[0:00] They say it's warming up now. But I hope it's not really going to warm up too much.! I hope it settles back down.
[0:12] What if we got more rain? Wouldn't that be great? I'd take that. But the warm weather's coming. You know it's coming. I feel like I got cooked a little bit in the sun yesterday.
[0:24] And it just was a reminder. Don't play with that sun, Toby. Don't play with that sun. It wins every time. So we're going to start in Luke. We'll get there in a moment.
[0:35] I'm going to try to finish up here some study and some comments and things about teaching. And I've covered a lot of material so far, and I don't want to drag this out any further.
[0:46] But we've kind of pivoted to just looking at the Lord Jesus Christ as the greatest teacher of all time. And just looking and began last week looking at some methods that he put to use in his ministry and teaching.
[1:00] Because if you looked it up, you might find that the Bible gives credit to him teaching more than it does to him preaching. Not to say that that's, you know, try to weigh the one against the other, but it's certainly a very necessary piece and portion of the ministry.
[1:16] And ministering the Word of God is teaching it. And so we're looking at him. We're looking at how did he teach. He taught as one having authority, but how? Did he just drop a bomb and walk out of the door?
[1:29] You know, what did he do? So what we saw was he used some simple illustrations. And I took you through a couple places, just one after the other. He didn't park on him. He didn't stay there all day. He just said, you're likened to salt, likened to light.
[1:44] Talked about sheep and wolves in sheep's clothing. Talked about fruit trees, bearing fruit, evil fruit, good fruit. And just one after the other, just bang, bang, bang, illustrated spiritual truths.
[1:56] Things that could have otherwise been over their heads completely. But he brought it down to the natural world and to things that they could see or understand and therefore receive the truth.
[2:07] And you remember all the I am's of John? That Jesus, there's seven of them, but many of them are very simple illustrations like I am the door. And that statement gives an understanding of coming in and out.
[2:22] You come through me to the fold and you come through me to get in and out to find pasture. I'm the door. He says in that same chapter, John 10, I'm the good shepherd. Everybody knows what a shepherd is and who the sheep are.
[2:35] And there's an illustration in that. There's lessons in that. There's truths to be understood and discerned of who this person is when he's speaking to them. He calls himself the true vine in John chapter 15.
[2:48] So he says, abide in me. Without me, you can do nothing. And the picture is a vine, branches, and fruit bearing out of those branches or out of those vines. So that's the thought.
[2:59] And so much of that. He calls himself the bread of life. He says he'll offer the woman living water. She'll never thirst again. All of these concepts, bread, water, vines, all of it is simple, down-to-earth object lessons and illustrations.
[3:15] Actually, the object lessons was the second thing where he sat a little child in front of them and said, Now look at this little helpless child and then explain some things or use that child, that visual, to illustrate a truth and to teach them.
[3:30] He used bread and wine as he broke it, as he poured it forth, illustrating his broken body and blood that would be shed. The fishermen were mending their nets and he said, I'll make you fishers of men.
[3:40] And there they are in their very hands as a net and they know how they operated that net and cast it out to try to draw in fishes. And now they're going to use the word of God to try to cast it forth and spread it abroad to try to draw in souls of men.
[3:57] There's other things. And so you get the idea. He communicated truth that was over their heads and hard to receive and understand or comprehend. He did it with simple, natural things.
[4:07] So let's look at now another method that he used. Would you find Luke 13? And let's read together the first five verses and consider something else that Jesus Christ used.
[4:18] To try to relate truth to his listeners. Verse 1 says, They were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
[4:32] Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things? I tell you nay. But except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
[4:44] Or those 18 upon whom the tower of Siloam fell and slew them. Think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you nay.
[4:55] But except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. What's he using here? He's using current events. Things that were alive in the cycle of news in that very day.
[5:08] This just in. A tower fell. And it killed, what was it, 18? Yeah, 18 people dead.
[5:19] Like that stuff's on our LA News every day of the week. And then the national news every day of the week is what happened today. What happened over here? What happened in that neighborhood? All of that stuff.
[5:30] Jesus Christ used those things to teach them something. To adjust. Because they were supposing that these things happened because they were some bad people.
[5:42] Vengeance of God. He got them. That tower fell on the wicked ones. The children of Belial. They might have assumed that. He said, do you suppose that that's why that happened? Do you suppose that those Galileans, that Pilate, mingled their blood with their sight?
