20-0301a Transcript

Preacher: Steve Cain

(0:55) Good morning. (1:02) We’ve come together to worship God and to praise him and to lift him up in our songs, (1:07) hymns, and spiritual songs.

And it is with that that the songs that were selected this day were (1:12) with that purpose in mind. And as we do, I’d like to appeal to David and the way in which he (1:22) loved God and how that he worshiped him in so many different ways. But yet we know that his (1:29) psalms praised God in many ways and in ways that we can emulate and should perhaps, because he was (1:39) a man of God and he was a man after God’s own heart.

I’d like to appeal to Psalms 2. And if (1:47) you’re following the scripture readings for the month, you know that this is the first day of (1:55) of March. Matthew, Mark, January, February, March. And so this is the first day of the March.

(2:05) And if you’re following the scriptures reading program itself, it’s you read five psalms a day (2:12) and one proverb. And so this falls within today’s scripture reading. But Psalms 2, I’d like for us (2:21) to appeal to that.

I’ll be reading all of it. And it’s a lengthy song. Why do, I’ll be reading (2:30) from the New International Version.

So that’s not a copy of the Bible that’s there in the pew. (2:35) That this will be the last time that you have to endure my international vision. (2:41) So, why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot against in vain? (2:50) The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord (2:55) and against his anointed one.

Let us break their chains, they say, and throw off their fetters. (3:03) The one enthroned in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them and then he rebukes them in his anger and (3:10) terrifies them in his wrath, saying, I have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill.

I will proclaim (3:19) the decree of the Lord. He said to me, you are my son. Today I have become your father.

Ask of me (3:28) and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule (3:34) them with an iron scepter. You will dash them to pieces like pottery.

Therefore, you kings, be wise, (3:43) be warned. You rulers of the earth, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the sun (3:49) lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way.

For his wrath can flare up in a moment. (3:57) Blessed are all who take refuge in him. So as David would point out, he says the nations do not (4:08) want to be under the power of God.

They don’t want to be under his control. And so the nations (4:14) conspire in the people’s plot in vain and they say, well, let’s throw off his fetters. Let’s be against (4:21) the one who is his anointed one, which would be David.

Let us break their chains, they say, and (4:27) throw off their fetters. So David is saying that this is what the nations around him want. They (4:33) want to reject God.

They don’t want to be under his power and under his influence. They do not (4:39) want a theocracy at all. And so then he says, the one enthroned, God, laughs at this.

He just finds (4:51) it humorous. The one enthroned in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them.

He rebukes them in his (4:57) anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, I have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill. (5:03) And of course, David recognizes the fact that when he became king, God endorsed him as a son. (5:11) And whether or not you ever realized that when a king was established on the throne of Israel, (5:18) God embraced him as his son because he viewed that person who was on the throne as one (5:28) through whom he would reveal his will.

And he revealed his will through David, didn’t he? (5:35) And so David is saying, wise up, don’t fight against God, wise up, accept his theocracy, (5:45) accept his power and his position over you. And so he’s saying, therefore, you kings be wise, (5:52) be warned, you rulers of the earth, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. (5:58) Kiss the son lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way.

For his wrath can flare up in a (6:05) moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Let’s go to our heavenly father in prayer.

(6:17) Most gracious heavenly father, we come to you at this time thanking you so much for (6:21) the many ways in which you bless us. For the measure of health and safety that we enjoy as (6:27) your children. We thank you for the opportunity and the pleasure of being able to know that you (6:33) have adopted us and that we are your children and that we are brothers and sisters to Jesus (6:41) and that we stand in the way of inheritance.

We’re looking forward to being with you (6:49) eternally in heaven. We pray that you’ll be with those of our number of our families that (6:55) that are out of the walk and out of step with you. And we pray that you will work in their (7:00) lives in such a way that they will see what David is talking about and and say in their wisdom, (7:08) let’s let’s wise up and become children of God.

We ask your blessings on this congregation and (7:14) upon those who worship here and the efforts that we have and make in broadening your (7:20) your kingdom and in this community. We pray these things in Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.

