Guest Speaker: Pastor Joe Sugrue
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
“plana” – wandering star – to wander off the path.
He was only trying to get them to wander off what they thought was the right path, which was religion, but that was the wrong path.
Christ did want them to wander off the path of religion and find grace and truth through Him.
Matt 23:15
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
Matt 23:37
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.
These religious Jews couldn’t understand the grace and love of God in their OT scriptures because they didn’t know what the wandering star was.
Looking at the OT scriptures without an understanding of the Messiah is like looking into the heavens and not knowing what a planet is.
Christ came into the world as the light of the world that shined in the darkness but the darkness did not comprehend it, John 1:5.
Matt 2:9
And having heard the king, they went their way; and lo, the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them, until it came and stood over where the Child was.
John 1:11
He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.
2 Cor 5:16
Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.
The wandering star after resurrection becomes the order of the morning star.
Leave any convincing concerning Christ to God the Holy Spirit. Convicting is His ministry. Your ministry is to simply communicate.
Believers are also split into two categories, those who stand up for the truth and those who do not for fear of religious persecution.
Religion bullies ignorant people by use of false doctrine in order to produce fear and therefore slavery of the soul.
Believers must abide [menoo = abide, remain, continue] in His word and then they will be set free and live in freedom from the evil of the cosmic system.
In Jerusalem there were two main colleges of theology for the training to become a rabbi, Hillel and Shammai and Christ never walked through the door of either of them.
People are impressed with degrees and certificates. God is impressed with knowledge and wisdom of His word.
EPH 4:11-12
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
Jesus’ perfect humanity did not come up with any of His own doctrines but He was always a servant, not only to mankind, but to His Father who’s doctrines He taught.
Any student of the word of God will have the word of God alone as his standard and not any nonsense that is derived from the human mind.
Grace Bible Church
Basic Training in Doctrine
It was difficult for the Lord at this time to have any privacy. So He avoided the caravan and went down in secret.
His brothers desired for Him to travel publicly with them as if they desired to be a part of His popularity.
When He says, “My time has not yet fully come.” He is referring this time to His entry into Jerusalem on the back of the colt.
When He says I do not go up to this feast He is referring to going with them in the caravan. It was not the Father’s will at this time for Him to enter Jerusalem with a large entourage.
As all the caravans arrived at the beginning of the feast, the temple authorities scanned all the pilgrims in search of Jesus.
Mankind will always be split between believers and unbelievers.
“He is good;” [the word “man” is not in the original] = agathos estin (pres/act/ind) = He keeps on being divine good. These are believers.
“No! He leads the crowds astray.” Astray = plana (pres/act/ind) = He keeps on deceiving the crowds. These are unbelievers.
“plana” means to lead astray or to deceive. It is the origin of our word planet. Ancient astronomers were baffled by certain stars that moved while all the other stars remained fixed. They called these moving stars plana or wanderers.