[5:57] Do you suppose that that horrible thing took place to these Galileans, these Hebrews up in our northern country? Do you suppose that happened because they were some just horrible people?
[6:08] He said, no, that's not why it happened. And I'm going to teach you something that you need to repent or you're going to perish just like those did. And there's an interesting side thought here if you want to consider it.
[6:20] That when he said, ye shall all likewise perish, I can take that pretty literally because in the near future, after they rejected their Messiah and crucified the King of the Jews, there was some horrible things that came upon them.
[6:36] And one of the things that came upon them was taking towers and structures and knocking them down and leveling cities to the ground. And especially Jerusalem is what he's referring to in verses 4 and 5.
[6:49] On top of that, to have a government persecuting and killing people, that also happened. And so very much true that if they don't repent, they'll likewise perish.
[7:03] So the point here is that there were misguided minds and they were being reproved about their thinking and perhaps even their teaching.
[7:14] And Jesus Christ used a current event, something that they were all aware of, something that they were speaking one to another about. Did you hear about this?
[7:24] That's the way, you know, we're still the same as they ever were. Nothing's changed. We pass on that information all the time. But he's using that not to give his political position.
[7:35] He's using that to relate a spiritual truth to this people that they too need to repent, that they're not okay. Don't suppose that the bad things just happen to the wicked ones because that makes you think as long as you're not in their shoes, you're fine.
[7:50] Wrong. I tell you nay, he said. Do you remember in John chapter 9 when they saw that blind man, blind from his birth? Do you remember what they were thinking about him? Which man did sin?
[8:02] Was it him or was it mom and dad? Neither of them. See how misguided their thinking is? And the same thing carries into this passage here where they're just assuming, well, they had to be the worst sinners because bad things happen to sinners, right?
[8:17] So Christ had to teach them something they didn't believe or understand, and he used a current event. It's a good idea to have your mind programmed and prepared to use things in your world to relate spiritual truth.
[8:33] To do this, you're going to have to be spiritually minded. It doesn't mean that you have to exercise and prepare everything you hear to relate it to the gospel.
[8:44] You just have to be walking with God. And I remember a couple years ago taking a trip up to the north a little bit, stopped by Hilton Smith's house, picked him up, and he and I drove with Samuel.
[8:55] We drove up into Oregon, and we went to meet a young pastor there that had just taken a church in Grants Pass, Oregon. And so we went up there, and as Hilton Smith passed on, he went somewhere else, and I went in.
[9:08] And I got to the guy's house. Samuel and I walked into his backyard where he was messing with some plants. He was growing a garden, and he was just fooling with it. And we just introduced and met each other.
[9:18] And he's like, Brother Walski, he's like, do you ever notice how much spiritual truth there is in a garden?
[9:30] Because he's just there working by himself, and these thoughts are hitting him. And it just right out of my mouth said, yeah, if you're spiritually minded, you see truth in everything.
[9:41] It's everywhere. It's all around us if you're spiritually minded. If you're not, a lost man doesn't see that stuff. He doesn't pick it up. It doesn't relate to him in any way. He's blind to it.
[9:52] But a spiritual man will see things that I don't want to get into, but there's a huge lesson in a garden alone of truth, of related to God and His Word.
[10:02] Same thing with current events. Things that happen in the news, you can take them and use them to witness to somebody and to point them to Jesus Christ. It's going to be up to you to have that mind that's spiritually in tune with these things and able to relate them.
[10:20] Let me show you some more. You're in Luke. Look at chapter 10. So that category, I'm not going to go further with it. I think it's very clear and it's relatable to you and I today of using the headlines in the news, the conversation at the job site, and using those things to get some spiritual truth, whatever it would be.
[10:41] That would be on the Lord to guide your mouth and your mind and the situation and you just go with that. You can't really pre-program that one.
[10:53] The next one is he uses stories or he uses, in some cases, parables. Now, you're very familiar with parables. And in Matthew 13, there's seven of them about the kingdom of heaven, just one after the other.
[11:06] And these are more detailed than just a simple illustration of saying you're the light of the world. And these is more of a fact-to-fact thing to compare and contrast in some cases.
[11:21] These are things that are more involved and there's more to them. So I won't take you through the ones in Matthew 13. It's a long chapter and you can do that on your own. But there's a lot of parables in this Bible where Jesus Christ says, hear a parable about this and then relates it to what it is.
[11:39] Luke chapter 10, I'll take you here because I want to get this in your mind because it's going to come back around in the next hour. So in verse 30, Jesus is answering a question.
