Chapter 3 Jesus Knew Scripture

Summary

In this episode, Troy Kennedy discusses the importance of worshiping Jesus and becoming more like him. He introduces the concept of hero worship and encourages listeners to cultivate intimacy with Jesus. The main focus of the episode is on Jesus and Scripture, highlighting how Jesus had an encyclopedic knowledge of Scripture and how the Old Testament prophets pointed forward to him. Kennedy emphasizes that Jesus is the fulfillment of Scripture and that he was present in the authoring of the Bible. He also explores the relationship between Scripture and the Holy Spirit.

You can find the book "Hero Worship" on Amazon or christianbook.com to purchase.
Amazon Link
Christianbook.com

Takeaways

Cultivate intimacy with Jesus and strive to become more like him.
Jesus had an encyclopedic knowledge of Scripture and used it in various ways.
The Old Testament prophets pointed forward to Jesus and the salvation he would bring.
Jesus is the fulfillment of Scripture and was present in the authoring of the Bible.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Purpose
01:31 Jesus and Scripture
03:15 The Spirit of Christ in the Old Testament
07:28 Jesus as the Fulfillment of Scripture
09:20 The Relationship Between Scripture and the Holy Spirit
12:03 Upcoming Topic: Spending Time Alone

Creators & Guests

Host

Troy Kennedy

Husband, Dad, Pastor. A disciple of Jesus. Author of new book "Hero Worship: A 12 Week Journey to Become More Like Jesus." https://t.co/Zgr4SrEOab

What is Troy Marshall Kennedy Podcast?

Jesus always has more life for you than you have known. How do we follow him and discover what it is to flourish and thrive in today's complex, challenging world? How do we have the intimate relationship with God our hearts long for? Troy Marshall Kennedy responds to these all-important questions as a veteran pastor, teacher, and author. Join us as we explore rhythms of life and practice to help us love Jesus, become like Jesus, and share Jesus in our everyday lives. Season one episodes will accompany Troy's new book, "Hero Worship: A 12 Week Journey to Become More Like Jesus."

You can find the book "Hero Worship" on Amazon or christianbook.com to purchase.

Troy Kennedy: Hi, everybody.

I'm Troy Kennedy, and this is Hero
Worship, and we are in our third

week of our journey together as we
get to know Jesus, to walk with him,

to become more like him, to live
in imitation of the Savior, because

there's no one more admirable, no
one more worthy of our worship.

And so our desire to get close to
him, to cultivate intimacy with

him, we, we want to be like him.

You know, we become like the thing
that you worship, inevitably,

we are made to worship.

And so we are focusing our hearts and the
whole of our lives for 12 weeks here on

a journey together through Hero Worship.

And if you're new with us, this is
a podcast that is a companion to my

book, Hero Worship, a 12 week journey
to become more like Jesus, and which

you can get at Amazon or Christianbook.

com.

And um, I would just want to encourage
you as you do this, and if you were

doing this by yourself or in community,
that you process what you're learning

and experiencing with one another.

Ask yourself the question as you go.

What part of this particular
practice was easy for me?

Was intuitive for me?

And what part of it was challenging?

What part of it was difficult?

Because it's going to be different
for different people as you go along.

Some of these things are just natural
to some of us and some of them are not.

And so this week we're going
through Jesus New Scripture.

Jesus new scripture.

Now, and this sounds really obvious,
you know, because Jesus is who

he is and he is the great rabbi.

He's the great teacher at 12 years old.

He was in the temple, you know,
wowing the, the priests and the

rabbis there with his understanding
of the scope of scripture.

But for you and I, it's even
bigger, it's even more profound,

as we have the hindsight of the
New Testament to look back on.

Jesus had this encyclopedic
knowledge of Scripture.

He used it when he was facing temptation.

He used it as a way of
pointing people to himself.

He says, I didn't come to
abolish the law and the prophets,

but I came to fulfill them.

See, Jesus himself is the
object of the Old Testament.

And, uh, he even said to the
Pharisees at one point, he said,

Hey, you know, your boy Moses, right?

You see, he's your guy, he's your man,
but you missed the point because the

whole time Moses was talking about me.

He was trying to lead you to me,
and you missed the whole deal.

You really talk about, uh, uh,
exercise and missing the point.

So Jesus, he tells us these
things about himself, and this

is just not something you say.

Casually, this isn't something
that some nice guy, good first

century teacher is saying.

He's making extraordinary
claims about himself.

So I want to take you to the book
of 1 Peter as an addendum or a way

to augment your experience as you
go through this chapter in the book.

And I ran into this a little while ago,
and I don't know why I never saw it

before, but it just is stunning when you
see what Peter is saying here in 1 Peter.

Peter chapter one, starting at verse 10.

So I'm going to read the whole
thing for you and then I'll break

it down for you just a little bit.

And we'll unpack this for a minute.

So starting at verse 10, he says this
concerning this salvation, the prophets

who spoke of the grace that was to come
to you searched intently and with the

greatest care, trying to find out the
time and circumstances to which the

spirit of Christ in them was pointing
when he predicted the sufferings of the

Messiah and the glories that would follow.

It was revealed to them that they
were not serving themselves, but

you, when they spoke of the things.

that have now been told you by those
who have preached the gospel to you

by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.

Even angels long to
look into these things.

So, just to back that up to verse 10.

Previous to verse 10, you
know, verses 1 through 9, Peter

is talking about salvation.

He's talking about the gift of salvation.

He's talking about your new life in
Christ, this thing that was given to

you through the great work of Jesus.

And then when he hits this in verse
10, this is the thing that just.

Just absolutely blew my mind.

It says this concerning this salvation
this thing We've been talking

about the prophets who spoke of
the grace that was to come to you.

