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We can know! by Norman Childs

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CHAPTER THIRTEEN

LESSONS

WAYS TO MAKE SURE THAT WE DON’T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE OTHERS DID.

1. Don’t let insult close your ears to the truth.

2. Don’t let kinship close your mind to the fact that a relative could be greater than you.

3. Don’t make laws where God is silent.

4. Study the Bible and seek God’s message.

5. Judge not according to appearances but judge righteous judgment.

6. Listen to what others are saying; give them the benefit of the doubt.

7. Don’t judge a sermon by the way it is delivered but rather by its content and meaning.

8. Don’t place your trust in men. Place your trust in God.

9. Don’t be greedy; be generous.

10. Don’t be jealous; be loving.

11. Love the praise of God more than the praise of men.

12. Be aware of Satan’s influence- fight it.

13. Don’t be afraid to stand up for the truth.

14. If we keep our hearts soft, God will not harden them.

1. Don’t let insult close your ears to the truth.

The Pharisees were not big enough to admit they were wrong even when Jesus continually emphasized the problem. Solomon said, “He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray,” Proverbs 10:17. “A fool spurns his father's discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence,” Proverbs 15:5.

2. Don’t let kinship close your mind to the fact that a relative could be greater than you.

The Pharisees could not accept the fact that someone they had known for years could be the Messiah. This story is often repeated; remember Joseph and his brothers, Moses, Aaron and Miriam, and David and his brothers. It is difficult to admit that someone who grew up with the same opportunities that we have, could advance farther than we did. We need to develop the attitude of John the Baptist. He recognized that his cousin was far greater than he and he told the world about it.

3. Don’t make laws were God is silent.

One of the main reasons the Pharisees rejected Jesus was because he would not obey their man made laws. Read carefully Romans 4:15, “Where there is no law there is no transgression.” We cannot break a law that does not exist. Every church in the world struggles with this problem. Often traditions become laws even when no one intended them to be. For this reason the author believes that the leaders in the church should encourage enough variety to show the congregation that traditions are not laws.

4. Study the Bible and seek God’s message.

The Pharisees prided themselves for being experts in understanding God’s law. But true understanding begins with a heart that desires to know God’s will for our lives. It comes from gathering all that God says about a subject, logically arranging the material and by comparing our findings with other passages that relate to the same subject.

5. “Judge not according to appearances but judge righteous judgment,” John 7:24 KJV.

Jesus said these words to the Pharisees who were condemning him for working on the Sabbath Day. The problem here was not that Jesus was breaking the third command but that Jesus was breaking their commands which defined the third command. God never said that healing, carrying a mat, and shelling grain in your hands was work. These are laws made up by the Pharisees. Although at first appearance it looked like Jesus broke God’s law, a closer examination reveals that it was man’s law he was breaking.

6. Listen to what others are saying; give them the benefit of the doubt.

The Pharisees would not listen to Jesus. They always approached Jesus with the idea in mind that he was wrong. Many times we approach spiritual matters the same way. We often feel that if we have never seen it done that way, it must be wrong. Notice what makes a person noble in God’s sight. “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true,” Acts 17:11. Two things made the

Christians at Berea noble. 1.“They received the message with great eagerness.” These people were not resistant and self opinionated. They welcomed new teachings with open arms. 2. “They examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” Although the Bereans were very receptive they were not gullible. This is a hard balance for most of us. This attitude allows God’s will to penetrate our hearts —this was not the attitude the Pharisees possessed.

7. Don’t judge a sermon by the way it is delivered but rather by its content and meaning.

From what we can gather regarding John the Baptist, he was not much to look at, but he delivered God’s message. Paul said he was not much to look at, yet he delivered God’s message. Jesus had “...no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him,”( Isaiah 53:2) yet he delivered the message of life.

8. Don’t place your trust in men. Place your trust in God.

It is difficult to place our trust in someone we cannot see, but when we think about it, there is no one that we can see who is completely trustworthy. Abraham was the father of the faithful but he lied. Moses was the great leader of Israel but he murdered and failed to give God proper respect. David was a man after God’s own heart but he committed adultery and murdered Uriah. Paul was the author of much of the New Testament but he also committed murder. Each of the elders and preachers that we respect so highly have done things that would disappoint us. God has never let us down. Tons of evidence prove that God is there, He’s aware and He cares. Tons of evidence prove that He can be trusted.

9. Don’t be greedy; be generous.

When Jesus cleansed the temple he put an end to much of the Pharisees’ “under the table” money. They hated the loss of their ill gotten gain. Because of their greed they had their hearts set against him from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. If we have our eyes fixed on earthly gain we will never really see Jesus and the heavenly reward. Jesus promised,

“Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap," Luke 6:38.

10. Don’t be jealous. Be loving.

Our sinful nature demands that we selfishly horde all the praise we can. But God said, “Give everyone what you owe him… if honor, then honor,” Rom 13:7.

11. Love the praise of God more than the praise of men.

The Pharisees had this reversed; they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. This is an easy trap to fall into and a most difficult trap to get out of. Loving the praise of God requires that we diligently guard our hearts and constantly remind ourselves that only God’s praises last. Jesus said it best,

“What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matt 16:26-27.

