. And that's his argument. If I do not do the works of my father, then do not believe me.
But if I do, though you do not believe or believe me, believe the works that you may know and believe that the father is in me and I in him. Something else about that. Did you notice what he said about the Bible? Jesus said about the Bible in verse 35. What did he say about it? Can you see it? And the scripture what?
Cannot be broken. The scripture, he's quoting the Old Testament. He's referring to the scripture. And Jesus, by the way, quoted or referred to the Old Testament scripture 64 times it is recorded in the New Testament. And whenever he talked about the Old Testament, he talked about it as the authoritative, inerrant word of the living God. And here he says scripture cannot be broken. I draw that to your attention because I want you to know the savior you believe in has a very high view of scripture.
And if you don't have the same view of scripture as Jesus has, you've got some real issues to deal with. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skip's teaching, generous friends like you keep this ministry going strong sharing verse by verse teaching from scripture with people all around the world. And as we prepare to close out another year of ministry, we need your help to meet a $120,000 need by December 31st so that in the new year more people can connect with the God who loves them and wants to be known by them. Your tax deductible gift today will have an eternal impact, transforming lives as together we share the unchanging truth of God's word in an ever-changing world. You'll help ensure Connect with Skip Heitzig can continue expanding to reach new audiences through new radio stations in major cities and with the translation of Pastor Skip's messages into Spanish.
To give your year-end gift to help meet the $120,000 need, go to connectwithskip.com slash give or call 800-922-1888 and make an investment that will have eternal returns. Now, let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. Jesus even said the scripture is so accurate. Listen, heaven and earth will pass away. My words will never pass away. Before heaven and earth passed away concerning the Old Testament, he said not one jot or one tittle will pass from the law till all is fulfilled. How's that for accuracy? The jot is the yod in Hebrew, the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
The tittle is even smaller than the jot, it's a little pronunciation marks, these little like apostrophes and dots that tell you how to pronounce the letters distinguishing one pronunciation from another, just little markings. Not one of those will pass away from the Old Testament law till it's all fulfilled. I didn't come to annul the law but to fulfill it. And it will all be fulfilled, Jesus said. Even down to the jot and the tittle, your Savior had a high view of scripture, do you have the same view that the Jesus you say you believe in and you say you follow has? Well you know I believe in Jesus but I can't really believe all the Bible. Then you have a problem, I don't know which Jesus you're believing in or you ever read anything he said? The scripture cannot be broken. Have you never read what Moses said? Have you never read what David said? He always looked at the scripture as authoritative. Down to the jot and the tittle, that's why I love jots and tittles, that's why I love commas and periods and grammar and I look at it in its context and what word in syntax it's next to.
Because it's all going to be fulfilled, it's authoritative. I love the story about the woman who was traveling overseas, she was very wealthy and she was traveling with another couple of friends. She was in Europe and she was in a very upscale jewelry store in Paris and she saw a bracelet and she thought, oh that's gorgeous, I'd love to have it, it's only $75,000. But I should ask my husband before I buy it. So she got on her cell phone and she texted him, found a beautiful bracelet, only $75,000, may I buy it? Question mark, no. Any of us, our men, our immediate response was just one word, no. No. Uh-uh.
First of all, we don't have it, second of all, are you crazy? It's a bracelet. Anyway, so she texted him. Now he got the text and he was shocked by the price so he texted her back. But you know a lot of times people will text me but they don't put the jots and the tittles in them, they just sort of do all small case and you don't know where the sentence begins and ends. So he wrote back and he said, no, should have been comma or period, no. And then the next was price too high. That's what he meant to say, no comma, price too high. But he left out the comma, the tittle, just a tittle. So she read the text and she said, oh, he loves me so much, he just said, no price too high. I'm invaluable to him, you can't put a price on our love, no price too high.
So she bought it. He never made that grammatical error ever again in his text. Not one jot, not one tittle will pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Therefore they sought again to seize him, again he's making unmistakable claims, but he escaped out of their hands. And he went away again beyond the Jordan. Now don't read into that that Jesus is scared and he has to escape them and hide from them. He is simply preparing for the final battle. Final battle will be his march up toward Jerusalem in a few months time in the springtime at the Passover when he will give his life for the sin of the world.
So there he is preparing. He's in the wilderness and notice where. He went again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first and there he stayed. That's the area of Perea that is down at a place in ancient times called Bethabara, which was the place of crossing the Jordan River by Joshua. Bethabara was a place also where John the Baptist was baptizing. Jesus was baptized there. So Jesus goes back to where he began his ministry.
Out there in the wilderness of Perea where John the Baptist once baptized him and there he stayed. And notice now the contrast. Then many came to him and said, John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this man were true and many believed in him there.
See the theme again? See the emphasis John is placing on it? He's contrasting the unbelief in Jerusalem with the belief in the wilderness of Perea. The first group disregarded his claims and his signs.
