So we are on lesson nine, we finished lesson eight last week, which was on, I know it was on love. Was it just love or was there love and fear? I guess we were contrasting love and fear. So basically a lot of that was law and gospel as well. So a lot of the lessons have been on the contrast, but this one is just on faith. This one, the main topic of the lesson is faith. And I think it was this past weekend I was going through this and studying for the class and there's really a lot there at the beginning. There's a lot there at the beginning in the intro, I think, interesting things to discuss. So it may take us a few minutes to get through all the introductory stuff, but if we get through that, then we're starting on chapter five. So we are getting close to the end of 1 John. We'll be getting into the last chapter, and then we'll talk a little bit after that about 2 and 3 John, which are both very brief. But, you know, maybe just a week on each of those. I think they just have one lesson, but maybe you should give at least a week to each book, you know, so we'll see. But we're in Lesson 9 in your study guide. So let's go ahead and read. So I'm going to read the first paragraph there. Again, I think there's a lot for us to think about there in those introductory paragraphs. All human beings have faith in something. In his large catechism, Luther teaches that whatever one has faith in is one's God, whether that is a pagan idol, money, learning, or anything else. In our day, some people feel that their life has no meaning unless they are in a romantic relationship. They have made relationships their god because that is where do they find comfort and security. Still others measure their worth and gain their identity from their careers. For them, their career is their god. Even atheists who argue that all religion is irrational have a god in a sense. They have made human reason their god because they find in it the source of their confidence. Okay, so yeah, there's a lot of good stuff in that first paragraph there. It starts out about faith and it says, all human beings have faith in something. Okay, what do y'all think? Everybody has faith in something. Yeah, I think so. I mean, some I'm thinking, okay, I thought we pretty much all agree with that. But I mean, a lot of people might not agree with that. You know, so I don't have faith in anything, no faith in humanity, you know, no faith in God, whatever, you know, so some people may disagree with that statement and say, that, that I really don't have faith I think that they probably have faith in something. Like if we dig deep enough, you know, if we dig deep enough, maybe their faith is in not having faith in anything and being skeptical of everything, right? Or negative about anything. That's what makes them keep going, you know? Is everything's bad, you know? But I think everybody does have faith in something to some extent, but again, that would be one. I think that just talking to people, they might not agree with that. Oh, you're a person of faith, I'm not, they would say. But certainly there's something that you believe in, yeah. I was just thinking that there's all kinds of degrees of faith, too, and that, you know, you can have faith in a number of things, like you can have faith that your money isn't going to be worth Next year what it was yeah today, and you have faith that your social security will be there So you have faith in a lot of things you have faith that when there's a four-way stop the other person Yeah, yeah, and sometimes that's bad, but I think I agree with Luther, but not that that matters. I think it's your top number one thing, is what he's talking about. And I love the large catechism. I did, I think it was in during Lent a few years back, a series preaching through the large catechism. I mean, if you've never read it, I think I said it, then please read it because the small catechism is wonderful in its brevity. But in the large catechism, it's not that bad. It's about 100 pages, maybe a little more than 100 pages. It's a pretty quick read, but he's able to flesh out some of these things. Just like it says here, what he's going through, this is from the section on the first commandment. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. I think he makes an excellent point there that whatever one has faith in, Whatever is the most important thing in their life that they focus most of their time, energy, and money on, that's their God. I remember years ago, I heard an interviewer say, like, well, if you want to see what's God, if you could get, this is back in the days of paper checkbooks. I know some people don't even have those anymore. But if you would go through your bank thing online and your checkbook and see, okay, where are they spending all their money? Where's all the money being spent? that's going to clue you in pretty much what is important to that person. What is the most important thing you know many times now maybe they have a medical issue they have to spend money on I'm saying like maybe you're that you have a choice in you know oh they're you know going out to eat all the time they must be really into food or they're going on vacations or that you know you can see learn a lot about a person by looking at you know how they're spending their money So that's what I think Luther is saying is whatever is important to that person, the most important thing in their life, that is their God. Even if they say they're not religious, that is what they're putting their time, effort, and what is the most important thing to them. He talks about that in the large catechism. There was something else I was going to say with that too. I saw, you know, in, uh, in Georgia, you have the option of getting, um, on your tag instead of the County, you can get in God, you trust and God, we trust, you know, and I, I, I've seen this at least once in Athens. Someone had got like probably one of those little razor knives and they had moved the letters around and it said in dog, we trust. Okay. Like they had like cut it. I mean, it looked like official, but they had to like cut it and carefully move it. But of course they had bulldog stuff all over their car. I said, in dog, we