Who Is Jesus- Part #2

Hey, this is Mike Zwick from If Not For God Podcast, our show.

Stories of hopelessness turned into hope. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network.

The following is part two of a two-part program. Do you feel like you're on a religious treadmill? Do you feel like Christianity is just a system of rules and regulations?

I can do this, but I can't do that. Do you feel like your efforts to reach God, find God, and please God are futile? Do you feel like your faith is dead or alive? Today, Pastor Russ Andrews will walk us through Scripture to answer these questions. Join us on Finding Purpose, glorifying God by helping men find their purpose for living.

For more information and to connect with Russ Andrews and Finding Purpose, you can visit us online at findingpurpose.net or connect with us on Facebook. Now let's listen to Russ Andrews as he teaches us how to be a Christian without being religious. I've entitled tonight's message, The Supremacy of Christ. So back to Matthew 12, Jesus is blistering these Jews. Matthew 12, verse 5, he said, Well, haven't you read in the law that on the Sabbath, the priest in the temple desecrate the day and you're innocent? See, the priest every day had to make sacrifices on the altar. And so they had to light the fire, kill the animals, pick up the dead carcasses and put them on the altar. And all that involved what? Work. But on the Sabbath, they had to make double sacrifices.

And so they had to do twice as much work. John MacArthur says the most legalistic Pharisee considered the priest who ministered in the temple as innocent of breaking the Sabbath, despite the fact that they worked twice as hard as they did on the other days. So Jesus is pointing this out to these hypocritical religious Jews. And when he did this, you know what he was doing when he pointed this out to them?

You think he had a smile on his face? Matthew, he was declaring war against their religious establishment because the religious establishment that they had set up was actually preventing people from coming to God who were seeking God. It's like a stumbling block.

It's like a closed door. Pharisees stopped them from coming to Jesus. They stopped it from coming to God. And you know what Jesus did right in front of all those people now, all these people are watching this and listening to what Jesus is saying.

He embarrassed and humiliated the religious leaders right in front of the people. And they were furious. They were angry.

But their anger was getting turned into rage with what He said next. Look at verse 6 again. I'm in Matthew 12. I tell you that one greater of them, the temple, is here.

Like right now. If you had known what these words mean, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. That's what He's saying to these men who are dressed in robes and clerical collars and they've got phylacteries up on their fords which they carried around the Ten Commandments.

They wanted to make sure they didn't break the Ten Commandments because they always kept it on their mind right here. Don't break the law. Don't break the law. Don't break the law. Don't do this.

Don't do that. See, that's what religion is. It's just rules and regulations and traditions that do nothing but put a burden on people. When Jesus said this, these were fighting words. Jesus was accusing these religious teachers that they didn't understand the Word of God. Do you remember when Nicodemus came to Jesus at night?

Do you remember that story? And He said, you're Israel's master teacher and you don't understand what it means to be born again. Just like many religious leaders don't today, like the man who said Jesus never said that to Nicodemus. Really. Here's what He was saying.

Now I make these words up. If Jesus elaborated on what He was saying, this is what the Pharisees really understood Him saying. He was saying, if you understood Hosea chapter 6 verse 6, that's what He was quoting. Hosea chapter 6 verse 6, one of the Mount of Prophets, that God desires merciful, compassionate responses to the hurting and needy rather than ritual observances.

You would not have condemned innocent men. Wake up you blind gods. When you get to Matthew 23 or 24, He's going to say woe to the shepherds. He calls them blind gods. You don't even understand God's Word.

Ahimelech did. He understand that God first and foremost is a God meant of mercy, which is why Ahimelech gave the bread to David, whose men were in great need. Moreover, Jesus said, you fail to see that the one standing here in your presence is the prophesied Son of Man, who's not only Lord of the Sabbath, but He actually is the Sabbath.

You see, He's the only one that can give rest. He is the Sabbath. I mean, Jesus is declaring Himself the Lord of the Sabbath, and when in doing that, He's claiming to be co-equal to God. He's also claiming to be God Himself in the flesh. Listen, I've had men right in here who've been coming to this prophecy for years to tell me they don't really believe that God, that Jesus is equal to God. They don't really grasp that Jesus is God.

When we get to heaven, how many gods are we going to see? One. When it says He sat down at the right hand of God, that's not physically. It's positionally. It's like your right arm is typically your what?

