Sunday
Morning Bible Study
July
3, 2016
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it address the person who is: Empty, lonely, guilty, or afraid
to die? Does it speak to the broken
hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
Is the church loved? Regular: 2900
words Communion: 2500 words Video=75wpm
Luke was a doctor and a traveling
companion of the apostle Paul.
He wrote this book while Paul was
in prison.
In writing this book about Jesus,
Luke made use of other older documents like the Gospel of Mark, as well as
extensive eyewitness accounts.
Jesus’ ministry is well under way, and the people have been amazed not just
at the things He’s been teaching, but the things He’s been doing.
13:31-35 Jerusalem Lament
:31 On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, “Get out and
depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You.”
:31 Herod wants to kill You
Get out – exerchomai
– to go or come forth of
wants – thelo
– to will, have in mind, intend; to be resolved or determined, to purpose;
to desire, to wish; to love; to like to do a thing, be fond of doing; to take
delight in, have pleasure
“Herod has a desire to kill You”
The Herod the Pharisees are talking
about is Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great.
This is Herod Antipas, who would eventually play a part in the death of
Jesus.
Herod had killed John the Baptist, and Herod has this notion that Jesus
might be John the Baptist come back to life (Luke 9:7-9)
(Luke 9:7–9 NKJV) —7 Now Herod
the tetrarch heard of all that was done by Him; and he was perplexed, because
it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, 8 and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of
the old prophets had risen again. 9 Herod
said, “John I have beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things?” So he
sought to see Him.
It seems that these Pharisees are trying to scare Jesus out of town.
It’s also possible that these could
be friendly Pharisees (some like Nicodemus were friendly) who are concerned for
Jesus.
Lesson
Clash of worlds
On Thursday night as we have been learning about the contrast between a
Biblical worldview and a secular worldview, it’s becoming increasingly more
obvious that America is slipping away from God’s ideas about things.
Herod Antipas, the king of Judea, wasn’t a friend of Jesus.
Don’t be surprised if the world hates you.
Don’t be surprised if the world enacts laws against us.
Last week the
Russian parliament proposed a new set of laws that would make it
illegal for Christians in Russia to evangelize unless they secure a government
permit through a registered religious organization, and then they can only
evangelize in a church or a religious site.
It looks like it’s an attempt by the Russian Orthodox
church to push all other groups out of the country.
I’m going to Russia in August.
For some of you, it doesn’t sound surprising that this is happening in
Russia, but what about America?
On our nation’s birthday…
There are a lot of different ideas as to what America is all about:
What most people don’t realize is that America was actually founded upon a
Biblical World View
Did you know that the idea of our three branches of government came from
Scripture?
(Isaiah
33:22 NKJV) (For the Lord is
our Judge, The Lord is our Lawgiver, The Lord is our King; He will save
us);
You see the judiciary, legislative, and executive branches
based on God’s government.
The historical revisionists want you to think that the Founding Fathers
were not Christians, but the truth is far different.
They believed that for a government to work that was based on the
representation of the people, there was a crucial element needed for success.
They believed that the nation needed the foundation of
religion, of Christianity.
Healthy morality comes from true religion.
“Separation of church and state” was meant to keep the
government from declaring one denomination as the state religion. It was not meant to remove religion from
government.
Without a biblically based morality, our form of government will fall
apart.
You will not be
able to give the government enough power to keep the people in line.
George Washington:
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to
political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports … In
vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert
these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of
men and citizens …”
Washington’s farewell address – (Sept. 17, 1796)
John Adams:
“Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for
liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the
Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand.”
Letter of June 21, 1776
Benjamin Franklin:
“…only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they
have more need of masters.”
Letter to Messrs. The Abbes Chalut and Arnaud, April 17,
1787
Do you think our nation has become “corrupt and vicious”?
Fast forward to today…
There is a law going through the California Assembly (SB 1146) that will
eliminate the current religious exemption for Christian Colleges like Biola,
meaning they will not be able to require that their teachers are Christians, they
won’t be able to require students to go to chapel services, there will be no
religious exemption for “sexual orientation”.
