Sermon Transcript
The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.
- Luke 2
- Behold: Pay Attention
- The Angels’ Message
- Not a Political Savior
- A False Gospel of Prosperity
- Cultures Express Conviction
- Saved from the Guilt of Sin
- Saved from the Power of Sin
- Glad Tidings to All People
- A Father Who Rejected the Gospel
- Do Not Be Ashamed of Jesus
- Closing Prayer
Luke 2
Okay, open the word if you would to Luke chapter 2.
I also wanted to thank all the ladies that came up this week and decorated the church. Let’s thank them. Appreciate all your hard work. I know you have many obligations at home to tend to. So thanks for being here and doing that.
We’re in the book of Luke. I’m going to read chapter 2 starting in verse 1. And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. This is the same Syria we’re talking about today in the news. This is where we’re dropping bombs right now. Syria. Isn’t that amazing? Same place. This is where the action is. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David. To be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered, and she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night, and behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people, for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: you will find the Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths—cloths? Cloths? Cloths? I can say cloths?
That’s hard, isn’t it? Cloths? Cloths. That’s why I always say clothes, that’s easy. Claws. Are you laughing at me? Yes, you are. Lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” And so it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven that the shepherds said to one another, “Turn on the TV.” No, they didn’t. They said, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass which the Lord has made known to us and they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the manger and when they had seen him they were they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this child and all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds but Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart then the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things which they had heard and seen as it was told to them.” Wow there’s so much here. Of course in light of the season and in light of all that Micah shared I would like us to talk today about the gospel but I want to look first at the angels message and then if we have time although I was told by the gals running the kids play that I should preach till two o’clock today because they need time to practice. Is that okay with everybody? Okay. No, I’ll need lunch before that. We could have lunch then come back and do more. That’s what they used to do, you know. Where was I? Okay. Yeah. So, the Angels message and then if we have time we’ll also look a little bit at the shepherd’s response.
Behold: Pay Attention
First of all, the message from the angels. It says here that they appeared and they said in verse 10, do not be afraid. Now of course they said this because angels are not these little bitty chubby little cherubs floating around on clouds. Angels usually, not always, but almost always, when an angel appears to somebody in scripture the people are afraid. So there’s something about their presence, there’s something about their size, there’s something about them which is frightening the angel appears and the natural response is to be afraid. So he says just calm down, chill out we would say today, don’t worry. I’ve got good news to tell you. And the first thing the angel say to the shepherds is behold, behold. We could translate it see, or we could translate it listen, or we could translate it pay attention, pay attention. In other words, what I’m going to tell you is really important. Pay attention. Listen. Behold. I’m going to tell you something important? Are you listening? A great quote by Edward Payson, the well-known preacher. He says, there cannot my friends be a more striking and satisfactory proof of our stupid insensibility to religious truth than the indifference with which we naturally view Among all the wonderful things which God has presented to the contemplation of his creatures, none are so well-suited to excite our deepest interest and attention as those which this gospel reveals.