The second group regarded his claims and his signs and the testimony about John the Baptist. So some didn't believe, some did believe. Most didn't believe, a few did believe.
That's the ratio of reality. You know if you think about it, everybody has faith. Everyone. Everyone exercises faith. Everyone lives by faith. The proud atheist will say, oh well you know I'm a practical man. I wish I could believe like you, but you know I have a good education and I'm a little smarter than you are. I'm a little more learned and more practical than you are.
You're into that metaphysical trip. I just can't believe, though I'd like to believe, I'm not a person of faith. I dispute that. I immediately would ask, do you understand how the automobile engine works? How electricity makes the spark and there's compression in the stroke of the engine when it hits the top of the cylinder, the explode? Do you understand how that all works? I don't understand it. Well but do you, you don't drive a car then? Oh of course I drive a car. Well how do you drive a car?
What do you mean? Well you drive it by faith, don't you? I mean you believe that if you put that key in and turn it, you just believe but you don't understand it all. But you believe that if you turn it to the right, it's just going to go vroom and start up and you just drive around.
Well yeah I suppose so. Well that takes faith. It takes faith for you to go to the bank. Do you have a bank? Well of course I go to the bank. Do you ever cash a check?
Yes. Well why would you? What do you mean why would I? Well you have a check. There's no intrinsic value in that piece of paper. But it's a promise and you have faith that if you take it to that institution and show that account to them, that the person who signed it is good for the money he's promised you. It's just a promise and you're living by faith. So you live by faith. To go to a restaurant, it takes faith. Some restaurants take way more faith than others. I've seen what they serve up. You have to look at that and go that's going to nourish me.
I don't know how but I believe by faith I won't die from that. We all exercise faith. What I want you to notice here as we close before we take the Lord's Supper together, that there are two things that contribute to the faith of these people out in the wilderness. Something objective and something subjective.
Something outside and something inside. There's the objective signs that Jesus performed. You're looking at it and you see somebody who's healed. You watch them get up and move even though they have been incapacitated for years. You see one sign after another sign after another sign. They're referring to that. John didn't do those signs.
This man did them. That's the objective reality. But then there's the subjective testimony. John the Baptist told us about this man. And those things are true. Now remember John the Baptist said some pretty heavy claims about him, right? He said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. That's what John the Baptist said about Jesus. Look, that guy, that's the Lamb of God.
He takes away the sin of the world. And then John made this outrageous claim. He said he is preferred before me because he was before me. John's older than Jesus. How could Jesus be before him? Well, you know the answer to that.
He's making some pretty bold claims. And by the way, and I've said this to you before, that I've always liked the fact that John and Jesus were cousins, which for me helps authenticate John's claims about Jesus. Because how many of you would ever say of your cousin, My cousin takes away the sins of the world. My cousin was existing before I was even born. Are you crazy? What do you think your cousin's God?
Well, in this case, yes. So John was with Jesus growing up. They met at feasts. They would take pilgrimages together.
They would play together. And yet after knowing him so intimately like family members do to say, My cousin is the Lamb of God. That's subjective testimony mixed with the objective reality of him healing people one and then another, then another. That's all evidence. And the Bible appeals to evidence.
It doesn't say take a blind leap in the dark, man. Just believe, just believe. That's stupid to just believe. No, believe based on what? And we ask people to believe based on the evidence that substantiate the claims of Jesus.
Like what evidence? Like the uniqueness of scripture. Here you have 66 books written by over 40 authors over a 1500 year time period.
And all of these authors from different continents speaking different languages, different time periods all agree on the most major controversial subjects in the world. Fulfilled scripture. The Bible predicts things that will happen in the future so that when they happen, you go, wow, what are the odds of that happening? Many, many, many of those.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ, etc. There are several objective things that point a person to faith so that you can be confident in whom you believe, in what you believe and in whom you believe. So you may have doubts.
Great. Work through them. I came through a period of severe doubt in my medical training. And I came out the other end stronger where I was looking for unbelievers. I go through the day going, find me a pagan. Give me an atheist. I want to sit down, have a talk. And it just over days and weeks and months was able to work through and reason and see many of them come to faith, vibrant faith in Christ.
It's beautiful. Unbelief is different. Unbelief looks for excuses, not reasons. There are plenty of reasons and they believed in him.
Many believed in him there. We're glad you joined us today. Before you go, if you've been blessed by this ministry and want to bless others with the kind of teaching you've heard today, please consider a generous year end gift to help meet our financial goal by December 31st. Through your support, you'll help encourage and equip more people with solid biblical teaching that takes them verse by verse through scripture and connects them with Jesus.
To give a tax deductible year end gift today, call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash give. For more from Skip, be sure to download the Connect with Skip Heitzig app where you can access messages and more content right at your fingertips. Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the cross. Cast all burdens on his word. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.
