Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 <inaudible> learning village church
Speaker 1 00:00:06 East. It's good to see you this morning. Welcome to church. My name is Craig Jarvis, uh, for all of you in house. And for those of you that are in line, it's good to see you this morning. Uh, it is just the highlight of my week. I know I say that quite often, but it's a highlight of my week to be able to be with you this morning and open God's word. I mean, what better way can we spend God's day, the Lord's day than to spend a little bit of time in his word? Uh, I want to, first of all, just tell you, thank you for all the feedback that I'm getting on the podcast. Some of you have been listening to those podcasts and that's very cool. Am I popping? Is this there's something weird going on here? So is that irritating to you? It's am I irritating you right now?
Speaker 1 00:00:51 That's an open-ended question. Everybody at home is going why? Yes you are Greg. Nobody in the house is saying that though. Uh, so there's a little, little, a little air being led out of my, uh, into my, yeah, I'm going to stop that conversation right there. Uh, I want to, uh, first of all, I want to tell you, uh, thank you for the podcast, uh, uh, input, if you are new to the church or if you haven't, uh, tried these out yet, these are about 12, 15 minute podcasts. I did them so that you could listen to them in your car if you're driving or maybe if you're, you know, making dinner or something like that, you can turn them on they're they're quickies. Uh, and they're easy to find. Uh, so they are an apple, they are on Spotify, but if you want to find them online, they're also on our website and I need to do is go to our website and then you click on the little button that says media, find that media button and they're right there. Uh, I've think I've got about six on there now. And two more to come this week. So I'm anxious to get them out this week. Is it still popping a little bit? We can't fix it. Huh? All right. Well, is it, what am I push it away? Is that better? Like that? It looks really weird online, but uh, that's all right. How's that a little better.
Speaker 2 00:02:07 All right. So
Speaker 1 00:02:09 There you go. Just looks like something's growing out of the side of my head here. So yeah, I was in the sun yesterday. Something happened, I don't know. Anyway,
Speaker 3 00:02:17 Let's say
Speaker 1 00:02:18 It's great to see you this morning. We get to look into the last Sunday of who is Jesus series. And, uh, I've been excited to do this one with you as well as with all of them kinda, kinda approaching our culture and seeing different ways that Jesus is being transformed into, um, a more palatable individual in our culture and maybe comparing that to scripture. So that's what we've been doing all along. And this one is no different. So I've got a real, this, one's got a lot of verses to it and you'll see why as we talk about it as we go on my first question though, this morning just kind of lays the foundation for all of this. Have you ever been challenged to believe in something that is just silly?
Speaker 1 00:03:06 All right. For those of you that have children, you're gone. My a happens every day. They tell me all kinds of stories and they don't realize how silly their, I don't know, but maybe, uh, maybe you are challenged to see some of these greater stories that, uh, people actually believe in some of these and I've never experienced them. And if you have experienced them, then I apologize from the get go if I offend you. But here's one thing that some people believe in this is, um, this big foot. And, uh, you, you recognize that photo, right? So like this, this big foot, uh, is in different different areas of our world. People have seen them in different areas of the world. Some people believe in that and some people think that's just silly. Here's another one. Now this one's getting a lot more press these days.
Speaker 1 00:03:51 Isn't it? Like the military has taken snapshots of UFO's and, but maybe you're on the Stellan same bandwagon. They just go on a, that's just a silly story. I, you know, it's, it's an interesting one. We can talk about it. Uh, there's some theological PA uh, parts to this that, that are kind of interesting to me, but, uh, UFO's are a big thing that some people believe in and other people don't, here's another one. Do you remember the story of the pop rocks and the Coca Cola and the kid that, that did both at the same time as it head exploded? Do you remember that? That was from like the eighties, you know, and it's like, so, so parents would always say, don't drink Coca Cola, pop rocks together because your head will explode. So some of these stories just seem like really, really weird and difficult to believe. And I want to tell you, there's another story that you believe, perhaps that a lot of people find weird and difficult to believe. And that is this story, the story of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross and that one man's death could forgive the sins of the entire world.
Speaker 2 00:04:54 This
Speaker 1 00:04:54 Is a story for some people that is just difficult to believe. Now, the problem is the Bible claims. This is the truest story of all stories. This is the story of life. In fact, we would say history is about his story to catch that his story history is his story. There are many people who gave their lives to preach the story of Jesus Christ, the, the, the events of his life. And they ended up giving their lives because people told them that just stopped talking and they wouldn't stop talking. These people, these men, and these women started church. That is what we're doing here today. This is the story that never dies, never goes away. And there's always a group of people that believe it to their core, but there's also a group of people that don't Paul, the apostle Paul wrote. This story is so important to him.
