26-0419a Transcript

(1:43) Good morning. (1:45) Well, it befalls me to, in the rotation to be your speaker this morning. (1:56) And after the last two weeks, hopefully things will get back down to normalcy. (2:13) I was scheduled to deliver this sermon last week, but I had to switch with Scott because on the 12th, which was last week, (2:35) I had a celebration of life ceremony in remembering my brother-in-law, Larry Noble, that passed away on the 3rd of March.

(2:56) And so the last two Sundays, the afternoons were a little bit hectic. (3:14) The afternoons were taken up for Easter dinner at my sister Linda’s, whose husband, Larry, passed away. (3:33) We had Easter dinner, and then we had the celebration of life for him.

(3:38) But hopefully things will get into the swing of things normally. (3:51) Now, today’s lesson, when you look at the title, Looking Unto Jesus, (4:00) Now, you might think one way. (4:05) You might think that this is going to be something that is going to be encouraging to people that need encouragement (4:25) or suffering in a situation or whatever, but it’s going to be different.

(4:34) It’s going to be a panoramic view of Jesus. (4:44) And we’re going to look at this. (4:48) I took this from a hearing lesson that was delivered by a teacher from Sunset School of Preaching, (5:04) which I took a few years of correspondence course, getting grades for it.

(5:22) And I’ve still got lessons and cassette tapes and books that I can still listen to, (5:35) even though I’m not really taking course for credit. (5:45) But anyway, this lesson comes from his lesson. (5:51) I’ve changed the title to it, but the contents follow his lesson.

(6:01) And so, in Hebrews, the 12th chapter, in verse 2, it says, (6:14) Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. (6:24) Now, what he started this chapter 12, he begins with, before he ended chapter 11, (6:39) Hebrews 11 is commonly known as the Hall of Faith, (6:47) but it tells of people who, through faith, begin to believe God and obey Him. (7:01) And the sufferings and the agonies that some of them endured because of their faith in God.

(7:16) And so he is telling these eager brethren that we have such a cloud of witnesses, (7:26) these people in Hebrews 11 that is made mention of by name, (7:39) others by what they went through and the struggles that they did. (7:50) He says that we need to throw off the sin, the weight of sin that we may have, (8:07) and we need to throw these off. (8:10) And then in verse 2, he says, Looking unto Jesus, which is the author and finisher of our faith.

(8:24) Much like the account that we have in Matthew 14. (8:35) Jesus is away from the boat, and the men are in the boat. (8:44) And in the middle of the sea, then, the boat was being tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.

(9:01) Then the disciples saw Jesus. (9:09) Jesus was walking on the water, but they didn’t really know that this was Jesus walking on the water. (9:22) They thought they were seeing an apparition of some kind, and they were saying that it is a ghost.

(9:33) But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I. (9:42) Do not be afraid. (9:45) And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it’s you, command me to come to you on the water. (10:01) So he, Jesus, said, Come.

(10:07) And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on water to go to Jesus. (10:20) Now if Peter had kept his eyes focused on Jesus, (10:29) I’m talking about his physical eyes, (10:32) if he kept his eyes on Jesus, he would have made it to Jesus. (10:43) But what happened was, that when he saw that the wind was boisterous, (10:53) he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, Lord, save me.

(11:04) And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him and said to him, (11:11) Are you a little afraid? Why did you doubt? (11:16) Peter became aware of the boisterous waves, and he began to sink. (11:28) You know, that is easy. (11:30) We can go through life, and life throws its curves at us.

(11:38) We have many people doing things against us, and they could be those that aren’t our friends. (11:52) We could physically have illness. (11:57) We can be told that we have things that threaten our lives, (12:08) like having cancer, or some other illness.

(12:18) And these things, like storms, come to face. (12:27) But if we have our eyes on Jesus, focused on Jesus, we can get through these. (12:38) Now I’m going to say, let us look unto Jesus as creator of all things.

(12:51) You know, there are some who will believe that when Jesus was born as a baby, (13:00) he came into existence, but he was the creator. (13:11) He was before the world began, the beginning of time, (13:18) as we read in John 1, that it says, (13:23) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (13:33) He was in the beginning with God.

