Christology Expositions on the Kingship of Christ

Christology: Expositions on the Kingship of Christ is published by Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Note: The views expressed in the following essays are not necessarily those of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Individual authors are responsible for the research and content in their messages.

© 2017 All rights reserved by Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Cover photo by Frida Bredesen on Unsplash.

Table of Contents Introduction 2 ......................................................................................................“Love Your Enemies” | Matthew 5:43-48 3 .........................................................Danny Akin

“Jesus' Knowledge, Death, and the Plan and Providence of God” | Matthew 26:1-5 10 .......................................Ligon Duncan

“Fearing Jesus Leads to Trusting Jesus” | Mark 4:35-41 17 ................................J.D. Greear

“Fearing in Familiar Waters” | Mark 4:35-41 28 .................................................Johnny Hunt

“The Characteristics of God” | Luke 11:1-13 36 ....................................................David Platt

“The Kingship of Christ” | John 18:33-38 48 ......................................................Afshin Ziafat

“The Supremacy of Jesus Christ” | Colossians 1:15-20 59 ..................................H.B. Charles, Jr.

“Placing Our Faith and Hope in God” | 1 Peter 1:20-21 66 .................................Matt Carter

“The Return of the King” | Revelation 19:11-21 76 ..............................................Danny Akin

About the Authors 86...........................................................................................

Introduction

As a Great Commission Seminary, we strive to make much of Jesus in everything we do. From our classes to our extracurricular activities, we want to make Christ known. Paramount in this endeavor are our chapel services. I like to explain that chapel services at Southeastern exist for three primary purposes:

1. To lead the Southeastern community in worshiping the Lord Jesus through music and expository preaching.

2. To model biblical exposition and congregational worship leading. 3. To encourage our students, staff, and faculty to pray for and engage the lost

locally and globally with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Put simply, it's all about Jesus.

So in the Fall of 2016 when our team had the idea of focusing an entire semester of chapel on the theme of Christology, it was an obvious decision.

We asked a number of our gifted and gracious chapel speakers to address this topic - to point us to Christ and His glory, excellence, beauty, power, and majesty. These men agreed and encouraged and compelled us to behold our King.

Now it's our joy to collect these sermons together and provide them as a resource to you. We hope and pray that the pages of this book will bend your knee, life your eyes, and stir your affections for our wonderful Savior. To Him be the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Trevor King Director of Chapel

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“Love Your Enemies” | Matthew 5:43-48 Danny Akin

As Great Commission people, we recognize that we are going to go to people who do not want us to come. We need to go, but they don't want us to come. We also recognize that we will take a gospel that people will not want to hear, and yet it is a gospel they desperately need to hear. And then laying that in a context in which we will function, it's been well said that, "Returning evil for good is satanic, returning good for good is simply human, but returning good for evil -- that is divine." We find that driven home in the Gospel of Matthew in chapter five, verses 43-48. If you would, join me there in God's word.

In Matthew 5:43-48, you come to the sixth and final antithesis that you find in Matthew chapter five. They began back in verse 21 and conclude in verse 48. They're intended to help us understand the kind of righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees and the kind of righteousness that is essential for those who will enter into the kingdom of God. It's a righteousness that flows from what I call "Beatitude Christians," that is, men and women that are described and characterized as being poor in spirit, meek, merciful, and pure in heart. It is citizens who, as we see in verse 48, are on their way to becoming perfect just as their Heavenly Father is perfect. And we recognize that all of this is a work of divine grace. None of us are capable of living out the ethics of the kingdom apart from God's divine enablement, and that's never more true than when it comes to the biblical command to love your enemies and to pray for those who persecute you.

After all, the attitude of the world is very, very different. This is perhaps expressed quite well by H. W. Auden in a poem that simply says, "I and the public know what all schoolchildren learn, those to whom evil is done, do evil in return." I've been concerned in recent years that unfortunately even within the church, even within the community of faith, I sometimes hear people talk and speak of those that oppose us, those that are different from us, those that we would even consider to be our enemies, and we talk about them in ways that are very consistent with the world, but absolutely foreign to the ethics of Jesus.

Grant Osborne, a wonderful New Testament scholar, puts these verses in wonderful context when he says, "Love for neighbor was the epitome of Old Testament ethics. The model for this difficult activity is nothing less than God himself our Father, if God can be merciful to wicked as well as good people, so must we.” And so I want to make four 1

overarching observations. At the end, I will make some very specific applications by taking

Grant Osbourne, Matthew: ZECNT, 214.1

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advantage of an excellent book called Revitalize by Andy Davis, the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Durham, North Carolina.

As we think about what it means to love and pray for our enemies, we need to recognize very honestly this is one of the most difficult commands that you find in the bible, and that it is only a divine enablement that will allow us to get there. I think Martin Luther King, Jr. was onto something when he said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that, and hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." 2

So four quick observations. Number one, loving our enemies shows others that God is our Father. Verse 43 begins, “You have heard that it was said.” He is citing here those of old, the scribes and the teachers of the law that had developed the tradition of Israel's religion. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." (Matt. 5:43 ESV) Now, this is a partial citation of Leviticus 19:18, where the bible says, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Interestingly, the phrase as yourself is omitted, and our colleague Chuck Quarles makes a very insightful observation when he says, "This subtle revision transformed a command about how God's people are to love, into a command on whom they are to love." And so you are to love your neighbor, but then scribes and the teachers of the law added an addendum to that command, drawing what they felt was the natural corollary: “On the one hand, yes, you should love your neighbor, but on the other hand, you should hate your enemy.”

You will search the Old Testament in vain to find words anywhere approximating those words that you read right there. The scribes had made an interpretative decision, and as a result they drew a faulty conclusion: “To love your neighbor must have the natural corollary of hating your enemy. What could be more logical?” Charles Spurgeon is right when he says “In this case a command of Scripture had a human antithesis, fitted on it by depraved minds and this human addition was mischievous...This is a sad crime against the Word of the Lord.” This is a sad crime against the word of God. And so what did our Lord do to counter 3

their faulty understanding of this classic passage of Scripture? He said, "Well, I will tell you two things that you're to do with your enemies: number one, you are to love them and number two, you are to pray for them." “But I say to you,” verse 44, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Both the word love and the word pray are imperatives. They're words of command. They're also in the present tense which speaks of a continuous ongoing act. In other words, he's not telling us you can love your enemy periodically or you can love your enemy once in awhile. No, you're to love your enemy consistently. You're to love your enemy constantly.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love.2

Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible.3

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And in fact, not only are you to love them, you are to pray for them. In essence, Jesus transforms our enemies into neighbors. And he says, "In the same way that you would naturally love and pray for your neighbor, you need supernaturally to love and pray for your enemies." Loving our enemies shows others that God is indeed our Father.

Number two, loving others without discrimination is to act like God our Father. In verse 45, Jesus helps us understand that God indeed extends his common grace and love to all of his creation. He says there in verse 45, you love your enemies, you pray for those who persecute you, “so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good” and in parallel fashion, “and sends rain on the just and the unjust.” (Matt. 5:45 ESV) Now let us be very clear here, loving your enemies does not make you a child of God. Loving your enemies and praying for your enemies gives evidence that you are a child of God.

John Piper puts it very, very well:

“Now someone might take ‘so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven’ to mean that you must first become a person who loves his enemies before you can be a child of God. But it may also mean ‘love your enemies and so prove yourself to be what you are, a child of God.’ That is, show you are a child of God by acting the way your Father acts. If you are his, then his character is in you, and you will be inclined to do what he does. God loves his enemies. The evil and the unrighteous, and he does so in sending rain and sunshine on them, instead of instant judgement.” 4

God’s act of common grace is through his natural revelation of sunshine and rain. It's not that God goes down the street and says, "Saved person, rain, saved person, rain, unsaved person, no rain." Nor does he cause his sun to rise only for those that love him and care for him. Every day he raises his sun on those who hate him and who despise him. And so we give evidence that indeed God is our Father because we act toward our enemies in exactly the same way he has acted toward us.

Sinclair Ferguson again helps us here when he says:

John Piper, But I Say to You, Love Your Enemies, Part 1.4

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"Can we really love those who have been hostile to us? Not as long as we live by the principles of the kingdoms of this world, which at best encourages us to ignore our enemies. And at worst to retaliate against them. Only the kingdom of God can provide sufficiently strong motives to help us love our enemies. Your Father shows love to his enemies every day, in giving them the sun and the rain to the righteous and the ungodly alike. He has every right to retaliate against sinners, for the dishonor they had done to his creation. Instead he shows mercy and patience. We are to do the same like Father, like son.” 5

Loving others without discrimination is to act like God our Father.

Number three, loving others without discrimination sets us apart from those who do not know God as Father. In verses 46 and 47, our Lord uses very simple illustrations that would have immediately caught the attention of his audience. He uses the example of a tax collector and then he uses the example of a Gentile pagan. He basically says, "If you love those who are like you, you're no different than the despised tax collectors whom you hate and you're nothing more than a lost Gentile because they even love people they like; they even love people like them.” And so very simply, he says in verse 46, "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the despised,” I'm adding commentary here, “the despised tax collectors do the same?” (Matt. 5:46 ESV, with emphasis for added commentary) And again, anyone that's familiar with the Bible knows what great hatred the common Jewish people had for these traitors to Rome that fleeced the people and took advantage of their own.

But then he goes further and says, "And if you greet,” you give a, 'I hope you're having a great day' kind of greeting to “only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?" (Matt. 5:47 ESV) My goodness, even the Gentiles, even those who are pagans do the same. Now again, if the religious leaders were present when Jesus was saying these things, and I'm quite certain they were, I'm sure they went apoplectic. Their blood pressure went off the scale. Their internal temperature rose very quickly: "How dare you compare us to tax collectors who have betrayed their own people? How dare you compare us to pagan Gentiles who have no part of our great heritage and the kingdom of God?" And Jesus says, "I do so because you're just like them.”

When we only care for those that are like us, we're just simply acting like the world. We are not acting like God and we're certainly not acting like his Son in the way that he has loved

Sinclair Ferguson, The Sermon on the Mount, 103.5

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us with such sacrifice and loved us even when we were hostile and enemies and exhibited hatred toward him. And so the Bible teaches us that loving others without discrimination sets us apart from those who don't know God as Father.

And then finally, loving our enemies conforms us to the likeness of God our Father. Many times in the Bible, we are told that God is something. For example:

• Leviticus 11:44 - God is holy

• John 4:24 - God is a spirit

• Deuteronomy 4:24 & Hebrews 12:29 - God is a consuming fire

• 1 John 4:8 and 16 - God is love

• 1 John 5:20 - God is true

Well, Jesus adds another "God is" statement here in verse 48, and he does so in the context of challenging you and me to be like him: "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matt. 5:48 ESV) Now, some people read that statement and they say, "Oh, that's too high a standard." And so they water the statement down and they say, "Well, it really means something like this: You need to be mature, even as your heavenly Father is mature." That doesn't work.

No, actually the command is intended to shock us once more and it's intended to raise the bar so high that we know we could never reach it in our own strength or in our own power, and we're driven to our knees in humility and repentance, seeking a power from God that we do not have within ourselves. No, we're on the way to being perfect, and so in this day and age, as we exhibit the character of our God, we should be striving to be perfect as well. Again, I agree with Dr. Quarles who says, "Love for others, including one's enemies, is the essence of divine perfection and the key to true righteousness." And so I think contextually, when Jesus says, "I want you to be perfect," the context leads us to mean, you be perfect in loving your enemies in the same way that your heavenly Father is perfect in loving his enemies. Now, I don't think he would restrict it to only that particular application, but it is certainly the near application. In the context, I think the greater application, of course, would include the entirety of the Sermon on the Mount and the entirety of Scripture.

Jesus is saying, "You are headed for future glorification. Who and what you will be someday in eternity should impact how we love and conduct ourselves today." In other words, very simply stated, we are to be what we are becoming.

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I want to be practical because here's what I have come to understand in 40 years of ministry. Sometimes, our enemies are out there, but sometimes our enemies are in here. Sometimes our enemies are outside the church, but sometimes our enemies may be located inside the church. We all should, I think, be aware of the fact that not everyone whose name is on the church roll genuinely knows Christ as Savior. Some of the meanest, most ungodly people I have ever met in my life came to church every Sunday morning, every Sunday night, and every Wednesday night. They never missed a business conference. In fact, I think they longed and lived for those particular nights where they could put on marvelous display their carnality and, in many cases, their unregenerate behavior.

“So you’re saying, Danny, that sometimes an enemy can even be inside the church?” Yes, I'm saying that sometimes an enemy can even be inside the church. So what is it that you and I need to do when we find ourselves in those kind of situations? Again, I commend to you the book by Andy Davis called, "Revitalize." And in one of the chapters where he talks about dealing with our enemies, he gives us 10 very simple directives in terms of practical counsel about how we deal with those that oppose us:

1. Make it a point to obey Jesus' command to pray for those who oppose and insult you. In fact, make sure that you pray for them by name. I discovered in my own life that it's hard to hate people that I pray for.

2. Bring all criticism against you back to God in prayer. Where you are convicted that you have wronged someone, be humble enough to go back to that person and ask for their forgiveness.

3. Practice good listening skills with people who disagree with you. They may have something to say that you actually need to hear.

4. Ask the Lord in prayer to give you a discerning heart, so that you will know when to fight like a lion and when to be humble and yielding.

5. Get prepared for potentially contentious meetings, especially before the whole church, like a church business conference. Do so by praying in great detail about what you're about to face, putting on the spiritual armor the apostle Paul lists in Ephesians 6:10-17, and by reading many Scripture verses on humility.

6. Be especially wary of gossip and slander when you're gathered with passionate supporters of your efforts. Understand how sinful it is to act as though you could never commit the same sin as others.

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7. Ponder the example of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Jesus' parable of humble prayer in Luke 18.

8. Understand that some opponents really are children of the devil and they will never be reconciled to biblical doctrine. But also know that some of the bitterest enemies right now could become your staunch allies down the road.

9. Be very wary of lawsuits. Read Paul's prohibition passage in 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 and do not submit to the wisdom of the world, but submit to the wisdom of God.