Speaker 1 00:05:50 He said, necessity is laid upon me. Whoa. If I do not preach the gospel woe to me, that's pretty driven enthusiasm about getting the gospel out there. And Paul was a well-trained man. He was, he was educated by the smartest men of his generation. He had a lot going for him, Roman citizen. He was, he was a Jewish said, I mean, he had everything going for him. And when he met Jesus Christ, his life changed. He was a zealous individual for getting rid of the church. He met Jesus Christ, and then you couldn't stop him from preaching. The gospel. My question to you is why are these witnesses of Jesus Christ? So driven by this story? Why are they so compelled to, to, to, to tell the story, why did they all end up giving their lives? Because they were so compelled to get the story out.
Speaker 1 00:06:46 And why in the world does this story last for thousands of years today, we're going to be talking about I've done. I've entitled this, the foolish story of Jesus. I know that's a little offensive to those of us that believe in Jesus, but there are still many who do not. Let me give you a few statistics. 80% of Americans believe in God. That's good, right? 80%. Believe in God, 52% of Americans believe that Jesus was a good teacher, but not God. We're going down the scale here. 65% believe that Jesus was actually a being created, be gotten by God. All right. So, so now we're into the heresy category and it's a little disheartening, but I got to tell you, it actually gets a little worse because only 35% of Americans believe salvation comes through Jesus Christ alone.
Speaker 1 00:07:46 And it doesn't matter nomination you are. If you're interested in this, this, these categories apply 46% Pentecostal believe. Um, uh, whether they believe that Jesus has God, 46% of Pentecostals believe that Jesus has God. 44% of Protestants do Catholic 70% do so. What are these? What are these statistics? Tell us. They tell me that con culture today continues to construct their own version of God. They continue to develop a story that is palatable to them. That makes sense to them. They continue to, to, to not find revelation of Jesus Christ in scripture, but instead to morph the story that they've heard into something different, they continued to veer away from the story of Jesus Christ as revealed in scripture by God. Now I want to start us off right on the right foot. So, um, there's a, there's a ton of verses that I'm going to throw up here today.
Speaker 1 00:08:49 And there's a ton more that I could have chosen, but if you crack your Bible at all, you will find Christ all over scripture, old Testament to new Testament. In other words, beginning to end, you can not get away from Jesus Christ on the pages of scripture. Here's a few of, few of the highlights. Isaiah 53, five written 700 years before Jesus was born. A prophecy that says he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And C say this with me church, because we know who it's talking about by his wounds. We are healed. Who's that talking about church plain and simple, new Testament writers believe this. John writes in his gospel in verse one in verse 14, he says declaring right from the get go in. The beginning was a word.
Speaker 1 00:09:40 And the word was with God. And the word was God. And you're thinking yourself, well, Craig, what is the word? What's he talking? Who's the word? What's the word? What's the word? Verse 14. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. What's the word church. Who's the word. Only one person became flesh and dwelt among us. And that word was, God. I remind you of Jesus' own words. Remember, a few weeks ago we talked about he's either a liar or lunatic or, or, or he's the Lord. He's one of the three. And so I remind you of Jesus' own words. When he's teaching. He said these kinds of things, constantly, John 14, six, I am the way the truth and the life. And what does he say? Church? No one comes to the father, except through me. Jesus is convinced that he is the only way to God. And unless you think that while Craig you're misinterpreting that verse, I got to tell you, Jesus actually thought the whole story of the Bible, every page was about him. Did you know that he literally taught that regularly? Here's one of my favorite verses. We actually did this a couple of weeks ago, John five 46. He says to a group of people, if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me for Moses wrote of
Speaker 2 00:10:58 Me.
Speaker 1 00:10:59 Jesus was under the impression that the entire Bible was written about him. Every new Testament writer after Jesus' resurrection from the dead, every new Testament writer backs us up as well. Paul says that I may know him in the power of his resurrection. Not that I may know God, but he says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection who raised from the dead church. Jesus Paul, the apostle is clearly talking about Jesus and he doesn't want to know God better. That's I mean he does, but that's not what he's referring to. His whole goal in life was to know Jesus better because he knows the story means Jesus and God are one in the same. And Jesus cross represents the only way we can have hope of salvation. I'm reminded of this passage in John chapter 11, where, um, uh, Jesus meets Mary in Martha, before he raises Lazarus from the tomb.
Speaker 1 00:11:58 And they're broken hearted because their brother has died. And he says to the women, he says, I am the resurrection in the life. Whoever believes in me though, he die yet. Shall he live? Do you realize that? He's not saying whoever believes in God though, he die yet. Shall he live? Do you understand that? Right? Jesus is personalizing every story in scripture. Sure. To point to himself, if you believe Jesus, you have to believe that his claims to be, God are the truth. Jesus is the integral part of the story of God. He's the climactic part of the story of God. Listen, you can't tell the story of David and Goliath without David. You can't tell the story of Moby Dick without captain Ahab. You can't tell it's a wonderful life without George Bailey. And you can't tell the story of God without Jesus Christ, it cannot be done. If you want to know, God, you have to know Jesus Christ. Most people have constructed their own story of God. They've veered away from the integral part that Jesus has played. And they begin at all the wrong points. Every philosopher trying to figure out God always begins at the wrong points. I don't know if you're, if you like philosophy, it kind of drives some people crazy. I know, but you know, Rene Descartes, right?