(7:34) I don’t know what it is up here, but it sure dries your mouth out real quick. (7:40) And I don’t know exactly why either. (7:45) When you got up this morning and decided that you were going to go worship God, did you know that (7:54) and were you considering yourself to be children of God? And did you recognize the fact that (8:04) you are going to attend the Church of Christ? (8:10) Oh, not the name here, but when you got up, were you a member of Jesus' church? (8:20) And when you came together, you were going to come together with (8:23) fellow brothers and sisters, saints, who are going to be worshiping God through the Church of Christ, (8:31) Jesus' church.

And it is with that that we look at it. And I don’t know why I’ve got the wrong (8:39) scripture here, but I think I have to because I thought I gave one person the right scripture to (8:49) read. And that is where Jesus was coming down from the mount, was traveling with his (9:02) disciples.

And he asked them, who do you say that I am? And somebody helped me find out without (9:11) me having to stumble through this. And they said to him, thou art the Christ, (9:18) the Son of the living God. And Jesus says to Peter, who made that statement, blessed art thou, (9:27) thee, Simon Marjano, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven.

(9:33) And it is upon this rock that I will build my church. Matthew 16, that’s where I went wrong, (9:46) I used the wrong book. Okay, let’s take a look at Matthew 16, because that’s the one that I was, (9:55) I put Mark down instead by mistake.

Matthew 16, verses 13 through 20. When Jesus came to the (10:10) region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say the Son of Man is? (10:17) They replied, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah and still others, Jeremiah or one of (10:24) the prophets. But what about you? He asked, who do you say I am? Simon Peter answered, (10:32) you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus replied, blessed are you Simon, (10:38) Son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you (10:46) that you are Peter. And on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not (10:52) overcome it.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on (10:57) earth will be bound in heaven. And whatever you lose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

(11:02) And then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. (11:12) On what rock is Jesus going to build his church? It’s on the confession that Jesus is the Christ, (11:19) the Son of the living God. It is with that in purpose.

You see that we want to make sure that (11:25) we are part of the church that Jesus came to establish. And we want to make sure that (11:32) he recognizes us. And so it is with that in mind, you see, he’s going to build his church, (11:39) but it’s predicated on one thing, isn’t it? That you believe that he is the Christ, (11:46) the Son of the living God.

You must believe that he is that Christ, the Son of the living God. (11:54) I would like for you to turn with me now to John, the eighth chapter. And I know I’m pretty sure I (11:59) didn’t make a mistake on this, but I’d like for us to look at a conversation that Jesus is having (12:04) with the Pharisees.

And we’re picking up with about, let’s pick up at verse 12. (12:21) And let’s see what the conversation is. And the conversation is based on whether or not they’re (12:28) going to recognize Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God.

They’re looking for something (12:34) else. And they’re looking for someone else. And Jesus is not meeting their expectations.

(12:44) But we’ll see that Jesus never does meet people’s expectations. (12:50) But he is definitely not meeting their expectations. And he’s claiming to be (12:55) the Christ.

He’s claiming to be the Son of God. He’s claiming to be that Messiah. (13:02) He’s claiming to be that.

And they’re saying to him, we are not going to accept you as that. (13:08) Let’s listen to the conversation. When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, (13:15) I am the light of the world.

Who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light (13:22) of life. What is he claiming for himself? He’s claiming for himself that Christ, Christendom. (13:31) He’s claiming for himself that Messiah ship.

He’s claiming, he says, I am the light (13:39) of the world. Verse 13, the Pharisees challenged him. Here you are appearing as your own witness.

(13:47) Your testimony is not valid. Jesus answered, even if I testify on my own behalf, (13:55) my testimony is valid for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea (14:02) where I come from or where I am going.

You judge by human standards. I pass judgment on no one. (14:12) But if I do judge, my decisions are right because I am not alone.

I stand with the Father (14:20) who sent me. There again, he is saying he is the Christ. He is the Messiah.

In your own law, (14:28) it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. I am one who testifies for myself. (14:34) My father, other witness is the father who sent me.

Then they asked him, where is your father? (14:44) He replies, you do not know me or my father. If you knew me, you would know my father also. (14:53) He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put.

(14:59) Yet no one seized him because his time had not yet come. Once more, Jesus said to them, (15:08) I am going away and you will look for me and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you cannot come.

(15:19) This made the Jews ask, will he kill himself? Is that why he says, where I go, you cannot come? (15:27) But he continued, you are from below. I am from above. You are of this world.

I am not of this (15:34) world. I told you that you would die in your sins. If you do not believe that I am the one I claim (15:41) to be, you will die in your sins.