trust instead of in God. I'm like, well, you know, like we were just talking about what is this? What is the most important thing in this person's life? They have gone to all this effort. Georgia Bulldogs. So again, I like the Bulldogs as much as any, maybe not as much as some people, maybe not that guy, but you know, at the same time, that, that can become a gap, right? Where, you know, it's like, you're not doing other things that are probably more important. And you know, you're, you're doing that instead, you can invest an incredible amount of money, you know, going to away games and things like that. I remember when Notre Dame came and played Georgia a few years ago, I mean, it was insane how much like hotel rooms were going for and everything like that and I mean I drove a uber that weekend and I mean and then people flew in I mean they probably dropped at least 10 grand on this game you know to come to this game by the time they flew down here paid the exorbitant prices bought tickets all this I mean so you know there's You know, it's kind of interesting, you know, how much money can be spent on something. So, really anything can be what people have faith in, okay? Did you have a question? Well, you had mentioned one of them, but I was thinking about time, talents, and treasures. Yeah, yeah. We're saying that's what we're supposed to be, you know, focusing on, and that's really where your faith's at. Yeah, yeah. Is that directed towards God or something else? Are you giving your time, talent, and treasures to whatever it may be? You know, watching TV could be as simple as that. One just sits in front of the TV and watches it all day, you know, or whatever. It gives some examples in the books. Of course, the obvious one is a pagan idol, right? Have no other gods. We think of like an idol, a statue, like you see in the Old Testament, especially, but that's not really so much of a a thing in in america but we do build statues and uh again kind of on that same vein i saw it it was funny but not funny you know uh i think it was jordan informed me of this last week that nick savin had retired i saw on facebook there's like they have a nick savin statue that's already there you know when he was still coaching and then around it is all this stone with etched in years And people in Tuscaloosa were bringing things to this statue when he retired, like he apparently loves Coca-Cola and oatmeal cream pies. So they're bringing they're bringing oatmeal cream pies, Coca-Cola's balloons, flowers, like did the guy die? You know, he retired, but that's what it looked like. It was like, you know, like a memorial. like a couple people and this one said was a college student. She had like bags under her eyes like she had been crying. And you know, it's like, wow, you know, we can get so wrapped up in these things. I mean, you know, he's still with us. He's just not coaching anymore, but it was like something died, you know? And then of course, all these things. So we think of an idol that people literally worship, but it gives us some other ones that are money. I mean, that's a huge one, isn't it? The big one is money. Okay, that sounds like something from church, but it's not. It's from work. So, yeah, money, you know, Jesus says you either serve God or mammon, which mammon is kind of, sometimes it's translated as money, but mammon is materialism. I mean, that's a huge one too, isn't it? I mean, think of all of the wicked things that have been done for the sake of money, right? I mean, people have done some horrible things for money, haven't they? Okay. Yeah, so money is a huge one. Learning. Okay, learning. People can put all their trust in learning and knowledge. As far as the Bible says, thinking themselves became wise, they became fools. Now, with a lot of these things that they're giving you, are these things in themselves bad? Is money bad? Really, no. Is learning bad? No. Are relationships bad? No. But if we put any of those things above God, that's the problem because you're putting your faith in that. Okay, so learning anything else say some people might say life has no meaning unless they're in a romantic relationship. Okay, they have made relationships their God and you know, we've probably all known people like that. It's like they have to be in some kind of relationship all the time. And that can be unhealthy sometimes because they find the wrong person, you know, because they're not really being patient. Again, God has designed us to be in relationship. People do want companionship and relationship, but we can't make that our God. Those things are not necessarily bad, but they can be certainly abused. But yeah, I mean, that's a huge issue in the world today. We saw that during the pandemic get worse, didn't we? With the people were not interacting. And what has happened since then, like depression has gone way up, suicides have gone way up. And a lot of that's just people, they were not in relationship. But I know we have technology now, we're using some of it now. But I think more and more we're seeing that cannot replace what we're doing right now where you're actually like with somebody you're interacting them you can touch them and see their face you know what their body reaction is and it's you know it's it's can't replace it and i know i said that before like when we didn't have the services in person for a time you know it kind of makes you realize how important and how much of a blessing it is we can do this So again, relationship is not bad, but some people can make that their idol. I have to be in a relationship or I'm miserable, okay? And that could lead to poor choices. What is another, the next one there, he says, this is a big one for many people. What can become a God to many people? work careers, right? He says they're work. They yeah, it's where they work. Yeah. And many people that becomes their God, their work, they want to. And again, is it bad to have a job? No. Is it bad to be good at your job? No. But if that is the most important thing in your life, you know, over everything else, then it's a problem, okay? Then you've made that your God, okay? So that can certainly happen. People's identities appear. And you see this