Well, let's go to the Gospel of Luke this morning, Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. We'll look at verses 41 through 52 this morning as we continue to. Just take some texts and unpack them as they reveal the wonders of Jesus And I've entitled this Jesus, he is astonishing. I think that's one of the reasons why we have these glimpses, these narratives.
From the life of Jesus to astound us afresh. And can I ask you this morning, does he astonish you? Or do you still basically view Jesus with the same understanding you had? As a seven-year-old in vacation Bible school. God forbid, there's too much about him.
to marvel over. Then to stay with the Milky Basic things that perhaps we learned as children, those are wonderful, but there's so much more. Look to Verse forty-one.
Now, his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the feast. And as they were returning after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But his parents were unaware of it. but supposed him to be in the caravan.
And went a day's journey, and they began looking for him among their relatives and acquaintances. And when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for him. Then after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When they, his mom and dad, saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, Son.
Why have you treated us this way? Behold, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you. And he said to them, Why is it that you were looking for me? Did you not know that I had to be in my father's house? They did not understand the statement which he had made to them.
And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and he continued in subjection to them, and his mother treasured all these things in her heart. Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and favor with God and Mian. Let's look at verses 41 and through 44 as something of an introduction to this. astounding revelation in the early life of Jesus.
Now they're going to the feast.
Now, in ancient Israel, only three feasts were required. God had ordained these feasts so that The Israelites would come together and feast and enjoy the fellowship. But primarily to remember back on God's faithfulness to them. And to give them reminders again of his continued promises. for them.
So here they are going to the feast of unliving bread or the Passover. A time when Joseph Jesus' supposed father, wasn't his father, of course, but his supposed father, and Mary, his mother, are going to this amazing and wonderful time in the calendar year of the nation of Israel. And they're going to remember through this celebration. God's great faithfulness to them and God's great promises for them. But somehow They have failed to remember.
His personal promises to them concerning. their boy Jesus. I think we get there sometimes. We can remember some things, remember a number of things. About our Christian faith, but if we're not careful, we will leave out or forget the main thing.
So they're looking back and celebrating, but forgot all of those wonderful promises when he was born about him.
Now verse 42 says, Jesus became 12 years of age, and that's significant. When Jewish boys turned twelve, they were considered sons of the law. And they begin formal training. In the ceremonial and moral law that God had given Moses.
So it was the custom for Jewish boys to go to the temple. and learn at the feet of the rabbis beginning at age twelve. And you think about Jesus, who's not just any Jewish boy, of course. Jesus who is sinless, Jesus, who is God incarnate, God in human form. Going to Jerusalem.
How his heart must be feeling as he goes to. The Zion of God, the chosen place where God's presence and God's blessing dwell. And here Jesus comes to the temple in particular, the text tells us. And everything in the temple speaks of him. Everything.
There's the brazen altar there where they did the sacrifices, and Jesus knows I am going to be the sacrifice. all of these sacrifices pointed to. There, you have the labor where the priest would wash and cleanse before he carried out his priestly duties, picturing that Jesus by his shed blood would cleanse all of those who come to him by faith. Think of how he must have been thinking about this. There's the the table of showbread in the outer court of the temple.
Speaking of God's Faithfulness to be a provision and a nourishment to the people. And Jesus knowing that this is about me, I am the bread of heaven. That gives the spiritual nutrition and nourishment that saves the soul. In the outer court, there's the lampstand, which says that God is the light that illumines men's hearts and souls. And Jesus, seeing that lampstand, must have been thinking, I am.
The light of God. That that typified and that that pointed to. You have the incense in the innermost areas where it pictured the going up of the prayers before God, and Jesus thinking that I am the one who brings the people's needs before God the Father. You have the veil that secluded the The Holy of Holies, where God's presence dwelt, and Jesus is the true veil that was written in two.
So that men might enter in and know the holiness of God. And this building, by the way, will not be needed any longer once the real thing has shown up. There's the mercy seat. Inside the innermost chamber called the Holy of Holies. And the priest would come once a year and sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat, signifying the rolling back of sin, and Jesus knowing it's my blood that will be spilt on God's true mercy seat, Calvary, and there men's sins will be rolled back forever.