[11:49] The question in verse 29 is, who is my neighbor? A scribe that's willing to justify himself to Jesus. Well, who's my neighbor? Like, love your neighbor as yourself.
[12:00] Well, who's my neighbor then? And so the answer comes in verse 30 with a story. Not just a statement. Could have been a statement, but instead a story. Why the story? Because there's so many different elements that could come out of that story and then be placed upon or embedded into this truth, into this teaching.
[12:19] A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead. The listener is engaged immediately.
[12:30] If he just answered the question, your neighbor's the one that you don't like. It's the Samaritan or it's those in your life. They're all your neighbors, this teaching. But here he's going to say, you know what?
[12:41] And then he just catches every single ear by talking about a story of somebody getting beat up and left for dead. And every single one of you, there's something natural inside of you that just gravitates to listen, to negative things.
[12:57] I don't know why, but it's in us. You'll hear them, you'll listen to the news and to all the bad things that happened. And then when it comes around the positive, turn the channel. I don't want to hear about that goodwill stuff.
[13:09] So here they go, leaving him half dead. And by chance, there came down a certain priest that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise, a Levite, when he was at that place, came and looked on him and passed by on the other side.
[13:20] But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion on him. And he went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
[13:35] And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him. Whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among thieves.
[13:50] And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go and do thou. He's speaking to the scribe now that was willing to justify himself. Who's my neighbor?
[14:01] Then you, Mr. Scribe, you go and do just like that Samaritan did. And so there's the teaching, and it comes out of a story. A story that is very understandable, relatable, and even somewhat catchy to the ears, in the sense that there's some violence, there's some pain, there's some suffering, and there's some people that were just ignoring him, the cruelty of this, there's some drama.
[14:30] It's all, elements are all in there, and it's, I can tell you, anybody that's, not just the scribe, anybody in the room stopped and listened, till he was finished. Because that's, it was storytelling.
[14:41] Telling a story using parables. These are very effective things. Find Matthew 21. I'll give you one more quick one on this. Matthew 21.
[14:54] A very popular thing, and you're familiar with this, if you've read through these gospels, in the ministry of Christ, and his teaching was to use a parable, or to use a story. In Luke 16, he tells them about a rich man, he tells them about a man named Lazarus, a beggar.
[15:09] And then he relates to them hell. He relates to them not getting out of hell, even though they might want to, or they, no. He relates some truth to them using a story.
[15:22] Here in Matthew 21, find verse 33. Hear another parable. Another parable. There's one after the other.
[15:34] Hear another parable. There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it about, and digged a wine press in it, and built a tower. Look at him, just laying this whole scene in front of them, in one verse.
[15:46] And built a tower, and led it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And I don't want to take the time to read through all this, but if you're familiar with it, there's a teaching to this. At the end of this, he's teaching this against the chief priest.
[16:00] Verse 45 says, When the chief priest and Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. And he's teaching them that there's destruction coming to you.
[16:10] You're guilty of rejecting not only God's preachers, but God's Son. And again, just not taking the time to break it down, that's not the point here, but it's to show you his use of storytelling, and of parables.
[16:24] Stories and parables like this, they keep the attention of the listener. Far more than just giving the answer. And on top of that, they're memorable. There's something about that story, that picturesque verbiage, the scene that's painted in your mind, that you can remember this thing, and then remember the relation to the truth that is being told.
[16:47] So these are very effective. Using illustrations, using object lessons, using current events of our news cycle of our day, and of using stories and parables.
[16:59] Now, there's one more that I want to point out here. Go to Matthew 23. Just turn a page. Did you, I don't suppose you caught it, but at the end of the story in Luke 10, about the good Samaritan, the very last thing he said, well, I'll read it to you so I don't misquote it.
[17:22] The very last thing he said to the scribe was, which now of these three thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?
[17:33] He asked him a question. He turned around the teaching, or he gave him all the information, and then he questioned him. He tested him. He checked him to see, so what do you think about that?
[17:47] Where are you, and what I just related to you? And so the last category I want to give you in his teaching, is he used questions. He used questions.
[17:58] It's a super effective means of, not just discerning where the person is. I think that's, you have to do that. You have to ask questions, especially if you're witnessing, or if you're trying to teach anybody.
