Lenox Federated Church - Firm Foundations, Creation to Christ

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Firm Foundations

Creation to Christ

Lesson 37 - Jesus Experienced His Divinity But the Religious

Leaders Rejected Him; Jesus Chose Twelve Apostles

Questions for the LFC Firm Foundations Coordinator may be emailed to firmfoundations@lenoxchurch.org

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REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. Why did Nicodemus believe that Jesus was sent by God? Because of the miracles which Jesus had done.

2. In what were the Pharisees and others trusting to get them to Heaven?

a. Their own goodness.

b. That they were the descendants of Abraham.

3. What did Jesus mean when He said that we must be born of water? Jesus meant that we must be born again by hearing, understanding, and believing God’s Word.

4. Who uses God’s Word to cause us to be born into God’s family? God the Holy Spirit.

5. How does the brass serpent which Moses put on the pole remind us of Jesus the Deliverer?

a. Just as the snake was put on a pole and lifted up, so Jesus had to be lifted up.

b. Whoever looked at the snake was healed of the snakebite. Likewise, whoever trusts in Jesus, the Deliverer, will be saved from the power of Satan, sin, and death.

6. Why did God send Jesus to this world? To deliver the world from everlasting punishment for sin.

7. Why don’t people want to listen to God’s Word? Because they love their sinful ways. They want to please themselves.

What if we had lived during the time Jesus lived on earth as a man?

Would we be in the crowds that thronged around Him?

We are here right now, wanting to learn together about Him.

People came to see Jesus for various reasons.

- Some were curious.

- Some wanted to be healed.

- Some thought He was going to be the king who would deliver them from Roman rule.

- Some wanted to hear Him because He spoke God’s Word with power.

- But others hoped He would say or do something they could find fault with.

- They wanted to charge Him with a crime, not because He was guilty but because they were jealous of His ministry with the people.

- They didn’t want the truth; they only wanted to be looked upon as important themselves.

If we were there in the crowd, what would we be thinking?

LOCATE CAPERNAUM ON MAP BELOW.

Many people wanted to hear what Jesus was teaching.

- He taught them the Word of God.

- Jesus taught people the same message that we’re studying today.

This man couldn’t do anything to heal himself; he was paralyzed.

- No doctor could heal him.

- His friends couldn’t make him better.

- Consider:

This reminds us of the helplessness of all people. No one is able to deliver himself from Satan’s rule, the sin which controls his life, and the punishment for his sin. Good deeds or a good life cannot save us. We cannot deliver ourselves. Not even a pastor or Bible study teacher or Christian friend can deliver us. No religion or church can save us. Baptism cannot save us. Who can?

These men took their sick friend to the only one who could help him.

- Note:

The Jews built their houses with flat roofs. The roofs were made by laying beams across from wall to wall and covering them with a matting of reeds or thorn bushes. Thick clay or earth was put over the mats. There was usually an outside stairway leading to the roof.

- These men took their sick friend up onto the roof of the house.

- They broke a hole through the roof and let him down on his sleeping mat right in front of Jesus.

Jesus saw that they truly believed in Him, and He forgave the man’s sins.

These men were right when they said that only God can forgive sins, but they were wrong when they said that Jesus had sinned.

- Because He is God, Jesus had authority to forgive people their sins.

- The scribes did not believe that Jesus was God the Son who had come down from Heaven to be the Deliverer.

- They thought that Jesus was just an ordinary man.

- Consider:

Can a pastor or priest or any other man have God’s authority to hear and forgive us our sins? No! Only God Himself can forgive

Even though these men didn’t say anything, Jesus knew what they were thinking.

Jesus demonstrated His power as God by completely healing the sick man.

- The people were amazed and praised God.

- They had never seen anything like that before.

Jesus called Levi to follow Him as one of His disciples or learners. Levi was also called Matthew. When Jesus called Matthew to follow Him, Matthew was working for the Romans, collecting taxes from his own people, the Jews.

- Because tax collectors worked for the Romans, they were usually hated and despised by the Jews.

- Furthermore, the tax collectors had a reputation for exacting extra taxes from the people and keeping the money for themselves.

Matthew repented of his sin.

- He changed his mind about himself, his sin, and God’s Word.

- He agreed with God.

- He trusted in Jesus as the Savior whom God had sent into the world. Many years later, the Lord used Matthew to write one of the books of the Bible.

- The Holy Spirit told Matthew what he should write.

- Matthew is the first book of the New Testament and is full of quotes from the Old Testament, which was very familiar to the Jewish people.

The scribes and Pharisees were proud.

- They believed that they were far better than others because they fasted, prayed, and did many other things to try to please God.

- The scribes and Pharisees would not eat a meal with people like tax collectors who openly sinned.

Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees that healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people do.

Jesus did not come to help people who think they are sinless or good enough for God to accept them. Instead, He came to be the Deliverer of those who would admit that they are helpless sinners who can only be saved by the mercy of God.

The Pharisees and the other Jewish leaders rejected the message of God through John, and they also rejected the teaching of Jesus, the Savior. They were constantly watching Jesus, hoping that He would do something against their rules so they could arrest Him and condemn Him to death. Jesus obeyed all of the laws of God, but the religious leaders had added their own rules to God’s Word in an attempt to please God and be made acceptable to Him.

- One of the rules the religious leaders added was that it was wrong to heal on the Sabbath day.

- They considered that healing a person on the Sabbath was like working on the Sabbath.

- Jesus refused to follow this and the other rules which the leaders of the Jews had added to God’s Word. The Jewish leaders hated Jesus because He claimed to be God’s Son, the promised Deliverer. They also hated Him because Jesus told them that they were sinners. Jesus knew that the leaders were not honestly seeking to worship God.

- They acted religious on the outside, but on the inside, they were very selfish and evil.