Think of what must be going through the heart of Jesus. Walking in and seeing everything that he himself designed that points to him. Then, of course, just the priesthood. As those priests minister day and night for the people, and Jesus realizing I am the one and only true high priest, the only priest men need. That's why we abhor today the thought of a priest ministering in a Christian context.
We have a priest already. We need not a human one. We have a divine one. Then the Holy of Holies itself. Where the Shekinah glory of God would dwell.
And when Jesus walks up, the glory of God was already present. Amazing. Astonishing to picture that and think about that. The temple speaks of God's presence and God's blessing, and yet on this day, the real and true and full presence and blessing of God was present in the Lord Jesus Christ. But how sad it is that the people, generally speaking, were very enamored with the temple and the environs and the instruments in the temple.
But miss the real thing. Just missed him. Missed him. Completely. You may come into Grace Life Church.
You may say, well, they've remodeled the things, and it's beautiful. And by the way, it is beautiful. It is excellent. But it's all about him. If you miss him, you miss everything.
So, Jesus' heart must have been so full as he enters the environs of the temple. The psalmist must have been thinking of Jesus when, years before this event, It says, as the deer panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. Speaking of Jesus. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go to the house of the Lord.
And our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. The psalmist, if you will. Speaking the words of prophecy that must have been in the heart of Jesus. As he walked in here. Verses 43 and 44 tell us that as they, the parents, were returning back to their homeland.
After spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents were unaware of it. But supposing him to be in the caravan and went a day's journey, and they begin looking for him among their relatives and acquaintances.
So here Jesus' family left the feast. Maybe in parallel to us, we could say they leave church. And they head back home. And on their way back home, they forgot to take Jesus with them. How do you do on that?
We have a wheel that lays out the illustration of our ministries. And one of the primary spokes of that will says home life discipleship. And really, all that means is the doctrines and the truths and the glory and the astounding and the wonder of Jesus. Don't leave it here. Take it home with you.
You come here to get realigned that you might go home and literally live literally better aligned with Jesus. I think there's a fading Parallel all through this narrative where we can stop and be mindful ourselves. Have we left your church and left Jesus at church? In fact, he he doesn't live here. You don't live here.
He don't sit in these pews and he doesn't walk in the hallways and he doesn't Get on this pulpit. He doesn't sing songs unless he does it through us. He lives in us. We are the temple of God. But unfortunately, as I speak to you this morning, there are professing Christian congregations all over this country and all over the world where one couldn't find Jesus to start with.
He's not priest, he's not taught.
Well, at least the Jesus of Scripture is not. Verses forty-six and forty-seven. Three days later, they decide, you know. We better go. Find out where he is.
They found him, though, in the temple, verse 46, sitting in the midst of the teachers. both listening to them and asking them questions. You know, all the moments of Jesus' life were moments headed toward the Father's house. Every step he took down here was a step closer to his real home up there. His heavenly home, where he was properly loved, properly honored, and properly worshipped.
No wonder As Jesus Was drawn to Jerusalem and drawn to the temple here. Because these are all earthly shadows of his heavenly home and his heavenly glory. You know, Jesus had one and only one, ever-abiding, all-consuming passion. Are you listening? He had one and only one, ever-abiding and all-consuming passion.
To fulfill his father's will for coming. He said, Well, no, he came because he loves us. Yeah, true, but not true. There are a lot of people Jesus didn't feed, but he fed a lot of people. He didn't feed everyone.
He healed a lot of people, but he didn't heal everyone. He raised the number of dead people, but he didn't raise everyone. What was he doing? He was precisely explicitly obeying the Father's will. You're going to have to get out of your man-centeredness and get God-centered.
And that's why Jesus astonishes us. He is holy. Absolutely consumed with God the Father being pleased. And he just really didn't care what the Baptists thought about it. Or the Presbyterians, or the Methodists, or the Episcopalians.
or the Catholics or anyone else. And so as we look at him and study about him, it's quite astonishing. Matthew 26, 39. He went a little beyond them. He fell on his face and he prayed, saying, My Father, if it's possible, let this.