10.As you proceed in the Christian life, be more and more zealous for the glory of Christ than for your own good reputation. 6

I love these verses for a very simple reason: They remind me so much about Jesus, and they remind me so much about Jesus at the Passion when on the cross he looked at those who were crucifying him, mocking him and he said, "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they are doing." Love your enemies. It really is the way of Jesus.

Andrew Davis, Revitalize.6

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“Jesus' Knowledge, Death, and the Plan and Providence of God” | Matthew 26:1-5 Ligon Duncan

Matthew 26:1-5 may be a surprising passage to focus on the subject of the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Passover week. It is just a few days before Jesus will be crucified to bear our sins. And He has just ended his great exposition of the Final Judgment. And He is talking about his coming betrayal and crucifixion. And in that passage, I want you to be on the lookout for three things: One, Jesus knows. Two, Jesus knows and chose. And three, God is in control, even in Jesus' death. Jesus knows. Jesus knows and chose. And God is in control in Jesus' death.

Hear it in Matthew 26, beginning in verse one: "When Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples, 'You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be handed over for crucifixion.' Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered in the court of the high priest, named Caiaphas; and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him. But they were saying, 'Not during the feast, otherwise a riot might occur among the people.'" (Matt. 26:1-5 NASB)

Jesus is just finishing that great discourse on the Final Judgment in Matthew 25, and you read these words in Matthew 26:1, "When Jesus had finished all these words." That is a formula that appears at each of the great discourses of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. You will find it in Matthew 7:28, Matthew 11:1, Matthew 13:53, and Matthew 19:1. That formula, "When Jesus had finished all these words," alerts you to the fact that the sermon is over and we have entered into a new section of the book. And so this great sermon on the end times is over, and now Matthew is back to what's happening in the life and ministry and death of Jesus Christ. And here again, not for the first time, Jesus informs the disciples ahead of time concerning His betrayal and trial and crucifixion and death on their behalf.

You see the words again, "You know that after two days, the Passover is coming, and that the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified." Now Jesus has said this to the disciples over and over, probably for a number of reasons. One is the disciples have a hard time taking this in. It's interesting that in the Gospel of John, John explicitly tells us, "We didn't understand what Jesus was saying to us." Now, by the way, that's one of the things that proves to me the Bible is true. Because if you were making up that story, you would never have admitted that. While claiming to be part of the inner circle of the God-Man, you never

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would have said, "By the way, we had no clue what He was telling us." It's one of the ways that I see that the Bible is true.

John just says, "We didn't understand." But Jesus has been saying this over and over to them. First of all, because up to this point this is the greatest trial of their lives. For Jesus, His arrest, His betrayal, His trial, and His crucifixion are going to be the great trial of His life. But consistently in the Gospels, Jesus is not focused on Himself. He is full of compassion for people and He desires that His own disciples will survive the trial that they are going to go through when they see the One that they call the Christ, the Son of the Living God, hanging on a tree, dying. And so over and over He said to them, "I'm going to be betrayed. I'm going to be crucified. The leaders of My people are going to betray Me. I'm going to die."

Turn all the way back to Matthew 12:40. Let's walk through a few of these examples in the Gospel of Matthew. In Matthew 12:40, Jesus says, "as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."(Matt. 12:40 NASB) Now in light of the end of the story, the reference there is unmistakable. No doubt, Jesus' words to the disciples would have provoked the scratching of a few noggins when He first said it. But looking back on that statement, it would've been crystal clear to them what He was saying.

But He's even more clear when you turn to Matthew 16:21. In Matthew 16:21, we read, "From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priest and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day." (Matt. 16:21 NASB) It couldn't be clearer than that. "I am going to go suffer and be killed and be raised."

Then turn forward to Matthew 17:9. "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead." (Matt. 17:9 NASB) You can't rise from the dead unless you're dead first. So there again, Jesus is predicting his death as well as his resurrection. Then just a few verses forward, to Matthew 17:12, "So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands." (Matt 17:12 NASB) So, Jesus is again saying to his followers, "I am going suffer at the hands of the religious leaders of Israel." Then in Matthew 17:22 and 23: “And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.’” (Matt. 17:22-23 NASB) So again, a very explicit teaching about what is going to happen to Him. Jesus knows what is going to happen to Him. Jesus knows what is coming. And in His kindness, in His pastoral care for his disciples, He's trying to prepare them for what is coming, so that their faith will not be lost. So that their faith can be strengthened, so that

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they can endure the trial of His crucifixion and death and burial and all the trauma that that involves. He's preparing them for that.

And then look at Matthew chapter 20, verses 18, and 19, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up."(Matt. 20:18-19 NASB) And then, of course the great verse, Matthew 20:28: "Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." (Matt. 20:28 NASB) So here's what I want you to think about, my friends: What we learn in those passages and what we learn in the passage before us in Matthew 26, especially verse two, is that Jesus knows what is coming. Can you imagine what it would have been like for Jesus to know during His whole life and ministry that there would be a day where He would experience something that no human being had ever or will ever experience?

He will bear the sins of a world of sinners. Alone, He will bear an infinite and eternal punishment. Do you understand that those consigned to perdition eternally, all together collectively in infinite duration, will never equal what Jesus suffered for us on the cross? And He knew that day was coming. Can you imagine what it would have been like to live like that? Picture this: You've been called by God to serve on the mission field and you have gone faithfully, you and your family. And 13 years into your work, the tribe that you've been serving turns on you and they kill your family, and you alone survive. What would it have been like to go to the field knowing that day was coming? And not only knowing that day was coming, but knowing the day and hour of it. Jesus did that and more for you. Don't you ever underestimate what Jesus' knowledge means for you. So often in the Christian life when things hit me in the gut and take my breath away and leave me gasping for air, I think, "Lord, I'm glad I didn't know that was coming."

I ministered for 12 years with one of my best friends in the same congregation. And in the year that he left, one of my other best friends on the staff also left to pastor another church, and my executive pastor ran off with the wife of one of my deacons. That year was a gut punch that I will remember until my last days and I am really glad that I didn't know that it was coming. Jesus knew what was coming. Just pause right now and thank your Savior. It didn't stop Him. It didn't deter Him. He knew it was coming and He kept walking. He kept going. Why? Because He loves you. No wonder the Gospels tell us that He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Have you ever studied B.B. Warfield's great article, The Emotional Life of Our Lord? In this work he goes through the Gospels and he looks at every emotional ascription to the humanity of Jesus, and he makes this observation: "We are never, ever told that Jesus laughed." Now, I don't mean that Jesus was a sourpuss with no sense of humor, but it's very interesting that we're never told that.

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But He grieved and He sorrowed and He wept. No wonder that He is called a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. But do you know what one emotional attribute is specified of Him more than anything else in the Gospels? His compassion. Now think of that. If I had to bear the sorrows of Jesus, I would have been sorrier for myself than anybody in the world. Did Jesus' sorrows drive Him inside of Himself? No. They flowed out in infinite compassion for lost sinners. Enfeebled, faltering, fumbling disciples and, yet, His heart of love showed itself in his compassion. Hallelujah, what a Savior! That's the Jesus that you serve. A man of sorrows acquainted with grief but not caught up in His own sorrow. Instead, He overflows in love and compassion for the lost and for the least and for the limping.

Jesus knows. There's another thing I want you to see in this: Jesus knows and yet He still chose to go this way for you. Jesus knows what is coming. “After two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified,” (Matt. 26:2 NASB). We need to understand that Jesus not only knows what is coming, but He is willing to embrace what is coming. He chooses the cross. Do you remember John 10:18? "No one takes My life from Me, but I lay it down of My own initiative." Please understand that Jesus was not the victim of Herod. Jesus was not the victim of Pontius Pilate. Jesus was not the victim of the Jewish mob. Jesus was not the victim of the plotting of the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees. He was the victim of no one. He laid down His life deliberately. He gave himself for us. No one takes His life from Him, but He lays it down of His own accord.

And here in Matthew 26, again, we see that. Jesus says, "In two more days, I'm going to be betrayed and crucified and I'm going to die." The people who are going to perpetrate that injustice against Jesus are simultaneously meeting and plotting and they decide, "We can't do it this week. If we do it this week during the festival, there will be riots. People will kill us, so we're not going to do it this week." It’s as if Jesus says, "Yes, you are. It's going to happen this week because I'm going to be lifted up on the Passover so that everybody knows I am the Passover Lamb. The blood of bulls and goats do not forgive sin; my blood pays for the sins of the world. Behold the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the sins of the world. Yes, you are going to crucify Me this week on the Passover. Yes, you are."

"No, we're not."

"Yes, you are. And I choose to do it. I choose to die. I choose to embrace this crucifixion, this suffering."

In our own lifetime, we have seen some people - even some who claim to be evangelicals - say that the atonement is cosmic child abuse. And my friends, that is the deepest blasphemy. But you see, this very passage proves that that is an utterly false and stupid statement because the Son chooses to be the sacrifice. No one ever chose to be abused as a child, but

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the Son of God chooses to be the sacrifice. He says to the Father, "I want to take their place, Father. I understand the demands, not simply of Your justice, but of Our justice, and I want to take their place. I will bear sin, Father, for Your glory and their everlasting good." This is no cosmic child abuse; this is the Son of Man willingly embracing His doom for you. Jesus knows. And He still chose to go to the tree.

This passage makes it amply clear that God is in control even in Jesus' death. Here Jesus says to His disciples, "Two more days and the Son of Man will be delivered up and crucified." And the chief priests and elders say, "No, we're not going to do it in two more days. No, we're not going to do it during the festival. We're going to need to do it some other time." Well, it happened just as Jesus said it would. If you look at the accounts in all the Gospels, they emphasize the divine timing of this. Go back, for instance, to the beginning of John 13, as Jesus is talking to the disciples in the upper room. It emphasized that Jesus knows that the appointed hour has come.

He knows that He's going to be betrayed and He even knows who is going to betray Him. And it doesn't matter whether the chief priests and scribes, who are the wicked perpetrators, have decided they're not going to do it; it's going to happen on God's time. And it's fascinating to me that the apostles and the early Christians got this. Let me just give you a couple of examples. Turn with me to Acts 2. In the preaching of Peter, the great evangelistic message on the day of Pentecost, his main point is simply this, "You people have crucified the Messiah." And they get that from the message and respond, "Oh, my heavens, we've crucified the Messiah! Brothers, what shall we do?" He then preaches the Gospel, "Repent and be baptized!" Well, here's how he explains it to them in Acts 2:23: "This Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death," (Acts 2:23 NASB).

So notice how those two things are put together. God's in control. He's delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, and you nailed Him to the cross by the hands of sinful men. God is sovereign. We are responsible. No apology. No explanation. If I had been there, my hand would have gone up, “But Peter stop right there, just right there, stop. Could you explain that?” No explanation. God is sovereign. God is in control, and you're responsible. By the way, that's biblical logic. Some people say, “God is responsible; therefore, we are not. God is sovereign; therefore, we're not responsible.” Some people say, “We're responsible; therefore, God is not sovereign.” The Bible says God is sovereign; therefore, we are responsible. What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. God is sovereign. We're responsible.

But Peter is not the only one who gets this. The early Christians got this. Turn to Acts chapter four, verses 27 and 28. Do you remember when Peter and John got thrown into

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prison and the Christians are praying like crazy that they won't end up dead? They're praying, and we read this: "For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur." (Acts 4:27-28 NASB) What? They're against Jesus. They wickedly put Him to death. They were doing exactly what God predestined to occur. You're responsible. God is sovereign.

God is in control even in Jesus' death. The Apostle Paul gets this too. Listen to Romans 8:32: "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all," (Rom. 8:32 NASB). That phrase "delivered up" is a technical phrase. You find it in Matthew, Acts, and Romans. And it is always used of the handing over of Jesus into the hands of His enemies, His betrayal into the hands of His enemies for them to crucify Him. In Matthew 26, he says, "The Son of Man is to be handed over for crucifixion."(Matt. 26:1 NASB) Paul says, "Who did that?" The Father delivered Him up. You see, that's emphasizing the priesthood of God the Father in the sacrifice of the Son.

And by the way, even John 3:16 emphasizes that. John 3:16 is probably one of the first verses we memorized, and we usually associate it with the love of Jesus and the Gospel. And that's true, but listen to it closely: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son." (Jn. 3:16 NASB) Who is the "so loved" about? Who is the subject of the so loved? The Father in the giving of the Son. John is talking about God giving His Son and demonstrating His love in the giving of His Son.

My friends, God is in control even in the most unjust event in the history of the moral universe. There is nothing more unjust in the history of this world than the death of Jesus Christ. And the Bible clearly says that God was in control of that. Now here's the good news: If God is in control of that and He's working it together for your good, then there is no heartbreaking or soul-crushing thing that can ever happen to you that can separate you from the love of God and His good purposes for you. Nothing. Does that sovereignty make us indifferent to the salvation of lost sinners? Not at all. Because remember, the formula is that God is sovereign and we're responsible. I love John chapter 13, the passage where Jesus is washing the disciples' feet. John tells us in that passage that Jesus knows He is about to be betrayed and that the devil enters Judas Iscariot to do it at that moment. Later in the passage, Jesus even tells the disciples, "The guy who dips with Me is the one who is going to betray Me." And yet when Jesus washed the disciples' feet do you know whose feet he also washed? Judas'. That dawned on me about 30 years ago as I was reading Calvin's commentary on John 13.

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Jesus washed the feet of Judas the betrayer, the feet of the man that He knew would betray Him. In fact Jesus calls him “the son of perdition." So Jesus in effect is saying, "This man is a reprobate." But He washes his feet. When Calvin meditates on that, he comments, "Jesus was opening the gate of repentance yet one more time to Judas and he would not walk through." Do you wonder if you can preach the gospel to everyone? Let me give you a little test: Are they breathing? Because Jesus knows that Judas is going to betray Him. He is opening the gate of repentance to him yet one more time. If they are breathing, brothers and sisters, we offer the Gospel. Why? Because God is sovereign and we are responsible. Jesus knows, Jesus knows and chose, and God is in control, even in Jesus' death. Hallelujah. What a Savior.