- The Bible calls someone who acts like this a hypocrite. If a person tries to appear very religious when he really doesn’t care about God, that is called hypocrisy. Jesus knew men’s hearts, and He made it clear to the Jewish people that their leaders were hypocrites. Crowds of people followed Jesus.

- This made the Jewish leaders hate Him even more.

- They were jealous of Him.

- Consider:

Some people today are like the Jewish leaders in Jesus’ time. They claim to be very religious, but inside they really don’t care about God at all. These people claim to be Christians, but they have not believed God. They are still under Satan’s rule. As we mentioned before, people like this turn others away from Christ. Some people say they would never want to become a Christian because they have seen someone who claims to be a Christian yet is really a hypocrite. We should not let other people’s hypocrisy keep us away from learning about the Lord. We need to look at the Bible to see what is true and not be embittered by hypocrites. God knows each person’s heart, and He will deal with those who are hypocrites. Each one of us is personally responsible to learn about Jesus Christ and to believe that He is the Savior, the only one who can free us from Satan and sin and death.

Jesus was angry with these Jewish leaders because they had set their minds and hearts against the things which God was trying to teach them.

- Recall:

This is what the pharaoh of Egypt did when God sent Moses to tell him to let the Israelites leave Egypt. Pharaoh set his mind and heart against God and was determined to do what he wanted to do. God destroyed that evil man and ruined his country.

- It is a very dangerous thing for people to set their minds against God and His message.

- God will eventually destroy everyone who refuses to obey Him.

- No one who fights against God will win.

Jesus completely healed this man’s hand.

- No one could do that except God.

- Jesus is God, and God is all-powerful.

How did Jesus heal this man?

- What did He do?

- He just spoke, and the man’s hand was healed.

- Recall:

In the beginning when God created the world, He did it all just by speaking. Jesus is God. He created all things by simply commanding them to happen. In the same way, He commanded this man’s hand to be healed, and it was completely well.

The Herodians were the followers of King Herod.

- They did not want any other king.

- (This King Herod was the son of the Herod who tried to kill the Lord Jesus when He was a baby.)

Great crowds of people from nearby areas came to hear Jesus teach and to be healed of their sicknesses.

LOCATE JERUSALEM, IDUMAEA, THE JORDAN RIVER, AND TYRE AND SIDON AND THE SEA OF GALILEE ON THE MAP BELOW.

Jesus taught the people on the shore of the lake called the Sea of Galilee. There were so many people wanting to get near Jesus that He told the disciples to have a boat ready in case the people crowded Him. There has never been anyone like Jesus.

- He is greater than all.

- Even those who touched Him, believing that they would be healed, were healed immediately, regardless of the sickness that they had.

The Jewish leaders did not believe that Jesus was really the Son of God, but the evil spirits knew that He was. They had known Him and served Him in Heaven before they followed Satan.

Jesus told the evil spirits to be quiet.

- He did not want people to believe on Him because of what the demons said.

- Jesus wanted the people to realize, through His teaching, that they were sinners and needed Him as their Savior.

- Consider:

God does not need to show us miracles to make us believe Him. He expects us to believe because of what He has written in the Bible.

ON THE CHRONOLOGICAL CHART BELOW, LOCATE “THE TWELVE APOSTLES.”

Jesus had many disciples, or learners, who followed Him to learn the message of God. From Jesus’ large group of followers, He now chose twelve men to become His special disciples to help Him in His work of teaching, healing, and casting out demons.

- Jesus planned to train these men to become His apostles, or special representatives.

- (Sometimes the Bible refers to these men as “the twelve,” other times as the disciples or apostles.)

- You may remember reading that Jesus called Levi (Matthew) from his tax collecting booth, and Levi followed him.

- Most of these twelve disciples whom Jesus picked were not highly educated.

- Neither were they rich men.

- Some of them were fishermen before they began to follow Jesus as His disciples.

- But they saw the value of believing and learning from this Savior, Jesus Christ, whom God had sent into the world. All of them believed Him, that is, except one—Judas Iscariot.

- Judas said that he agreed with God and truly believed on Jesus, but he spoke only with his lips.

- He was a hypocrite; his mind and heart did not agree with God.

- He did not truly trust in Jesus to be his Deliverer from the control of Satan, sin, and death.

The other eleven disciples didn’t know that Judas was not a true believer, but Jesus knew what he was really like. Jesus knew that Judas would one day betray Him to His enemies.

Jesus knew men’s hearts. He healed men’s bodies. He had power over demons. Jesus Christ was truly God. But the religious leaders rejected Him. Jesus chose ordinary men to be His followers and disciples. He wanted the whole world to know that He had come to save men, women, and children from Satan’s power and from the penalty of their sins. And He knew that one of His own disciples would, in time, betray Him to death.

QUESTIONS:

1. Why did Jesus have the authority to forgive the paralyzed man’s sins?

2. Why could Jesus heal the sick?

3. What was Levi’s other name?

4. What was Matthew’s work when Jesus called him?

5. Whom did Jesus come to call and save?

6. Will those who trust in their own goodness go to Heaven?

7. Why did the scribes and Pharisees closely watch Jesus?

8. Why did they hate Him so much?

a.

b.

c.

9. Why did Jesus tell the demons to be quiet and not tell the people who He was?

10. Although Jesus had many disciples, how many did He choose to be His constant companions?

11. Were these twelve men well-educated or wealthy?

12. Sometimes people can deceive each other, but no one can deceive God. Why?

Suggested Daily Bible Readings:

Day 181: Mark, Chapters 1 and 2

Day 182: Mark, Chapters 3 and 4

Day 183: Mark, Chapters 5 and 6

Day 184: Mark, Chapters 7 and 8

Day 185: Mark, Chapters 9 and 10