Cup pass for me. Yet not as I will, but as you will. I want to honor your will. John 17:4, I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me to do. I came here for one thing.
to accomplish the work you've given me to do. There's this mushy Maybe not even mildly biblical concept of. This broad human definition of love, and God loved, and God sent his son in all of this love, and that's not untrue, but there's more to it than that. John six thirty nine This is the will of him who sent me, of all that he has given me. I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day.
What is he saying? I perfectly fulfill my Father's will. You know, the agonies of redemption. And the glories of his work of securing the church his bride. Must have been burning in his heart as a 12-year-old boy when he walked for the first time down the dusty roads of Jerusalem.
Knowing that in just a few years, these same roads will be hallowed with the drops of his redeeming blood. Amazing thing to Meditate on this. Narrative the the Bible gives us.
So here he is. His parents are Three days into their journey back to Nazareth, they realize he's missing. They come back, they find him in the temple. Verse 47 says: The instructors were really shocked and amazed at his wisdom and his understanding.
Well, they ought to have been. He wrote the law they're studying. Then we come to verse 48 in Roman numeral 1 in our outline: distraught parents. and the Saviour at peace. Distraught parents and the Savior at peace or rest is fine too.
And when they saw him, verse 48, they were astonished. We'll dig into that word a little more in a moment. And his mother said to them, Why have you treated us this way? Can you imagine? Rebuking Jesus like that.
Who do you think you are? I want to tell you something. There's it. There's many a Baptist. They get caught up in their self-consumed emotionalism and sentimentality and determine what Jesus should do because they feel so deeply about something.
And in effect, They look at Jesus and say, Who do you think you are not to behave the way I think you should? The way I feel so deeply that you should. I'll tell you what Jesus will tell you. You need to understand something, ma'am. I do what my father tells me.
I do what my father tells me. Every preacher needs that kind of resolve. He must have a genuine love for the people. But he must love them enough to do what the Father. has told him.
To do.
So Mary rebukes Jesus as he's here at the temple.
Now in balance. Good word, ladies, balance. She's a mom. This is our precious boy. He's just 13, though in the ancient Jewish world, 13 was entering into adulthood.
And she's worried, sick, terrified of what might have happened. But Jesus is going to show us that even in the depths of your emotional And all those superior gifts God gives you, ladies, the caregiving, the compassion, the nurturing, the protecting element you have for your babies, all wonderful. But there's a line got to be drawn when God's word is clear. Will you set aside your emotions, become women of principle, and say, We got to do what the Word of God says. Like Charles Haddon Spurgeon said of his mother, they were sitting around the table having one of their devotional times.
And Spurgeon's mother looked at Spurgeon and, in effect, said, You are guilty. You are a sinner. You will be judged before a holy God, and I will stand in judgment and bear witness against you. She knew that's what her son needed if she really loved him. Mary's not there yet.
Okay. She's worried. She's concerned. I mean, the memories from the nativity scene have grown dim. You remember everything that happened?
Share with Are to show Joseph and Mary that this was not your child. This is of unique God-ordained purposes that God has brought His Son into this world. They've forgotten all of that. Mary is cast into the realm of a typical loving mom, worried to death over a missing child. This is the infirmity and the limitations of fallen humanity.
How quickly we f forget the Lord's previous promises. unfailing provisions when a crisis strikes. Mary is marked by anxi anxiety and fretting. And Jesus is marked by heavenly tranquility. Is there not a word of application here for all of us?
Listen, church. There's never a moment when God is fretting. God is never anxious. Worried? Or Troubled.
No matter what your present trial. No matter what your present trouble, heaven is at peace.
Some of us act if we'll just get so out of sorts, we might even shake heaven a little bit. No, you won't. God just yawns and sits back down, sits back down. As a child of God. And as a child of heaven, your outcomes rest in the powers of heaven.
This is one of those times when I'd kinda like to run through that wall back there. All the outcomes of all the situations and events and trials of my life rest. In heaven's wisdom. And heaven's at peace. God has not been caught off guard by your crisis.
Matter of fact. He knows all about it. Matter of fact, he knew about it before it came. Matter of fact, he had a hand in it. He knows what he's doing.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism reminds us. God's works of providence. Are his most holy Wise and powerful, preserving and governing of all his creatures and all their actions. God's invincible power. God's invincible power to put everything together as it's supposed to be.