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“Fearing Jesus Leads to Trusting Jesus” | Mark 4:35-41 J.D. Greear

I want to walk you through what has to be, in my opinion, one of the most underrated aspects of our relationship with Jesus. This is one aspect that I would say most people ignore altogether, but one that is absolutely essential to true worship. It is one aspect of our relationship with Jesus that is absolutely necessary, especially for those of you that are headed overseas, if you're going have great confidence in Jesus in the midst of great struggle or fierce opposition, which you will undoubtedly face. And that dimension that I'm talking about is the fear of Jesus.

Now I know that for many people that sounds strange, because we think that Jesus is essentially supposed to be meek and mild, tossing children up in the air, petting lambs, looking pensively off into the sunset, while his permed hair blows in the breeze. And, yes, the tenderness and the meekness of Jesus are amazing, but just as important in your relationship with him is learning the right kind of fear. In fact, without the fear of Jesus, you are never really going to find his tenderness that comforting. Many people today, in our culture, assume that a God who should be feared would be a God that was guilty of some kind of fault. The fear of God is some kind of vested, leftover relic from an archaic, oppressive view of religion. But anytime you're in the presence of greatness, you feel a sense of fear.

Growing up, my hero was Michael Jordan, the GOAT, the “greatest of all time.” I was nine years old when he hit the game-winning shot against Georgetown to lead North Carolina to their second national championship in 1982. From that point on, Air Jordan became more to me than just my favorite basketball player. He was my role model. I wanted to be like Mike. He inspired me to think that the ceiling was the roof and I was going follow his pattern. I was convinced, with a few of my friends, that if I just worked hard enough I could dunk like Michael Jordan. So my friends and I lowered our basketball goals to seven feet and we spent endless hours perfecting our split leg, tongue extended dunks while blasting Whitney Houston's "One Moment In Time" in full volume on my jambox. Now those dunks felt so right when I was doing them, but when I watched the videos later, they just didn't quite look like Michael Jordan's. And when I watch those videos now all I can think is, "What was wrong with me?" I looked more like a wounded dog coming in for a crash landing than a premier athlete honing in on perfection.

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Well, you can imagine how excited I was when I found out that Michael Jordan was going be at a charity golf tournament not far from my house and that my dad, because of where he worked, would get us tickets. I couldn’t have cared less about golf, then or now, but I got tickets, and my best friend and I set out early that morning with one agenda: to meet the man, the myth, the legend, the GOAT himself. For eight hours, we followed his caravan around the course. We never even got close. His bouncers clearly had experience with people like me.

We never got close to him until the very end of the day. I was standing discouraged, near the exit of the golf course, waiting on my parents to come by and pick me and my friend up when I saw a purple Porsche Carrera 944 winding its way down the road toward the exit. And I knew immediately it was Michael Jordan because he always rented the same kind of car everywhere he went and if you're a devotee, you know that. So I turned around and yelled to my friend, who was buying some food somewhere. I yelled, "It's him! It's Jordan!" A couple dozen people heard me, and they all ran over to where I was standing. As he approached, he rolled down the window, and he was looking for somebody. He wasn't looking for me, but he was looking for somebody. And as he got really close to me, my best friend took me from behind and he shoved me, so that he stuck my head into Jordan's Porsche. I was all the way up to my waist and my face was literally three inches from the face of Michael Jordan. I could have licked him.

And one of my great regrets in life is that I did not do so.

I very nervously sputtered. I was like, "Hi, Mike." I mean, what do you say?" He's six foot six, and he's got his arm in the car, and he looks over at me and he says, "Dude, get out of my car."

And I said, "Yes sir, Mr. Jordan." I put my hands out, and I turned around to the crowd, and I was like, "He talked to me!" I had a conversation with Michael Jordan.

The reason I tell that is because the presence of greatness has a strange effect on us. Whenever you encounter greatness, you feel a curious mixture of desire and terror. You're not sure whether you want to draw close or whether you want to run away. Here's the question: If being in the presence of human greatness makes us feel that way, what is it like to be in the presence of infinite greatness? If I was that star struck in the presence of somebody whose glory consisted, basically, in the fact that he could jump 36 inches higher than I could, what is it like to find yourself in the presence of the One who spoke the universe into existence?

God put us into a theater to remind us of the greatness of who he is. But a lot of times, we end up being like flies walking around on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel with absolutely no

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concept of the masterpiece that is beneath our feet. This summer, my family and I spent the summer out in South Africa and we spent several weeks out in the Zulu, the African bush. We were amazed when we were out there at how many more stars you could see when there is not any light pollution. It looked like millions of stars. I learned later it was only 9,096. That is the maximum number of stars that you can see at any given point with the naked eye. 9,096 out of what astronomers say are 3,000 billion trillion stars, which is a three with 24 zeroes after it, the kind of number that is so big, that it's hard to even get your mind around what it means. Astronomers also say that each of those 3,000 billion trillion stars puts out the same amount of energy as a trillion megaton bombs every second. And God created all of that with a word.

And more than that, he knows their names, which is also equally mind-blowing to me. I forgot the names of people whose wedding I had officiated. They came up to me in church a few weeks ago, and they're like, "Hey," and I'm like, "Hey, are you new here to the church?"

"Nope, you did our wedding eight years ago."

"That's exactly right. I sure did."

I forget those kind of names. He remembers the names of all of the stars, all 3,000 billion trillion stars. How are you supposed to feel in the presence of that God?

Look at Mark 4:35: "On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, 'Let us go across to the other side,'" (Mk 4:35 ESV). Now, he was talking, of course, about the other side of the Sea of Galilee. On the other side was Gentile territory and Jesus was headed over to the Gentiles. They could have very easily taken the land route, but Jesus wanted them to take the boat route. That's an important detail that we will come back to in just a minute. Verse 36: "And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him." (Mark 4:36 ESV) I want stop here for something totally off topic, but it's a little textual thing that counters an objection I hear people make more and more often about the Bible. The objection is that the Bible is, essentially, a collection of legends.

I'm right at the backyard of Dr. Bart Ehrman, and he says that all the time that these are superhero stories that have grown up over time. The idea was popularized, of course, by him, and even in books like The Da Vinci Code. But the problem is that little things like this give you a clue that these stories do not read like legends. They claim to be eyewitness accounts, and they read like eyewitness accounts. You see that through the little detail in verse 36 and hundreds of others like it in the Bible: "And other boats were with him." What's that got to do with anything? Nothing! It has nothing to do with anything. It's just a guy recalling what he saw from memory. That's it. "And other boats were with him." It is not part of the plot.

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There are plenty of legends that exist in first century literature and none of them read like that. These read like eyewitness accounts because they are eyewitness accounts.

Alright, that is just a little digression that has nothing to do with the major point. Continuing in verse 37: "And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. Then they woke him up and said to him, 'Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?'" (Mark 4:37-38 ESV). By the way, what a dumb question. I feel sorry for these guys because if you and I say something dumb, people laugh about it and they forget about it. These guys say something dumb and it gets written down in the Bible, and we get to talk about it for 2,000 years.

Now, this must have been some kind of storm because these were experienced fishermen and they've been in lots of storms. The Sea of Galilee, where they were, was an area very prone to storms. The sea itself is 700 feet below sea level. The mountain range that encircles it has peaks that rise up to 9,200 feet above sea level, which means there is a mixture of cold air from the mountains and the warm air from the sub-sea level that make it conducive to really bad and sudden storms. Even today, if you go to those little restaurants that are along the western side of the sea, they are always up on stilts. And they will have little signs that tell you that, if a storm comes, you need to get your car out immediately because in the course of an hour, the parking lot can flood by up to 10 feet. And so by the time you are done with your dinner, your car might be floating in the ocean somewhere. This is one of those kinds of storms.

Meanwhile, Jesus, who's tired from a tough day of ministry, has a pillow over his head and he is trying to get some sleep. We know his sleep is intentional because he has a cushion. Whenever you have a cushion, you intend to sleep. He was planning to sleep. Why is he planning to sleep if he knows a storm is coming? Surely, if you can control the weather, you can also predict the weather. He knows that it is coming and he is planning to sleep through it. You see, this is all one big set-up. So the disciples, in fear, wake him up with a question, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" Which, again, is a dumb question. But honestly, do you ever feel like that? "Jesus, we're about to die. I'm being overwhelmed and crushed, and it's like you don't even care. You're not even there. You seem to be sleeping, if you even exist at all." I think Mark records that question, not just to humiliate the disciples, but because it's how we often feel. And he shows us that it’s a very natural feeling and it's okay to wake Jesus up in that moment.

Verse 39 of this chapter says, "And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Peace! Be still!'" (Mark 4:39 ESV). Now, rebuke is what you do to somebody who's underneath you, right? An employee who is late. You rebuke them. Or it's what you do with a

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child: "No daughter, you are not allowed to talk to your mother that way," or, "No son, you're not allowed to pee in the sink." Little insight into the Greear house and how things go there.

Jesus stands up and he rebukes the weather like it's nothing more than a rowdy toddler. No incantations, no loud invectives, or chants, no spells or magic wand. He just stands up and calls it down like it's a toddler. Here's something else, "be still" in Greek is what they call a verb of continuing action, which means that what he was literally saying was, "be quiet and stay quiet." In other words, he put the storm in time out. It was like, "You go sit down over there for a while, and I'll tell you when you can come out and play again." And the storm slinks off over in the corner like a rebuked child or a scolded puppy. "And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm," (Mark 4:39 ESV).

Not only did the storm die down immediately, the waves themselves died down. Even if you could stop the storm immediately, it would take a couple of hours for the sea itself to calm down. Jesus does it all at once. Then my favorite part of the story, he turns to the disciples and he says, "Why were you so afraid?" (Mark 4:40 ESV). "Why are we afraid? Well, we thought we were going to die, for starters, and then you rebuked the storm like a rowdy toddler, and it listens. And you're asking us why we're afraid?" Jesus continues. "’Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’” (Mark 4:41 ESV). Great fear. When they were in the storm and when they thought they were going to die, they had just plain, old, regular, run of the mill, we-think-we're-going-to-die kind of fear. But after Jesus rescued them, they felt great fear. In other words, the rescue scared them more than the storm. Seeing Jesus' power over the storm was more terrifying than thinking they were going to die in the storm.

And they ask in amazement, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" Jews believed that nobody could command the weather but God. Other prophets have possessed the power to heal, but only God, they believe, could control the weather. In fact, some of the Rabbinic literature of that time, like Second Maccabees, taught that anybody who claimed to control the weather would be charged with blasphemy. Jesus here does this without even calling on a higher power to change the weather. He doesn't stand up and say, "God, make the storm stop." He does it himself, through his own power. "Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" It has to be God. This is one of three stories that Mark tells right in a row about amazing things that obey Jesus. Right before this is the story of Jesus healing disease and raising the dead. Right after this, he's going to tell a story in which Jesus commands demons and they obey him. And then this one is the story where Jesus commands the weather. Mark's point is that since the demons, disease, death, and the weather all obey Jesus, why wouldn't you?

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Let me give you three important implications from this story. Number one, there's a really good kind of fear. There's a really important kind of fear. As I mentioned at the beginning, a lot of people think the concept of a God that you should fear is outdated, but that is just foolish. How could you understand anything about the power of Jesus and not feel fear? Anybody who glimpses the power of God in the Bible is overcome with fear.

Maybe one of my favorite accounts of this is Revelation chapter one, where the Apostle John sees Jesus for the first time after Jesus had returned to heaven. Now, keep in mind that Jesus and John had been friends while Jesus was on earth and John in his gospel, in fact, had rather confidently described himself as the one that Jesus loved. Now I know there's some theological things he's getting at, but the point is, I still think it takes a lot of nerve to put that into print: "I'm the one that Jesus really liked." They were close. I'm thinking about putting that as a subtitle to my name on any future books: “J.D. Greear- the one that Jesus loves.” John had been so close to Jesus, we learned that during the last supper, he leaned his head back on his chest during dinner.

These guys are close, so what's their reunion going to look like? Warm embrace? High five? Slap on the back? "I missed you?" No, I'll read it to you in John's own words. "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead," (Rev. 1:17 ESV). That's not a figure of speech. When he laid his eyes on the glorified Jesus, John literally thought he was going to die. I feel like we've lost almost all concept of this in our churches. He's our home boy, our pal, the shepherd snuggling with the lost sheep. We glibly sing these sentimental songs about wanting to be in his presence. Do you realize that if Jesus did what we were asking and he just showed up on stage, a lot of us would feel like we were about to die? That would not be good for church attendance. Maybe the reason so many people are so casual and unmotivated in their obedience is because they possess no fear of Jesus.

My friends, if he rebuked the weather and it obeyed, if he commanded disease and death and they yielded, if he spoke to demons and they surrendered, who are you to disobey him? Some of us treat the commands of Jesus so casually: "I know this habit's sinful, but I'll get it under control eventually." "Cheating's not that big of a deal, right? I mean, it can't be that important. This test is not that important. Nobody's perfect.” Do you know the one to whom you are speaking and whose name you have taken to yourself? Who are you to defy the one who commands the wind and the waves? More trembling and less sentimental swaying might do our church services some good.

Number two, we see that fear does not exclude love. Whenever we talk about the fear of God, people object. They say, "Well, wait, we're not supposed to fear God. He's the meek, tender, soft, brown-haired Savior that plays with children." But then you get pictures of Jesus like this one that make his tenderness that much more amazing. Last year, I re-read

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C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe to my two youngest kids and we came to that famous section where the four children are first hearing about Aslan, the lion that represents Jesus, for the first time. They learned that he is coming back to Narnia and he wants to meet the children. When the children first hear his name, "they feel this mixture," Lewis says, "of fear and attraction." And Susan, one of the kids, says, "So wait, who is this Aslan?" And Mr. Beaver says, "Why, he's the king. He's the great lion who was the creator of Narnia. He is the rightful ruler." And Susan says, "A lion? I thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion." "Safe," said Mr. Beaver. "Who said anything about safe? Of course, he isn't safe, but he's good. He's the king, I tell you."

At that point, my nine-year-old daughter said, "So wait, Dad. He's safe or he's not?"

And I said, "Well, he's not safe, because he's a lion, but he's good, so you can trust him."

"So he's not safe?"

"No, but he's good, so he is safe."

"No, he's not, he's a lion."

And we probably talked about this for 15 minutes, and she ended up more confused than when we started.