This is going to affect things like their accreditation and students being
able to get financial help through Cal Grants.
You can help respond by clicking
here. (www.opposesb1146.com)
Jesus said,
(John 15:18–20 NKJV)
—18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it
hated you. 19
If
you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of
the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the
word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they
persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will
keep yours also.
Friends, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to live
as a Christian, even in America.
:32 And He said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and
perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be
perfected.’
fox – alopex
– a fox; metaph. a sly or crafty man
cast out – ekballo
– to cast out, drive out, to send out
demons – daimonion
– the divine power, deity, divinity; a spirit, a being inferior to God,
superior to men; evil spirits or the messengers and ministers of the devil
cures – iasis
– a healing, cure
perform – epiteleo
– to bring to an end, accomplish, perfect, execute, complete
I shall be perfected – teleioo
– to make perfect, complete; to carry through completely, to accomplish,
finish, bring to an end; to complete (perfect); add what is yet wanting in
order to render a thing full; to be found perfect; to bring to the end (goal)
proposed
Present passive indicative
This word is related to the word
“perform” (“and perform cures today…”)
:32 Go, tell that fox
It appears that Jesus thinks these Pharisees are acting as messengers from
Herod. He’s sending them back with a
message.
:32 the third day I shall be perfected
Jesus is not talking about being three days away from Jerusalem.
He’s far more than three days from Jerusalem.
He won’t be in Jerusalem until Luke 19:28, and He has lots of places to
visit before getting there.
Another translation reads…
(Luke 13:32 NLT) …and the
third day I will accomplish my purpose.
(Luke 13:32 NASB95) …and the
third day I reach My goal.’
(Luke 13:32 ESV) …and the
third day I finish my course.
There may be a hint here at the resurrection – that will take place on a
“third day”, but the actual point of Jesus’ reply is simply this – Herod and
the Pharisees may be trying to intimidate Jesus from performing His ministry,
but Jesus will do what Jesus will do.
:33 Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day
following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.
Nevertheless – plen
– moreover, besides, but, nevertheless
it cannot be – endechetai
– to receive, admit, approve, allow; it can be allowed, is possible, may be
perish – apollumi
– to destroy; to kill; to perish, to be lost, ruined, destroyed
:33 I must journey today …
No matter what the threat, Jesus is still going to make His way to
Jerusalem.
That’s where He needs to be.
Lesson
Don’t Stop
The Bible describes the life God has called us to as a sort of “race”.
Paul wrote,
(1 Corinthians
9:24–27 NLT) —24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person
gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a
prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run
with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline
my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear
that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
Though we sometimes tell ourselves that our own particular race is
extremely difficult, there’s a sense in which it’s actually more like this:
Why would I belittle the race we run like that, comparing it to a child’s
race?
Because our race is child’s play when compared to what Jesus did.
His race looked like this:
Video: The Passion of the Christ – Raising the
Cross
The writer of Hebrews wrote this:
(Hebrews 12:1–4
NKJV) —1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the
right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against
Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You have not
yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.
You and I need to keep running our race.
We find courage to run when we look to Jesus and remember what He did for
us.
:34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones
those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together,
as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not
willing!
kills – apokteino
– to kill in any way whatever; to destroy, to allow to perish; metaph. to
extinguish, abolish; to inflict mortal death
stones – lithoboleo
(“stone” + “throw”) – to kill by stoning, to stone; to pelt one with stones
those who are sent – apostello
– to order (one) to go to a place appointed
Perfect passive participle
how
often – posakis
– how often
The implication is that this is not
the first time that Jesus has been to Jerusalem.