[18:12] You have to ask questions in a classroom setting, or in a one-on-one setting, to find out, do they even understand what I'm talking about at all? Or are they just nodding their head, and not even listening? You have to ask the questions, but on top of that, it also allows you to steer the conversation, or steer the truth, and force them to be the ones to say it, or to admit it.
[18:33] And this is a very effective method here. So you can engage someone else in the topic. You're witnessed into somebody. You want to engage them in the topic of the gospel, or of their sin, or of judgment, and ask some questions, and they're going to find themselves guilty, of the judgment of God, in just a few minutes.
[18:52] Because they, with their own mouth, admitted that they're a sinner. They, with their own mouth, admitted they are not holy, and they deserve God's judgment, and they don't have an answer for it.
[19:03] And if you do it right, you can have that sinner admitting everything, that they came in the door, saying they were a good person, and now they're admitting to you, that they need Jesus Christ. And if you offer Jesus Christ to them, do they want to be a fool, or a hypocrite?
[19:18] And so you can use, effectively use questions, to guide a conversation, as well as, to impart truth. So, let's take a look at a couple of these. Matthew 23, look at verse 16.
[19:31] Woe unto you blind guides, which say, whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing. But whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor.
[19:42] That's what they taught. That's what they believe. That's what they're teaching. And Jesus Christ said, I've got to correct that. And here's how I'm going to correct it. Let me ask you a question. Ye fools and blind, for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple, that sanctifieth the gold?
[20:03] So which is it? They have to think. I never thought about that. I never had that posed to me. I was just always taught that it's, the gold's the greatest.
[20:15] Look at verse 18. Whosoever, another teaching, another false teaching, whosoever shall swear by the altar, it's nothing. But whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
[20:27] I swear to God above, by the gift upon this altar. So what? The altar, he says, is the one that sanctifies that gift.
[20:38] Verse 19, he fools and blind, for whether is greater. Question. Answer this question. The gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? The gift is nothing, if it's not on that altar.
[20:49] So it makes sense, once you're forced to think upon these things, he's asking a question, that is actually teaching them something, and guiding them back into truth.
[20:59] Look at chapter 12. Back to your left a little bit. Matthew chapter 12. Here's something that he's going to point out to them, that they never would have assumed, or considered, had he not questioned them.
[21:20] Verse 46. Matthew 12, verse 46. While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without desiring, to speak with him.
[21:33] That's his family, his flesh and blood, after the flesh. Then said one unto him, behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.
[21:43] But he answered and said unto him, and told him, who's my mother, and who are my brethren? Who are you talking about? When you say, my mother and my brethren, or want to talk to me, who are you talking about?
[21:54] And nobody in their right mind would be like, well, oh, of course. No, they're like, well, it's your mother.
[22:05] You only got one. Your brethren, they're here. They come to see you. Nobody understands what he's about to say, or what he's going to convey, but the question causes them to be like, nobody answered that, right?
[22:19] That's rhetorical. Who is my mother? Who is my brother? We think that's obvious, but it must not be obvious. What is it then? He stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, behold, my mother, and my brethren, this is my family.
[22:35] These are my people. Not pushing aside his mother, and his brothers, and sisters, but saying, we're, he's relating to them something that is true with God as our father.
[22:47] We are a family under him, and in his love, and in a relationship with him, and yet, when somebody comes and says, hey, it's your mom, and your brothers and sisters out there, you need to go see them, and he's like, no, no, no, you don't understand, but asking the question stops them, and makes them think on something, and relates then a truth, that otherwise, they would not have known at all.
[23:09] Let me give you one more passage on this thought here. Go to Luke 17. This is the final passage to turn you to about these questions that Jesus asked. There were actually, if you want to look for them and make a list, you're going to have a long list, because it's a thing he did quite a bit, was ask questions.
[23:26] Ask questions. It forces the student or the other to engage in the topic, and it can lead to the right conclusion.
[23:37] It can make the individual think critically, instead of just listen. And you know as well as I do, when you're in conversations with people, and they're talking, sometimes you're just thinking about what you want to say.
[23:47] And so if you had asked a question, oh, now you have to answer the question. And so this is huge. This is great. Luke 17.
[23:58] Let's find this in verse 7. Verse 7. Question. Which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he has come from the field, go, sit down to me?
[24:14] Will not rather say unto him, make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself and serve me, till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?
[24:26] Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded of him? I trow not. I don't think so. When a servant comes out of the field working, you don't say, hey, let me help you, let me feed you now, you worked well.