Speaker 2 00:13:20 I think
Speaker 1 00:13:22 Therefore I am. You remember? He actually says in the, in the language he says, I doubt, therefore, I am. He he's sitting by himself in a room and he's trying to figure out how does he actually exist? Like people have time on their hands to do this. So he decides, I got to figure out if I'm actually here or not. And so he thinks to himself, well, I am doubting my own existence. Therefore I must therefore exist. He, he entered into that realm of thinking because his goal was to prove the existence of God as philosophers went through time, they began not to prove the existence of God, but just to prove their own existence and what life is all about. And if you knife God, it's hard to figure out what life is about. What do you do when you are presented with the revelation of God in the Bible? What do you do when you're presented with the fact that every page points to Jesus, what do you do when you're, when you're, when you come to the climactic moment, the gospels Matthew, mark, Luke and John. And they're all about one guy. I mean, that is the hero of scripture. What do you do with a story like that? You got to do something with Jesus. The revelation of God in scripture is climactic. Moment is Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 00:14:40 Some yield and believe.
Speaker 1 00:14:43 Sorry, just call. The story of God has presented, presented in the Bible is silly, big Bigfoot, but it's always been this way. It hasn't been different. And my goal this morning is to get you to, to, to remember you must deal with the claims of Jesus. If you're searching for the truth of
Speaker 2 00:15:01 God, you must deal with the claims of Jesus. Let's talk
Speaker 1 00:15:07 About the gospel this morning gospel. Do you know what the gospel means? What does gospel mean? You know, good news. Yay. Gospel means good news. And it's actually the gospel of Jesus, which means the good news of Jesus Christ. The gospel is about the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is the gospel. When we preach the gospel, we're preaching Jesus. Uh, if you doubt that here's a verse in first Corinthians 15 one, and it says, now I would remind you brothers of the gospel. I preached to you, which you received in which you stand and by which you are being saved. Get it. This gospel saves people. And here's what it is. If you hold fast to the word I preached to you, Les, you believed in vain. Here it is for, I delivered to you as a first importance. This is the primary thing.
Speaker 1 00:15:55 First importance. What I also received Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. That's also, that's in accordance with the scriptures. Whenever you see that, that's like everything behind him, all old Testament stuff. All right, cry Christ died for our sins. According to, in other words, the old Testament talked about Jesus' death on the cross. Crazy right? Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. He was buried. He was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures and he appeared to Cephas that's Peter. And then to the 12, that is the gospel plain and simple.
Speaker 2 00:16:33 Jesus lived. Jesus died. Jesus
Speaker 1 00:16:37 Rose from the dead Jesus ascended. That is the good news that calls us, changes us and saves us. And it's really simple. But to many people, this story is just foolish. And I think it's interesting to acknowledge upfront God acknowledges that. Did you know that here is my premise. I know this is going to blow you away, but stay
Speaker 2 00:17:07 With me. I think
Speaker 1 00:17:09 God made the story of salvation. The story of the gospel, the gospel message. So simple. So,
Speaker 2 00:17:24 So I don't know what word to use. He made it so attainable that it knocked some people off of their kilter.
Speaker 1 00:17:36 He acknowledges us right up front. I don't know if you know this, but in first Corinthians one 18, he says, the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to those of us who are being saved, it is a white church.
Speaker 2 00:17:49 Hmm.
Speaker 1 00:17:51 Fullest story. This simple story. This, this, this story of history is an offensive story because it centers around God and what he's doing for himself. Listen, the story of our history is about his story. And I think that's probably one of the big things that offends people, because people want to be important. They want to be, they want to know that you can make a difference. And I think when they get to scripture, it's almost like a, wait, this story is not about me. This story is about Jesus. The story is about God. And this is about how I can be a part of God's plan. And I think some people don't like that. I think they want the world to be about them. They want to make a difference. They'll join any group, any organization, because they feel they're making a difference. And I get that.
Speaker 1 00:18:45 But the story of Jesus Christ really has little to do with us. The story of Jesus Christ is God inviting us into his story. And I think that is an offensive idea to some people. And now, now this is not a new concept to us. We've heard this before. God loves you. And he has a wonderful plan for your life. We've heard that, right. But just say how offensive that is. God loves you. Okay. Yeah. Cause I'm a lovable individual. Yeah. I get that. That part I can take. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Wait a minute, I have a plan for my life. What do you mean God has a plan for my life. I prefer my plans. And I think that's where people jump off the true story. Let me take you to a passage of scripture that kind of lays this out really well for us, I think.
Speaker 1 00:19:41 And it also explains why the gospel is so appealing to so many different cultures. Uh, you may, you may have wondered like why, why is Christianity all around the globe and why has it always been all the way around we're on the globe ever since it was established when Jesus rose from the dead and ascended, here's a, here's a passage of scripture that I love. And, and, uh, this is a main one we're going to dig into today. Romans one 14 says I am under obligation. Paul writes, he says, I'm under obligation to both Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish. So I'm eager to preach the gospel to you also, who are in Rome. The gospel is meant for all groups of people. Paul is sitting down and he's writing this and he's saying, I am called to share the gospel with all kinds of different people.