And God's invincible power appoints all the appointed means of everything that happens in our lives. They send a VS. I don't know who said this. It's not original with me, but listen to this. His hand may be hidden.
But his rule is absolute. Ephesians 1:11. He works all things after the counsel of his will. He knows what he's doing. Well, let's move on to Roman number two.
Preparing the parents for the messianic mission. And that's what's happening here, among other things. That's what's happening here. He's got to let. Mary and Joseph know things are not going to be the same from now on.
You've got to submit to the Father's will. For my life. and release me to that. When you get to verse 49 of our text, you have the first recorded words of Jesus on earth. Yeah, to them, and here here's his question to them.
Why is it that you were looking for me? Did you not know that I had to be in my father's house? Well, Mary and Joseph should have known after all that had been told to them. about who he was. But like us, their faith is not always awake.
That's part of what Sunday's for. To awaken your faith back up. And get on board with God's purpose for your life again. He says in verse 49, I had to be. It wasn't an option.
It wasn't a consideration. It's something I had to do. I had to be in my father's house. Again, Jesus was God-centered. His life and his purpose was the glory and honor of his heavenly Father.
and to fully obey him. Note again in verse forty-eight, Mary rebukes Jesus and said, Your father. Has been worried about you. In verse 49, Jesus replies and says, My father is not worried about me. My father is not looking for me.
In fact, I'm with my father all the time. The angel had told Mary in chapter 1, verse 32 of this same gospel. that he was the quote, the son of the most high.
Now, publicly and formally, that seal is set. Primarily he's not Mary's son. Primarily, he is not Joseph's supposed or adopted son. He's the Son of the Most High. His true identity begins to reveal itself.
And his mother, with all of her motherly instincts, however, must not interfere with his work. It is her role. to fully submit to the Father's will. Jesus said, I had to be in my father's house.
Well, here Jesus is undoubtedly preparing his parents. That he answers to one above them. He would not be looking for guidance from them as he did before. And perfect righteousness will be fulfilled as he sought the Father's will. And he could not err nor stray from this divine Got it.
So Jesus asked them the question. Why are you looking for me here? Did you not know? That I had to be about my father's business.
Now, this is just one of many questions he's going to astonish people with. Remember the verse 48 says they were astonished. And what have you done? Many times he'll talk to the Pharisees and others and ask them questions. And when they contemplated them, they would be astonished at him.
Verse fifty. But they did not understand the statement which he had made to them. There's still They don't get it. They've gotten wrapped up in the everyday life of raising a child, they forgot God's will. They forgot God's purposes.
I don't even know about you, but I've been a parent. And you have to catch yourself often, or you'll get wrapped up in. I'll use this modifier with it. What the world says is God's role for your children. They got to do this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this.
And then this, and this, and this, and this. It's insane how much the world tells us our children got to be involved in. It's insane. I'm not saying it's necessarily sin, but I do believe the amount of it sometimes is sin. And we forget what God says our children are for.
I would challenge you to pray the prayer that I try to pray regularly.
Now particularly for my grandchildren. Simple prayer, but I mean it with my whole heart. Are you ready? God calls them to be. A godly seed.
Planted in this earth to bear fruit for the glory of Christ. Cause them to be a godly seed planted in this earth. To bear fruit for the glory of Christ. Don't miss God's will. As you do many good things That the world says your children need to be doing.
Well, Mary and Joseph have been caught up in raising children. They couldn't yet see it.
So we'll close Roman number three with just talking about our astonishing Lord. He's astonishing everyone around him. He's astonishing the rabbis at the temple with his wisdom about the law. He's astonishing Joseph and Mary that he would have stayed back. And that he would say, I'm at my father's house as if it's not all of their father's house, but it's not all of their father's house like it was his father's house.
And he, in effect, rebukes his mom and dad. That's astonishing. He's just an astonishing being. Does he astonish you? Have you become a Jesus in the box kind of Christian?