We see that God, who is wise in counsel and wonderful in working, constantly employed for 4,000 years in making preparations for Christ’s appearance on earth. on earth. We see many holy and divinely inspired prophets raised up in different ages to predict his incarnation. We see a person born contrary to the common course of nature, employed as a harbinger to prepare his way. We see an angel sent from heaven to his intended virgin mother to announce his approaching birth. We see a multitude of heavenly hosts sent to reveal the accomplishment of They didn’t and hear them shouting glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will to men We see a miraculous star appearing in the east to announce the same event to distant sages and guide them to the feet of the newborn infant Finally we see the heavens opened over his head the Spirit of God descending like a dove to rest upon Him And at the same time hear the voice of the omnipotent eternal father of the universe exclaiming, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. By comparing the predictions of his birth with the other parts of Revelation, we find that the child thus born, the son thus given and ushered into the world, is in fact the mighty God. The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, God manifest in the flesh [audio unclear] man? To these questions our text furnishes the only satisfactory answer. It teaches us that [audio unclear] Adam [audio unclear] That’s why we need to pay attention to this message. Because it is the the message of the Bible. The message of the Bible is not personal prosperity, it’s not personal happiness. The message of the Bible is that God came, God in the world. [audio unclear] In Jerusalem, Bethlehem. All those places still there today. The center of geopolitics today. lived and walked there in the flesh, the Son of God,
The Angels’ Message
So, the angels tell the shepherds to pay attention. Don’t be distracted by your sheep don’t be distracted by taking care of things around you pay attention because what I’m going to tell you is the most important thing you will ever hear. So what was their message what’s so important that we should pay attention to it well here’s what the angels say verse 10 do not be afraid for behold or pay attention I bring you good tidings of great joy who is Christ our Lord. This is the message that [audio unclear] his, his death and resurrection, [audio unclear] the church, it’s really funny when you think about it because he’s commissioning them and they’re not, sure what they’re being commissioned to say. Because they don’t really understand fully yet what’s going on here. Even after everything they’ve experienced and seen with Jesus being crucified, coming back from the dead, look at Acts, it with them he Jesus commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father which he said you have heard for me for John truly baptized with water but you should be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now He’s talking about Pentecost. Therefore when they had come together they asked them saying “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Not a Political Savior
Now the uppermost thing on their mind at this point was what?
Their own political situation. The uppermost thing on their minds at this point was not personal salvation. It was not the gospel as we understand it. It was not preaching Jesus. It was, are you going to fix, fix things in our society? That’s the question they were asking. And so Jesus, even to his own at this point, was still being viewed as a political savior. not only a political savior, but particularly a savior of Israel to the exclusion of the Gentiles.
So at this point, they had a very narrow view of what Jesus had done. They didn’t really understand yet until being baptized with the Spirit what Jesus had really accomplished on the cross through his death and through his resurrection. And so they were thinking that if you said to them, was Jesus a Savior, they probably would have said yes, but they’re still thinking in political terms. And we see we see this in the career of Jesus when some at one point tried to take Him and make Him a king. There were many who were following Jesus for political reasons because they believe that Jesus, because of his power, would be able to overthrow Roman dominion. That Israel again might be free. And so they believed he was Messiah, but he was a political Messiah. He was a political Savior. [audio unclear] The angels said that Jesus was a Savior, but we know from the announcement to Mary that [audio unclear] the uppermost thing in the mind of the angels was not political salvation. the uppermost thing in the of the angels, it was not social redemption. the uppermost thing in the minds of the angels was the glad tidings of great joy, which was that Jesus will save his people from their sins. You see, we often go toward things backwards. If we want to see a nation healed, then we need to see souls healed.
If we want to get rid of injustice in our culture, then we need to deal with the hatred and the racism in our hearts. Redemption has to be personal before it can be political. has to be personal before it can be social. If we want social justice, then individuals must come to a place of understanding that they need to be just in their hearts.
Now I don’t want to set up a false dichotomy because some people say none of that stuff is important, just preach the gospel. Other people say well if we’re not doing that then we’re not preaching the gospel with our lives. It’s not a false dichotomy It’s not either or, it’s both. It’s both. Because when a people are truly saved, that salvation works its way out and it changes not just what goes on in your heart or in your head, it changes how you live, it changes – how you a view the world, and changes how you vote, it changes how- how you you spend your money, it changes your life. inevitable, it happens. So we, you know, we are beneficiaries of the gospel being preached in the West for centuries, and we have reaped the benefits of the preaching of that gospel in a variety of ways in the political order. Now sadly, as the gospel is becoming increasingly neglected in our culture, we’re seeing really a resurrection of a, a lot of pagan elements in our culture. And we’re seeing a suppression of the Christian message. That is, well, I won’t go down that road. That being the case, the point is that the 12 and many others who followed Jesus were not understanding the heart of the gospel. They were putting, They would say Jesus was Messiah, Jesus was a Savior, but Jesus was going to save Israel.