Speaker 1 00:20:30 And these any first uses Greeks and barbarians. Why does he use Greeks and barbarians? There's not a lot of barbarians around, although I was on the road yesterday and I met one that cut me off the road. So there are a few barbarians still, but why does he use Greeks? And by barbarians? Well Greeks or simply a group of civilized people. They were where democracy was birthday. You know this right? The, these are where, uh, philosophers began. You got to Plato, Aristotle. They all lived before Jesus. They were, they were smart. They had to, you know, uh, Cesar and his and his entourage was first democracy. He doesn't use ethnicities. Have you noticed that he uses geographical stuff like those people who are Greek and those people who live in the Roman empire and barbarians, who there was no city that you would go to called the barbarian city.
Speaker 1 00:21:22 It was barbarians were just all these different people. It was, it was these groups of people, not, not citizens of, of countries, but groups of people. And Paul says the gospel is meant for all these different groups of people. Do you know where the word barbarian came from? By the way, you're probably thinking I'm on a rabbit trail, but I'm not. Barbarians were given their names by the Greeks. The Greeks were very high in mighty smart people and they thought they were, they ruled the world at the time. Rome has come in and stole everything from the Greeks and put their name on it. And then they ruled the world at the time. But the Greeks, the smart smarty pants, people, they always made fun of people that didn't speak the language. They made fun of people that, you know, didn't use the right words and finish their sentences properly.
Speaker 1 00:22:15 And so they made fun of them. And some people were so uncouth. They didn't speak a language at all. They spoke like this weird language. And when the barbarians spoke, they sounded to the Greek trained ear, like bar bar, bar, bar bar. So the Greeks called the barbarians barbarians because they were making fun of the way that they spoke and that a great isn't that great that yeah, he can take that with you. Maybe it will be on jeopardy someday. Paul says I am obligated to go to the Greeks. The well-trained don't think of Greeks like people in Greece think of Greeks like that. Hotty, toddy people,
Speaker 2 00:22:53 The Greeks to have
Speaker 1 00:22:55 PhDs and the bar bar bar barbarians, the gospel spans the group. That's why he uses these two. Why does he use wise and foolish? Well, I'm glad you asked wise is not like smart and dumb. The word wise is literally Sophos. And what that means is not people who score perfect on their actsh. These are simply people who have made good decisions, knife, Sophos, people who have a knack for making good decisions, and they don't dig holes for themselves and end up in bad places that Sophos wise, people, people who have made careful choices plotting out their lives so that they can be, those are wise in this verse. You throw that verse up again, there, the foolish people in this verse, aren't like just dumb people that just can't get an a on their test or B or C or whatever it is that you're struggling with.
Speaker 1 00:24:00 At the time. For me, it was one of the lower ones. And that's all I'm going to say about that. But for the unwise, th the, the foolish is literally the unwise. These are literally people who have made poor choices in life, not the smart and the dumb, but the people who have made good choices so that they can succeed. And the people who have blown it in life for one reason or another, think of that as wisely foolish 400 years before Jesus and believed that a cultured society was built on making correct citizen decisions
Speaker 2 00:24:38 To find a perfect
Speaker 1 00:24:40 Life. You had to have a citizenry that were making wise decisions. And so these Greeks actually had a chart and on the chart, they had virtue and vice on the one side virtue, people who sought for justice moderation, self-restraint courage, wisdom, and understanding. They were the virtuous ones. They were the ones that could make a difference in society. They were the wise ones, but on the other side was the vice. These people didn't contribute anything to society. Play-Doh said we could really do better without these people. They have to struggle to get onto the virtue side, because they are involved in injustice. Licentiousness, that's a lot of sins stuff, cowardice or folly. They lived their lives. Foolishly. Those who were good citizens were on one side. Those who were bad, citizens run the other side. And I love the fact that when Paul talks about the gospel, he says the gospel is for all,
Speaker 2 00:25:45 All sides.
Speaker 1 00:25:48 The gospel speaks to the virtue list. The gospel speaks to the vice list. I had a friend when I was growing up. I remember this. He, he lived a life. He lived on the vice side, knew he loved the Lord. I knew that he knew the gospel, but, but for some reason he was not sold out to it. He was in his teens. I was in my teens and he had decided he is going to live life to its fullest. Grab every, suck the marrow out of life while he's in his teens. I talked to him one time because I was not on that boat, but I talked to him one time and I said, why do you keep making these, this? Why do you make these decisions? These bad decisions? Why are you, why are you doing these things mean, you know, that they're wrong.