I've learned the ABC basics of Jesus, and I keep him in a little box. You remember me telling you about the the Catholic Church and how they've got a box back there that has the the bread in it that's the body of Christ. And they say that's Jesus and He's always with us. And He's back there in the box. I don't want a Jesus in the box.
I don't even want a Jack in the box. I don't have Jesus in the box. But often we can get there to where He's just I've got a comfortable Jesus. I I just have to tell you. We're gonna we're gonna If you're really getting to know Jesus, you're uncomfortable sometimes with what you're finding out about him.
He he's not The comfortable Jesus. He should be astonishing you. From time to time.
So Here Jesus is. Astonishing.
Now, here's one other astonishing thing, verse 51. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth. And he continued in subjection to them. Wow. God incarnate, who's declared to his mom and dad who he really is.
That he was in his father's house and disobeying them to obey the fathers the way it's going to be. Yet then he turns fully around and goes back to the home with them in full subjection to his mom and dad according to the fifth commandment. Pretty astonishing.
Someone wrote it out this way. As he undertook to fulfill all righteousness, he faithfully and cheerfully obeyed the fifth commandment. Let us mark the force and obligation of his example. Though his parents were poor and lowly, He still obeyed them.
So Joseph was only his supposed father. still he was subject to him. Though Jesus was considerably advanced in life, and he was strong and wise, still he was subject to his parents. Though he was indeed the Son of God. Wonderful counselor, mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.
Still he was subject to his parents on earth. When all this is considered, how can any child plead to be an exemption? From obligation. Subm to submitting to their own parents. I guess one of the most important things that's happened to me beyond my conversion.
Was it being drilled into me God's ordained rule of submitting to authority? Jesus modeled it beautifully, astonishingly. In this narrative.
Now, the word astonished in verse 48, where his mom and dad said the Bible says they were astonished, it literally means to go out by striking.
Some time ago, I had a pin on my little tractor. I couldn't get to go out, so I got a heavy hammer and I. Pound, pound, pounded on that pin until it went out. That's what this word astonishment means. You're struck out of your mind, if you will.
You're struck with astonishment. At what you're seeing, and that's what's happening here. It means I don't know what to think. My mind's been knocked out of gear by this. That's where Mary and Joseph are.
We're just out of our minds right now. Not crazy, but just. We can't bring this all in. Hmm. Does he astonish you like that?
Jesus is astonishing. And if he's not regularly astonishing you, I don't know that you know him. You may know some things about him, but do you know him? Do you know him? That's what's wrong with some of you this Sunday morning.
Jesus no longer astonishes you. You know, familiarity does breed contempt. And some of you think Strong, thorough Bible teaching, just everybody gets it and it just normal and it doesn't do anything for you anymore. We're going to sentence you to a dead, carnal, worldly church for six months. It might stir up your appetites again.
For the glories and the wonders and the treasure of who Jesus really is. Joseph and Mary had known him now for 12 years, and not just that. They knew he was not a typical child. The angel had spoken to both of them, Joseph and Mary, and told them how he was unique and who he was. Elizabeth and Zacharias all got prophetic words about Jesus.
We have the wise men, we have the shepherds. And on and on, we could dope. They knew. He was not just a typical child. They had all this to prepare them for this extraordinary holy one that they were raising, that gave them insight his divine mission.
I mean, when they got the word he's going to be the Messiah, every Jew of this day knew clearly what that meant. The most special being that would ever come into Israel was the Messiah. That was prophesied over and over and over. You remember the bracelets? W W J D Not what would Jeff do?
What would Jesus do? It's a sincere campaign, and I'm not here just to blast it. But there's one giant problem with that. About the time you think, I know how Christ would do this, he doesn't do it that way. He astounds you.
He tells a woman In adultery, that she's forgiven and go away and sin no more. He shows such grace to her. He does not let the men stone her to death. And then he turns right around and marches into the temple, picks up a cat of nine tails, a whip, and he turns over the tables and beats those rascals and runs them out of there. That's astounding to me.
God got into a fight. And church. With the deacons. I don't know if they were deacons or not. In fact, I don't think they had any, but.