A False Gospel of Prosperity
And we have many today like this. We have many today who are following Jesus, but they want Jesus to save America. They want Jesus to save the middle class. They want Jesus to save our economy. They want Jesus to save our public schools. They want Jesus to save all of these things. You know what? Jesus needs to save souls. He needs to save souls. The good news, the glad tidings of joy is not that when you retire you’ll still have your pension. That’s not the gospel. The gospel is not you will continue to get raises for the next 20 years and you will have bigger houses in the next 10 or 15 years. That’s not the gospel. The gospel is not, all will go well for you in this world. That is not the gospel. The gospel is not, you can name and claim your prosperity. That is not the gospel. Now that’s an American gospel, which is now unfortunately, as my daughter taught me after going to Africa, being exported around the world. I read an article about [audio unclear] Our culture, where God’s gonna knock the bottom out, it’s gonna get totally knocked out. And we’re gonna find out who’s really following Jesus. We’re gonna find out who loves Jesus because Jesus saved their soul, rather than those who love Jesus because they’re seeking bread and the circus. Jesus had many followers, read John 6. Many people followed him, he stopped and he looked at them, You are following me because I’m giving you bread. That’s the wrong reason. You need to do the will of my father. And so many are following Jesus because of false promises of prosperity. And when God knocks the bottom out and people start losing their jobs because they’re Christians or because they start losing their pensions because the economy is failing and things of this nature, we will find out who are really followers of Jesus and not followers of Mammon. And as Mike said earlier, many, many professing Christians in this culture are not Christians. They are not born again of God’s Spirit. And they come to church for the show. They come for the circus. And so if you put on a good show, you get a bigger crowd. I don’t want a big crowd. I am not here to put on a show. I’m here to preach the Word of God. In all of His beauty, in all of His glory, in all of His ugliness, in all of His hardness, all of it. The whole counsel of God. The gospel that we are preaching is a gospel of peace, prosperity, and comfort, and it is a false gospel. It is good news to the flesh. It is good news to the natural man, but it is not God’s news. Jesus said, narrow is the way that leads to life. Hard is the way. That’s what Jesus said. I didn’t write it. Jesus said that. Jesus is a savior, but Jesus is not a savior of your personal happiness and inclination.
Jesus did not come so that I could get what I wanted. Are you hearing me? Yes. That’s not why he came. Now, if you truly know Christ, Jesus will give you joy. Jesus will give you happiness. But those aren’t the goal, those are the byproducts. Those are the results. And when we make the results the goal, we get [audio unclear]
Cultures Express Conviction
The problems in our culture, they are not environmental, they are not economic, they are spiritual, and they are moral. You know, I study political science, I have a master’s degree, I have a couple of doctorates, I’ve read a lot of things, I’ve thought about a lot of things, and you know I had a revelation one day. I should have realized this before I read any of these books. Things don’t just happen. There’s nothing random. And what I mean by that is not just that God is sovereign, but what I mean by that is when you see a culture going in a certain direction, you know what’s happening? People are making choices. We look at our culture, gee, why is this happening? Because people are making choices, that’s why. We have this view of the world which we’ve been indoctrinated with If there are natural forces operating in the world in such a way that we’re powerless and things just, well, that’s, well, you know, things are just gonna get more corrupt, things will just get more liberal, things will get more this, more that way. People are making choices. That’s why things change. The sexual revolution of the 60s,, do you know, it really began in the 50s and the 40s? And did you know that it began because people wanted it to begin? It’s not like all of a sudden people realize. They had genitals one day. No, think about it. Okay. You have a society that’s relatively conservative in this sexual area. No, no easy divorce. Fornication was frowned upon, etc. Go down the list and all of a sudden in 20 years everybody says let’s sleep with everybody. You think that just happened? No. There were people who had a vision of society, and they said said, this is the society we want to see, and they labored to make it happen.
So cultures are an expression of, are you listening? Behold. Cultures are an expression of religious conviction.
Whoever has the most conviction will make the most impact . This is true. So as you look forward in America, what will we see 40 years from now? Will we see a liberal secular America? Will we see a Muslim America? What will we see? have the strongest conviction. That’s what we’ll see. The precious liberties we have, the fact that I can still stand and preach the Word, unmolested by the police, is a result of the fact that Christians decided this book was important enough to live and to die for. That the freedom to preach God was so It’s so-important that Christians were willing to- This is not hyperbole, this is history. Many Christians during that time were burnt at the stake because they believed the gospel that I’m talking about today and they preached it contrary to the opinion of the religious and secular authorities of their day.