[24:39] If you're the master, you say, all right, now get to your next job. And take care of dinner. It's time to eat. Because they're your servant. You're paying them. You're hiring. So which of you would do that?
[24:50] The answer is none of them would do that. So likewise ye, verse 10, when ye have done all those things which are commanded you, like a servant, say, we are unprofitable servants.
[25:04] We have done that which was our duty to do. He wanted to teach them this service, servitude. He wanted them to see this in a different light and so he related it to something in their very own world, masters and servants, and showed them that, no, now you're the servant, guys.
[25:23] You're the servant. You don't boss people around. You're the unprofitable servant. You're just doing your job and you do it all the way until it's finished.
[25:34] And which of you would do this? They're asking, and they're thinking about it, they're hearing him, they're thinking, and their answer would be, none of us would do that that way. We would expect that servant to complete his service all the way to the end, and so likewise ye.
[25:50] That's what you are, your servants. And so this is, I'm showing you just a handful, just a, just a one here, one there. They're all over the Gospels. I don't know that you want to mark your Bible up in this, but if you had a separate copy, a cheap Bible, and you wanted to go through and mark every question Jesus asked and flip through, you'd see a lot of color in the text, in these, in the Gospels.
[26:14] It's just a very, very popular thing. And it's an effective thing as well in trying to convey truth. There's so many more of these, and one time he said to them when they're on the boat, he said, children, have ye any meat?
[26:27] He knew they didn't have anything. He knew they didn't catch anything. He's about to say what to do and how to find it and how to draw in so much, and it was going to be a miraculous thing in the next few minutes.
[26:39] Have ye any meat? And they're going to find out in just a moment, oh, that's the Lord. That's the Lord talking to us. One time he said to Peter at the end of the Gospel of John, lovest thou me more than these?
[26:53] He's asking the question, but it's not just, I'm curious, I need to know an answer. What do you think, Peter? No, he's using that question to guide a conversation, to get to a heart of a matter, to get to Peter.
[27:08] This is just his way. He said to his disciples, wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? I think he said that specifically to Peter, but he said, of course I will, and likewise said they all.
[27:21] Will you lay down your life for my sake? Will you, really? Really? And they had to think on that. Yeah, of course, of course we will. I wonder how confident they were in their answer. It was the right answer, you know, to say it.
[27:33] You can't say no. We're going to leave you high and dry. They had to say yes. But underneath that, I wonder inside if they were thinking, hmm, will I?
[27:44] Never thought about that. Am I willing to lay down my life for him? Is he worthy? Does he deserve my allegiance? And therein is the question draws out so much truth and information out of the heart.
[28:00] So it's an extremely effective method to teach some things and to convey some things. So, almost finished. I'm just going to spitfire a few more thoughts to you. Find Acts chapter 5.
[28:12] Acts chapter 5. And with another hand, get Colossians chapter 1. Acts 5, Colossians 1. I told you at the beginning of this study that teaching and preaching go hand in hand.
[28:31] I cannot say that one takes precedent over the other. They complement each other. They belong together. And I don't see any time to elevate one above the other.
[28:43] We do not want to ignore one and cling to another, ever. But I just wanted to be clear again, show you a few more verses here, how they are connected.
[28:54] Acts chapter 5 and verse number 42. Near the end here. Acts 5, the end of the chapter. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
[29:14] Teach and preach Jesus Christ. Find Colossians chapter 1. Colossians 1.
[29:25] Find the end of this chapter. When he's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 28, he said, Whom we preach. And then describes that in a phrase, Warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom.
[29:40] A description of their preaching was warning and teaching. Interesting how that, I don't know if that's quite a definition. I wouldn't say it is exactly, but it sure is a description of his preaching.
[29:53] We're doing this warning every man and we're doing this by teaching every man in all wisdom. That's the definition of his preaching in that context. So, the two go hand in hand.
[30:04] They say that teaching is aimed at the head. Preaching is aimed at the heart. Teaching causes you to know and preaching causes you to act or to do. Teaching informs preaching challenges.
[30:18] But it's awful hard to challenge without being informed. It's awful hard to do if you don't know. And they go together and they belong together.
[30:29] And so we want to keep them together and never distinguish or elevate the one and pretend the other is unnecessary. A few quick thoughts and I'll just turn you to one last reference.
[30:40] Go to Acts 28. Acts 28. This is a last reference. And when it comes to this ministry of teaching and whatever part you may have in it, whether it's in a classroom setting, in a Sunday school setting, or with children or teenagers or adults, whether it's in just imparting truth to a lost sinner, whether it's in a...