You see what I'm saying, you think you've got him figured out and you don't. is astounding. You start out in Christianity with this: God so loves the world, and He does. And you have this broad, general, sloppy, biblically weak concept of God's love, and then some crazy preacher exegetes the text, and you start hearing He chose, He elected, He predestined. You thought, uh-oh, time out.
This is astounding. That's not the simple Jesus in a box. I'm used to. I think I'll find me a church that'll keep it. Mildly biblical.
That's what you do. Instead of saying I don't care how it shocks me. I want to know more about him. Open the book and let's learn some more, Pastor. About here.
I'm glad you want to do that because I love studying it. I love meditating on it. I love it for myself, but it's just no fun to preach to an empty church. C.S. Lewis, I've told you this many times, but it just penetrated me.
I I I read uh well I read and we went to an actually a a a A play as such, where C.S. Lewis, a guy, just spoke C.S. Lewis's words and commentary and gave a and you know, C.S. Lewis was an Oxford scholar who was an atheist or agnostic, and he was gloriously converted. He worked with Tolkien.
Lord of the Rings author, and they told stories of the untold hours they would work on maybe one page of their books. And I was just watching a documentary on Ernest Hemingway. What a brilliant writer, miserable man, but a brilliant writer. And he's put 40 different endings to one of his books before he came up with the right one. My point is, the work they would put into saying it just right, and you come to the end of the book.
The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe, and Aslan. Had won the day. He's the lion. He represents Jesus. He'd won the day.
Paradise is won. Everybody's celebrating. Everybody's happy. Everybody's in the kingdom. And two of the characters were on the balcony of this palace.
And they looked at him. There goes Aslan representing Christ just walking away down the beach all along. I don't know which one said what to the other one, or I don't know which one said it rather, but one said to the other one. Where is he going? And the other one looked at him and said, Well, you know, he's wild.
Wild. He's not a tame lion. They're gonna put him in your little cage. He's not safe. But he is good.
Ah, goodness, I love Jesus. I love The richness of who he is. And I think C.S. Lewis did as good a job as a mortal human outside of Scripture could do to kind of capsulize the awesome, astounding nature of Jesus. He's not a tame lion.
He's not safe. He's wild, but he is good. Be done with your silly. Casper milk toast. Pitiful.
Little Jesus sitting in heaven, wringing his hands, hoping somebody might accept him. He's not Doing that. He's building His church by his power through the gospel and the effectual work of the Holy Spirit of God, and his work will be finished. Perfectly. Astounding.
Jesus astounds us regularly, does it not? Here he is in the temple. He's confounding these scholars. He's. Being rebuked by his mom and dad, he rebukes his mom and dad back.
He says, I'm God's son, in effect. I'm the Messiah. You've got to understand that. Then he turns back around and submits to them and goes back home. I figured he'd go in from here and say.
You're done. I'm on my own now.
So many things I could say. Let me just hit on some of them briefly, some astounding things about Jesus. In John chapter 12, verses 7 and 8. Mary's pouring this extremely expensive perfume, preparing him for burial, Judas Iscariot. Yeah.
I'm not gonna say that. Says, you know, we could have used this money and fed a lot of poor people. Jesus said, Poor not important right now. I'm here. That astounds me.
When I started Christianity, I would have said Jesus can't say that. Jesus is not saying we're not concerned about the poor and we don't help the poor. Certainly, we did. We keep a fund here to help people and we use it all the time. But Jesus is saying, that's not the primary purpose of the church.
The primary purpose of the church is me. And my mission. And building my church. The poor you have with you always, but you don't always have me. It was a Gentile woman who came to Jesus, imploring Jesus to heal her demon-possessed daughter.
And Jesus says to her, I can't give the bread to To the dogs. Called the Gentile woman a dog. That astounds me. Wouldn't you like to sit Jesus down and say, You can't say that. Yes, he can.
Because you know what? He also rebuked the Jews very harshly. Said, you're a bunch of dead men's bones. There was nothing more rotten and spiritually unclean than a grave to a Jew. Here's my point.
He said, if you understand what you really are, you are a dirty dog. And you are rotten to the bone. He was telling the truth. And then he, by the way, had compassion on the woman and he did heal her daughter. That's not the way we would have done it.