with people sometimes like if they retire or they lose their job, their life just spirals down because their whole identity was in that job. And once they don't have that anymore, then it's like they've lost their whole self. As important as work is, that's why I say don't have all of your friends and all of your connections there, because someday that's not gonna be there. And you also, many of you have probably learned this too, no one is irreplaceable at work, right? You think they can't do it without you? They'll have somebody in there, what Alabama already has a new coach, but two or three days later, right? Nick's saving the risk, well, okay, we got another guy now, okay? So you leave that job, they're gonna find something else to do it, okay? Now maybe they won't do it as well as you, but I mean, everybody can be replaced. Yeah, yeah, and many things, especially if it's large and the employees are just numbers, if they need to save money, I mean, they're gonna let you go, okay, without thinking twice about it. You're a number on, She, we need to save money, okay? And they need to go, okay? There are cases where a really good worker has been let go because they're making too much money. They can hire a younger person and pay them less. Now, that makes no sense, but they'll do it. Okay, thanks, but we're bringing somebody else in, okay? So career can become a god. All right, and then it even goes to even atheists who argue that religion is irrational have made a god in the sense, haven't they? because they have made reason their God, right? I don't think God is reasonable, or I can't see and touch God, which we actually can do more of that than some people think, but they're gonna say, then he's not real, right? But then they've basically made that reason, human reason, their God, okay? And actually, truly be an atheist you would almost have to say that you are a god yourself because if you are saying I am 100% certain there is no spiritual world out there then you are claiming to have all knowledge because unless you have all knowledge you can ask and say, well, okay, you haven't seen any proof of God, but you don't know everything. Is it possible you could experience something or something could happen that would be a proof? If they're honest and say, well, yeah, I mean, cause I don't know everything. So really. Most of them would be probably agnostics, you know, technically, saying, I don't believe because I haven't seen it. But to truly say 100%, I know there's no, God, you almost have to claim divine knowledge, you know, because you would have to know everything and have experienced everything in the world. If you said, well, I haven't seen proof yet, you know, well, you could, you know, well, no, I won't. Okay. And ultimately, with atheism, but really with all of these things, I wrote down something in parentheses at the end of this paragraph. Okay, if you don't have faith in God, what are you really putting your faith in, ultimately? What does it come down to? Yes, mom's got it there. I didn't tell her the answer before. So that's what I put in parentheses after the old paragraphs themselves. I am such a great worker and I am winning all these awards at work. I need to have my emotional needs fulfilled by a relationship. I need money so I can do the stuff that I want to do. I am too smart for God. I have this figured out. I am reasonable. I trust in science and the things I can see, not in things that I can't see. So really all of this comes down to, you're gonna have faith in something. You're really gonna have faith in God or yourself. Okay, and I think you said good works. Well, what is someone who's trying to be saved by good works, trying to please God by good works? It's putting it back on you as I'm gonna do this. You know, I can do this. I can keep these laws good enough, or I can do enough service, or I can give enough money. And then, you know, so it really, I think that's what it comes down to. You need to have faith in what? God or yourself? Okay? I think that's what it really kind of boils down to. I like to kind of explore different ideas and talk to them, but I also kind of like to boil it down to, okay, what does this really come down? What's the, what's the main thing here? Okay. It's either God or ourselves. It's really the options here. Okay. All right. So, so I want to read the second paragraph where it says for Luther, however, and then we kind of get the flip side of trusting ourself there. For Luther, however, the heart and soul of Christianity is that we look to the true God for all good things and to no other source. That is what it means to have faith. That is why Luther insisted that salvation is by faith alone. That is another way of saying that all our hope and confidence are in Christ and what he has done for us, not in our own efforts at pleasing God. For Luther, the most subtle false god is our own good works. Good works are, in fact, good and are commanded by God. But when they become the source of our confidence before God, they usurp Christ's role as our Savior. They sometimes become our God. In a simple way, John speaks of both faith and works in this section, showing us how they should relate to each other. Okay, so and I think that's you got a little bit head, but that's what he's saying, right? Is that you know that these works in effect become a false God when we trust in those those works to save us, right? So so Luther says the heart and soul of Christianity is we look to the true God for all good and and to no other source. So, I jotted down here, faith looks to God. So, what does it mean to have faith in God? It means, you know, you look to God. You look to God for salvation. You look to God to provide your daily bread. You know, you look to God in times of need, in times of blessing. So, I mean, that's and if you think about it, I think that's pretty powerful and accurate. He goes, well, if we have faith in God, we look to God, right? That's where we go. Just like if someone has faith in sports, if they want to feel better about themselves, they go to sports. If someone has faith in drinking a lot of alcohol, that's where they go if they wanna feel better and have fun, right? So faith, though, in