Speaker 1 00:26:39 You know that your parents are making your life difficult. You know, he was one of my first friends who had a car, you know, that you're going to get in trouble for doing this. So why are you doing it? And he said, Craig, here's the deal someday. I want to be a preacher. He said, I think God's called me to that. And I want to make sure that I experience all the bad stuff of life so that I can stand up in front of people. And I have cried with them. I can say, listen, I've experienced it. And God's brought me out of it. And I told them that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
Speaker 1 00:27:11 His plan was to get his life straight before he sold himself out to the gospel. And I gotta tell ya, that is absolutely backwards because the gospel is what helps us get our life straight. We don't try and get on the virtue list so that God can be pleased with us and bestow his grace and love upon us. The gospel is what saves us. It is the power of God for salvation. The gospel itself is what changes people and the gospel is Jesus Christ. Next verse for I'm not ashamed. Paul says, I love this. You're going to love this. I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek. So now he uses Jews and Greeks. He brings all of the known world. The people who are not Romans, the people who are not Greek, the people who are in Rome, the people who are Greek, the people who are barbarians, the people who are Jewish, everybody in the known world at the time. Paul is saying the gospel is for all, no matter what societal category you have been put into by the separations of other people, no matter how low or high you have been categorized, no matter what caste system you live under, the gospel is for you.
Speaker 1 00:28:44 And what will you do with the gospel? No matter what your philosophy, no matter what your degree is now, whatever your pedigrees, no matter where you've been born, no matter what the color of your skin is, no matter how difficult last night was for you, no matter how much you've sold out to Satan in your life, no matter how many bad decisions you make, no matter how many good decisions you've made, you need Jesus. You need Jesus. Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel. The story of Jesus Christ has changed Paul's life. He didn't hide who he was when he was a zealot for persecuting the church less. You think like Paul, the apostle had a leg up here. Let me tell you a little bit. He actually writes about how bad he was in his former life. Did you know that? Just like when we do a baptism up here and we, and we listened to these people and they, and they share their testimonies, they share their struggles and their brokenness and their pain from their past.
Speaker 1 00:29:45 And then how Jesus changed them. That's not something new that's that was all the way back in scripture. Look at Paul. Paul gives his testimony in Galatians. One 13 for you have heard my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently. And I tried to destroy it. Did you know that about the apostle Paul? His life goal was to crush the church. He held the cloaks of the people who killed the first preacher in the gospel. The first preacher in acts, he held the cloaks of the people that stoned Stephen to death. And at the end of the day, he was proud of what he did was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people. So extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when Peter or when Paul met Jesus Christ, everything drastically changed.
Speaker 1 00:30:41 First Corinthians two, two. He says this for, I decided to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Now that's a radical change. When you say from a zealot to persecuting the church that followed Jesus Christ to a life change, where he says my whole life is just about knowing Jesus better. And remember, it's not about knowing God better. It's about knowing Jesus better. Paul intentionally used Jesus Christ no longer was Paul trying to make a name for himself. The only thing that mattered to him was speaking about the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In fact, in first Corinthians nine 22, he says, I become all things to all people that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I made share with them in its blessings. So church, why is it so difficult to believe in Jesus? Why why's it so difficult for? So they'll talk about God freely. 80% of Americans, believe in God. That's an easy conversation. Why is it hard to talk about Jesus Christ?
Speaker 1 00:31:57 So you might, you think that some people just believe in Jesus because they were born in the right place. If I was born in a Muslim country, I'd be a Muslim, but because I was born here, that's why I'm a Christian perhaps. But you have to understand that is not a good argument. That might deal with a social logical argument, but that does not deal with who Jesus is. It's really a diversion that thinking diverts from Jesus, Jesus, you've got to do something with Jesus, no matter where you're born. The main question is who is God? And is he who he prints, presents himself to be in scripture. Every has to do something with Jesus. Even the Muslims have to do something with Jesus. Did you know that every religion on the planet teaches something about Jesus? Why? Because you got to deal with that.
Speaker 1 00:32:50 When you're dealing with the question of God, you can't get around it. The Jews say that he was a teacher, a miracle worker, but Jesus was not. God Islam teaches Jesus was a good man, even a prophet, but he was not. God Mormons believe Jesus' spirit is eternal. He was created by the father and by the father and other wives who propagated this planet. And it is a fairy tale that if you believe it, Satan's got a hold of your heart in some pretty major ways. Hindu believes that he was a God, one of many gods, they've got 2 million to choose from. You see every religion teaches about Jesus. They don't teach the same. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:33:33 They have to teach about Jesus because you cannot tell the story of God without dealing with Jesus Christ. Every culture must face, face it. You know this because your favorite verse in the, in the scriptures that you see at every football game reminds us of this constantly. John three 16 for God. So loved the world that he gave us his only, and there you have it. The most famous verse in scripture, Jesus is all over there. That whoever believes in Jesus should not perish, but have eternal life. Not God. Every page deals with Jesus Christ. And we must as well. In fact, in first John five, you may not know this, but God says, if you say you believe in God, but don't believe Jesus is God, you are calling God a liar to do know that here's a verse that will shock you. If you don't know this one, whoever believes in the son of God and the son of God is Jesus, right?