He's astounding over and over. Too many preachers today take these kinds of texts. Instead of preaching the text in this grammatical, historical, systematic context and telling you what's there, they twist it all around. I call it pretzel theology. Twist it all around to make Jesus look better.
Stop it. Preach Jesus just the way he is. He's not a tame lion. Wow. He's not safe.
But he is good. Remember when some people were rejecting Jesus?
So many of the high-up monkey-domoks of Israel were rejecting him? Here's what Jesus had to say about their rejection: Matthew 11:25 and 26. That time, Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the so-called wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in your sight. Father, you and I are very happy that you're not letting them see the truth, but some are seeing it.
It's astounding.
Now dimension. The unveiled Christ in the book of Revelation. You will not find a more violent, graphic, bloody scene than with this Jesus returns to punish sin and sinners. He will come with such might and threatening. That the wicked of this earth will cry out to the mountains to guard them from the wrath of the Lamb.
His wisdom, his power, and his beauty in our salvation is astounding. We could preach for years. Matter of fact, I have preached for years. On the truth of being chosen and elect and predestined, and that Jesus is the only one qualified to fulfill the law and carry out the duties of the office of Messiah and pay for our sins, the work of preaching the gospel and the Holy Spirit of God, energizing and making effectual the gospel message so that men's hearts are regenerated, born again. And then the moment they believe, because they were born again, they're declared justified in God's sight, stand as just before Him for now and forevermore.
But then we live our lives down here in fellowship in God's church, sharpening one another, studying together, listening to the preaching of God's word, memorizing and meditating the Bible, and we're increasingly sanctified. And as we're sanctified, one day we graduate from the land of the dying to the land of the living. and were glorified forevermore. Predestination, qualification, regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. Strap that on for a while.
Astonishing.
I've been preaching to you for all these years: 28 books of the Bible and lots of sections of the Bible. In addition to that, I'm just getting warmed up. Will you pray, God, don't let my heart quit working on me anytime soon? I'd like to keep going for a while. But can I say to us sinners this morning In closing.
Perhaps the most astonishing thing of all is. Grace. As David Miller used to say, I like grace. I like Grace. Romans 5.20 reminds us where Sin abounded.
Grace did much more abound. The New American Standard Scholars want to give you the foreal impact of that much more. It means super abounding. Sin was super strong and super bad, but God's grace is much more strong.
Now remember, grace is God giving us a favor. Maybe you could even say a blessing we in no way could earn or deserve whatsoever. Sin came from the original Adam, and the sin principle became viral and spread to all of Adam's descendants, metastasizing, multiplying exceedingly, and spreading rapidly to all generations. And here we are today. That's why the internet and social media is so full of rot and filth and ungodliness and lies and slanders and scheming, because men do not have the hearts and the virtue to handle the technology.
So sin is powerful. Sin spreads rapidly through the human race. It stains and poisons the entire human family, plunging all men into ruin, condemnation and despair. But where the first atom? They had him in the garden.
Adam with Eve. Where the first Adam brought in sin. The second Adam, Jesus. Rod in Grace And grace is Super powerful. Grace completely eradicates.
The pollution and the condemnation you and I had. In sin. Grace establishes us, the Bible says, as holy and blameless before God. But grace does not take us back to the status, the righteousness, the condition. of the first Adam and Eve before sin.
Grace doesn't take us back to the original perfect condition of man. No, grace is bigger and better than that. Grace brings us before the Father in the very righteousness of his Son, Jesus Christ, greatly superior to what Adam and Eve had to start with. That astounds me. You?
Nail. And forevermore. Stand before God. Bearing the righteous standard. of Jesus himself.
And to have that credited to your account, there's one thing you must do, and one thing only. turn from any and all other hopes. And say I'll take Jesus. I'm a sinner. I'll take Jesus.
And he will save you. And he will make you his own. Then he will proceed to start astounding you.
So that you can marble. You can wonder. You can glory. You can treasure him and over him more and more and more. And when you get to heaven, told you a million times, when you get to heaven, You'll have a perfect mind, but not an infinite mind.
So every day in heaven Every week in heaven, every month in heaven. Your pleasures and your joys will only increase as you learn more and more and more astounding. Things about Jesus.