(13:36) All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. (13:44) So we learn from here, and if we go down to verse 14, it says, (13:54) The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, (14:03) the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (14:11) The Word that we’re told was with God and was God became flesh.

(14:22) And then in Colossians 1, verses 16 through 17, we’ve got words. (14:35) Paul, who writes to the Colossians, is talking about Jesus, (14:43) and he says in verses 16 and 17, (14:51) Therefore by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, (15:01) visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. (15:11) All things were created through him and for him, (15:16) and he is before all things, and in him all things consist.

(15:25) There are four things that is brought up in this text in Colossians. (15:34) Number one, he was before all things. (15:40) He created all things.

(15:44) By him all things consist. (15:49) And number four, all things were created by him and for him. (16:00) We wonder why we say that God created the heavens and the earth.

(16:13) Well, the earth was created for man. (16:20) So let us look then at Jesus' virgin birth. (16:32) And this is something that there are people who disbelieve.

(16:41) They can’t understand how this could happen. (16:49) But it happened. (16:54) Mary is a virgin.

(16:58) And in 18 through 23, we have that the birth of Jesus was as follows. (17:12) After his mother was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, (17:19) she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. (17:24) Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, (17:32) was minded to put her away secretly.

(17:37) But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, (17:49) saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, (18:00) for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. (18:06) She will bring forth a son, and you will call his name Jesus, (18:12) for he will save his people from their sins. (18:17) So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophets, (18:26) saying, behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, (18:34) and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated God with us.

(18:47) Now in this, this member is a unique birth. (18:59) Only one of his kind. (19:05) And you know, and we’re going to see why that’s so.

(19:12) Even though we’ve got some people that will discount some things about a woman having a child, (19:24) and she’ll try to make it almost the same as what Mary experienced. (19:34) But you know, there are three witnesses. (19:38) I bet you didn’t know that.

(19:40) Three witnesses to the birth of Jesus. (19:47) Let’s call the first witness Mary. (19:51) You know, Mary is just as much a skeptic as anyone at first.

(19:59) When the angel told Mary that she would conceive and bear a son, (20:08) she tells the angel, how can this be since I know not a man? (20:21) She speaks to this angel and she is realizing the usual way to have a child. (20:39) But then the angel tells her that the Holy Spirit would overshadow her (20:51) and that she would then bring forth a son. (21:02) In verse 35, the angel answered and said to her, (21:08) the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you.

(21:15) Therefore, also that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. (21:26) And so, we then will bring the next witness. (21:35) This will be our hostile witness, the devil.

(21:44) The devil, when Jesus was born through Harriet, (21:52) in the scripture reading that we had from Roger, (22:01) Roger, you did that good. (22:04) And also, Tom, when he read his, both of them read the scripture readings good. (22:16) But the devil through Harriet, seeking to destroy the baby Jesus then, (22:24) caused other babies to be killed in an effort to get to Jesus.

(22:36) But God had warned Joseph and Joseph took the baby Jesus into Egypt. (22:46) And then the temptations in chapter 4, (22:52) you know, the devil himself approached Jesus. (22:57) And he approached Jesus himself when Jesus was at his weakest.

(23:06) He had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. (23:10) And Jesus is in a weakened state. (23:15) So, the devil tells Jesus, if you are the Son of God, (23:21) doesn’t the devil know that he’s the Son of God? (23:26) Yeah, he does.

(23:29) But it’s not that he is saying, are you the Son of God? (23:36) If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread. (23:42) You know, you can satisfy your hunger. (23:49) But he was trying to get Jesus to listen to him.

(23:55) And if Jesus would listen to him, then that would follow what God had in mind. (24:06) But then Jesus, though he quotes scripture, he quotes the word, he goes to the word. (24:16) Man shall not live by bread alone.

(24:22) And then he takes him upon the temple, the highest part of the temple. (24:30) Cast yourself down. (24:32) And the devil quotes part of scripture.