Speaker 1 00:34:35 Whoever believes in the son of God has this testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar. You call God a liar because he has not believed in the testimony. God has borne concerning who his son and here's a testimony in case you're missing it. God gave us eternal life. And this life is where church in his son, whoever has the son has life. Whoever does not have the son of God does not have life. You can believe in God all day long, but if you don't believe in Jesus, you're missing the climactic point of the whole thing.
Speaker 1 00:35:15 No matter what, what religion you choose, you must do something with Jesus. No matter what culture you're born into, you got to do something with Jesus, no matter what family raised you, you still have to do something with Jesus. And I think the main thing that people have a hard time with with Jesus is the cross. They may not like dis decipher it to figure this out. But I think the cross is the main thing. When the church started going like gangbusters after Jesus rose and went back to heaven and the church started growing, they went under a great deal of, uh, persecution. People made fun of them left and right. They believed that a guy rose from the dead, they believe Jesus, a human being is God. In fact, here's one cave drawing that I, I I've shown you before. I actually like this.
Speaker 1 00:36:03 If you can make it out there. This is a cave drawing that they found of a guy named Maximus. This is like first century graffiti. And they found this in a cave. And it has a picture of a cow on a cross. And this guy named Maximus at the bottom of the cross. And if you're wondering what that says there beside it, it literally says, Alexa, Mo Alexa, minnows worships his gun. God that's mockery people making fun of this whole believe in Jesus thing. God's, don't get hung on a cross. And as early as the first century, we have this cave, a cave, graffiti making fun of Christians for believing in Cicero. Do you know Cicero major Roman philosopher? He says the most cruel and disgusting punishment is the cross is crucifixion and suggested. The very mention of the cross should be far removed, not only from a Roman citizens body, but from his mind, his heart and his ears don't even talk about such a thing.
Speaker 1 00:37:09 But Paul acknowledges that cross is the whole point of the gospel. He says in first Corinthians one 18, the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God. The effectiveness of the cross is the power of the story. Jesus, on that cross became the liar that he became the rapist. He became the murder. He became the bigot, the thief, the user Jesus became those things for us. He took all those sins on himself. He took our sins on himself on that cross, every sin, past present, and future hung on the shoulders. One, God man, and that sin killed him. My sin killed him. You're wondering, was it the Jews or the Romans that killed Jesus. It was sin that killed Jesus. Mine. I did. It would not have died. Had he not taken sin kills? Jesus is perfect. Gin. Sin. Sin is put on Jesus, shoulders, sin killed Jesus.
Speaker 1 00:38:21 Second Corinthians five 20 only one. He, for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him, we might become the righteousness. Oh God. The bottom online has God made the story of Jesus. The simple story of the gospel, simple, basic, humble foolishness to some even so foolish as big foot is to some, to those who will not surrender their pride. Pride will keep you from believing his story. I remember sharing my faith with a radio show talk show host once this was several years ago and he said, cradle on an interview and you want to talk about faith? I said, absolutely. I'm on board for that. Sure. I got a great radio voice. Check it out. If you haven't checked out the podcast, uh, I have a face made for radio and uh, I said, sure, I'll do it.
Speaker 1 00:39:10 So he calls me up and he asks me about faith. And I had a really good conversation with him. He actually was a kind of a friend of mine at the time. And I, I enjoyed my conversation with him. What crushed me is a minute. I hung up the phone. I continued to listen and he got on there with one of his cohorts. And he talked about how some people believe in God like this guy that I just interviewed, like this big spaghetti monster in the sky. And I thought to myself, you jerk we're friends. I shared faith in a public setting. I tried to make it simple, easy to understand. And the minute I hang up, you call me foolish because I believe in a spaghetti, a monster in the sky, you see how man has never experienced the power of the gospel. It's not a reality to him.
Speaker 1 00:40:04 He's never experienced the life-changing power that can reach down into a depraved soul and turn it 180 degrees. So that the person that kills the church becomes a person that preaches the gospel. He's never experienced that all he wants his popularity. All. He wants us to be accepted by his listeners and listen. Some people these days will sell their soul social media prominence, but you won't do it if you're a child of God, because you realize the story of the cross is the only power that can change people's lives. What else is there worth doing?
Speaker 1 00:40:46 What they do not understand is that God subjected himself to the horrible cross. And that's what makes the gospel so simple. That's what makes it so accessible. That's why every culture, every person, every cast system, everybody in those cast systems can attain Krisha can, it can attain Jesus Christ because this foolish story is so accessible. The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. First Corinthians one 18 says the foolishness of God is wiser than men. And the weakness of God is stronger than men. Don't you love that. You know what that says on God's worst day, he's better than us on our strongest day, that crosses a part of the story where we can finally no longer ignore the power of God and everyone who comes to God has to come on their knees to a bloody cross. It is the climactic moment of the gospel. So I like Paul declare. I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is a power of God unto salvation to all of us. Those who believe to the Jew first then to the Greek, then the barbarians then to those who are enrolled, it is a power of God. How about you?