And when men said, you cannot preach that, they said, we will obey God, not man. And they preached the gospel, and many of them were literally burnt at the stake. Many of them were thrown into prison to die of disease. Many of them were tortured in various ways. And they did it for the gospel. It was not the gospel of personal peace and affluence. [audio unclear] they were willing to sacrifice and pay for the propagation of the gospel. I mean, when Justice earlier said something about sharing the gospel, and some of you were scared of that, I had to laugh. What are you scared of? Someone might sneer? Let me tell you something. What are we going to do if we’re confronted with the flames? What are we going to do if we’re confronted with prison. What are we going to do if we’re confronted with losing our job? Are we all going to run? Am I… The Lord’s texting me. I mean, are we sitting in a room full of cowards? [audio unclear] God forbid. And if we can’t preach it now, we’re not going to preach it then. We need to preach it now. Now. Because we still have the liberty to do so. whether we will be even ten and fifteen years from now I don’t know but I can show you this that that uh… if we don’t preach it now we’re almost ensuring we won’t have the liberty to do a later We need to speak the gospel confidently. And by the way, you know what? I was leading people to Christ when I was probably a three-month-old in Christ. I hear Christians say, “I’ve been a Christian several years, I don’t know if I know enough, I don’t know if I can answer this.” Let me tell you what happens when you share. And you know what the Holy Spirit does? He fills you with power. He fills you with His Spirit.
When Stephen stood before the Sanhedrin, he confounded them with his wisdom. Where did he get that wisdom? From the Holy Spirit. We see this all throughout the Book of Acts. I’ve experienced it. I’ve been in situations where all of a sudden, I’m sharing the gospel. And all of a sudden, I know things I didn’t even know I knew. The idea is that the non-believer is really afraid of the gospel. The non-Christian is really afraid of you. But you get bullied and you buy into the lie. Just go to work and take your Bible and put it down on your desk. Go in the break room and put your Bible down on the desk.
Walk into Walmart like this. It’s like parting the Red Sea. A Bible, a Bible in public. They- freak out. The Word of God says that the righteous are bold as a lion. Why should you be afraid because someone heard you? I remember a when I got saved, I remember thinking, you know, it took I’d go to church and I’d meet Christians and I’d meet this Christian. Then I realized there’s actually this thing called Christianity and there were saved people all around. And I’m like, why didn’t anybody ever tell me this before? So much suffering, personal pain that I went through, maybe I could have been saved from. Why didn’t anybody share the gospel with me? It bewildered me. The angels said that the gospel of the glad tidings, that there was a Savior that was born.
Saved from the Guilt of Sin
The Savior is a Savior who saves us from sin. What does that mean? Well, that could be literally sermons for a whole year. But I’ll just say a few things about this. Jesus saves us from the guilt of sin. [audio unclear] Sin produces guilt because sin offends the holy God. And so you have people around you who are laboring under guilt. They’re laboring under the just condemnation of God. It is a reality. Now they can smile, they can drink, they can party, they can act like the world’s in the palm of their hand. The reality is they are under a load of guilt whether they know it or not.
This is the just recompense for the violation of God’s holy law. The Bible says that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Every one of us, every one of us in this room, everyone you know, everyone you work with, every family member you have, everyone has violated law of God, everyone has sinned and fallen short, right? And therefore they’re guilty. They need to be saved from that guilt. Jesus saves because Jesus takes that guilt upon himself a precursor to the punishment that they will receive when they die. It’s really a warning. It’s a warning that the punishment is coming. Jesus takes the guilt because Jesus takes the punishment upon himself himself. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, my sins, your sins, your neighbor’s sins, your your co-worker’s sins were laid upon Jesus Christ. The angels said that they were bringing good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. all the people. So Christ takes the sins of the world upon himself and when he dies, What is happening is there is a judicial legal transaction between the father and the son and the father accepts the suffering of the son in lieu of our suffering. He accepts the payment of the son in lieu of our bankruptcy. And what Jesus does on the cross is he then pays for my sins. He redeems me from the guilt and the penalty of my sins. But he also does something else.