What is Jesus saying? You must believe that I am the Christ, (15:49) the son of the living God. And how is he going to build his church? On the promise and the (15:55) predication that I am the Christ, the son of the living God. Blessed art thou, Simon by John, (16:01) if flesh and blood did not reveal this to you.

So he goes on and he says, I am the one I claim (16:09) to be. You will indeed die in your sins, implying that he has the ability to forgive us of our sins. (16:18) And we know that they challenge him because he does make statements such to the fact, (16:23) your sins are forgiven.

Where are your accusers? They are none. Neither do I. We know that he has (16:29) the ability to forgive sins. And it is in his church that we appeal to the forgiveness of sins.

(16:37) We come to Jesus to become a disciple of his. And in becoming a disciple of his, we are baptized (16:44) for the forgiveness of our sins. He gives us the forgiveness of our sins.

And so you will die in (16:52) your sins if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be. You will indeed die in your sins. (16:59) Who are you? They ask.

Just what I have been claiming all along. Jesus replied, I have much to (17:07) say in judgment of you, but he who sent me is reliable. And what I have heard from him, I tell (17:14) you the world.

I tell the world. They did not understand that he was telling them about his (17:20) father. So Jesus said, when you have lifted up the son of man, then you will know that I am the one (17:28) I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own, but speak just what the father has taught me.

(17:36) The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him. (17:47) So one must believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.

So in order to become (17:54) a follower and a believer of Jesus, that is a necessary belief. Jesus is the Christ, (18:04) the son of the living God. So now as we reflect upon him and he’s building his church, (18:13) he’s being appointed.

He’s being appointed to be our priest. He’s being appointed to be (18:21) our high priest. And so we know that as a priest and high priest, he is the one for us.

(18:31) Let’s take a look at Hebrews, the fifth chapter. In Hebrews, the fifth chapter, (18:41) we see this account for us, starting with verse one. Every high priest is selected from among men (18:53) and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices (19:00) for sin.

He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray. Since he (19:07) himself is subject to weakness, this is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins. (19:14) As well as for the sins of the people.

No one takes this honor. Notice what Paul’s writing here. (19:22) To become a high priest, no one takes this honor upon themselves.

(19:28) They must be appointed by God. And God appoints Jesus to be our high priest, doesn’t he? (19:37) So in verse four, reading from the Hebrew letter, verse four, no one takes this honor upon himself. (19:44) He must be called by God, just as Aaron was.

So Christ also did not take upon himself the (19:51) glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, you are my son. Today I become your father.

(20:00) And he says in another place, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. (20:07) During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud (20:12) cries and tears to the one who could save him from death. And he was heard because of his (20:18) reverent submission.

Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. (20:24) And once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation. For all who obey him (20:32) and was designated by God to be high priests in the order of Melchizedek.

(20:40) So it becomes us that if we’re going to be right in the sight of God and have the forgiveness of (20:49) our sins, we’re going to have to be a member of Jesus' church. That precludes any name that (20:57) is on the front of this. But when we are looking at being a member of Jesus' church, (21:03) we’re not a group of people who have come together to want to worship or to be religious (21:10) in that.

And then we have to look for a name and we have to figure out, do I want to be the Zion (21:15) or do I want to be whatever churches and the names that are conjured up by man? Why not being (21:24) recognized as people who are members of the church of Christ? The church that Jesus came and died (21:35) for. The church that he has established. And we know that Jesus is the one that we have to come to.

(21:49) And we know John, the 14th chapter, verse six, Jesus recognizes and points out and makes a (21:56) statement about himself. And he says that in the 14th chapter of John, starting with verse six, (22:08) Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except (22:18) through me.

If you really knew me, you would know my father as well as from now on, you will know (22:27) him and have seen him. No one comes to the father except by me. In other words, God has established (22:38) Jesus as the one and only avenue.

There is no other name under heaven whereby man may be (22:43) saved. This is reported by Peter in Acts, the fourth chapter, verse 12. There is no other name (22:50) under heaven whereby man may be saved.

God has set Jesus up as the savior. God has set Jesus up (23:03) as the one who is going to be the establisher of the church of God, the church of Christ, (23:13) the church through whom we are going to be saved. It is with that in mind that we look at it.