Remember Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah
David everybody was pointing forward

to the coming Messiah He said
this, they, those prophets searched

intently and with the greatest care.

So they were pointing to a salvation
that was to come to Israel, that was

to going to come through the Messiah.

And then in verse 11, they said they
were trying to find out the time and

circumstances to which the spirit
of Christ in them was pointing.

Full stop.

The Spirit of Christ in Moses and David
and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and

Daniel, the Spirit of Christ in them.

We're talking about this is
long before the New Testament.

This is long before the life of
Jesus in his earthly ministry.

He's saying that the
Spirit of Christ was in.

The Old Testament prophets pointing
them forward to the Messiah.

He says, to which the Spirit of
Christ in them was pointing when he

predicted the sufferings of the Messiah
and the glories that would follow.

So get this.

The Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit is
inspiring and guiding the Old Testament

prophets, pointing forward to Himself.

Does that not ring a bell there for you?

Does that not kind of blow
your mind a little bit?

The Spirit of Christ was
speaking through the Old Covenant

authors, pointing to Himself.

And it says this in verse 12, it was
revealed to them, that says Moses and

David and Isaiah, it was revealed to them
that they were not serving themselves,

but you, when they spoke of the things
that have now been told you by those

who have breached the gospel to you
by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.

So then he's just saying that Moses
and David and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and

Daniel, they were pointing forward and
that there was, they were preaching

about a salvation that was coming to
the people that Peter is writing to.

The New Testament church,
he's writing to you and I.

And it was revealed to these old
covenant authors that this salvation

was coming to you and I, and
they weren't serving themselves.

They were serving us, you and I right
now, when they spoke of the things that

had been told you by that same spirit of
Christ, the Holy Spirit, who also inspires

the apostles to author the New Testament.

Even angels long to
look into these things.

So this is, this is what happens
here in this passage of scripture.

The Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit,
the part of the great triune God, is

speaking through Moses and David, Jeremiah
and Isaiah and Ezekiel and Daniel,

pointing forward to the coming salvation
that was going to be in Jesus was going

to be in Christ and then when Jesus
leaves, he sends the Holy Spirit who then

inspires the apostles, the New Testament
authors to write about the salvation

that came through Jesus for you and I.

Here's why that's such a big deal.

See, Jesus is the
fulfillment of Scripture.

He fulfills the law.

He fulfills the prophecies.

He is the, uh, interpretive center
of the entirety of the Bible.

It all points to him, right?

And, and, and here's the deal.

It wasn't, it doesn't just point to him.

He's just not fulfilled by him.

It was authored by him.

Jesus is present in the entire
authoring of the special revelation of

Scripture that you and I enjoy today.

It's not like he was absent
when Moses was writing.

It's not like he was absent
when David was writing.

He was with them.

He was, uh, speaking through them.

And I know sometimes it's hard
when we think about the Trinity.

We think about the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit.

They are three and yet they are one.

And very often in the New Testament,
the Apostle Paul speaks about the

Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ.

In the book of Galatians, in the book of
Romans, he, he, he very often refers to

the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ.

There is a oneness to these, to
these, uh, aspects of Yahweh.

But then he, even Peter points back
to the spirit that inspires the Old

Covenant prophets is the same spirit that
inspired the New Testament apostles about

the salvation that was coming to you.

As you read through Scripture, and
I encourage you to read Scripture

with a plan, I encourage you to
read Scripture with intentionality.

Maybe you want to do one of these read
through the Bible in a year things.

Maybe you're going to do
a deep dive on things.

Whichever choice you make, here's
what I want to encourage you to do.

When you read Scripture for information,
It's easy to miss the relationship, but if

you read the scripture for relationship,
you get information thrown in.

See, because it is the Spirit of Jesus
speaking through, the prophets speaking

through the apostles, it is the same
Spirit of Christ who is in you and in me.

Indwelt by the Spirit of God, you
and I are temples of the living God.

That same Spirit of Christ is in you,
with whom you have a relationship.

Your experience with Jesus is
with the Holy Spirit, is with

the Spirit of Christ in you.

And that's the whole beautiful full
circle relationship that we have with God.

The Spirit of Jesus speaking through the
scriptures is a spirit who is alive in

you and I, the way we know Him, and He's
helping us to understand and discern.

The scriptures themselves.

It is a transcendent spiritual
relational interaction that you and I

have when we linger in the word of God.

And when we linger in intimacy with the
spirit of Christ, it is all a part of how

we know him, of how we hear his voice,
of how we experience Jesus together.

So as you read the scriptures, understand
that there is something eternal happening.

It is a something in the
economy of the Spirit of God.

It's more than words on a paper.

It's more than checking off the
chapters I'm supposed to read

through in my read through the Bible
this year, that particular day.

It's how you know the heart of
God and how he speaks to you.

That is why it's so beautiful.

And that's why it's so important.

Don't miss that relationship.

All the information will come, but
read the scripture to know his heart.

Know His love for you.

Who is He?

Who are you?

What has He done?

And what kind of life do
you have with Him today?

In his kingdom.

So next week, we're going to be talking
about how Jesus spent time alone.

And for some people, this is
a really tough one to follow.

Um, and so we'll unpack that a
little bit in the meantime, you

can always find me on social media.

You can find me on my website, Troy M.

Kennedy dot.

Um, and I would encourage you to sign up
for my newsletter just to get a little bit

of a touch of encouragement every week.

It's called the one small thing
newsletter and you can go in there

and you can sign up for that.

You just get a quote from me, a quote
from somebody else, and one small thing

that you can do or think about that
week and your journey with the savior.

God bless you as you worship our great
hero and I'll talk to you next time.