Saved from the Power of Sin
Jesus saves me from the power of sin. [audio unclear] The gospel is not good news if I’m left in bondage. Can I get some more? Amen? It’s not good news if I’m in bondage to sin. It’s not good news if I’m in bondage to Satan. It is not good news if I’m in bondage to anything. The good news of the gospel is Jesus Christ saves even now from the power of sin.
Because Jesus broke the power of sin on the cross and that power he gives to his people if they will receive it by faith.
A defeated Christian is a contradiction in terms, you understand? Yes. Because when we become Christians we profess that Christ has defeated the power of sin and yet we live by sin. How can this be?
Jesus has a glorious mansion for me in heaven. Now my wife is going to be really prepared for that. That’s the hope prepared for the Christian. That’s a victorious Christian life. This is something something we can walk in today because God gives us the Holy Spirit. [audio unclear] the flesh. You can. When we come to Christ— You need to come to Jesus every day and say, fill me with your spirit, give me victory over sin, give me victory over the world, give me victory over Satan, and if you will call upon Him and if you will walk in His spirit, the Word of God says that if you walk in His spirit, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. That’s salvation. That’s not for an elite few. It’s not for the rich megachurch pastor. It’s for every Christian has been given the Spirit of God so that he might walk in victory in his life. And some of you need to begin to tap into the power God has given you. Because you’re not living at the level God has called you to live in. I’m not here to shame you, I’m not here to condemn you, but I’m here to tell you, You can have victory, and you need to begin to take hold of it by faith. The gospel is not good news if we’re waiting for heaven and we’re living defeated the rest of our lives. That is not good news. And I can tell you this, that if that’s how we’re living, no wonder our friends and neighbors don’t receive the gospel. No wonder. Because some of them have more joy and happiness than we do. Some of them have their act together better than we. God has provided because Jesus is a Savior. You know what Saviors do? They save people. Jesus wants to save you. He wants to save you from from the sin in your life from that. Whatever sin that is, He can save you from that. He can give you freedom. Eventually the Lord is going to save us from the very presence of sin. in heaven. Amen. It’s going to be glorious. But let me tell you this friends, I, I’m looking aI’m looking forward to heaven a lot. I mean a whole lot. When I was younger, I was like, yeah, I want to go to heaven, that’s cool. But what I really meant is like, I don’t want to go to hell. is a difference. But you know as you get a little bit older and things start to fall apart, like man I could like dig a new body about right now. You know what I mean? I I like a new back, a couple new knees, and we’re gonna get all that. We’re going to get a new body. It’s gonna be glorious. I’m not gonna have all those those aches and pains, right? I was making a point, I forgot. Oh, yeah. And this desire for heaven, the assurance of heaven ought to be motivating us to preach the gospel. It should be motivating us. But it won’t if we’re not experiencing salvation now.
We must experience it now. We must learn to walk in the salvation that has been provided for us. Amen? So the good news is that a Savior is born and as trite as it sounds, a Savior saves.
That’s what he does. Some of you have this twisted around, and your Christian life is you trying to save yourself. It’s you trying to be good enough for God. It’s you trying to please Jesus. That’s not the Christian life. It is Jesus saving you. So you need to begin to trust in Jesus and believe in Jesus and come to Jesus and talk to Jesus and pray to Jesus and fellowship with Jesus and then Jesus will save you. Now, in this life, and the things that are eating away at your joy, the things that are bringing defeat into your life, the things that are destroying your marriage. Jesus can save you from all of those things. Give Him praise, amen.