God looks to God. looks to God and what and what he has done and what he is so so again that's why he Luther says insisted salvation is by faith alone I underline that it kind of makes sense because if it's if we look to God for faith and you know faith it would have to be faith alone because if we're looking to God plus other things then it's not really purely faith is Okay, that it's a mixture of faith and works. And again, as it says in the second part of the paragraph, we are not against good works as Lutherans, right? We are certainly not against good works. Good works are indeed good and they are commanded by God, it says. But we can't have those good works become our God and we can't rely on those good works to save us because that's I mean, it's you that are doing it. Even if it works for God, it's faith in yourself that you can do it. I mean, it's like monks. They sit around, and I never met one, but You know, I see stories of, you know, I always wonder, they're there and they're trying to do the good works, but wouldn't God rather that they were out there witnessing to other people? I mean, so they've made the good works their faith, and that's really not the faith and relationship that God would want with everybody else. And that's pretty similar to what Luther wrote about the monastic system. That was his issue with it, is that you know, as Christians, we need to be, you know, out in the world and we need to be, you know, loving and serving our neighbor. Now, Luther was technically, say he's a monk, he was a friar because the friars did go out amongst the people, but the monks, they stayed, you know, in the monastery. And I mean, you know, you look at the schedule these guys kept and the nuns as well, It's pretty dark. I mean, it's impressive. Okay, they're waking up two or three times during the night and praying. I mean, the spiritual discipline, some of these folks, I mean, that is to be admired. But then on the same point, like you said, you know, well, it's great to pray, but God wants us to actually be out, you know, not just cloistered away. Yeah, so I think that's a valid point. And that was Luther's criticism of it, is saying that, you know, really you can, you know, just, I don't know, pick a job, a carpenter or a farmer could do so much to serve God, you know, as opposed to they would, people were thinking like the monks and the nuns were superior because they pray all day in their monastery. He's like, no. God wants us to be out, you know in serving and loving our neighbor and sharing the gospel, right? Okay. Yeah, so Yeah, so good works are great and John talks about both of those, but we need to keep them in the proper perspective Okay with I think it's in Romans. It says anything that is not a faith is sin You know, so how can we even do good works? We have to have faith, okay? We have to have faith and God empowers us to do those good works and love and serve our neighbor. All right, so again, with John, it's very clear with him, and it's throughout the Bible, it's not an either or. It's not like you either have faith or you have works. You gotta have both, but you have to understand the faith is what saves you, okay? The works are in response to that, and they show your love for your neighbor and your obedience to God. So, but it's not an either-or, okay? And Lutherans have always had to defend ourselves against that. You know, the charge that we don't care about good works or anything like that. And that's certainly not the case. I love to point out to people in the Augsburg Confession, it says you must do good works to be a Christian. It says that in our confessional documents. And Melanchthon is not saying that you get faith by doing the good works, but what he's saying is, You know, and that's kind of what John's saying here, right? Oh, you, you say you have love and this, but you know, if you're never loving anyone, then I, I don't think that's true. You know, it's what he's saying. Okay. So it's not an either or, it's a both and. We just have to understand the proper relationship of that. Okay. And I think that's kind of what we've talked about a little bit last week. Wasn't it like the get to where Scott, okay. Why do we, what's the best motivation to come to church? Because we love God. We have faith in God. We, we are grateful to God. So we want to come, not just like, I got to come this many times or I'm going to get a lightning bolt. Or if I come this many times, I get a, like a sticker on my chart, a special prize, you know, kind of thing, right? That's, yeah. Yeah. So I say, cause we have like a, we've used our kids like a little sticker system sometimes, you know, good. So that's, that's not how it works. I don't think there's like a big spreadsheet up in heaven and you know, God's like got the angels. Okay. Dick came to church this week, put a star on his chart, you know? All right. He's getting close to the next blessing here. You know, if he gets here, I don't, I don't think that's, I don't think that's how it works. Okay. there's a sticker chart up there. All right. And the two paragraphs are pretty loaded with good stuff there. If there's no other questions, let's go to setting the scene here. And this is where it'll actually kind of start setting up some of the specific things from the chapter. So I'm going to read the next paragraph earlier in the epistle. Earlier in his epistle, John made the point that we are God's children because of the love he has given us. In this section, John returns to this theme, but adds another dimension to what it means to be God's child in faith. God's children believe that Jesus is the Christ. Faith in Jesus not only makes us God's children, but also makes God's commands a delight and it overcomes the world. Yeah. So, you know, faith is the essential ingredient here. You know, you, you have to have faith. Um, it'd be like, you know, baking a cake with no type of sweetener. sugar, substitute, whatever. I mean, would it even really be a cake? I mean, it wouldn't be very much of a cake, would it, if there was nothing sweet in it, okay? So, like, sugar is the essential ingredient there. I mean, faith is the essential ingredient in this relationship, okay? And