12. Be aware of Satan’s influence—fight it.

God taught us to, “...Resist the devil, and he will flee from you,” James 4:7. It appears that most of the Pharisees didn’t even try to get Satan out of their lives. A successful life is a constant battle against Satan. We must never give up. The devil’s temptations will change as we pass through life and like any other skill, we will get better as we practice, but we can never let our guard down.

13. Don’t be afraid to stand up for the truth.

It would be good if we all did some study on the “Militant Messiah.” A common misconception is that Jesus never raised his voice, became angry or spoke harshly against anyone. Both Jesus and his followers were in a constant battle. Reread this book and notice how he unrelentlessly stood for what is right even when it was unpopular. He fought even when his fight caused him great suffering and even when it would ultimately bring about his own death through terrible torture. Jesus is our example. We must exercise to be strong and we must never stop fighting.

14. If we keep our hearts soft, God will not harden them.

In the book of Exodus it is mentioned four times that Pharaoh hardened his heart; then it is mentioned 12 times that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. In Acts 16:14 we find, “The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.” At first glance it appears that man has no voice in the matter. The truth is that man starts down the road and God allows us to go farther. James 4:8 says, “Come near to God and he will come near to you.” The Pharisees knew that Jesus performed notable miracles but they were not grateful and therefore God allowed them to become so callus they couldn’t desire the truth. We must be careful that we don’t make the same mistakes others did.

Again, we showed that there were over 500 witnesses to the resurrection and a whole list of people testified that Jesus was who he claimed to be. The witnesses were competent for they were men and women who were there and for the most part levelheaded business people. The witnesses had no ulterior motives, no personal axes to grind, for they were shocked into the reality of the resurrection and endured torture and death rather than change their testimony. The world is still silent with any credible contradictory evidence.

In this book we examined the evidence that proved that…

1. Jesus was a true historical figure.

2. Jesus performed miracles.

3. Jesus had power to satisfy all human needs.

4. Jesus was raised from the dead.

5. Jesus was the prophesied Messiah.

Jesus is indeed, the God of the universe!

1.& 2. Jesus was a true historical figure who performed miracles.

Both secular and Biblical history amply proves that Jesus was an historical figure who performed miracles.

3. Jesus had power to satisfy all human needs.

The disciples’ claims are also their testimony that Jesus had the power to supply all human needs.

4. Jesus was raised from the dead.

There were over 500 witnesses to the resurrection and a whole list of people testified that Jesus was who he claimed to be.

5. Jesus was the prophesied Messiah.

There are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament regarding Jesus, that are fulfilled in the New Testament. Most of these prophecies are regarding the promised Messiah. Jesus minutely fulfilled each prophecy.

6. Jesus in God.

The New Testament clearly and repeatedly teaches this fact.

Matthew 1:23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him ‘Immanuel’-which means, ‘God with us.’”

Luke 7:16 “They were all filled with awe and praised God. ‘A great prophet has appeared among us,’ they said. ‘God has come to help his people.’”

Luke 8:39 “’Return home and tell how much God has done for you.’ So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.”

John 1:1, 14 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

John 20:28 “Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!”

Since we have proven these things, all the other Bible claims are easy to accept—even the claim that God created man full grown and placed him on the earth just as the Bible says.

STUDY GUIDE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

1. Name one insult that Jesus threw at the Pharisees.

2. What does human nature tell us to do when we are insulted?

3. According to Proverbs 10:17 what should we do when we are corrected?

4. Can you name a close relative that you have been jealous of at one time or another?

5. Name three people in the Bible that had relatives who were jealous of them?

6. Name one person in the Bible who had a relative greater then himself but appears not to have been jealous.

7. Name a manmade law that is observed religiously in a church you are familiar with.

8. Write out Romans 4:15.

9. How could an understanding of Romans 4:15 eliminate problems in the church?

10. Name four things necessary for a true understanding of God’s will.

11. When we are required to make a judgment what should we learn from John 7:24?

12. Did Jesus break God’s law when he healed on the Sabbath?

13. With six other days in the week when Jesus could have healed, why do you think he often chose the Sabbath Day to heal?

14. According to Acts 17:11 what two things will make us noble in God’s sight?

15. Should we view all new teaching with a skeptical eye?

16. If we are receptive to new spiritual teachings, how can we keep from being “…tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming,” Eph 4:14-15?

16. How can we pay more attention to the content and meaning of a sermon than to the way it is delivered?

18. Why should we not put our trust in men?

19. Why should we put our trust in God?

20. What personal benefit do we get from being generous?

21. How can we honor people who do a great job in our worship services?

22. If we don’t give honor to those who deserve it what bad things may result?

23. Why should we desire the praise of God more than the praise of men?

24. How can we develop the desire for the praise of God?

25. How can we overcome the devil’s temptations?

26. Do you think it is proper to compare our Christian life to a fight?

27. What did Jesus do that would make you think he was a militant Messiah?

28. Why does God harden some hearts and open others?