Glad Tidings to All People
Back in Luke 2, the glad tidings of great joy. If you begin to understand the Gospel, you understand why it’s called not just tidings, not just glad tidings, of great joy. When you begin to realize the comprehensive nature of what Jesus offers us, it’s astounding. It’s astounding. But we have to take it and receive it by faith. And when you begin to receive it by faith, you begin to experience the reality of it. And wow, great joy comes then. Notice also what the angels say. In verse 10 he says, they bring And good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. To all. [audio unclear] But your heart’s religious. Meaning, your heart wants to work in such a way that, that you are appeasing God or pleasing God or doing something so that your standing with God has something to do with your life. The Word of God says that we are corrupt from head to toe. Nothing we do is good in His sight. [audio unclear] Fellowship with Him. This is a meal, right? Fellowship. Our fellowship with God and Jesus Christ is completely based upon grace. Completely. And that’s why it can be to all people. Not just people. The Gospel isn’t just to the religious people. The gospel isn’t just to any class, any race, any nation of people. The Gospel is for. The Gospel is for all people. That means the Gospel is for your family members. The Gospel is for your co-workers. The Gospel is for your neighbors. It’s for all people. Right?
A Father Who Rejected the Gospel
So, I remember when my dad passed away. I’ll be done in a few minutes. I know. I’m going long. My dad lived hard. Heavy drinker, heavy smoker, tough guy. My earliest memories in childhood [audio unclear] were of him taking me to the bar and hanging out in the bar while he got drunk. I played pinball.
When I got saved, I was, my brother had actually got saved before me and had shared the gospel with him and it didn’t go too well. [audio unclear] Well, he got very ill and he went in the hospital and he had congestive heart failure, you know, 40, 50 years of smoking three packs a day and drinking hard. That’ll do it, right? So he’s in the hospital and I know he’s going to die soon.
And so I got him a Bible and I attempted to share the gospel with him.
And I’ve shared this with you, before, but his answer was very simple: “I have lived as an atheist and I will die as an atheist.”
And he said it, angrily, and it was clear there was no discussion. So I set the Bible on the nightstand by his bed, and okay.
You know, he’s got the word right there, right? Not long after that he died. And he died in his sins, to my knowledge. There was no indication of any change, any repentance, anything, which means that he died and he went to hell. It was very difficult for me personally, personally, to know. It was a test of my faith because we can talk about things like Heaven and Hell, but when someone you love goes there, do you still believe it then? I’ve done many funerals over the years where people have buried friends or family members who showed no evidence of the faith. And yet I hear how they talk in such a way to convince themselves that there’s a really good chance the person was saved. Well what are they doing? They can’t bear the thought that someone they care about is actually in hell. And so they rationalize and convince themselves because the thought of someone being in hell who they love is just too painful. Trust me, I understand how painful it is. So, the gospel is even for those that reject it. [audio unclear] And we can’t control who rejects it. But I can assure you of this. Every one of your family members will die eventually. And some before you. of you may have parents that are still not saved and they will die before you. You have co-workers who keep the same job long enough, some of them you may see go. And I know this from my own experience that is as painful and difficult as it was to lose somebody I loved, it would have been literally maddening if I had felt that I had failed to share the gospel with that person. The guilt would have been overwhelming. Overwhelming.
Do Not Be Ashamed of Jesus
Last week Mike spoke on the value of the soul where Jesus said, “What if a man gains the whole world but loses his soul?” You know that text is not really about the soul of the unbeliever. I’m not criticizing him because I’ve used it that way. That’s a secondary application. It’s about our soul. Because the very next verse, you know what Jesus says? “If you are ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, I will be ashamed of you when I come with My Father’s angels.” And the context is Jesus was going to the cross and what, and what did Peter do? No Jesus, you can’t go to the cross. Well clearly he didn’t understand the gospel, right? But what was Peter doing? No Jesus, I love you Jesus and you can’t suffer. I can’t bear that you would suffer Jesus. And so Jesus turns and rebukes Peter and he says, “Get thee behind Me, Satan.” This was the voice of Satan. Satan with speaking words of love, words of kindness. Spare yourself. God doesn’t want you to suffer.
Those are the words of Satan because the cross was necessary for salvation. So then Jesus turns around and looks at his disciples and says, you, like me, need to lose your life.
You need to lose your life. I’m going to lose mine for you. Now I want you to lose yours for Me. Me. That’s what He’s saying. And we’re afraid someone might sneer at us? Shame on us. If you’re ashamed of Jesus, then confess it and repent of it. Don’t accept it. Don’t live in it. Because if he says, if we’re ashamed of him, he’ll be ashamed of us. Now you can work that into your theology however you want. But that’s what he says. He, he gave us his life because he understood the value of our soul.