(23:25) And so we know that there’s many other things that we can say about how that Jesus is the (23:31) authority, how that Jesus is the one and whom, but how do we mark ourselves? And how do we know (23:40) that we are part of Jesus' church? How do we know that we are worshiping in the way in which (23:47) God wants us to worship him? Because there’s no other way that we can worship God unless we’re (23:52) coming to God through Jesus. How do we know that we’re worshiping God in a proper way and that (24:00) we’re coming to him through Jesus? Jesus tells us. The scriptures, the two scriptures that were (24:08) read in your hearing, Mark 16, 15, and 16, all power and heaven and earth has been given unto me, (24:18) going into all the world, making disciples of them.

Matthew, the 28th chapter, (24:24) starting verse 16. Then the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told (24:31) them to go. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.

Then Jesus came to them and (24:38) said, all power, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Is there any other (24:51) avenue? There isn’t. You see, they were looking for something that they thought would be within (25:03) their reasoning.

And the establishment of the church, the establishment failed them, (25:14) failed to meet their expectations. Jesus never intended to meet their expectations. (25:23) He fulfilled the scriptures.

He is the Christ. There are so many things about being fulfilled (25:31) with the expectations. I’m going to take liberties on your time, and I hope you will.

(25:41) There are so many things about people when they’re trying to worship God and reading the (25:46) scriptures that it doesn’t fulfill the expectations that they have about what they ought to be doing (25:51) and how they ought to be doing it. I appeal to Naaman, Naaman the leper, that you read about (25:59) in 2nd Kings chapter 5 verses 1 through 27. Naaman was a captain of an army, and he was well (26:13) thought of by the king.

But Naaman was a leper, and word came to Naaman that there was a prophet (26:26) that could heal him. And so he made known to the king, and the king said, by all means, you go and (26:33) see that. But we know that Naaman had to go into a country that was foreign to them, and the king (26:42) says, please don’t take this excursion to be anything other than the fact that I want my (26:49) servant to be healed of leprosy.

But he goes to the prophet, and the prophet comes out, (27:02) and he tells him, go dip in the river Jordan seven times. Naaman was incensed about this. (27:18) He was incensed.

Wasn’t there better rivers to go dip in? Couldn’t he told me to do something else (27:26) other than that? The prophet did not meet his expectations. The prophet thought that he would (27:36) be told

to do something special, do something extraordinary, do something. Dip in the river (27:44) Jordan seven times? Oh, that’s like going to the Cuyahoga River and want to be dipped in there.

(27:57) Who wants to be dipped in the Cuyahoga River? It was that bad. Then his servant said to him, (28:08) if he had told you to do something far exceeding above all these things, (28:15) but no, it didn’t meet your expectations, you thought he would tell you to do something else. (28:25) But he did.

He finally saw the logic, and he went and dipped in this river, (28:31) and we know that he dipped six times and nothing had happened. But when he dipped into the river (28:39) the seventh time, he came up free of leprosy, and that’s how they knew that God was there. (28:48) God was in that nation.

Somehow or other, religious people think that God is going to (28:56) require something special out of them, but no. God is saying to you and me, (29:05) believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. (29:10) That’s all you have to do.

Be baptized for the remission of your sins. Be baptized in the name (29:14) of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and you shall be saved. That’s it, and you are a member (29:23) of the body of Christ, and you have the fifth sense forgiven, and God has credited you with (29:30) righteousness.

That’s all you have to do. Then you’re adopted by God, you become a child of God, (29:43) and you’re a brother or sister to Jesus, and you’re in line for inheritance, that inheritance (29:50) being heaven. Where are you? Are you a member of Jesus’s church? (30:01) Can I say, are you a member of the church of Christ? (30:07) Don’t let the name on the building say anything to you, because that’s a denominational name.

(30:15) We want to be members of Jesus’s church, and if you’re here and have not recognized Jesus’s (30:27) authority, and him offering you sonship of God, and the forgiveness of your sins, (30:35) we’d like to extend to you the opportunity to know that, because everything is ready, the water, (30:41) the garments, we stand ready to assist you in your obedience to Jesus, and becoming a child of God, (30:48) and a disciple of Jesus. You’ll become a disciple of Jesus, because that’s what he wants you to do. (30:55) It says, make all nations disciples of me.

Nothing else. (31:04) If you’re subject to this invitation, I’d like to extend to you (31:08) the opportunity to respond, while together we stand and sing the song of encouragement.