I want to try to do a better job with you right now. Here's how I'd describe it: They say that in high altitude places like Mount Everest, storms can come on very suddenly in the space of a few seconds. The temperature can drop by more than 30 or 40 degrees in the space of literally 30 seconds, accompanied by severe, gale force winds. I want you to imagine for a minute that you were caught in just such a storm. The wind effortlessly sweeps away all your equipment. You hear the fierce howl of the winds. You feel that deep, penetrating cold. You know that death is just a few moments away. But just when you're about to give up hope, you notice behind the crevice of a rock, a small opening in the side of a mountain leading to a regress cave.

Inside that cave, you find another traveler, your guide, who has made a fire and is now preparing a meal. As you sit by the fire, sheltered from the storm, you can look back out into the storm, marveling at its awesome power. That storm may no longer be a threat to you, but you still feel a hushed sense of awe before its power and you stand amazed at the power of the mountain that shields you from that power. That is the kind of fear the disciples feel before Jesus. Our experience of Jesus is supposed to, in many ways, intensify our fear and not lessen it. Psalm 130:4 says, "But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared," (Ps. 130:4 ESV). In looking at that verse you may think, "Forgiven, so that we might

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fear? Isn't the point of forgiveness to take away our fear? If we've really been forgiven, what is there left to be afraid of?"

When you see what Jesus had to go through to save us, it makes us realize the holiness and the perfection of the God that we've sinned against. The bloody cross was the terrible price for our sin. God did it as a demonstration of his righteousness. This is the price of disobedience. The cross was what it was, because it was exactly what I deserved. It is the closest thing on Earth we will come to getting a glimpse of hell. But in that same sacrifice, I also see that I am safe within God's love. Seeing that moves me to worship. His grace had taught my heart to fear, then grace, my fears relieved. True worship is a mixture of awe and intimacy, awe at the power and the holiness of God and intimacy in realizing that he paid your full sin debt and brought you close to himself.

One without the other is a deformed spirituality. And there are some of us who have fear, but no intimacy, and therefore, we have no warmth and no love in our relationship with God. Other people have intimacy without awe, and so, they are lazy or casual in their obedience. There are all kinds of areas of compromise. They are not bold. They are uninspired in their worship. They don't take bold risks for God. They're very lethargic and apathetic in their evangelism.

True worship is awe mixed with intimacy, which leads me to number three, the last one here. Those who fear Jesus, really need to fear nothing else.

When you realize how powerful Jesus is, when you realize that he's in the boat with you, you won't be afraid of anything else. In this story, Jesus, after he rebuked the wind and the waves, rebukes the disciples for being afraid. If he rebukes them that means that they are doing something they should not be doing. But it seems to me, honestly, that their fears are legitimate. They thought they were going to die. God created fear for that moment. Fear is an emotion that he created. That's the time for fear. Jesus said, "Yeah, but when I'm in the boat with you, even that fear is irrational. You should be sleeping." I feel like every member of my family has some kind of irrational fear. My son, who's seven, who literally will reach down and pick up a snake, is terrified of flies- embarrassingly so. If we are in a restaurant and there is a fly, he will be running out of the restaurant screaming. Ally, my 10-year-old, up until a couple years ago, was terrified of the movie "The Incredibles." My wife, Veronica- she's terrified of spiders. Any sized spider she sees in our house gets described as “huge!” She came to me the other day and said there was a huge spider in the house. As a result I was thinking it was like the size of a frisbee, and we have been running the microwave too much.

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I was prepared to get hazmat gear, and a compound bow. It turns out that the spider was about the size of a quarter. It's an irrational fear.

We know what it's like to see other people with irrational fears. But with the presence of Jesus in your boat, all fears are irrational. Jesus was in their boat. Did they really think God was going let his Son sink? No. If Jesus was going to make it to the other side and if he was in their boat, that meant that they were going to make it to the other side too. Because they didn't understand the power of Jesus over the storm, they were afraid of the storm. But had they feared Jesus and understood his power, they would not have been afraid of the storm. Do you remember the first Jurassic Park, the original one? Do you remember when they're in that dome scene, and all the raptors surround them, and you think they're surely going to die? But then just in the moment they despair, do you remember what happens? The T-Rex comes in, gobbles up all the raptors, and there, in that moment, you understand that the T-Rex is the real one to be afraid of.

But what if that T-Rex is on your side? If the T-Rex is for me, who can be against me? If the T-Rex is on my side, what can raptors do to me? Jesus is the true and better T-Rex and I think that's the point.

Isn't that what Paul said in Romans 8? "If God is for us, who can be against us? Who is to condemn?" (Rom. 8:31b, 34a). If Jesus is for you, if he is behind the mission, don't you think you can trust him? For those who are going overseas, you're going to feel overwhelmed by the opposition against you. It's a lot different when you're there than it is in a classroom, and it hardly ever works the way that you think it's supposed to. There are going to be days, seasons, months, and maybe years where you feel crushed and discouraged.

I was like that. I got a chance to take a trip back about halfway through my time overseas. I remember going to see a professor in seminary at that time. And I remember sitting in his office saying, "It's worthless. It's useless. Nobody listens. Nobody pays attention. People were more lost now, I think, than when I went." I remember he said this: "Walk outside at night, and look upwards at the heavens, and see the stars that God put into place. Realize that he chose those same stars to represent a promise to Abraham that he was going to have sons and daughters of the people you're working among like the number of the stars in the sky. Realize the same one that hung the stars in place is the same one that is able to bring to fruition his promise." Discouragement in our lives comes from either forgetting the power of Jesus over the storm or doubting his commitment to us in the storm. Maybe you ask, "Well, if Jesus loves us, why didn't he keep us from the storm to begin with?" That's a great question.

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In verse 35, I showed you that it was his idea to cross the sea. This wasn't a bad situation they got themselves into that he was trying to fix. It was his idea. Why would he knowingly send them into the storm? Why is he knowingly going to put you into a storm? Why is he going to put you in places where they're going to discover your cover, or where they're going to do this or that, or where things are going to fall apart? The reason is that there is something more important than God keeping you from all storms. What is more important? It is God demonstrating to you his faithfulness in the storm. You see, there are certain things about God that you can only learn in a storm. So God sends these storms because storms are his laboratory where he teaches you about himself.

Here's what I learned as a pastor: Everybody in my church wants to see miracles in their lives. I've never talked to a Christian who didn't want to see a miracle. But here's the other side of that: Nobody wants to be in a position where they need a miracle. But you see, until God puts you in a place where you need his sustaining power, you'll never really have a chance to experience it. After long, meticulous Greek-based study of the New Testament, I've come to this one brilliant conclusion. You ready? Every miracle in Jesus's ministry started with a problem, which is really good news for those of us with problems. You are a candidate for a miracle. No problems, no miracles. If you have some problems, you are a candidate to experience the miraculous power of God.

In a storm, Jesus will always do one of two things: He will show off his power by delivering you from the storm or he will show off his power by his ability to keep you in the storm. Sometimes he will look at the storm and say, "Peace, be still." Other times, he will look at you and say, "Peace, be still." The peace that passes all understanding is not always or even usually his calming of the storm. The peace that passes all understanding is his sustaining presence in the storm. So when you go through a storm, wake him up through prayer. Rouse him through bold, desperate prayer, but be prepared for either answer. Again, discouragement in our lives, the storms of fear in our hearts, they come from either forgetting the power of Jesus over the storm or doubting his commitment to us in the storm.

This leads me to the last and most important insight into the story: This story shows us why we never have to doubt his commitment to us or to the mission that he sent us on. This story gets told in such a way that it's supposed to remind us of another prophet who had an incident with the sea. That prophet was named Jonah.

Both Jonah and Jesus were prophets heading toward the Gentiles. The Sea of Galilee, remember, was the body of water that separated the Jewish territory from Gentile territory. When Jesus crossed it, he was heading to the Gentiles just like Jonah had been. Both Jesus and Jonah slept through the storm. Both were woken up by scared sailors who asked, "Don't you care?" When Mark says, "The wind ceased and there was a great calm," that is the exact

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same phrase we see in Jonah, when Jonah was thrown into the sea. And then here's where it gets really interesting. Jonah calmed the storm by plunging himself into it. Jesus calmed the storm by speaking to it. And that's because this was not the place for Jesus to plunge himself into the sea.

The sea throughout the Bible represents God's wrath. In the book of Revelation, when all the evil empires arise, they come out of the sea. In the new heaven, Revelation says, "the sea was no more,” (Rev. 21:1 ESV). That doesn't mean there are no beaches in heaven. It just means there is no more wrath in heaven. At the cross, Jesus is going plunge himself into the sea of God's wrath where he is going to be swallowed up by death for three days like Jonah was swallowed up with a fish. The wrath of God is terrible, like a raging sea greater than we could ever comprehend. It would have destroyed us forever. Jesus faced the terror and silenced it with overcoming love. Now we can be sure of his commitment to us and his commitment to the mission. You see, if he cared about us then and if he didn't forsake us when the waves of God's wrath overtook him, surely he will not forget about us now. He will continue to watch over every detail of our lives, and he will finish through us the work to which he has called us.

So be encouraged. He has united himself to you and your boat. He will not let you sink because he won't let himself sink. 2 Timothy 2:13 says, "If we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself,” (2 Tim. 2:13 ESV). The Lord is building the city. He's watching over his house. “He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep,” (Ps. 121:3-4 ESV). In fact, if you recall when Jesus went to the cross, the real sea of God's wrath, it was we who were sleeping on Him. Peter, James, and John, representing us, slept while Jesus stayed awake to face the wrath of God. He has always been, always is, and always will be wide awake to our storms and our suffering. He will always be in perfect control.

Who really got woken up in the story? It wasn’t Jesus. He knew what was going to happen from the very beginning. The disciples got woken up to his power and love. That's why that storm is in your life. It's there to wake you up to his power. You struggle with sin so that you will wake up to his power to deliver you. You struggle with provision, you struggle with things, so that you can learn to be weak in yourself and strong in him. Maybe that's why that storm is in your life. Maybe what he is doing is saying, "I need you to see with fear who I am, so that you will quit fearing yourself and start fearing me. Quit fearing others and start fearing me. Quit fearing the opposition and start to fear me." Those who fear him need fear nothing else.

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“Fearing in Familiar Waters” | Mark 4:35-41 Johnny Hunt

Sometimes when I'm writing a sermon and I just try to just single in on the theme of the text, sometimes I'm just overwhelmed. So in this one, I wrote it and I thought, "He's in your storm." And then I thought, "He's a storm transformer.” No, “He helps us in the hours of our trials." Love that old statement, "Storms over our head, under his feet." It could be categorized as “Jesus moving his disciples from teaching to testing,” or listen to this, "Fear in familiar waters."

So beginning in Mark, chapter four, verse 35, a familiar passage of gospel text: "On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, 'Let us cross over to the other side.'"(Mk. 4:35 ESV) And by the way, I'm on that journey right now and have been in it for 44 years. I'm on my way to the other side. And I'm telling you, keeping that perspective makes me a more generous giver, keeps me focused, gives me direction in my life, overwhelms me with a desire to pour deep into my wife and into my children and my grandchildren, and all those that God places into my life.

“And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they awoke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was great calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith?’ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’” (Mk. 4:36-41 ESV)

In Mark 4:35, it referenced the same day. It refers to the day in which Jesus gave the Parables of the Kingdom. He had been teaching his disciples the word of God, and now he would give them a practical test to see how much they really had learned. I'm discipling five men at 8 o'clock every Sunday morning. We're in week number five. I did the same thing last year, and I want do it the rest of my life. I told them the other day, "You hold in your hands the word of God, a book of history, but if you will let God work in your life, the God of history will be incarnate within your own life as you live out the truths of this word."

The question is often asked, "Where is the God of Elijah?" I'll tell you where he is. He's right here today ministering. Some of you are probably going through difficult times in your life, and sometimes when we're going through difficult times we think, "Maybe this is really a

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warning to get out." No, it’s not a warning to get out, it's a message to press in. See, it's in those difficult times in my life where I didn't know what I was going to do next that Jesus proved his faithfulness to me.

I love over in 1 Kings 17 where the Bible talks about how God instructed Elijah to go to the brook Cherith and then he sent ravens to feed him in the morning. Brought him flesh and bread. And I thought about that in my research. God could've just sent any bird to bring it, but he brought a flesh-eating bird. I thought that was interesting. God could trust a bird with something he had an appetite for to deliver to a prophet. There are a lot of Christians he can't do that with because he gives them money, and he doesn't give it to them for them, he gives it to them to carry it to someone else. But they consume it upon their own lust.

There are difficult times in life. For me, coming out of poverty, not knowing how I was going to make it in college and seminary. I used to have to go into the school registrar’s office and see how I was going to get the finances through the next semester. My mother was on welfare and my dad checked out when I was 7 years old. And so I've always been dependent. But it was through that that Jesus developed passion in my soul through his faithfulness to be able to stand and proclaim, and not just tell the story of the God of Elijah, but tell the story of the God of Johnny and how he worked in my life. So whatever you're going through right now, learn well because God will use it.

Storms are a normal part of our natural and human life. They're part of our spiritual life as well. Life itself can literally be seen as a voyage on a sea with storms that come up unexpectedly in your life and mine. And this life has been known to produce winds of adversity. However, they may begin with a calm breeze but have the potential of becoming a cyclone. Isn't it amazing how many gospel songs have been inspired by writers that deal with the sea, with the ship, with the storm, and with the Savior?

I've got a lot of music on my iPod. I've got all kinds of music. I love Motown. I think Marvin Gaye wrote some of the greatest hymns I've ever heard. But anyway, I just like different kinds of music. I really, really do like contemporary and I'm part of the NewSong family out there with Winter Jam. So I've always loved those guys. And then I really like a lot of the old gospel tunes and quartet music. But one of my favorite friends, and we do a couple of events every year, is old Squire Parsons. And Squire Parsons knows that if we're going to be together, that there's just a song that I'm going to be unhappy if he doesn't sing it. It's entitled “The Master of the Sea.” And the lyrics says this: "What man is this, they all did say, that the winds and sea obey? He's the master of the sea."

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And what I found out is Jesus can not only speak to the turbulent waters and winds of the Galilee, but he's done the same thing so many different times in my own heart. He's calmed my heart when it's been troubled in the winds of adversity.