[31:11] Who knows? You figure it out. Whatever the setting is, approaching this ministry, there's a few things I think ought to be in your heart and in your mind. And the one is that the teacher must believe and understand that the Word of God is the authority for all instruction, for all truth, all spiritual truth, obviously what we're dealing with.
[31:35] The Word of God, this Holy Bible, has got to be the authority. Not the way you were raised, not the way people talk around you or in your neighborhood.
[31:45] It's got to be coming out of the book. If you can't teach this as truth in some other country or in some other time, then it may not be truth. It may just be kind of the way you see the world today.
[31:59] And so look at Acts chapter 28. I'm going to show you this. In Isaiah, you remember the phrase that... where he talks about learning and he says precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little, just building one thing upon another.
[32:13] It's all biblical spiritual truths. Lay a foundation, build upon it, all from the Word of God. Find Acts 28. And these guys wanted to hear from Paul.
[32:24] They wanted to hear what he had to say. Verse 21, it says, They said unto him, We neither received letters out of Judea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came, showed, or spake any harm of thee.
[32:37] But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest. We want your opinion, Paul. We want you to tell us what you think. For as concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it's spoken against.
[32:52] When they appointed a day when there came many to him in his lodging, to whom, notice what he did. He expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus.
[33:06] And how did he do it? Both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets. He had a copy of the scriptures and that's the only source, that's the authority he used.
[33:18] We want to know what you think, Paul. Well then let me take you to the Holy Bible. That's what I'm going to give you. That's what the teacher does. The Word of God has got to be the authority and the means that you use in the teaching.
[33:32] It's got to be founded upon that. Talk about the birds, talk about the traffic, talk about whatever you can, but it's got to be a truth that's proposed and taught in the Holy Scriptures.
[33:45] So the Bible must be authority. Teachers then, I believe that you want to come from this angle that truth is not up for debate. It is not, how do you feel about this and well, do you agree with that?
[33:58] It's not up for debate. You teach the Word of God with the authority that this book has. And if somebody doesn't agree with it, then we disagree. That's where it stops.
[34:09] If I can't convince you from the Word of God, if you're not going to see it that way, then this is as far as it goes. The Bible is the truth. The truth is not up for debate.
[34:19] And a teacher must know the truth and must deliver that truth in a firm and a certain manner. A teacher that stands, that's reluctant, that's uncertain, you know, you can be that way about some future events that are prophetic or that are mysterious and say, I don't quite have a handle on this, not sure about this.
[34:42] But when it comes to things that are elementary, the gospel of Jesus Christ, you can't be like, I think I may have told you this just comes to mind, this preacher stood in a pulpit and he read this verse to his congregation from Romans chapter 8.
[34:57] He's studying, they're going through it verse by verse, and he said, for we are saved by hope. And he just didn't know how to handle the verse. And so he said, well, you know, the Bible says that we're supposed to call upon the name of the Lord and thou shalt be saved and it says we're saved by hope, so I guess we call upon the name of the Lord and hope we're saved.
[35:19] And I was in a pew in this Baptist church in Ocean City, Maryland on vacation and I'm sitting there like, what? You're the pastor and you're saying, well, we call on the Lord and hope it works because of that verse right there.
[35:34] Oh, get out of the pulpit, man. Don't tell people that. You're just putting a cold blanket of confusion on everybody's heart that has doubts like everybody does at times.
[35:51] Falls into sin, falls into a mess. Does God even hear me? Real life problems. And then the preacher's saying, I hope you're saved. So the teacher's got to know the book and the teacher has got to be trained and the teacher has got to be able to teach with authority and certainty.
[36:10] That was a mark of Jesus Christ that stood out. Never man spake like this man. We couldn't arrest him. Have you ever heard him speak? My goodness. We weren't going to touch him.
[36:21] They feared him when they heard him speak. His words were with such wisdom. It says that he taught them having authority, not as the scribes.
[36:32] So teachers must first be taught. They must use the Bible as their authority. They must speak the truth that they know for certainty with that resolve. Any form of reluctance and any form of uncertainty will definitely cast doubt upon the truth of the teaching.
[36:51] It's not about fake it until you make it. It's about know what you're talking about and believe it and then let it come out as so. One more thought, and this is a final thing, is teachers must not be perceived as hypocrites.