Speaker 1 00:42:16 I want simple SOA today. So simple. You might think to yourself, Craig is Fisher to spend more time studying perhaps, but it's really simple. I want to make it simple. As we wrap up the whole story, this whole series of who is Jesus Christ. And so my only, so what is just a question? What will you do with the revelation of Jesus? Jesus Christ. What will you do? You know who Jesus is? Good, good for you. What are you going to do with it? Yeah. There's nothing to stop God from making this story a little bit more philosophical, a little bit more depth, a little bit more intellectual. God could have made the story a lot more intellectual, a lot more harder to believe yet. God chose the foolish things of this world to shame those who are wise, the weak things of the world, the weak things of this story to shame the strongest of us God's plan for our world and for our lives was wrapped in a helpless baby God's will, was that he should suffer in the place of our sin God's plan, that we would find freedom from the sin that tears our lives solely in the payment of Jesus Christ on that cross.
Speaker 1 00:43:26 And the story of Jesus Christ can still change lives today. Isn't that great? The invitation is still open. It's like, oh, I got an invitation and I forgot to, I forgot to acknowledge it. Do you ever get to that? And then, and they put it on your desk and anything. Oh, I got to respond to this invitation RSVP in five days. Oh, it's fourth day. I got RSVP. The invitation of the gospel is still open church. God waits with open arms to welcome in any who will believe poker's progress is one of my favorite stories. Ever, if you haven't read it, you really should. It was written by John Bunyan, who was a man that was jailed for, I think it was like 16 years for preaching the gospel way back in the 16 hundreds, John Bunyan, while he was in jail, apart from his wife and his, um, his children that were actually, uh, challenged in a lot of different ways, struggled when he was thrown into jail, because they said you can keep preaching the gospel and stay in jail where you won't be preaching the gospel, or you can stop preaching the, let you go home with your wife.
Speaker 1 00:44:33 He was tormented by that choice. And he stayed in jail and you know what he did when he was in jail, he wrote Pilgrim's progress. Progress. Progress is one of the best sellers next to the Bible of all time. It only has started losing, uh, losing speed in the eighties, nineties, especially in 2000 when Harry Potter came out and that quickly rose to the chart, rose on the charts, Harry Potter has taken over builder's progress. It's really a sad thing. But anyway, if you, I haven't got a copy of Pilgrim's progress. You should get one, read it with your kids. It is, it is an allegory of, of a, of a man named Christian. And actually his name is Pilgrim. His name is Pilgrim. He lives in the city of destruction and he picks up a book and the book speaks to him, but he can't make sense of it.
Speaker 1 00:45:23 So he begins looking for people in the town that will help him understand the book. Nobody can help them understand the book. So the book simply says, one thing that he does understand flee destruction is coming flee. So he runs and he, it heads out toward a narrow gate and it's a great story. And he meets a guy and on the way they explain the scriptures to him. And the reason that he's running is because he knows that his city is bound for destruction, but the more he reads, the more he feels this heavy burden on his back. Okay. And he can't get away from this heavy burden. The more he reads, the more burden he has, the stronger, uh, the faster he tries to run. The more burden this thing is. And he runs into all kinds of difficulties. As he's trying to walk with this burden on his back toward a destination, he does not know.
Speaker 1 00:46:15 And as he goes through this path and he comes across all of these different individuals, um, he comes through the, the S the pit of despond, and he meets these people that are named wonderful names, like, uh, hypocrisy and all of these different individuals that he meets along the road. They try to get them off the road. They say, go home. Don't keep doing this. Listen, your burden is just heavy because you're, you're on the path, go home and be like everybody else. And he won't do it. He keeps moving forward because he knows the book says, keep moving. And as he walks this journey and the burden gets heavier, he comes to the foot of a hill, the foot of the hill. He can barely see up to the top of it, but he knows he must climb it. It is in the path and he cannot veer off the path.
Speaker 1 00:46:56 And so he begins the climb. And as he climbs, the burden gets heavier and heavier on his back. I want to read to you as he comes to this place called salvation and climbs the hill, the book says, now I saw in my dream, this is John Bunyan writing about Pilgrim's progress about Pilgrim, that the house I weigh up, that Christian was to go was fenced in, on either side with a wall. And that way was called salvation up this way. Therefore did burden Christian run, but not without great difficulty because of the load on his. He ran the us until he came to a place, somewhat ascending upon a place that on pawn, which stood across and a little below in the bottom, a tomb. So I saw in my dream that justice Christian crawled to the cross, his burden loose from his shoulders and fell off his back and began to tumble down the hill.
Speaker 1 00:47:50 So it continued to do so until it rolled into the mouth of the tomb where it fell. And I saw it no more then was Christian glad and lightsome and said with a Merry heart, he had given me rest by his sorrow and life through his death. What was the burden on his back church sin. Then he stood awhile to look and wonder for, it was very surprising to him that the sight of the cross should ease him so much of his burden. And he looked there for and looked again until Springs that were in his head like water scent flowing down his cheeks. Then Christian gave three leaps of joy and went on singing thus far. Did I come Laden with my sin nor could I find ease from the grief that I was in till I came here? What a place is this must here be the beginning of my bliss.