Why is it that there are some things you can't remember and there are some things you can't forget? I remember the car I was driving. The year was 1978. I know what part of the road I was on in Gaffney, South Carolina. John Rowlands -- I got to know John well -- he was a big, independent, Baptist preacher. He lived to be 100 years old. John always required his mic to be hot so when choirs were singing, he was talking and you could hear it on the radio when you'd listen to him. And I'd listen to him and I remember one night I'm riding down the road and the choir is singing “Till The Storm Passes By.” And I was thanking God for how I was blessed and I was being ministered to and then I heard John speak up through the mic: "Sing it again choir." And I thought, “Hallelujah!” and they sang it again and how that song has ministered to me: “Lord keep me safe till the storm passes by.”

Eddie Carswell -- my oldest daughter married his oldest son. He owns NewSong. He owns Winter Jam. He was sitting down at Panama City Beach and going through a difficult time in his life. He was up having his devotions out on his deck and was overlooking the bay and he saw a sail boat come by and the waters were smooth, so he wrote a great song entitled “Smooth Sailing.”

Another group, The Imperials, wrote the song “Sail On.” How about “The Anchor Holds”? How about “It's Well With My Soul”? Now that was written at the very place where the hymn writer, Horatio Spafford, lost his daughters right after his wife had wired him to say, "Saved alone." How about these words: "Blessed be your name on a road marked with suffering, when there's pain in the offering." How about: "Oh no, you never let go. Through the calm and through the storm, you never let go."

So, in Mark chapter four, it's as if Jesus tells his followers, “I have been admonishing you this morning in the word, but you're going to have to follow through with practical application and appropriate these truths into your heart once they are simulated.”

In this text, Jesus only uses 24 words but, my, what he teaches us. It's almost as though storms were part of the day's curriculum. There's a lot in the Bible about storms. Storms and thorns. And so I wrote this: The Lord has custom-made storms and thorns. Storms, you can't row your way out of and thorns, you can't remove. And so God may have planned to send us to a place where all we can do is trust him in those.

So with that in mind, let me just make a couple of observations from this text. First of all, in verses 35 and 36, I want you to see the Savior’s promise and presence. He said, "Let us cross over to the other side." Jesus gave the directions and the destination. The presence of

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Jesus on board does not guarantee a smooth passage. What he promises is not his protection from the storms, but his presence in the storm. I'm seven years clean from cancer. My wife is strong. She's strong, but she's very funny too. She's a prophet. If you're married to a prophet, you know what I'm talking about. They are cut to the chase, black and white, "What'd you expect?" "What's your problem?" "Can't you see it?"

And I'll never forget this as long as I live. It's another one of those moments. I'm in a doctor's office and the doctor, instead of taking me back to the examining room when I walked in that day, says, "Come to my office." That's unusual. We don't normally go to a doctor's personal office. My wife's sitting in a chair beside me. The doctor, and the oncologist that removed my cancer, and myself are very good friends. They're both Orthodox Jews, and I've shared the gospel over and over again with them. And I remember sitting there that day, and he said, "Hey boy, Johnny, I love you. I hate to give you this news." And I knew. And he just said, "Man, you have cancer." And my wife fell out of her chair. And I'd never seen her like that. She is so strong.

So we're going home and it's rather quiet. And she just said, "It doesn't make sense." And I said, "What do you mean it doesn't make sense?" She said, "You, with cancer." And I'll be honest, I really did tell her this, I said, "Who's better prepared for cancer? I'm so saved it’s pitiful." Honest to God. She just said this, and I want you to know it because our thinking can get blurred sometimes through the fire. When going through difficult times, your vision is blurred. My wife said to me, "I don't know of anybody that serves God more than you! You give everything you've got! You go everywhere and preach the gospel! You give everything we have away! And I just don't understand it." See, God never promised me as a pastor that I would be protected from the storms.

Someone asked me, "Pastor Johnny, can you tell us when you experienced God's greatest nearness?" "Boy," I said, "I have to think about that." And I did, and I settled in. And I'm just going to be honest here. I've known the Lord 44 years. I'm 64 years old, 20 years old when I came to Jesus. My dad checked out when I was seven. My mother worked two jobs and raised six kids in a government project in Wilmington, North Carolina. My mom was everything. I was next to the youngest. And so the others begin to go to work and stuff. And so I stayed home. I helped my mother. I can iron as good as any woman and I’m not a bad cook. We did the grocery shopping.

But the grocery shopping almost got me killed after I got married because I had always done the grocery shopping with my mom. And today I do all the grocery shopping, which is not much because we're never home. But the bottom line is I'll never forget, as newlyweds, walking down the grocery aisle, and my wife picked up something, put it in the basket, and I put it back and got the brand mom buys.

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That won't work.

I'll never forget. I can still hear it. I'm walking up the aisle and she didn't say anything. She took, and thank God it was a plastic bag instead of a can, and she threw it and hit me in the back. "What's that?" And she said, "If you want that cooked, take it to your momma!" So I put the one she wanted in there. You've got a choice. You can either be right or happy.

And I'm happy, so I got the one. So, here's my mom who takes care of us. And I'll just be honest, a little selfish on my part. I'm 33 years old and pastoring in Wilmington, North Carolina. I'm pastoring my mother. At this point, I had been pastoring her for five years because I was pastoring in the church I got converted in after college and seminary. And my mother died at age 60. I wanted her to live longer so I could get on my feet and I could do for her like she had done for us. And if she had lived, I could have. I'm telling you. But she died. God is my witness, the greatest nearness of Jesus I've ever sensed in my life was in the time of my mother's death. God came to me. He was so real and so overwhelming.

And so every believer realizes from his own experiences that knowing God's power and love and trusting in them do not always go together. He didn't promise an easy trip. Listen to this. But he did promise a guaranteed arrival at the destination: "Get in the boat, we're going to the other side!" But what he left out is what would happen in the journey.

Let me move to as second statement. It's what I call the saint's plight. It begins with its suddenness. They're on the Sea of Galilee. It's surrounded by mountains, so basically wind can begin to blow and it sweeps down. And the Sea of Galilee can become extremely turbulent very quickly. And so in this passage there seems to be a suddenness. I can almost hear the disciples say, "I didn't have time to prepare -- had I only known what was coming." That's the way storms are. You just don't know when the storms are coming. And so it's really tough to prepare, and it happened in familiar waters.

So the miracle of the storm does not teach us how to endure adversity patiently because Jesus, he's immediately going to eliminate this problem. But the emphasis of the story is on who Jesus is, and not how he rescues these disciples from danger, but the fact that he does when they cry out. One cannot expect a miraculous intervention that will calm all the storms in life. Storms are a part of life from which no one escapes. If you live long enough, you'll be in a storm. There's no storm-less seas. All sailors must learn to expect the unexpected. Chaos hits our life. It can happen so quickly. One moment all is well, then in a flash all is hell. So the disciples who were fishermen, they knew about the sudden squalls and knew that it was a threat on the lakes. But it did not make it easier to cope with when they came.

Let me just ask you a few questions. Anybody experiencing a financial storm? Anybody in a marital storm? Anyone having a health storm? Maybe a rebellion storm with a child? I got

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into a relational storm two weeks ago. They're no fun. It was with one of my best friends, and something was said. And the next thing you know I get a text and it goes like this from one of my, I refer to them as my BFF for over 20 years, and here is what it said: "Man, based on what you said, not what I heard you say, but what you said, there's been a death in our family." And then because of his schedule and mine, it seemed to be exacerbated because it was five weeks before we could get together. But during that time, it just caused me to press in. And God worked it out, he really did, and taught me, I think, some leadership principles in it, but it can happen. It just happened so suddenly.

Anybody ever said this to you? "Hey, I'm trying to get information.” Pulpit committee will do it. “You can rest assured this is strictly confidential if you'll tell us exactly what you know about this person.” But I need to tell you something. Here's what I said to a gentleman from a professional company that wanted to know about another company because it was looking into a particular ministry and he said, "Listen, I'm an attorney. You can rest assured." Because I said, "I'm reluctant to give you the information you're looking for, and I can't help you because I feel I know them as well as anybody, but I've been burned before." He said, "Well, I'll guarantee you won't be burned." Guess what? I got burned. He went straight from my office and went and told them. But he didn't put it in the context.

Anyway, it can happen, so it caused a relational storm. It just came up suddenly. And then my whole attention -- everything was just focused on what was going on in my life. So it's the suddenness, but it's the severity. It's so strong. The strongest of people are afraid of going under. All kinds of storms, hurricanes of headache, squalls of sorrow. One writer said, "God sometimes digs the wells of joy with the spade of sorrow."

Some of you may be in a storm of disobedience. Jonah found himself there. Listen to this: You may be in a storm of discipline. Psalm 119:67, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. You are good and do good; teach me your statutes…It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes…If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.” (Ps. 119:67-68, 71, 92 ESV)

There can be storms of demonic initiation. Are you aware of that? There's a spiritual warfare going on. I just had the privilege of seeing one of Southeastern Seminary’s student's oldest brother come to Jesus. He married my niece. His name is Taylor. Taylor is 31 years old, his brother Trenton is a new student at the school and serving a church nearby. So we've been concerned about Taylor. I really like Taylor, but listen, we never saw any fruit of the Spirit of God in his life, just never. Good boy, but not a godly man. And so I'm preaching the other day, and during the service he comes down with the middle brother named Trayce. Trayce is just heaving, he's weeping so much. Taylor looked over at him during the invitation and said, "Would you go with me? I need to be saved today." And so when they got in front of

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me and he could hardly talk, and he got it out: "I need to be saved." And my wife was sitting there and I thought, “I don't want anybody trying to talk him out of it.” So I said to my wife, "Janet, I want you to help him." And she took him back, and he prayed and gave his life to Jesus Christ, and then Janet said, "Is there anything you want to tell the Lord?" She said, "You wouldn't believe the prayer he prayed."

He texted me about two days later and he said, "Man I'm telling you, my life is so radically changed. I mean I don't even feel like the same person." I wept most of that afternoon rejoicing in his salvation. And then he texted me and said this, "Hey! Is the Christian life supposed to be this hard?" To which I said this, "The Christian life is not difficult. The Christian life is impossible. That's why Christ lives it through you. When you feel like you just can't live this, it’s a wonderful discovery.” And then I went ahead and just told him the truth: "Taylor, you've been running with the devil all these years and you just made an about face and hit him head on, so hang in there. Jesus is Lord."

The next point is the saint's panic. Let me just give you this. You can look it up on your own. It's worth your study.

In Psalms 107:23-32, there is a running prophetic commentary of what you'll read in Mark 4. Listen to what the Psalmist writes in verses 23-27:

“Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters, They see the works of the LORD, And His wonders in the deep. For He commands and raises the stormy wind, Which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens, They go down again to the depths; Their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, And are at their wits’ end." (Ps. 107:23-27 NKJV, emphasis added)

Did you hear that? God will send a storm in your life to bring you to your wit's end. If he can get you to the end of yourself, there's no telling what he can do with you. He says, "So He guides them to their desired haven." (Ps. 107:30 NKJV) Let me tell you the ministry of a preacher. When we preach on Sunday, we're trying to help people to realize a need that they're not aware of. They are in a storm and they may be thinking, "Care us not that we perish?" He said "I care about one thing more and that is bringing you to your desired haven. I want to get you where you need to be. I want to get where you claim you desire to be."

To the couples, to the ladies, gentlemen, professors, there are times that hit all of us. God sends storms in our lives at times to bring us to our wit's end so we can arrive at our desired haven. The Psalmist refers to it as wonderful works that lead to God’s exaltation and praise. (See Ps. 107:31-32 NKJV) When the storm arose, they feared the storm. Jesus said to the winds and the waves, "Peace, be still!” Then there was calm, and they feared him. God does not want to displace fear; he just wants to replace the object of fear. He doesn’t want you to

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fear the storm you're going through; he wants you to fear the one who takes you through the storm. So whatever you're going through, my friend, be of good cheer. He's overcome the storm as well. Amen.

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“The Characteristics of God” | Luke 11:1-13 David Platt

I want to ask you a simple question: How is your heart for the Lord right now? I'm not asking what your title is, or what ministry opportunities you have had or might have. I’m not asking what you have accomplished or might accomplish. I'm asking, How is your heart before the Lord?

Do you love him? Is your time with him long and meaningful? Are you seeking him every day like you can't live without him?

Even as I ask those questions––they seem so basic, so simple—I think back to one particular time in my ministry. I'd call it a season, but it was longer than a season. I was a pastor at The Church at Brook Hills, and a lot was going on. The church was growing and getting a lot of attention in our community and beyond. I had written a book that a lot of people were reading. I was getting invited to preach in different places and traveling and seeing all kinds of great things happen.

During that time, my time with the Lord was inconsistent at best, non-existent most days. Don't get me wrong: it's not that I was lazy. I was working hard. I was staying up all night, going to bed late, and getting up early. I was doing all kinds of things and seeing all kinds of great things happening around me. But it's frightening for me to look back at that time and see how “successful” I could be in ministry and yet be so far from Christ.

I praise God for his mercy in guarding and protecting me during those days. I think of all the directions that I could have gone that, by God's grace, I did not go.

Guarding Your Heart

I may be alone in having experienced that struggle, but I've got a feeling that there may be some of you who are there right now. Your time with the Lord is inconsistent or non-existent. Your communion with him is hurried. In the moments when your mind and heart are most still, your thoughts are quick to go to so many other things instead of Him. Your affections and your desires are not drawn to God. Maybe you can get energized by worship music, but it takes outside things to evoke that kind of affection in you. The Word alone, in quietness before the Lord, doesn't evoke that kind of affection.

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Even if you're not there right now, even if your heart is healthy toward the Lord right now, I certainly want to encourage you to be on guard. Guard yourself against the temptation to manufacture a heart for ministry and miss a heart for Christ.

I lead the International Mission Board. One of my greatest concerns, if not my greatest concern, is the subtly dangerous temptation to manufacture a heart for missions while missing a heart for Christ. It’s an attempt to manufacture a love for the lost while missing love for the Lord. But He is the one who matters, period. It is him for whom our hearts were created; it is him for whom our hearts long. I echo the words of Augustine: our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God. That’s why we’re going to look at Luke 11.