And so he says, now give your life back to me. If you want to follow me, give me your life. Give me your life. Maybe that’s the problem in the American church. Maybe that’s why the American church isn’t evangelizing anymore in America. We’re not giving Jesus our life anymore. Maybe it’ll cost us something to be bold. Maybe, you know, maybe you will lose your job. Well, what would you do then? I will tell you what you will do then. You will find out that you have an all-sufficient, almighty, powerful, miraculous God. That’s what you will find out. And the reason our God is so little is because we have so little faith. When you put yourself out there, when you will walk by faith, when you will make sacrifices, when you will step out, when there’s nothing underneath you, you will find the hand of God right there catching you. The reason I’ve seen so many miracles in my life over the years, because I’ve been willing, by the grace of God, I’m not bragging, sometimes by necessity, been forced to live by faith. There were days I didn’t know how I was gonna eat that day, and money would show up at my front door. Literally, I’m not exaggerating. I could tell you story after story. Someone wrote a great essay, I’ll have to read it to you you sometime about faith, where he says, most of us construct our lives in such a way that we really don’t have to depend on God. So our faith never gets tested. Do something bold for Jesus. Do something daring for Jesus. Do something that might cost you something and see what God does. Find out if your God really saves. Is he really a Savior? Is he really Almighty? Then go out on a limb for Jesus and find out what God can do and you will be astounded what he does. Let me close with this. The gospel is for all, the angels say. I just remembered something. One of the reasons I shared this story about my dad was this. After he passed away, and it was very hard, as I said, because someone I deeply, deeply cared about was in hell. And I remember, I was actually on staff at a church at the time, and I took some time off. And I remember when I came back to church, and I walked into the first worship service, I was struck at how many of the things we’re singing were about me. And not one of the songs that we sang that day had anything to do with God loving anybody else but me. I thought, wow, people are dying and going to hell all around us and we’re singing about God’s love for me. What about God’s love for them? Does God love them? or no? Does God love your neighbors? Yes or no? Okay, does God love your co-workers? [audio unclear] And you can be the messenger of God, the ambassador of God, of Jesus Christ, to share with them the glad tidings. It’s a glorious privilege, you know. It’s a glorious privilege. I don’t know if you’ve ever led anybody to Jesus, but let me tell you, it’s one of the greatest things in the world. It’s a glorious, glorious gift that God would let you partner with him in leading a soul from eternal misery to eternal bliss. Amen.
Closing Prayer
Let’s stand and pray. I have more to say but our time is up. Lord God, we acknowledge that your word is true.
And Lord, as we profess it is true, I ask Lord Jesus that you would make us make us live like it is true. And Lord, as a church, as we turn our gaze away from ourselves and on our community, I pray Lord Jesus that you would give us your heart. Remind us that you care about the people in our neighborhoods. You care about the people that we’re gonna run into when we’re shopping and the people that are angry and the people that are rude and the people that are cutting us off on the road. You care about all of these people. And I ask, Lord, that You’d give us Your love for them. Remind us that Your gospel is deep and wide. Your gospel saves those that are unsavable. Your gospel saves the unloved and the unlovely. Your gospel saves those that we may not even like. Lord, I ask that you enlarge our hearts, enlarge our hearts, that we might feel just a small amount of your compassion for the lost. Forgive us, God, for being self-centered, especially at this time of the year, to think about only ourselves and only our families, Lord. Forgive us of that. I pray now for the lost that we know. I pray for you to move God in their hearts, to use the music they’re hearing, to use this time of year to stir them, to begin to seek Jesus Christ. I pray that you remove the blindness from their eyes, the veil that Satan has put on their eyes. I ask, Lord, that you would convict them with your Holy Spirit of sin, righteousness, and judgment. And I ask, Lord, that You then would embolden us to share the gospel with them. We ask, God, that You would use us to save souls for eternity. The time is short and eternity is long.
We pray this, Lord, that You might receive the fruit of Your suffering, the reward that You purchased on the cross. We pray in Your name.