Speaker 1 00:48:42 Must hear the burden fall off my back. Must hear the strings that bound it to me. Crack blessed, cross blessed set clicker blessed rather be the man that was put there in shame for me, like better. If I read this old him on a hill, far away, stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross to my trophies. At last I laid down, I will cling to the old rugged cross and Sunday exchanged it someday for a crown. I love this first. I'll read you this first two and that old rugged cross stained with blood. So divine, a wondrous beauty. I see four, two is on that old cross. Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify
Speaker 2 00:49:45 Me
Speaker 1 00:49:48 Start of the gospel is a story that changes lives. It reaches every culture. Every generation, every person must do something with Jesus. He is the climactic point of God's story and church I say to you, and I hope you say as well, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe let's pray. Father, I am grateful for just a chance to talk about your cross, how much it means to us to put it into perspective. I mean, we, we sing about it. We come to church, we hear about it. We speak about the gospel and we love the fact that we can do that freely in this country. And, and sometimes we're just satisfied when people say they believe in God, Lord help us to drive the point home that it's not believing in God, that does it.
Speaker 1 00:50:50 You have to believe God's testimony of who Jesus was, who Jesus is. So father, I pray that we would not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us proclaim it until our dying death day. Let us let us speak of it. Often. Let us correct people with it in love and grace and help people understand the invitation still lays out on the table. We would just receive it. Thank you for father for making this, this plan of salvation so accessible that anyone can reach for it. And I pray father that through our church and through this message and through our continued proclamation of the gospel, that you would continue to save many, the world is getting more and more. Yeah, dark many people see the light of Jesus Christ. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Speaker 1 00:51:44 Well, I better way it'll lead into communion, uh, than to just stick with a story of the gospel. We consider this such an important story that we do community and just about every Sunday, we're together. When you take the cup and you take the bread, they are not magical. There's nothing molecular that changes in there. There's nothing you need to eat so that you can be a stronger Christian or God can love you more. That's nowhere in scripture. Instead what Jesus says is continue to do this. So that in remembrance of me, which interpreted today would be so that the gospel is clear. Constantly clear. Every Sunday, clear the juice represents the blood Jesus shed. The bread represents the body that was pierced. This human God, this fully human fully God person was killed for our sins. And our sins are covered because of that. In fact, they are pretty much eradicated.
Speaker 1 00:52:53 If you're at home, I want to invite you to do this with us as well. We do this every Sunday, and I know it's a little funky if you're at home, but just go get some juice or some, um, liquid of some kind, get a cracker or something like that. Because again, it, the magic is not in the thing. The magic, the magic is in the fact that Jesus is, is the, is the one that is represented in this thing who has saved us no magic. It's just a remembrance of how important the gospel is when we do this together, we're we believe in Jesus. We believe the story of God. We believe Jesus is who he said he was, we are saying, I'm not ashamed. I'm drinking. I kind of wish sometimes we'd have like big buckets. We could just drink gallons, tear off big chunks of bread, not ashamed, but we got these little weird cups. And so that's what we got for now. But they're sanitary. When we, uh, when we do this, I'm going to give you a moment and maybe the Lord has spoken to, and I hope that he has take a few moments and spend silently in prayer to him. Just thank him for maybe what he has spoken to you today. Whether you're at home or here in house, just give him thanks for maybe making something clear, reminding you of something great, or maybe revealing to you something in a new way.
Speaker 1 00:54:15 Pray that you'll follow up on that. Pray that he'll give you the strength to do something with that. Maybe, maybe it's at school or maybe it's at work, or maybe, maybe it's, uh, maybe it's in your own home. Maybe, maybe we need to be a little more bold about our witness for Jesus. Not for God. I mean, Jesus is God, they're one in the same, but I'm saying maybe we need to use Jesus' name a little more clear things up for people around us because people believe in God. They don't believe in Jesus. So maybe it's a little bit of boldness. We need to pray for whatever, take a few minutes and pray for that. Spend some time with the Lord. I'm going to come up after that. And, uh, well the band will come up. They'll sing. If you're in a house, just come forward.
Speaker 1 00:54:59 There's, there's a, uh, juice and bread in the, in the, uh, on the tables in front of you. Take it back. If you're not used to it, you got to peel back the top layer to get the bread out. And the bottom layer for the juice be careful, or you could mess up whatever you're wearing. So just be careful with that. If you're at home, just wait for us and then I'm going to come up, we'll eat and we'll drink together. I'll read a passage of scripture. I'll tell you when it's time. The reason we do it together is because we are all sinners saved by grace, me included we're all in the same boat. And so this means the same thing to all of us. So let's proclaim the gospel together as a church to this communion time. All right, let me give you a few minutes to just spend some time with the Lord.