[37:06] Now I know that we're all sinners and I know that when you're commanded to speak the truths of God, you have to put the book out. And you can't just put out the book that you're good at or ignore the rest of it.
[37:17] It's the whole counsel of God. And so there's a responsibility and a duty to proclaim the truth whether you got it down pat in your life or not. Yet at the same time, a teacher that stands before an audience and proclaims the truth of the Word of God, the audience often interprets that view based upon the man giving it or the speaker.
[37:44] They look at you and think, but are you doing that? But is that real in your life? Because if it's not real, then why are you telling me to do that? And that's just natural for man to look at, to just view things that way.
[37:58] And so a teacher should live it. They shouldn't be perceived as a hypocrite. You remember Dr. Sam Gipp, he's one of his things over his years of ministry is read your Bible, read your Bible, be a Bible reader.
[38:08] He would preach full-on messages about that and he'd come out to say that he reads 30 pages of the Bible a day and instead of saying this is what you all need to do, he would teach and preach a message that his view and his conviction and belief is that all of God's people should read 10 pages a day.
[38:25] And he would give reasons why. Now he can't say from the Bible it says 10 pages right there, chapter and verse. He can't say that, but this is his belief is to get you in the book and to try to get you really in the book.
[38:38] And so he would preach that. You know what kept him from being a hypocrite of telling you to read 10 is that he himself reads 30. So when you look at that, you're like, okay, he's practicing what he preaches and then some.
[38:52] And he's not trying to put something on me more than I can bear that he himself doesn't bear like the Pharisees and the hypocrites do. In another light though, there's a man that I went in our church back east that I think on a summertime pastor had some of the men preach, gave them opportunity on Wednesday nights to preach.
[39:13] And this guy, the first time he ever had an opportunity, he did a pretty good job, I'd say. But one thing he said was, there's a ministry in the church on Thursday nights that the men, certain men would come out, we'd go make visits.
[39:24] If there was a visitor that came, then we'd get their card and address and some people would go visit them. Somebody's in the hospital, somebody go visit them and all this. And there's always a list and there's always about, I don't know, seven, eight guys, ten guys that would show up every Thursday night to go on visitation.
[39:41] And so, this guy's preaching and he's talking about being faithful and being faithful to serve God and he's going on and he says, and you come into church on Wednesday nights and he says, and Thursday night visitation, you ought to be at Thursday night visitation.
[39:55] And I was like, I've never one time seen you come to Thursday night visitation. What are you talking about? You're telling us we should, the whole church, we should all be at Thursday night visitation and you don't come?
[40:08] And I didn't get offended by it because I went and I just felt it was of the Lord that it was what I did. But I didn't, I thought, man, I'm not sure if you're in the right place to be telling people to do something that they know you don't do.
[40:23] It's not a good look on you. And don't you know that the next night, Thursday night, he was there. He was there the first time and the last time.
[40:34] And it just made him look like a hypocrite. And so as a teacher, you don't want that, right? Because it's a bad look on you and then the people, why would they believe what you say? Because if you're then the representative, they're judging the message by the messenger.
[40:49] And so you got to be careful with that. So anyway, all right. There's a lot, there's even more thoughts to say and I'm getting off topic here from the beginning. I believe teaching, Bible teaching is effective.
[41:00] I think it's necessary. I know it's necessary. It's of the Lord. It's of the Lord to teach you and to build upon these truths and then to preach these truths to you as well to cause you to act and to do and to operate in the Christian life knowing what you believe and then living what you believe.
[41:18] And you can't discern sometimes which is teaching and which is preaching. Sometimes they go so closely together or belong together that it just is what it is. It's just giving you truth. There's methods to it.
[41:29] Jesus Christ showed us a way. A great teacher and if you're going to have your place in this then whether it's even just training the kids in the home there's things to use and nuggets to receive from him and from the Bible to help you with that.
[41:44] So I hope this was a benefit in some way or you learned something through it all or you see things for what they are and don't fall into that category of like preaching is for those sissies that sit in a classroom all day because that's not Bible.
[41:58] That's somebody distorted in their view or what I said from the beginning over correcting a situation where preaching is falling away and disappearing in churches and it's just sit around and talk in a circle and so to over correct from that then we have to pretend like no you preach preach preach preach preach and that other teaching sitting in a classroom is not the Lord.
[42:19] No there's both and I think I made a sufficient case for it. So let's stop there. We'll take a break and God willing find something else to discuss next Sunday.