I
wanted – thelo
– to will, have in mind, intend; to be resolved or determined, to purpose;
to desire, to wish; to love; to like to do a thing, be fond of doing; to take
delight in, have pleasure
gather … together – episunago
– to gather together besides, to bring together to others already assembled
as – tropos – a manner,
way, fashion; as, even as, like as
a hen – ornis – a bird; a
cock, a hen. All the translations give
you the picture of a mother chicken, but the word simply speaks of a bird, any
kind of bird.
brood – nossia
– a nest of birds; a brood of birds
wings – pterux
– a wing: of birds
not
willing – thelo
– to will, have in mind, intend; to be resolved or determined, to purpose;
to desire, to wish; to love; to like to do a thing, be fond of doing; to take
delight in, have pleasure
:34 I wanted to gather your children …
Lesson
Compassion
The Psalmist wrote,
(Psalm 91:4 NKJV) He shall
cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall
be your shield and buckler.
Mother birds take care of their young
If you were Jesus, and you knew that Jerusalem would be the place where you
would be arrested, beaten, and killed, what would you have to say about the
city?
How about what David prayed,
(Psalm
58:6 NKJV) Break their teeth in their mouth, O God! Break out
the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
Yet Jesus’ response is one of love and tenderness.
You may feel that because of your history of being hostile towards God that
God must be pretty angry towards you. Not
so. God loves you.
How do we respond to our nation when it seems to want to restrict
Christianity?
We’ll see that when Jesus actually got to Jerusalem, He wept over the city
because He knew what was ahead for them.
Illustration
I remember hearing of a time when Pastor Chuck went to visit a friend who
he found out had had an affair. Chuck
went to lecture the man, but when he got to the man’s house, all he could do
was weep. Nothing was ever said. Just tears.
It was the thing that ended up breaking the man and bringing him back to
the Lord.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
(2 Corinthians 2:4 NKJV) For out of
much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that
you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so
abundantly for you.
I think that at times we want to respond like David,
“Break their teeth”, yet perhaps we should respond more like Jesus and weep.
:35 See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you,
you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is
He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
See – horao
– to see with the eyes; to see with the mind, to perceive, know
:35 Your house is left to you desolate
left – aphiemi
– to send away; to bid going away or depart; of a husband divorcing his
wife
desolate – eremos – solitary,
lonely, uninhabited; a desert
Jesus may be referring to the nation as a whole being abandoned by God.
He may also be referring to the Temple, which would be destroyed.
assuredly – amen
– firm; verily, amen; at the beginning of a discourse-surely, truly, of a
truth
the time comes – heko – to have come, have arrived, be
present
when you say – lego
– to say, to speak
Aorist active subjunctive
:35 Blessed is He who comes
blessed – eulogeo – to praise,
celebrate with praises; to invoke blessings; to consecrate a thing with solemn
prayers; to ask God’s blessing on a thing; pray God to bless it to one’s use;
pronounce a consecratory blessing on
who comes – erchomai
– to come
Present middle participle
Could be translated, “who is
coming”
This is the same form of the word
used to describe the future coming of Jesus Christ, such as in:
(Revelation 1:4 NKJV) John, to
the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to
you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the
seven Spirits who are before His throne,
(Revelation 1:8 NKJV) “I am the
Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord,
“who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
(Revelation 4:8 NKJV) The four
living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within.
And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy,
holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”
(Revelation 11:17 NKJV) saying: “We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
(Hebrews 10:36–37 NKJV) —36 For you
have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive
the promise: 37 “For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
Lesson
He IS coming
He’s already on His way
:35 Blessed is He who comes
This is a quote from an amazing prophetic Psalm:
(Psalm 118:22–26
NKJV) —22 The stone which the builders rejected Has become
the chief cornerstone. 23 This was the Lord’s
doing; It is
marvelous in our eyes.
There was an old story about the construction of Solomon’s temple.
The stones for the temple were cut and fashioned at the quarry,
and each stone was shipped one at a time where they would be placed in the
appropriate part of the building.
Early on, there was a stone that was misidentified and tossed
off to the side because the builders couldn’t figure out where it was supposed
to be.
As the Temple was being completed, they realized what the
stone was, it was the “cornerstone”.
That “stone” would be a picture of Jesus, rejected by the builders (the
Jews).
24 This is
the day the Lord has made; We will
rejoice and be glad in it.
The “day” referred to here is actually quite a significant one, and we’ll
talk about it in a minute.