so, as Lutherans, we understand we become God's child in our baptism, right? At our baptism, God reached out and he claimed us as his own. He made us his son or his daughter, but How did that happen? Was it simply because there was water involved? No, the Word was involved. And what happened with that? Faith was created. Okay, faith was created. So in baptism, we see God working through His Word, through the water and the Word, in creating faith. So yes, we become God's child in baptism, but you can't have a valid baptism without faith. Luther even writes about that in the small catechism. Without the faith, it's simple water only and has no power. Faith is the essential ingredient. Again, you can have all these other things, but without faith, we can't be forgiven. We can't be God's child. We have to have faith. All right, next paragraph, someone read that? Okay, go ahead, yes, I'm sorry, I didn't see your hand up. Right, okay, we talked about that. Let's get John or Sabrina and see if they can answer this question. We talked about that the other day. Well, that's what, I don't think they could, but I sent them a test so we'll find out. I sent them to find out what they know, but. Right, well. I believe my baptism. Sure. That's why you get baptized when you're old enough to consent. Right, well that's the Baptist position. That's what they're gonna say, right? Well, they're gonna say a couple things. They'll say, well, these babies really don't have sin that counts, which is wrong, because we have all original sin. They kind of, I don't know, wiggle around original sin there and say, yeah, they've got it, but it doesn't really count until they get to an age of accountability. It's like, well, where's the Bible verse for that? Then the other leader says, well, because they're too little to have faith, right? How can a baby have faith? Well, you have to think about the fact that how do adults get faith? The same way a child, a teenager, and a baby gets faith. Where does it come from? God, the Holy Spirit. Is saving faith something that we just study and learn it for a test or something? No. It's a work of God. You know, no matter how smart we are, we can't figure out faith intellectually. So it's a gift from God even for adults, okay? But I think adults should be instructed before baptism. But okay, well, where's a Bible verse for that, okay? It's Luke. 186, if I'm remembering off the top of my head, but one of the times when the children are coming to Jesus, and He says, it's better to have a millstone thrown around your neck if you harm these little ones. He says, these little ones who believe in Me. Okay? He says, these little ones that believe in Me, and the Greek word there for little ones, they'll say, well, these are like, you know, 10, 12 year olds. No, it's the word for infant, the Greek word for infant, okay? So, you know, and it says parents were bringing to Jesus. So I don't think they're giving like a 12 year old piggyback and sitting on Jesus lap. That's kind of weird, right? These were like parents bringing little kids. Okay. And he says that have faith in me. So, so how could these little kids, toddlers, maybe babies have faith because God had created. So that's an awesome question. Cause you're going to get that probably if you haven't already, if you talk about baptism with it. doesn't they can't understand anything yet you know it's like you know but because God is creating the faith okay God is creating the faith yeah and he even says you have to have faith like a little child exactly that's another time so and I love the the you study the interactions Jesus had with children it's so great and you can learn so much theology from that right and um you know and uh like I think it was Luther said you know something to the effect of you know like a child can understand the basics of the faith better than the Pope or something like that, you know, something like that, you know, but I mean, really, there's a lot of deep things in the Bible you can study, but I mean, the basic message of it's pretty straightforward, you know, and, but it has to be, the faith has to be created by the Holy Spirit. Okay, so that's a great question, but we do have that scripture there where he talks about the little ones that believe in me, and these were small children. All right, any other questions on that paragraph? I'm sorry, I didn't see your hand. All right, let's go to the last paragraph before we start getting to the questions here. So I'm gonna read that about faith in the vacuum here. However, faith does not exist in a vacuum. Faith is based on a testimony. From the very beginning of his first epistle, John tells us that he is giving us eyewitness testimony. Now he fills out the details of his testimony by saying somewhat cryptically that the spirit that the spirit, the water, and the blood testify. We will explore the meaning of this statement in this lesson. Yeah, so we're gonna look at that verse where the spirit, water, and blood are testifying. That's interesting. There's also a manuscript variation, depending on the different manuscripts around that verse, too, that we may talk about a little bit. Hopefully, I'm getting too far off track. But okay, so we have faith, and we understand God creates that faith. But it doesn't exist in a vacuum. Like you're saying, now for a young child, what does Jesus say, you said, Dick, about the faith of a child? Is that desirable? Yeah, he holds up a child as a model of faith. Why? Because, you know, all of us have had little kids. Little kids, do they trust their mom and dad? Sometimes even to a fault, yes. Now, what happens when they get to be about 12, though? They suddenly are endowed with all knowledge, it seems like, right? Isn't it about that age, give or take? Suddenly they become like the Pope, I have all knowledge and authority. No, no, but that's what a child just believes. Okay, they just believe, you know, a young child does not logically try to discern if Santa Claus is real, okay? When they get older, they do, they say, okay, this man in a big suit flies around the world, reindeer, he lands on a roof, comes out of the chimney and brings you stuff, sounds good, mom and dad, completely