I love how the themes of a heart for the Lord and a heart for mission and ministry are intertwined in this part of Luke. In the beginning of Luke 10, Jesus sends out the seventy-two on mission. Then right after that, we hear Jesus identifying the greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” (27). Then, in the same verse, Jesus says that you are to love “your neighbor as yourself.”

Next we have the parable of the Good Samaritan (10:29–37). It’s an incredible, radical, counter-cultural call to serve others. But then, right after that, we're reminded by Mary's example of the beauty that's found in simply being with Jesus. Not serving but sitting at his feet. This leads the disciples in Luke 11 to come to Jesus and say, "Teach us to pray."

An Interesting Request

This is an interesting request. After all, these disciples were Jewish men, so they knew about prayer. They had grown up with prayers offered throughout the day—before meals, at the beginning of the Sabbath, when they went to the synagogue, etc. But they saw something different in Jesus. They watched him pray and it looked like prayer actually mattered to him. He looked forward to prayer; he longed for it.

Somehow, for Jesus, prayer was feeding his soul like food fed their stomachs and they wanted to know God like that. Here’s how Luke records this interaction:

“Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples.’ And he said to them, ‘When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.' And he said to them, ‘Which of you who has a friend will go to

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him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and he will answer from within, 'Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything.'? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Luke 11:1-13)

There are so many ways we can approach this text. It's like a diamond that shines from many different angles. But I want to show you how Jesus took his disciples’ request, the request to teach them how to pray, and totally revolutionized their understanding of Who they were praying to. In the process of showing you this, my prayer is that you would be reminded of who God is—this is particularly critical if you're in a dry time spiritually—and the kind of communion for which you have been created.

Jesus says, "When you pray, say: 'Father.'" In order to feel the weight and the wonder of that, we have to put the text in its context, that is, its overall biblical context. Across 39 books in the Old Testament, the first two-thirds of the Bible, the term “Father” is used as a title for God only 15 times. None of those usages are references to praying to God as Father. We don't see the term used that way in the Old Testament.

When you turn to the New Testament, you have an entirely new picture. Open the book of Matthew, for example, and you see Jesus teaching the Lord's Prayer, where it begins “Our Father” (6:9). Although God is referred to as “Father” only fifteen times in the entire Old Testament, he is referred to as “Father” 165 times in the Gospel accounts alone! This title for God burst on the scene in a whole new way. Interestingly, in all but one of those 165 instances, Jesus uses that title for God when he's teaching specifically to his disciples. The only exception is Matthew 23:9, where he is teaching his disciples and the crowds are mentioned as well. In all of the other instances Jesus is talking with his followers.

A High Privilege

In the New Testament, from the very beginning, followers of Jesus have the right and the honor and the privilege and the blessing of calling God our Father. Think about all the

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pictures of God that we see in the Old Testament—he is sovereign, Creator, Lord, Yahweh, and King. And yet Jesus says you can call him Father, Dad. This is monumental.

In his chapter on adoption in Knowing God, J. I. Packer puts it this way:

What is a Christian? The question may be answered in many ways, but the richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father. . . .

. . . If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. 7

Does the reality that you are a child of God and that he is your Father affect your praying, your worship, and your outlook on life?

You have access to God as your Father. We can so easily miss this. I think about John Wesley, an honor graduate at Oxford University, ordained clergyman in the Church of England, active in practical good works, regularly visiting the inmates of prisons and workhouses in London, helping distribute food and clothing to slum children and orphans. He served in all kinds of ways. He studied the Bible diligently and he attended numerous Sunday services, as well as other services during the week. Wesley generously gave offerings to the church and alms to the poor. He prayed, fasted, lived an exemplary moral life, and spent several years as a missionary to American Indians in what was then the British Colony of Georgia.

Yet, after being a missionary, when Wesley came back to England, he confessed in his journal, "I, who went to America to convert others, was never myself converted to God." Then he said, "I had even the faith of a servant, though not that of a son."

May you know God as Father. May you love him as Father. May you long for him as Father. Prayer revolves around knowing, loving, and being with God as Father.

When You Pray

Taken from J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, Ill: Intervarsity Press), 200–201.7

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Do you remember Matthew's account of the Lord's Prayer? Do you remember what Jesus said before he got into the Lord's Prayer? He said, "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward" (Matthew 6:5).

So how should we pray? Jesus says,

But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrase like the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:6-8)

What a statement! Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So apparently in prayer, God is not up in heaven with a steno pad writing down our requests saying, "Oh, I hadn’t thought about that. Thank you for mentioning this. Oh, that's a good one. Yes, of course."

No, he already knows what you need. This causes some people do think, "Then what's the point?" And as soon as we ask that question, we're on the verge of an incredible breakthrough in prayer, because we're starting to realize that the primary purpose of prayer is not to get something, but to be with someone. That changes everything.

Go into your room, close the door, pray to your Father in secret and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Just go into the room; there's a reward waiting for you. There’s treasure waiting for you every single morning with the Father. And it makes sense in light of what Jesus is teaching here. I don't have space to exhaust this text, but notice the ten characteristics of God the Father here. See the reward in him.

1. He is worthy of all worship.

Yes, we do ask for things, but look at how Jesus tells us to start: "Hallowed be your name." This is not an ascription of praise to God. It's obviously right to ascribe praise to God in prayer, but this is a request for God to be praised. "Hallowed be your name" is like saying, “Cause your name to remain holy because you are worthy of all worship.”

Right from the very beginning we see that it's a heart for God that drives a heart for mission. Why do you want to go to Madagascar to spend a week, two weeks, or even your life there? Because God is worthy of worship in Madagascar; because you want his name to be

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hollowed there; because you know he's great, but they don't know he is. We want his name to be known among the nations because there are 6,000 people groups who don't know how great and how beautiful his name is. We want them to know how beautiful his name is. Our God is worthy of all worship. This is what drives us.

2. He is the King.

Our Father is the King who is coming. He's coming and we long to see him. That's why, in Matthew 9, Jesus ties fasting to the Second Coming. When he is asked, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” (14), His response is, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast” (15). Jesus is saying they don’t fast because the bridegroom is with them. But when the bridegroom is gone, then they will fast. In other words, When I'm gone, they will long for me. It will drive them to fasting. That's convicting.

If we're not fasting and praying, then we are showing that we are content with Christ not coming. This is a part of the purpose of prayer and fasting. In prayer and fasting, you are saying, “I want my faith to be sight. I want see your face. Revelation 21 is driving me. I want to see your kingdom come, your justice reign, your mercy reign, your kingdom consummated on the earth.”

3. He is the Giver of all good gifts.

Jesus says, “Give us each day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3). We know the whole picture, going back to Exodus 16, when God provided manna to his people in the wilderness. On a daily basis, he provided the food they needed. We don't pray like that.

Let's be honest: How many of us got up this morning and said, "Give me my daily bread,” or “I need bread today”? We live in a culture where praying like that makes no sense; we know we have bread today. But we have brothers and sisters around the world who were praying that when they first woke up today. So should we pray like that? I think we should. I think we should pray as Jesus taught us to pray: "Give us each day our daily bread." Prayer is a God-given guard in our lives to keep us from thinking that we can have what we need on our own. Prayer is intended to be a daily reminder that the only way we have bread is if God gives us bread. We need that reminder in a self-sufficient culture like the one we live in.

We need to be reminded daily that we're a God-dependent people. We don't have a breath the next moment if he doesn't give it and we don't have lunch today if he doesn't provide it.

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He's the one who gives all good gifts. I wonder if that's one of the reasons we are oftentimes so prayerless in our day. Maybe we've just convinced ourselves that we can sustain ourselves. Prayer is a guard against pride like that. Our God is the Giver of all good gifts.

4. He forgives our sins.

Our Father forgives our sins. “Forgive us our sins.” Four simple words that open the door to the storehouse of God's mercy poured out to us. Isn't it true that the more we grow in prayer, the more we grow in intimacy with God? And the more constant prayer is on our lips, the more we see the sinfulness of our own hearts and the pride that is so pervasive? We become more sensitive to the lack of holiness in our lives.

Gratefully, we have a God who says, "My mercy is new for you every morning. I just pour it out on you." We pray, "Forgive me, oh God," and he pours out mercy on our sins. This is reward.

5. He leads our lives.

"Lead us not into temptation." Obviously, God would not lead us into temptation. He leads us with the strength that he provides in the middle of temptation to resist that temptation. We should pray, “Lead, guide, direct my life.” We should pray, “God, I need you to lead my life. I'm prone to wander. I'm prone to do things my own way and follow my own plans. I want to walk in your plan. I want to walk in your will. Lead me today.”

6–7. He has all authority and He is approachable.

We’ll put these next two attributes together. God has all authority and he's approachable. This is what I love about the parable that Jesus tells next. First, some background is needed. It’s first-century Palestine, and food is not quite as readily available as it is today. There is no late-night Taco Bell. There's a battle for bread every day. You bake enough bread to meet that day's needs, then you start again tomorrow.

In this parable a guy shows up hungry at his buddy's house at midnight. In first century Palestine hospitality was huge, so the buddy has a dilemma. One option is that he can be a poor host and not get the guy any food, or his second option is to go find some bread from somebody else at midnight. He can either be a poor host or a poor neighbor. This man

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decides to take what's behind door number two. His neighbor is already fast asleep, enjoying his dreams. Not only is he asleep, but everybody in his house is asleep. Houses in that day were one-room affairs, which meant that everybody in the family slept in one room. So you have a family in the same bed or the same mat. You get kid one, kid two, and kid three down for bed. Then you bolt the door closed, and you and your wife lay down next to each other. Nobody is getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without causing a commotion.

So everything is quiet while this guy is asleep on his mat with his wife and kids. Suddenly, a knock comes at the door, and the guy on the outside says, "Friend," which is a good way to start when you're waking up somebody at midnight for a piece of bread. The friendship is walking a tight line at this point, because when the dad wakes up, you can picture what is going on.

Dad is in this room. Mom is in this room. You start looking around and you see little eyes on the mat start popping open. Now it’s one thing to wake up dad; it's another ballgame to wake up the two-year-old that dad spent an hour trying to get down. So this “friend” thing is now in question on a whole new level.

The guy inside, who is not happy right now, says in the most polite way possible, "Don't bother me, I'm not getting up and giving you a thing." Then, Jesus says, even though the guy won't get up because he's his friend—because that's in question—he will get up because the guy is impudent. The word there means “bold,” literally “shameless.” The neighbor is so bold and shameless that he just keeps knocking until the guy gets up and gives him some bread.

Here is the interesting thing about parables: We hear them and we think, "Okay, so someone in the parable is me, and somebody in the parable is God." The disciples are probably thinking, " I think we're the guy on the outside knocking on the door.” So who's God? Is he the grumpy old guy on the inside yelling, “Don't bother me"? That seems weird. So what does Luke 11 teach us about prayer? Is it saying that if you want something from God, then you just keep banging on the door? Eventually, he will get up and do something for you, not because he loves you, but because you've bothered him to death. Is that the point of the story? No!

The point of the story comes back to this impudence, this boldness, this shamelessness. According to some translations, it's like being annoyingly relentless. We will only understand the parable rightly if we look at it through the lens of this guy on the outside who is in need. Jesus tells the whole story from that guy's perspective, so keep that in mind. Resist the temptation to compare God to the friend inside the house. Put yourself in the shoes of the guy who is outside banging on the door. Jesus phrases the whole thing as a question. He

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says, "Imagine if you were bold enough, shameless enough, to go to your friend at midnight just to ask him for a piece of bread." In other words, "Imagine someone with enough nerve to knock on his friend's door at midnight just for a piece of bread." I think the picture Jesus is painting is of a guy who is, in a sense, rude. He is like one of those guys who does not know which social lines to cross and which ones not to cross. Do you know that kind of person? Are you that kind of person?

The guy doesn't seem to get the hint. You don't wake up your buddy and his entire family at midnight unless you have a really good reason. This guy doesn't know that. He's shameless. He's so socially out of sorts that he actually thinks it's no big deal to wake his friend up in the middle of the night. "He won't mind. He's got some bread. I know he has some. He won't mind giving me some in the middle of the night. I know he'll get up and get some for me. It won’t be a problem."

That, Jesus is saying, is how we should approach God.

Let this sink in: He is God, our Father, who has all authority. We know he has everything we need and he's sovereign. He has power over all things and sovereignty over all things to do with his power whatever he pleases. The beauty of this parable is that the one who has all authority is approachable.

So this guy knew his friend was able to meet his need and he was shameless enough to think that his friend wouldn't mind coming to him at such an inopportune time. And it's this picture of the shameless guy that helps us realize that the God of the universe who has all sovereignty and all authority over everything has actually invited you and me to come to him any day, any time, and for anything. The story is a perfect illustration in that sense. It's a perfect illustration of us going to God.

Think about this type of shamelessness and boldness, the type that goes to God and says, "I know you're running a universe right now and you've got a lot of things you're looking at, but I got some things going on in my life right now that I need you to give your attention to. I need to share with you some things that are heavy on my heart." That seems pretty bold, doesn't it? It seems kind of over-the-top. But that's just it: The picture in this passage is of a shameless nerve, a boldness. It almost seems ludicrous to go into the presence of the God of the universe, doesn’t it? But here, Jesus is saying, "Be as invasive as you want. Be shameless."

Our God and Father delights in revealing himself to those who are bold enough to bother him. I hesitate to use the word "bother," but that’s the point. We usually think of bother in a negative connotation. Nobody wants to be a bother. But think about this with me: Suppose that I'm traveling and I call home to my wife, Heather, and I say, "Hey, how are things going,

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babe?" And she says, "Well, it's been a really hard day. I got some things that are really heavy on my heart, but I don't want to bother you with that right now." Let me tell you what I'm not going to say in response: "Well, good. Because the last thing I need right now is you bothering me with things that are going on in your life. So anything else before we go?"

There are so many reasons I'm not going say that, but the main reason is because I delight in being the one she bothers with the things that are heavy on her heart. I'm glad she's coming to me. It would be very unhealthy if she was going to somebody else with those things that are most heavy on her heart. And so, we are children of the God of the universe, and He delights in being the one we approach with the things that are heavy on our hearts.