25 Save now, I
pray, O Lord; O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. 26 Blessed is
he who comes in the name of the Lord! We have
blessed you from the house of the Lord.
The phrase “Save now” in Hebrew is “Hosanna”.
This is what the people cried when
Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
Verse 26 is the verse that Jesus quotes.
What is this time Jesus is referring to in quoting this Psalm?
Though there is a sense in which
Jesus may be referring to His Second Coming, when He arrives to save Jerusalem
from its enemies, the main idea here is …
Second Coming
I think there may also be a
fulfillment when Jesus returns the second time and saves the Jews and Jerusalem
from the terror of the antichrist.
But it will have a
slightly bittersweet tinge to it.
Zechariah records what will happen after the Messiah returns and rescues
Jerusalem from the nations that are trying to destroy it:
(Zechariah 12:10 NKJV) “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of
Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom
they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son,
and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
John records the
same moment like this:
(Revelation 1:7 NKJV) Behold,
He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced
Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.
Palm Sunday
In a few months, Jesus will finally arrive in Jerusalem one week before the
Passover during which He will die.
We call that day “Palm Sunday” when Jesus rode on a donkey into Jerusalem …
(Luke 19:37–44 NKJV) —37 Then, as He
was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of
the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the
mighty works they had seen, 38 saying: “ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Peace in
heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher,
rebuke Your disciples.”
The Pharisees wanted Jesus to shut His disciples up
because they knew the significance of what they were saying. They didn’t think it was right for the
disciples to be claiming that Jesus was the Messiah and quoting from Psalm 118.
40
But
He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the
stones would immediately cry out.”
If the disciples didn’t shout it out, something else
would.
Jesus said they’d have a “rock” concert on their hands.
(the rolling stones perhaps??)
41
Now
as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,
Jesus knew He would be crucified by these people, and yet
rather than calling down judgment on the city, He wept.
42
saying,
“If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that
make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For days
will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you,
surround you and close you in on every side, 44 and level you, and your children
within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon
another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
19:42 in this your day
I think there is actually something specific being hinted
at here, a specific day.
This is the “day that the Lord has made” (Ps. 118:24).
I believe the prophet Daniel spoke of that “day” in his
prophecy of the “seventy weeks”.
(Daniel
9:25 NKJV) “Know therefore and understand, That from the
going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street
shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times.
This can sound quite confusing, but let me simplify it for
you.
You can find
more details here in my study from Daniel 9.
Daniel is talking about a total of 69 “weeks” of years, or
periods of “seven years”. It’s kind of
complicated, but we can actually calculate that from the decree to rebuilt
Jerusalem, there will be 173,880 days until Messiah the Prince.
The decree to rebuild Jerusalem was made by King
Artaxerxes on March 5, 444 BC. If you
add up the actual literal days involved in the prophecy, you arrive at March
30, 33 AD, which was Palm Sunday.
If only Jerusalem had realized what was happening on THAT
day, the things that could have given them peace, but instead they rejected
their Messiah.
Lesson
Recognize your day
Jesus wept over Jerusalem because they did not recognize their “day”, the
day the Messiah came, just like He promised.
They didn’t recognize their “save now” day.
I believe that the deepest desire inside the heart of every person is to
know God.
The Psalmist wrote,
(Psalm
42:1–2 NKJV) —1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my
soul for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I
come and appear before God?
We as humans are confused over this longing deep inside of our heart.
We all have this hole in our heart meant for God, and we try to fill it
with anything but God.
I believe the person doing drugs is looking for God, whether they realize
it or not.
I believe the person seeking some new sexual experience is looking for God.
I believe the person looking for that latest car, the bigger house, the
latest clothes, is actually looking for God.
You will not find the satisfaction your heart is looking
for until you come to surrender your life to the God who loves you.
Jesus didn’t come to condemn; He came to save.
He died on a cross and shed His blood in order to be the perfect sacrifice
to pay for your sins.
What you need it to open your heart to Jesus and receive the love God has
for you.
The Bible says that “today” is the day of salvation.
Today is the day of your visitation.