reasonable, right? Okay, and when they get older, they say, well, you know, I don't know if this really makes sense, you know? How does he get around the world? So the point is, ideally, God speaks, we believe, right? He speaks, we believe, we have faith. However, as human beings, especially as we get older, we do question things, don't we? And we do wonder things. And so that's, I think, what it's saying here is, you know, say, like a skeptic, an atheist, agnostic, or a skeptic secularist might say, yeah, you Christians, it's all just blind faith. You know, how can you guys just believe all that stuff? You know, it's just, you're accepting it blind faith, but what, the point that's being made here is we also have what? Testimony. We have the testimony of God, water, blood, and spirit, but we have the testimony of the scripture, don't we? Okay, we have eyewitnesses that John says, I was there, I saw this happen. And I'm recording it. Peter says, I saw this happen. You know, Matthew, and all the gospel writers, and Paul says, I was on the road to Damascus, and look what happened to me, you know? So it's not a blind faith. We do have the testimony. We do have the testimony of witnesses, okay? And there's, you know, all things in the historical record and everything like that. It's really amazing, even scientifically, things that have been discovered that the Bible said back in the Old Testament times, okay? So, you know, it is faith, and that comes from God, and the faith of a child is wonderful, but God does give us this testimony. He doesn't just say necessarily to a person and say, you know, here it is, you know, you believe it or you don't. Ultimately, it comes down to that, the faith, but we do have testimony. We do have evidence and things like that. It's not just a a lying faith in some unknown thing. Christianity is a historical religion. I mean, there is, you know, the Greek gods are not. Okay, that's to say, well, you know, it's just like believing in Zeus forever. No, no, it's not actually, you know, it's not. Because there's a history and evidence and archeological sites. I mean, I've been to Mount Olympus. I didn't look around the whole place, but I didn't find anything that Zeus, you know, made or whatever, you know. are these historical things that we read in the Bible that we can find. It is a historical faith. Except for the most ardent and maybe, dare I say, far out folks, are the only ones that are gonna deny that Jesus exists. Even skeptics, most of them will not, there was a real guy named Jesus, and he did stuff. Even if they don't believe he was God in the flesh. So it's not only blind faith, so to speak, we have testimony. We talked about this a little bit in the elders meeting last night, didn't we? Something related, like when the Book of Concord says the scripture is the sole rule for norms and doctrine. And we said, see, quiz you here, Dick. In Luther's time, and after Luther, when they're writing these things, are they dealing with folks who say they don't believe in the Bible, it's not reliable, anything like that, really? Is that the main thing they're dealing with? No. They're dealing with people who say, yes, we believe in the Bible, but we also think church tradition and authority is equal to the Bible. It's that and the Bible. But again, we are living in this, you know, Western, in the Western world, especially in a skeptical age, where we may need to talk about some of these things. Okay, again, I think ultimately it comes down to preaching the gospel and the Holy Spirit works. But I mean, you know, in practicality speaking, we are gonna have to talk about these things. And we say, well, there is testimony, there are witnesses, there are people who died, you know, and that for the faith that they didn't recant. I mean, if John was faking this, you know, do you think he would have wanted to spend all this time on hat books? If Matthew was faking this, do you think he would have died, you know, for it? Somebody would have would have cracked here. So I think those are both good points there the faith of a child But then also God gives us evidence. He gives us the testimony. Okay? All right in your own words Describe what it means to believe that Jesus is the Christ. You may want to review lesson four. Did anybody come up with anything there or want to throw anything out? In your own words, what does it mean to believe that Jesus is the Christ? Not just a historical figure, you know, that made the Romans angry and, you know, they killed him or whatever. But, you know, that's what they'll say, well, this rabbi lived and, you know, he was ruffled their feathers and they got rid of him. And of course, they'll deny the resurrection to skeptics. But what does it mean to believe that Jesus is the Christ? What does that word Christ mean? We learned about this a few weeks ago. Anointed one, that's definitely one of the things, but the Christ is the anointed one. In Hebrew, Christ is Messiah. He's the Messiah, the anointed one, and it speaks about in the Old Testament, the Messiah will be the anointed one, right? And then we hear about the anointing in the New Testament, okay? Because that goes back to the prophet, priest, and king. The priests were anointed in the temple, and Jesus as priest is anointed. by the Father to do this ministry. I wrote down promised one as well. He's anointed, he's Messiah, he's promised. And I would say a big thing about believing Jesus is to Christ is we are what? Faith. And we're looking to Him. Where are we looking for salvation? In our works? No. And going to some kind of holy site? No. We're looking to God. And I always like to say, a good Pastor Kerry, who used to listen to our circuit for a little while, he always liked to use the word trusting. Trusting, and I think that's good. You know, because you say, well, faith, okay, it's kind of like love. People throw the word faith around all the time for kind of even trivial things, right? But you're trusting, you're trusting God. You have faith in Him, that means you trust Him. You were trusting, wasn't him? I'm trusting Thee, Lord Jesus, trusting only Thee. Trusting Thee for salvation, fully and free. Okay, great. So that's really, that's why