The God of the universe is approachable to you. He has invited you to unburden your heart shamelessly before him. Jesus isn't saying, "Don't bother the Father with the trifling things in your life." He is saying the exact opposite. I sometimes wonder, "Is what I'm praying about really that significant?" But look at this story. This is not an emergency. This is not a guy on the outside saying, "My wife's having a baby,” or, “She's dying,” or, “My kid broke his leg and we have to go to the hospital,” or, “We have a robber in the house." It's the middle of the night and he says, "I want some biscuits." I mean talk about being presumptuous!

The beauty of this truth is that there's nothing too small to bring before God. Do you remember Nehemiah 6:9, when Nehemiah is working on the walls? He says, “But now, O God, strengthen my hands," (Nehemiah 6:9). He just looks up to heaven and says, "My hands hurt." Isn't it strange? There is nothing too small and nothing too big to approach God about. We can pray about cancers and we can pray about colds. Mustard seeds or mountains. There is nothing too small and nothing too great.

Our God has said, "Ask, seek, find” (Matthew 7:7). The picture here can be confusing. Jesus says, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened" (Luke 11:9-10).

Now many of us have prayed for things and God has not given us what we prayed for. So is Luke 11:9-10 true? I love where this text goes next. It contrasts earthly fathers and our Heavenly Father. Notice the last three characteristics about God in this text.

8. He is all-good

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The argument here is obviously from the lesser to the greater. "What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children" (Luke 11:11-13a). The picture here is that God is all-good. I want to be a good father to my four kids. I try to lead them well, but I know that I'm not perfect in that. I don't always do what is best for them. Jesus is saying, "Even a good parent," which I hope to be, "is imperfect in this way and not always good." Jesus is essentially saying, "Your Father in Heaven—he is always good. When you ask for fish, he doesn't give snakes. When you ask for an egg, he doesn't give a scorpion." He is all good and

9. He is all–wise.

He always knows what is best as our Father. I give counsel to my kids and I try to give that as best as I can, but I don't know everything about how life is going to play out. God knows all these things.

10. He is all-loving

To understand this attribute, it is helpful to compare Luke 11:13 with Matthew 7. In Matthew 7:11 Jesus says, "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" (Matt 7:11). But in Luke 11:13, Jesus doesn’t say “give good things.” In Luke's account, Jesus says, "Give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

This causes me to think, "I kind of like the good gifts version better. What if I wasn't asking for the Holy Spirit, but for something else?" Here is the beauty of what Jesus said: If you are asking for wisdom in a certain situation, and you pray, "What do I do God? Give me wisdom in this situation," in answering your prayer, he doesn't just give wisdom. He gives the Spirit of wisdom to you. If you pray, "I need counsel in this," he doesn't just give counsel; he gives the Counselor. God loves us so much that he has given himself to us. He gives us his Holy Spirit.

When it comes to discussing prayer and intimacy with God, it is helpful to look back in the Old Testament and encounter the longing that those saints had for communion with God. Do you remember Exodus Chapter 33? Moses is going out to the tent to meet with God, and the people of Israel are standing up watching Moses walk out to the tent. When he goes

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to the tent, the cloud rests over it and all the people, thousands of them, are just standing in silent awe because there is a man who is meeting with God. It is an awesome picture.

But then we move to the New Testament and we realize how good we have it. We don't have to gather together and watch someone walk into a tent and witness a cloud come down. Every single one of us gets to meet with God, and we don't have to go to a tent or anywhere else. We are the tent. His Spirit dwells in us. He has given the Holy Spirit. He loves us so much. He loves you so much.

I want to encourage you with a picture of who God is and his love for you. I want to encourage you to go in your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is unseen and you will experience reward. May your heart be hot for God. May your time be long with him. May your intimacy be sweet with him. And I am confident that when this is a reality, then ministry and mission will flow to the ends of the earth for the hallowing of his name and the coming of his kingdom. But if we bypass this, we miss the whole point.

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“The Kingship of Christ” | John 18:33-38 Afshin Ziafat

Turn with me to John 18. I'm honored to be a part of a series on the subject of Christology, and I want to focus on the kingship of Christ. There are two important questions that I will seek to answer from this text. First, what does it mean that he is our king? And second, what is the nature of his kingdom? And so, just to set the background, Jesus, here in John 18, has already been arrested and has been tried before the Jewish high priest with many trumped up charges. The Jewish leaders want Jesus dead. They do not have the right to do capital punishment, only the Roman government does, and so they bring him before Pontius Pilate. They know that Pilate’s hand will not be moved to execute Jesus if the charges are only that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah or the Son of God. So they come up with the charge that Jesus makes himself out to be a king and taking the place of Caesar. They accuse Jesus of being an insurrectionist, and they are hoping to force Pilate's hand.

Let us begin in John 18:33: “So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?’ And Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priest have delivered you over to me. What have you done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews, but my kingdom is not from the world.’ Then Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world-to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate said to him, ‘What is truth?’” (Jn. 18:33-38 ESV)

There are a couple of things I want to highlight from this text. First of all, Jesus is the promised King. Pilate says, ‘So you're a king,’ and Jesus says, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world.’ Notice, by the way, the unique way that Jesus describes his birth. He describes it as his coming into the world. Christ's birth is very unique, obviously. It's not when he came into creation for he has always existed. His birth is his incarnation, his coming into the world. Jesus, being equal with God, emptied himself and came in the form of a bondservant. And so the birth of Christ was the coming of one who is from eternity past. Micah 5:2 says this: "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days."(Micah 5:2 ESV)

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I want us to marvel that Jesus is this promised king that God had promised ages ago. Consider the fact that God himself has always been seen as king, sovereign over his creation. But in a unique, personal way, he was king to his chosen people, Israel. What made Israel unique was that they didn't have a human king, they had God as their king. But yet, Israel, in 1 Samuel 8, reject God as king. They ask Samuel to make them a human king and give them a human king so that they can be like all the other nations. So God allows them to have this human king that they choose, Saul. Saul ends up becoming corrupted and eventually the kingdom is torn from him.

In 1 Samuel 16, God tells Samuel not to worry because he's chosen for himself a king, a king who has a heart after him. That king was David, who was anointed. This young shepherd boy was anointed to be the next king. And it's to this David that the Davidic Covenant comes in 2 Samuel 7. God promises that from one of David's future offspring he will raise up a king and he will establish his throne and his kingdom forever. But friends, the rest of the history of Israel is littered with kings who did not obey God and led the nation into ruin and even into exile. Turn with me to Isaiah 9. I want you to see how Jesus was prophesied as this promised king.

In Isaiah 9 we witness another one of Israel’s kings that was disobedient, King Ahaz. He's made an alliance with a foreign king and did not trust in the Lord. As a result he has led the people into darkness. And so, in Isaiah 9, the prophet says in verse two, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy;" Jump to verse four, "For the yolk of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian." Now verse six, "For to us a child is born, to us, a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this."

So their darkness will turn to light, their gloom to joy, and their oppression and warfare to peace and righteousness. But how? Because God has promised a child who would be a king, who would come from the line of David, and whose throne would be established forever. What is the nature of this king? The phrase “a child is born” implies that he's from human parentage. And the phrase “a son is given” implies that he is from divine origin. In fact, this child is referred to as the Mighty God himself. And so, Jesus is this prophesied God-man. He is fully God, fully man, and he is the promised king. And friends, only a king who is fully God and fully man could bring us both righteousness and peace. He gives righteousness

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to us, and makes peace for us with God. Why? Why is his humanity important? Because he was 100 percent fully human, he can fully identify with us.

First of all, we have a Savior who understands what we go through. He understands our struggles, both physical and emotional, but also our mental struggles. He's familiar with our suffering and temptation. The New Testament letter to the Hebrews says that we have a high priest who is able to sympathize with our weakness. This is so crucial for me in pastoral ministry. When I deal with people who have families, even this past year, who have lost a son, I am able to talk to them about a God who understands that kind of a hurt. He is a God who has lost his son, who has laid his son down. We have a God who is familiar with pain. And in addition to that, he can be our representative in obedience. Romans 5 says, “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.” (Rom. 5:18 ESV)  Jesus had to be made human in order to be my representative and to be obedient in my place. But he also had to be made human in order for him to be an acceptable, suitable sacrifice.

Hebrews 2 says, "Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people." (Heb. 2:17 ESV) So Jesus had to come in human form, and he had be tempted in every way yet without sin so that he would be a suitable sacrifice to pay for my sins. But yet he had to be fully God because only one who is infinite could bear the full weight of sin. And only one who is fully God could be a mediator between sinful man and holy God, and so Jesus is. I want us to marvel at him, the prophesied, the long-promised God-man who would be king and bring us righteousness and peace.

In John 18, we move now to the pattern of the kingdom. Not only does he declare himself to be this promised king, but he is also the pattern of his kingdom. He says in John 18:36, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews, but my kingdom is not from the world." And this is a mystery. It is the mystery of the kingdom that confused many of Jesus’ hearers. For a long time, his followers didn't understand that his kingdom was not a political, earthly one that needed to be won with the sword. This is why when Peter chopped off the ear of the servant of the high priest Jesus tells him, "Put your sword into its sheath." (Jn. 18:11 ESV) And then, Matthew records that he says, "Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt. 26:53)

Throughout his ministry, people wanted to make Jesus king, and he would withdraw himself. See, the Jews thought the coming king would be an earthly, conquering ruler who would drive out Rome and end their political oppression. But this is not the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. Listen to this definition

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by George Ladd: “The kingdom is primarily the dynamic reign or kingly rule of God, and derivatively, the sphere in which the rule is experienced. In biblical idiom, the kingdom is not identified with its subjects.” It is primarily the rule of God. This is why Jesus comes and says, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matt. 4:17 ESV)

The kingdom is advancing, friends, where people come into obedience to Christ as their King and obey his ways over and against the world's ways. And so, this is why when Jesus was asked about the kingdom of God in Luke 17, he said, "The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you." (Lk. 17:20-21) So friends, Jesus comes to usher in a spiritual kingdom where his reign spreads as hearts turn in obedience to Christ. So, who is the enemy that he's coming to vanquish? Not a political enemy, but a spiritual one. The enemy is the enemy of God, the god of this world who is blinding the minds of unbelievers (see 2 Cor. 4:4-6). Or, as Ephesians 2 says, “the prince of the power of the air” that we follow just like the rest of the world. And friend, hear me, not only is his kingdom out of this world, not only is his enemy not a political one but a spiritual one, but understand that the nature of his victory is different than the world’s.

Jesus says, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews, but my kingdom is not from the world." (Jn. 18:36) He is testifying to the way he is going to usher in the kingdom. The way he is going to vanquish the enemy and secure his victory is not by taking up the sword but by laying down his life. And this is what the people did not understand, and this is what we've got to understand as his subjects. Jesus said this to his disciples that he would be going to Jerusalem to suffer, die, and rise again. Matthew records that in response to this Peter said, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you." In response, Jesus says to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matt. 16:22-23 ESV) Again, the things of man is a political, military style of victory. And Jesus is saying, "No, no, no, I have come to lay my life down."

I'll never forget a good friend of mine, Billy Foote, who is a musician and has written some great songs. He said he was leading a camp once when a student came up to him, a sophomore in high school, and just said to him, "You know, most kings in this world, they send their subjects out to fight and die for them, but Jesus is the only king I've ever heard of that goes and dies and lays his life down for his subjects.” And Billy Foote said, "Hold on. I have to write that down." And he wrote a song called “You Are My King.” The lyrics state, "I'm forgiven, because you are forsaken. Amazing love, how can it be, that you, my king, would die for me?" And it is truly amazing that the way he wins his victory is not by fleeing and not by fighting but by sacrifice. This is so important for us to understand.

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I have a good friend in Iran. His name is Farshid. I've known him for seven years, I have been part of the training program that he's been a part of, and Farshid planted several churches in Tehran, the capital of Iran. On December 26, 2010, he was heading to school with his daughter, dropping her off, and his cellphone blows up with text messages and phone calls from people in his house church network. The messages stated, "They've come. They’ve arrested us. They're taking us to prison." And next thing you know, his phone rings and it's his home. The authorities are on the other line and say, "We're at your house. You need to come." He gets off the phone and he realizes, "I can run. I can take off." And then all of a sudden, God gives him a verse, John 10, which basically says, "I am the good shepherd. I lay down my life for the sheep. I am not the hired hand who sees the wolf coming and flees.”

And he thinks, "How in the world can I follow this Jesus, and as an undershepherd, flee and not lay my life down for my sheep?" So he goes in and he calls and I've listened to this voicemail that he left with the ministry. In it he said, "Pray for me as I go into suffering." He says that when he comes to his flat, they grabbed him, threw him on the ground, cuffed his hands behind him, and yelled out to their superiors, "We found him! We caught him!" And he says, "You didn't catch me. I came, I turned myself in, I laid myself down." It's like how Jesus says, "No one takes my life from me. I lay it down on my own accord." And friend, you have to understand that the way the kingdom of God is going to continue to advance is not by fighting the world, not by fleeing from the world, but by laying your life down in sacrifice to follow Christ.

His purpose in coming into the world was to bear witness to the truth. "For this purpose I was born," he says, "and for this purpose I have come into the world - to bear witness to the truth." (Jn. 18:38) Again, the people understood their political oppression, but they didn't understand their spiritual one - that they were spiritually oppressed. This is what we see in Jesus’ conversation with the Jews in John 8. The text says, “‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, “You will become free?”’ Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’” (Jn. 8:31-36) And so he's saying to the Jews, “Look, it doesn't matter who you belong to or that you can trace your lineage back to Abraham. What matters is that you are in sin, and you need to be released from that.” Move from being a slave to sin to a slave to righteousness, and that only happens through the perfect work of Christ.

The truth that he reveals is as Romans talks about in chapter three when it refers to a righteousness that comes from God that is apart from the law. In other words, you can't do it. Even though the law testifies of it. It's a righteousness that comes through the propitiatory

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sacrifice that Christ makes on the cross that God offers as a gift to be received by faith. This is what Christ has come to reveal to us. This is why Paul, in Philippians 3, says that he wants “to be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” (Phil. 3:9 ESV)  This is the purpose, the truth that he came to bear witness to.