Your strong arm. Jesus is the strong arm of God. And whenever God reveals Himself in the flesh, it's always through the second person of the Godhead. So we get to heaven, we will see that what the Israelites were saying in Deuteronomy 6, He wrote Israel, the Lord our God is what?

One. But He is a God who exists in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And the way I, the only way I can understand it in my mind is God, the Bible says God is Spirit.

I think that's a reference to the Father. The Holy Spirit is what? Spirit.

You cannot see Spirit. When we get to heaven, we will be worshipping. We will fall at the feet of Jesus. Now Luke's primary goal in writing this Gospel, remember, he set out to give an orderly account from eyewitnesses. Correct?

Remember that? And what he's trying to show us in the entire Gospel of Luke is who Jesus is and what He is like. Look at Hebrews 1, 3, and 8.

Again, I think it's in your outline. Verse 3 says, The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being. And then in verse 8, but about the Son, He that is God the Father says, Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever. Do you remember when the prophet told David that from his seed would come one who would sit on his throne and it would be an everlasting what?

Kingdom. David died. His kingdom is gone. But Jesus came from the line of who?

David. And when He said, many times in the Gospel, He says, the kingdom is here. He's the one who ushers in this everlasting kingdom. And He's inviting us men to be part of it.

But you have to get by this major hurdle. You have to believe that Jesus is who He claimed to be. God in the flesh. Colossians 1, 15 and 16 says, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn, the Supreme One over all creation for by Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by Him and for Him.

He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. Do you know that our bodies are being held together by the Lord? It's actually something I can't remember the name of it. I should be bringing it up, but there's some chromosome or something in there, a cell that actually is the glue that holds your body together. It's in the shape of a cross.

They can isolate one. It's in the shape of a cross. Do you all not find that interesting? Remember, God has left His handprint in all of creation.

It's everywhere you look. There's evidence that God exists. Here's what we've learned about the supremacy of Christ. Jesus Christ is supreme in His authority.

No one ever taught the way He did. Jesus Christ is supreme in His power. That's because He could heal the sick and forgive sinners. Jesus Christ is supreme in His righteousness. What that means is He is the author of righteousness and He is righteous.

Therefore, He is the one who sets the standard of what is right and wrong in this world. And Jesus Christ is supreme in His very essence, in His being. Jesus, man, is the great I AM of the Old Testament. When He stood before those Pharisees later in John chapter 8, He said, before Abraham was born, I AM. They picked up stones to stone Him, accusing Him of blasphemy. Some people, a lot of theologians say, well, Jesus never claimed to be God.

Oh yes, He did. Why do you think they crucified Him? Why do you think they were going to stone Him? Because they knew what He was, they knew who He was claiming to be. When He says, I'm Lord of the Sabbath, He's claiming to be God.

And He is raising the ante. He knows that He's headed for the cross. This brings us to Luke 6 verse 6.

On another Sabbath, He went into the synagogue. I love this one. See, don't you all love a good fight? Who doesn't like war movies? And remember the Cincinnati Kid? Wasn't that the boxer? They got that one mixed up.

You get it. You love a good fight, don't you? Good boxing match. That's what we're watching right here.

This is a great boxing match. It says on another Sabbath, He went to the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus. So they watched Him closely to see if He would heal on the Sabbath. God forbid. Please don't heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, don't you love this? He didn't pull them aside. He said, get up, stand right here in front of everybody.

So the man got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil? To save life or to destroy it? Do you know what they would do if one of their precious sheep fell into a ditch on a Sunday? They'd pull it out and save it. It says, He looked around at all of them, some of the Pharisees, and He said to the man, stretch out your hand. And He did, and His hand was completely restored. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus. Can you believe that?

So here's the thing. Jesus was doing what He was always doing on the Sabbath. He was in a synagogue teaching the crowds who gathered around Him because they wanted to hear this man who spoke with authority. So on this particular day, there's a man there in their midst who's got this shriveled hand. It was withered. It hung limp when he tried to raise it. And so His hand was totally useless. But Jesus, you know, had great compassion for Him.

So, I want you to catch the players here. You've got Jesus. You've got the crowd of worshippers there seeking God. You've got this man with a shriveled hand. And then you've got these Pharisees and teachers of the law who were watching Jesus closely.

You know why? They wanted to see if He would dare heal a man on the Sabbath right there in their presence. And so they watched Him. The Greek word, by the way, for watch means to watch closely with sinister intent.