I put trusting in the salvation Jesus won for us. Trusting in that. Because when we try to do it ourselves, we're basically saying, God, we don't trust. Jesus, what he did is not enough. I gotta do something too. Okay? So we need to trust, we look fully to God. We're trusting God is really what that faith is. Like, again, I'm stealing this from somebody else, but it's kind of like, if you're gonna jump out of an airplane, you know, you better trust that parachute. If you don't trust that parachute to save you, you probably shouldn't jump out of the airplane. Right? Okay? So it's, you know, all analogies break down in some way, but it's almost like that's how much we should trust what Jesus has done for us. Like, we're jumping out of an airplane. And really, when we, you know, we have to, you know, if you're in your sin, you face God on judgment day and receive judgment. That's worse than jumping out of an airplane. Okay? So what is our trust we can, we've talked about this before, we can face God on judgment day? Christ. He's forgiven our sin. So we're trusting him as like that parachute. So, you know, if you would jump out of an airplane with a backpack on your back, you know, and trust it to save you, then, I mean, you need to trust God, you know, like, not just like, like, you might say, well, I have faith, you know, we might be out of school tomorrow because of the snow, but you're not really sure. Well, are you going to jump out of an airplane to take that? You know, would you be willing to do that if you're wrong? No, I don't want to do that. You know, I might be wrong. So this is like a complete trust in God and looking to Christ for our salvation. Okay. And also whenever we talk about this understanding, I love when the man whose child is having all kinds of issues comes to Jesus and he asks Jesus for help. And he said, Jesus says, do you believe? And he says, I believe, but help my unbelief, right? So God even recognizes there are, there's room for all of us to grow. There are people that are having challenges and sometimes You know, they just, they need a little prayer, a little encouragement from us, okay? Because Jesus didn't say, oh, no, we're not going to help a kid then. You know, you don't have enough faith. No, the man was very honest with him. Remember, when people came to Jesus humbly, he served them. Okay, when they came and said, you know, if he's pounded, I got the greatest faith ever, Jesus. I got the most faith in my village. Okay, he's probably blowing smoke here a little bit, right? And Jesus is gonna see right through that, all right? All right, anything else with that? All right, let's go to 94 then. What events in Jesus' life, I thought this was fascinating too, what events in Jesus' life do you think most clearly indicate he is the Christ? This is a very appropriate question, because what season are we in now in the church? Epiphany. Not Lent yet. Okay, we're in Epiphany. And what is Epiphany all about? It's about Jesus revealing Himself as the Son of God. Who He really is. That's what all this focus, you know, the Gospels and Epiphany are. Starting with His baptism, going up to the Transfiguration. Okay, and then you've got the some years you get the water into wine, you know, you get, you know, healing people. So it's all about he's proving I am the Christ. Okay, but what event would you say most clearly indicates he is the Christ? I kind of threw some stuff out there, but the baptism. Okay, baptism. Okay, so the testimony here, well, a great testimony is baptism. And that's actually what the answer he said, that's the best example. Okay, I think, you know, you can maybe debate a little bit, but they said baptism. Why would his baptism be like, showing us he is the Christ? This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." And again, bookending the season of Epiphany when you get to Transfiguration, the same thing. He speaks on the Mount of Transfiguration. This is my beloved Son, listen to Him. Okay? So I put the Transfiguration too. I think, you know, why do we have Transfiguration every year? Well, it's a big deal. Okay, because Jesus is showing who He really is and the Father is speaking, confirming that. So yeah, the baptism of Jesus, we've got the Father speaking. What else happens? Speaking of anointing. Holy Spirit comes, right? The Holy Spirit descends as a dove. And when does Jesus begin his public ministry? After that. Well, he's gonna go into the wilderness, the final preparation, then as we're gonna see in the lessons the next couple weeks, he's going out and calling the disciples, and he's healing, he's casting out demons, okay? So the baptism is kind of the kickoff, if you will. He's going public here. You know, John's like, this is the guy I've been telling you about, okay? Whose sin those I am not worthy to unlatch. You know, and he said, he's going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit, you know, in five. Okay. So yeah, so the baptism of Jesus, we see all three members of the Trinity, right? Okay. Which the modalists who try to say there's no Trinity. I don't, I guess, I guess they have some way to explain that, you know, but you know, it's pretty Trinitarian. Okay. And we see Jesus indeed being baptized into beginning this ministry. Okay, in the voice of the Father. Okay, so baptism is good. I put transfiguration. That would be another big one there. Okay, the transfiguration. Anything else you think is a really great example of Jesus being the Christ from the scripture? You had mentioned the transfiguration, and Elijah was there. before the Christ comes, Elijah will be there. You can probably hear this in some form about every Transfiguration Sunday from you, but yeah, Elijah is representing the prophets, Moses, the law. What does Jesus say? I fulfill all the law and prophets. So you've got Moses and Elijah there, right? As witnesses to that. Again, there's that word, testimony, witness, okay? Anything else? This may be one you're not thinking of, but this is one that popped in my mind. Hire him and Pilate. I love the exchange between Jesus and Pilate. It is so great that John records. And, you know, they're saying, well, this guy's a king. That's why you got to get