(24:37) He says, the angels will bear you up. (24:42) God will take care of you. (24:45) And then Jesus says, shall not tempt the Lord your God.

(24:54) Quotes another scripture. (24:57) And then, lastly, he shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. (25:10) If you will bow down and worship me, I will give you these kingdoms.

(25:17) Now, you know, the devil is not realizing that Jesus created the kingdoms. (25:28) And, well, of course, the devil thinks king himself that he’s got all the kingdoms. (25:44) But Jesus says, you shall worship the Lord thy God.

(25:52) And him only shall you worship. (25:57) And so the devil goes away from him. (26:04) And Luke 4.13, it says that the Lord departed from Jesus until the next appointed time or until another appointed time.

(26:24) The devil is really after Jesus throughout his life. (26:32) Then we have the Holy Spirit. (26:36) The Holy Spirit, through inspired prophecy, prophesied in Isaiah 7.14, (26:49) that a virgin, the virgin shall bear a child and shall name him Emmanuel.

(27:01) And the Holy Spirit inspired the recording of the fulfillment of the prophecy. (27:14) And did you know that the Holy Spirit participated in the conception that this is of the Holy Spirit? (27:33) This is what Matthew 1 says. (27:39) Matthew 1 chapter 18.

(27:47) She was bound with child of the Holy Spirit. (27:51) And again, this is to Joseph. (27:55) The angel of the dream tells Joseph, (27:58) for that which was conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

(28:05) It is through the Holy Spirit then that Jesus was conceived to be the Son of God. (28:17) He had to be born a woman but have no man to be his father. (28:30) No man fathered Jesus.

(28:36) This is the way this is to happen. (28:41) Then let us look finally unto Jesus as divine healer. (28:49) I don’t have time to go into it but Mark 1.21 through Mark 2 verse 12.

(29:04) We’ve got different accounts, different healings that Jesus performed in these two chapters. (29:19) We’ve got him healing Peter’s mother-in-law who has fever. (29:30) We have him healing a man with leprosy.

(29:36) We have him healing a multitude that brings people to him to heal them of all kinds of diseases. (29:51) In conclusion, let us look at Jesus as the master teacher. (30:01) He taught as one having authority.

(30:06) He has authority. (30:09) He has all authority according to Matthew 28.18. (30:15) All power is given unto me. (30:18) But with this all power that Jesus has, Jesus doesn’t use his sonship nor his being with God as a way of being harsh with his commandments.

(30:43) You know Jesus in Matthew 11.28.30, Jesus shows how he can react to man. (31:02) He shows that he is meek and lowly. (31:08) Now meek does not mean weak.

(31:10) And Jesus certainly is not a weak person. (31:18) But he doesn’t use all his power. (31:21) He doesn’t use that as a means of providing or causing burden upon man.

(31:34) As a matter of fact, I’m going to let Jesus do the invitation. (31:44) He says in Matthew 11.28.30, (31:49) All you that labor and are hesitating, come unto me, for I will give you rest. (32:00) Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me.

(32:05) For I am meek and lowly in heart. (32:15) For my yoke is light, and my burdens are not heavy. (32:25) What he has for us to do is not burdensome.

(32:31) And what he has commanded us to do, we can do. (32:35) He hasn’t asked us to do anything that is impossible. (32:42) And for those who haven’t become Christians, (32:48) He asks, He wants us to believe in Him.

(32:56) He wants us to believe that He is. (33:02) And that if we don’t, we will die in our sins. (33:10) We must turn away from sin.

(33:13) We must be willing to confess that Jesus is who He said He is. (33:19) That He is the Son of God. (33:22) And then be buried with Him in baptism for the remission of sins.

(33:29) And then we are to be faithful unto Him until the end. (33:37) Now, maybe we have that done. (33:43) We’ve done those things.

(33:46) And maybe we have been led astray. (33:50) If that is so, you can still come back and be restored to God. (33:56) You can come, make that known, and the church will pray for you, with you, that God will accept you.

(34:07) But why not accept His invitation? (34:12) If you are subject to the gospel invitation anyway, (34:16) why not come while we stand and while we sing?