I want you to think of a snake watching a rabbit waiting for an opportune time to strike. What these religious leaders failed to recognize. They were dealing with someone who knew what they were thinking. So what did Jesus do? He told the man with a shriveled hand to stand up.

Why? Because He wanted everyone to see the miracle that was about to take place. He wanted these people to see it. Then He looked at the haughty religious leaders and asked them, Which is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil?

To save life or to destroy it? And the Pharisees just sat there and said, Silent. Then He opened their mouth. Then He responded. Then according to Mark's gospel, Jesus looked around at them. Mark gives us more detail. In anger and deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, Stretch out your hand.

You know what it reminds me of? Later when Jesus is standing in front of a dead man's tomb and He says, Lazarus, come forth. How does God bring life? By speaking His word. When Jesus said, Stretch out your hand, I can imagine the nerves in His arms suddenly coming alive and the muscles being energized and strengthened and instantaneously the man right in front of everyone extended his arm out.

And as he does, it goes out completely, perfectly healed. And everybody witnessed it. What did they witness?

A supernatural miracle that only God can do. And what the Pharisees do? Did they fall down at Jesus' feet and worship Him? And gosh, thank you Lord for healing this man.

We've been so concerned about him. No. They stormed out in a fury and they went out and met with the Herodians who were friends of Rome. They were Jews who sided with the Herod's. And I think they didn't see eye to eye. But when you know, listen, when you have a common enemy, you become friends all of a sudden. And so they got with the Herodians and it says, and they plotted how to kill him. There's several things that I think that we can take away from this story.

And here they are. Any man-made religion always has been and always will be the enemy of God. Do y'all believe that? I mean, I'm talking from the beginning of time when Satan said, did God really say? That's just another religion that's twisting the Word of God. Isaiah 29 13.

Listen to this carefully guys. Isaiah 29 13. So this is going back 700 years before Christ. I want you to see that the enemy of God has always been religion. These people come near to me with their mouth. This is God speaking about the Jews who were coming to the temple, bringing their sacrifices. These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made only of rules taught by men. Does this happen today?

How about every Sunday? The prophet Amos who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel, just before the time when the Assyrians came in and took the ten tribes of the north away. You never heard from them again. They became the lost tribes of Israel.

You've heard that phrase before? The lost tribes of Israel. The ten tribes disappeared.

Why? Because God judged the nation. Because the prophets and the priests were lying.

They were leading the people to worship false gods, idolatry, and commits all kinds of gross sexual immorality. And so God is speaking through Amos. And this is what Amos said, for I know, again, just think of God speaking to the nation of Israel. For I know how many are your offenses and how great are your sins.

And think about our country. You oppress the righteous and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. I hate, this is God speaking, I hate, I despise your religious feast. I cannot stand your assemblies.

Even though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs, I will not listen to the music of your harps, but let justice roll like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream. I tell you what, I've been reading about some of the evil that's taken place around the world. Total depravity.

Carried up by the cartel and the Chinese, where they're committing genocide. And I said, Lord, and listen, I've got evil in my own heart. I'm not casting stones at anybody. Lord, I'll be so glad when your righteousness reigns in this world. And that's not going to happen until God finally and ultimately destroys evil. And that will happen, man, at the second coming. Second, the human heart is desperately wicked. All you have to do is look at the Pharisees. Jeremiah 17, 9 says, the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.

Who can understand it? Why do Christians keep returning and committing the same sin over and over again? The Bible says it's like returning, a dog returning to what?

Vomit. You see, the Pharisees believe they belong to God. Well, think about this. Well, at the very same moment, they're plotting to kill Him. We love God. Now, they're blind. They're trying to kill God. How could they be so blind?

Really? Paul explains this in 2 Corinthians 4, 3 and 4. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The God of this age is blind to the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who's the image of God. What does it mean that Christ is the image of God? It means that He's a carbon copy of God.

He is the perfect expression and representation of the chief archetype, God the Father. Time and time again, Jesus tried to get these blind Pharisees to believe. You know, He still extended mercy to them. That's why He taught in parables, trying to tantalize their thinking so that they would believe. Just study the parable and maybe you'll believe. In John 10, 37 and 38, Jesus said to them, Do not believe Me unless I do what My Father does.

But if I do it, even though you do not believe Me, believe the miracles that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me and I am the Father. He's doing this out of a heart of love for His enemies, knowing they're going to crucify Him. Another time, Jesus told His disciples something that Abraham said. He said, If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced, even if someone rises from the dead.