rid of him, Pilate. And Pilate's kind of like, I don't know, he's not like, doesn't seem that threatening, you know? And he asked Jesus, he says, so you are a king? He says, well, Jesus says, well, if I was a earthly king, my army would be fighting to free me right now. And Pilate says, so you are a king then? You said so, basically. So at that moment, Jesus is confirming he is the Messiah to this Gentile ruler. So that may be not one people go to right away, but I mean, he very clearly there agrees with Pilate. Again, I love the dialogue there, back and forth, that he's, okay, yes, I am a king. It's just not a king that's like you're thinking of, that's trying to overthrow your empire or whatever. They're just trying to get rid of me, you know? And he goes along with it, right? Another case in the Bible, Jesus in His ministry, He goes to His hometown, Nazareth. It's the Sabbath, He goes into the synagogue, and remember what He does? Here's the hometown rabbi, boy made good, Mary and Joseph's kid. He's going to read the scripture that day. And He reads from Isaiah, and what does He tell them? Today, this is fulfilled right before your eyes. And people go nuts, right? How can he say this? So what is he doing there? He's saying, I'm that guy, the one Isaiah is talking about, that all these things are going to happen. The Messiah, I'm here. He's standing before you right now. Okay, so there may be others you can think of, but I mean, Very clearly we see in the scripture that Jesus is saying, I am the Christ, okay? They say, well, he says, I'm greater than Abraham. They didn't like that either, did they? He says, one greater than Moses, greater than Abraham is here. So we see these events in the Bible, but I mean, baptism, I think that was a good one to go to early on there. Okay? I, I, before Abraham, I am. What was I am? I am. Yeah. And, and, and it was at that point that what did they do? They had heard enough. They tried to kill him and they tried to kill Jesus several times, but it wasn't his time yet. They tried to throw him off a cliff in Nazareth. What about hometown Volca? That doesn't work either. So, but yeah, exactly. And so again, and that's one of the good places to go, especially like with Job's witness to say, well, Jesus never said I'm God. Okay. Well, you know, can we find a verse where Jesus says, I am, you know, God or something? Well, kind of, maybe not those exact words, but that's the place to go because he, by saying I am, he is saying he is God. And the proof of that is what happens next. They try to stone him for blasphemy. If his audience did not understand that he was telling them that he is God, they wouldn't have done that. Okay, so again, you know, if you run into those folks, not only Jehovah's Witness, but a lot of times now, you know, that's where you go, you know, and that's why they kind of, they retranslated the first part of John's gospel because it says either the word was with God, the word was God, they changed that, okay, in their Bible. So, but yeah, it's because, I mean, he's very clearly saying, I am God in the flesh. And in John, in his epistle, and certainly in his gospel, The primary portrait of Jesus, there's one in every gospel, is the Son of God, right? Is the divinity of Jesus. That's really what John is focusing on. And why? Because John, in what order of the four gospels, when is the gospel of John in the epistles written? beginning, middle, or end of the church, you know, the earliest church age, the end. You know, John is the last one to write, you know, the gospel of John is the newest gospel. These letters are very late. And so, by that time, You know, there were already people teaching these heretical things about Jesus. Either, you know, he wasn't God, or he wasn't the Son of God, or he was only God and not man. So John is addressing that. You know, anybody that would say, oh, he's just a good teacher, just, you know, a dynamic guy, so no, he's the Son of God, okay? The portrait in Luke is much more of he is the Son of Man. But John is the son of God, and Matthew is the king of kings, and Mark is also kind of a mixture, because Mark actually starts out his gospel with saying, this is the account of Jesus, the son of God. And then he comes back in the last chapter with the rodents interior. you know, realizing that Jesus is God. So, um, we're, you know, hearing a lot from Mark this year, but I love how, you know, Mark doesn't waste any time, you know, we'll hear in the readings, you know, but he just starts out. This is the account of Jesus, the son of God. What's this about? Here we go right away. There's, there's no question what this is going to be about, right? Okay. Then he goes about showing us by the power, all these miracles that he did. All right, okay. So that takes us up to the verses here. Let me see what y'all want to do. Do we want to stop there? Because that's a good stopping point. We still have like seven, eight minutes, but I'm afraid if we read tons of great stuff. I think if we stop there, then next week we can finish up the questions that go directly to the verses. Does that sound good? Or if you want to press on for seven more minutes, I'm with you. God ultimately, but you know, so I'm happy to do that. But I think that is kind of a logical stopping point there. But again, there's so much good stuff on that first page. And so next week we'll plan on, we will, we'll finish lesson nine. We'll look at these first 12 verses. And there's a whole lot of questions. I think pretty confident we can get that done. And I do want to talk about verse seven a little bit too, because depending what translation you have, that's one of the few places where there's a significant variation in the ancient manuscripts between some of them. And so some translations will include more in verse seven than others. Okay, verse 7 of what? Verse 7 of chapter 5. Oh, okay. Chapter 5, yeah. Yeah, so, um, there is, like, uh, some... No, I see. ...uh, manuscript variants there. Um, so, like, the King James will have the, what's, uh, but more, but then the ESV will be shorter, okay, than the verse, okay? So that's kind of interesting to look at. Um, Anything else? All right, well let's, since we're...