That's how blind they were. Who later arose from the dead? Jesus. And what do the Pharisees try to do with the evidence?

Bury it. This is the heart so often of a man who's religious and lost. Walter Martin has done a real favor for us in writing Screwtape Writes again. It's a book with the same flavor of C.S.

Lewis's earlier book, Screwtape Letters. I want you to follow me here. Okay. Screwtape is a, this is just make believe story, but it's biblical truth.

Okay. Screwtape is a demon sent out by Satan to steal men away from heaven. In his book, Screwtape Writes his nephew Wormwood.

So you got that? Screwtape is a chief demon sent up by Satan and he's teaching his nephew Wormwood. He's training Wormwood how to be an emissary of the devil. He's teaching him how to operate in Satan's dark world, this world, so that the Christians and the world will be confused and stay lost.

But here's what you got to catch. In this book, everything is opposite from Christianity. For example, the book closes Glory to Lucifer in the lowest. So everything's opposite.

Y'all with me? Here's the paragraph that stands out. Remember, everything's opposite. The enemy, when Satan's talking, the enemy is Christ and the enemy spirit is the Holy Spirit.

Because from the perspective down under, everything is opposite. Now remember, Wormwood is being trained to steal a person from heaven. Imagine that person is you. Imagine Satan has a target on your chest and he's coming after you. And Satan has commanded Screwtape to teach Wormwood how to keep you lost.

So here's what Screwtape says to Wormwood. Wormwood, if you can obscure these facts, there's a chance that he will embrace what hell considers to be a perfect synonym for true religion, churchianity. In this marvelous imitation of the enemy's church, everything looks and sounds right and good, but the enemy spirit is conspicuously absent. You must arrange to make him a devout Baptist or devout Anglican or devout Methodist or devout Presbyterian or whatever.

Make him that. He must come to accept church as a type of religious social club where people congregate, nothing more. In a word, Wormwood, helping to become more religious, but for hell's sake, not more Christian. I believe that's been Satan's master strategy from day one. To take God's word and twist it. To get people who think they're Christians confused, blind, blind, and lost.

Here's a warning, men. If you are attempting to earn God's favor by attending church, reciting liturgy, following along the path of religious tradition, listen, all those things can be good. In fact, they can be excellent if they're done by faith. But if they're done just as rote ritual, without true faith that Jesus Christ and Satan has you right where He wants you. Religious, blind, deceived, and lost. If you want to read about that type of church, go to Revelation chapter 3 and read, I think it's verses 15 and following about the church of Laodicea. In closing, in a little more positive note, okay, what's the main truth you should come away with tonight?

It's this. True Christianity recognizes that Jesus is both the Son of Man and the Son of God. In other words, He's the God-man. He is the supreme being of the entire universe. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by Jesus. He's the only way. And listen, one day at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

So guess what, men? Just go ahead and bow the knee now and ask Jesus to come into your heart. Because let me tell you something, those Pharisees and every non-believer, one day they will stand before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and they will be forced to bow. Those Pharisees that murdered Him.

The Roman soldiers. And listen, our sins put them there, okay? But our sins have been forgiven. But they'll be forced to bow before Jesus and say, yes, you are Lord and God.

And Jesus will say to them sadly, depart from me because I never knew you. You want to make sure you're going to heaven? You make sure you get to know Jesus. And that's the only reason we're doing this Bible study, is to make sure that you hear God's Word and receive it and believe it. And that is how, my friends, how you become a child of God.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your Word. Thank you, dear God, for these men that they are willing to come out here on a cold, dark night and spend some time studying your Word.

And I know that pleases you, Father. Christians are doing it all around the world tonight, some in dangerous countries where they have to sneak in the middle of the night to a secret location and they cherish your Word. Help us, Lord, to cherish it the way they do. Lord, I pray that you bless these men as they go to their small groups.

Lord, keep them coming back. Lord, keep us hungry for your Word. And Lord, keep teaching us. It's in your name that I pray.

Amen. Being a Christian is not about being religious, but about having a dynamic, alive relationship with Jesus Christ. You've been listening to Finding Purpose with Pastor Russ Andrews, glorifying God by helping men find their purpose for living. You can discover more about finding your purpose in life by checking out the resources at findingpurpose.net or connect to Finding Purpose on Facebook. Pastor Russ would also like to extend a special invitation for you to join him and over 300 other local men to study God's Word together every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in downtown Raleigh. Find out more at findingpurpose.net. This is the Truth Network.