He is the promised king. We've seen the nature of his kingdom. It's not an earthly one but a spiritual one, a heavenly one. We've seen the way he's going to win the victory. It isn't by the military sword, but by laying his life down. So now, what does it mean to be the people of the kingdom?

Is Jesus truly your king? Because who are the people of the kingdom? Listen to what Jesus says to Pilate, "Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." (Jn. 18:37 ESV) So friends, first of all, hear me as a fellow servant of Christ, I say to you, examine your heart.

The person who has Christ as king hears and responds to his voice, longs to hear his voice, and follow his voice. Jesus says in John 10, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep." (Jn. 10:1-2 ESV) And listen to this: "The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice." (Jn. 10:3b-4 ESV) Do you know the voice of the King? Do you distinguish his voice from the world? “A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” (Jn. 10:5 ESV)

So this is what it looks like. So I ask, friend, is Jesus truly your king, or is it a degree or a dream that you have for yourself? What I mean is this: Does Jesus have free reign to call the shots in your life? Or are you more like Peter, who would say, "This shall never happen." Or “This isn't my plan for you or for me.” In the past, I fought God so many times, and every time I fought him I added more heartache and more suffering to my life. God called me to leave my family. My father disowned me for being a Christian. He's a Muslim. And then the plan was that I was going be a doctor and take over his practice, but God called me into ministry, and I ran from it. I ran and ran and ran.

My sister wrote me a letter and in it she said to me, "You're running from God. Do you not understand? You're running from God. You're trying to please Dad." And in the letter she quoted 1 John 2:17: "And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." (1 Jn. 2:17 ESV) That just sunk me. So I took my dad to lunch. I was so scared my hand was shaking. I said to him, "I'm not going to be a doctor." And he, again, disowned me. But I've never had more peace in my life.

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Isaiah chapter 30 says it this way:

“Ah, stubborn children,” declares the LORD, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they add sin to sin; who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation." (Is. 30:1-3 ESV)

God is essentially saying in this text “Woe to my people who make plans for their life without consulting me. They go to Pharaoh and to Egypt to ask the advice of Pharaoh in Egypt. Therefore, the advice of Pharaoh in Egypt shall turn to their shame."

And so, do you pursue the word of the Lord? Do you wait on the Lord, as Isaiah 30:21 says, “And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” (Is. 30:21 ESV) Not only did I hear the voice and follow it, but those who belong to the kingdom pursue the kingdom. And I want to do two things with that, and then we'll come to a close. One, is Jesus really your king? This is what it looks like: You pursue the kingdom in your own personal life. You desire the kingdom to come into your own life. As Jesus says, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." (Matt. 6:33 ESV)

So everyone who belongs to Jesus as his subject, you will submit to his voice, you will believe in the deepest part of your heart that his commands lead to freedom in life, and the prayer of your life will be, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matt. 6:9-10) That means us saying, “God, let your will be done in my life, first and foremost. Let my life reflect the kingdom.” The kingdom of God taking shape and finding deep roots in your life will become the primary aim in your life. You will pursue it more than anything in life because your desire is to display Christ to the world. Is this your heart? You say, "Well, how? How can I pursue the kingdom of God? How can I see the kingdom of God advance in my own personal life?"

Well, I'm preaching through the Sermon on the Mount at my church, and it's fascinating. In Matthew 4:23, Jesus is going about proclaiming the kingdom of God. And then he calls his disciples on a little hilltop. And they all come around him, and others are listening, and he begins with the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter five. In the Beatitudes, each one is attached to the blessing. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:3 ESV) That's the first one. Near the end of the Beatitudes he says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:10 ESV) So the beginning and the end of the eight beatitudes are saying, "theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

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So friends, here is what the beatitudes are. If Jesus is your king, what he is teaching is what kingdom life looks like. This is how you are going to look different than the rest of the world. And so, take time to say, "Lord, let these beatitudes become reality in my life," and pursue them. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” those who understand their spiritual poverty, that come to God with empty hands. They aren't coming with their works, boasting in what they've done. “Blessed are those who mourn”: In that context it is referring to those who mourn over their own sin, not with a worldly sorrow but a godly sorrow, because they've offended God, and their heart is broken over it. “Blessed are the meek”: The world laughs at that. The world says, "It's the powerful, the assertive, the one who pushes people out of the way that's going to get ahead." And Jesus is saying, "No, in my kingdom, it's the meek." It's those who seek the interest of others before their own. It's those who count others more significant than themselves.

Lord, let that be more true in my life. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” We are a people who've tasted of the Lord and know that he is what satisfies and not the junk food of the world. And by the way, 1 Peter 4 says that the world looks at us, surprised, when we don't follow them in the same flood of debauchery, and they mock us for it. And so, listen, you should say, "Lord, let me not run after what the world runs after." Blessed are the merciful: That doesn't mean just to show mercy to people who have hurt you. The merciful means those who move to meet the needs of those who are in need, the refugees, those who are suffering and hurting. “Your kingdom come” means having a heart that first moves to compassion for those who are hurting.

“Blessed are the peacemakers,” refers to those who seek unity even with those who have wronged them, their enemies. Jesus says, "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even tax collectors do the same?” (Matt. 5:46 ESV) The world loves people who love them. He says, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." (Matt. 5:44 ESV) Bless those who persecute you, right? And so, this is how we are to be. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.” Why would he say those who are persecuted would rejoice and be glad? Because they know that means they belong to him and not the world. Jesus teaches that if you're of the world, the world won't hate you. Persecution proves that you belong to him. It proves that you are becoming like him.

If Jesus is your king, you listen to his voice over the world and you follow him. You pursue the kingdom in your own personal life, and then you have kingdom perspective in this world. You pursue the advancement of the kingdom in the world. That's what you are all about. You're committed to seeing the lives of men and women turn and repent and come into the obedience and the reign of the King. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matt. 24:14 ESV) This is how Paul described his own ministry in Romans 1, he says

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that he had “received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations.” (Rom. 1:5 ESV) They went about, the apostles, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. In other words, they were in essence preaching “you have turned from God, that you are enslaved, and there is one who has come, who, through the victory of the cross, can bring you from that sin, liberate you.”

That's what we are to be about. And, oh, how we have forgotten that that's why we're here. We're here to be ambassadors of the King. I wonder if the church in our culture truly thinks the kingdom of God is synonymous with the United States of America. Don’t get me wrong. I love this country and I'm an American. But before I'm an American, I'm a Christian. Philippians 3 says that there are people who walk as enemies of the cross with minds on earthly things, and that text teaches that our citizenship is in heaven and from it, we await a Savior. (see Phil. 3:18-20) So we go out not seeking our safety, not seeking our comfort, first and foremost, but we go out saying, "I am here to see the gospel advance in the midst of darkness. Jesus never promised a safe life to us.

A couple of things have happened this past year that make me wonder if we have forgotten why we're here. Some people from a group in Farmersville, Texas, just north of where I am in Frisco, Texas, were up in arms because the Muslim Association of Collin County wanted to build a cemetery. And a pastor in that community actually stood up and said this, "If they build this cemetery here, more Muslims will come." And, he said, "We've got to put a stop to this." And I'm thinking, why are you a pastor? A pastor should stand up and say, "I got good news, church. The Muslims are building a cemetery in our backyard. That means more Muslims will come, and we can share the gospel.”

Another pastor was brokenhearted, and he called a town meeting. He brought Afshin Ziafat in. It was very interesting to walk into that town hall meeting and share my story about being a refugee, essentially. We left Iran during the revolution and came to America. During the hostage crisis, so many people turned against us. But one Christian lady loved me, poured herself into me and gave me a Bible. I know the Syrian refugee crisis has been all in the news, and I'm not here to make a political statement. I'll let the president and the government decide the borders and all of that. What is important for believers to remember is that the heart of a Christian should not be first and foremost about safety. Yes, I want the government to vet who comes in, and yes, I want the government to keep me safe. Of course I want that. But as a Christian, my first priority shouldn't be that which is going to keep me safe and extend my days. As a Christian, I should acknowledge that I am here for a limited amount of time to see the gospel advance. The goal of a Christian isn't to extend his days by all means, but to spend every day God gives him on this mission.

In Acts 20:22-24, the apostle Paul says:

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"And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24 ESV)

Paul is saying in this passage, "I know if I go here, suffering is coming." It may be that Paul anticipates them thinking, "Then why would you go to Jerusalem?" And so he says to them, "But you don't understand. There's something more important to me than even my life, and it's my mission." This reflects Paul’s King, as Jesus told his disciples that he would go to Jerusalem to suffer and die. That was his mission.

That's the way subjects in the kingdom of God live. They say, "It's not about me and my comfort, the American dream and my safety, but it's about the kingdom of God pressing forward." The way that victory was won for us is the same way that we see the gospel advance. It is not by fleeing. In response to Jesus saying he would suffer and die in Jerusalem, Peter said “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” (Matt. 16: 22 ESV) It was as if he was saying, "This shall never happen to you, Jesus. Don't go to Jerusalem." But Jesus was supposed to go there. It’s the reason he came. Jesus said to his disciples in John 16, "They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.” (Jn. 16:2 ESV) The disciples should have known. He didn't promise them safety, but he promised that he would be with them and the gospel would advance through them.

We do not flee and we do not fight as the world fights. He says to Peter, "Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword." (Matt. 26:52 ESV) A Christian who wants to see the gospel advance doesn't live with a flight or fight response. A Christian who wants to see the gospel advance lives by faith, faith in God. A Christian who wants to see the gospel advance believes that God has a great plan, they have faith that God is better than whatever the world may take, and they have faith that God will use them. They step out, even if it may cost them.

I'll close with this story. Farshid, my friend from Iran that I mentioned earlier, said he spent five years in prison, and the first 361 days were in solitary confinement. Solitary confinement was so bad that going to a regular cell was like going to heaven for him. In the prison with him was a Muslim man that was just released out of solitary confinement. He was accused of being a spy toward the Iranian government.

This Muslim man finds out that Farshid is a Christian and he comes into the bathroom and sees Farshid. The Muslim man walks over to him and says to Farshid, "Ours is dead, but

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I've heard that yours is alive." Farshid is sitting there and responds, "What, what do you want?" And he said, "Will you pray for me?" At this point Farshid is thinking, "What if this is a trap? I've just been let out of 361 days of solitary confinement. What if this is a trap? If I pray for this brother, if I preach to him, they are going to throw me right back in." And so everything in his flesh says, "No! Safety, comfort, fight or flight." Instead, faith moves him. Farshid says to the man, "Why do you want me to pray for you, brother?" And he says, "I've been praying to Allah all this time. I have got to get out of here. I can't handle it anymore, and Allah isn't answering me. I heard your God is alive. So, would you pray for me?" So Farshid pulls him away from the camera and prays for the man. And the next day, this guy tackles Farshid and with joy and tears streaming down his face says, "They've reviewed my case and they're letting me go in two weeks!" And he said, "Your God is alive." And I tell you, when you know that you have a King who is alive and who isn't promising safety and comfort but is promising to use you, you take risks and you step out, because ultimately the mission of God is your number one priority.

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“The Supremacy of Jesus Christ” | Colossians 1:15-20 H.B. Charles, Jr.

Colossians 1:15-20 reads, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross." (Col. 1:15-20 ESV)

The supremacy of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul, while under house arrest, received news about the church of Colossae. Epaphras informed Paul about their faith in Christ Jesus and their love for all the saints. There was also disturbing news that false teachers promoted error about the person of Christ. They preached the Christ that was prominent, but not preeminent. They claimed that Jesus was just one of many angelic emanations of God. And in the process, they ultimately denied both the deity and the humanity of Christ. This error about the person of Christ opened the door to confusion about the gospel, the church, and the Christian life. Various “-isms” began to infiltrate the church. None of these errors were promoted to rival Christ. Worse, they were all presented alongside of Christ, as if Jesus is not enough.

Upon receiving this news, the apostle Paul was moved to write this letter to the church, exalting the supremacy and the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ. Colossians chapter one, verses 15-20, is the beginning of the main body of the letter. Paul greets the saints in verses one and two. Paul thanks God for the church in verses 3-8. Paul prays for them in verses 9-14. But now, he shifts from introduction to the heart of the matter. Colossians is polemical, but Paul begins the letter with a declaration of the truth, not a refutation of error.

The text before us is one of the most important statements about the person of Christ in the New Testament. It is also a greatly debated text because of its lofty language and daring claims. Scholars tell us that this passage very well may have been a hymn that the early church sung in corporate worship. But even if the words of this text do not derive from worship, they should result in worship. And the worship of Christ should overflow into witness for Christ. Paul, in this text, presents to us the most essential truth of the historic Christian faith. I can state it in seven words. Christianity is Christ and Christ is God.

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Colossians 1:15-20 is about the real Jesus. Here, Paul gives us two big reasons why we can live, minister, and witness with unwavering confidence in the supremacy of Christ. The first reason is because Jesus Christ is supreme over all creation. Verse 15 begins, "He is the image of the invisible God." Paul begins the text with two great affirmations. First, he wants to make it clear that God is invisible. This is the consistent teaching of Scripture. In John 4:24, Jesus says, "God is spirit." In 1 Timothy 1:17, we are told that he is the immortal, invisible God. And 1 John 4:12 just bluntly says, "No one has ever seen God." God occasionally showed up in a theophany, but his essential nature has never been seen. God is invisible. But then, Paul further affirms that Jesus Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.

His word, "images" is the term from which we get our word "icon." It means the representation or manifestation of a thing. Exodus 20:4 warns us not to make any carved image in the likeness of anything on earth, or in heaven, or in the waters. Nothing man creates can fully or faithfully represent God. Yet Genesis 1:27 says that man himself was made in the image of God. We are made with personhood, mind, will, and emotions, but humanity does not perfectly fully represent the image of God. We do not represent the image of God essentially. That is, we do not share God's incommunicable attributes, like eternality, immutability, omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. More importantly, we do not share God's image morally. God is holy and we are not. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but there is one who truly, perfectly represents God essentially and morally. Verse 15 says, "He is the image of the invisible God." Jesus represents God. Jesus manifests God.

John 1:18 says, "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known." That last phrase of John 1:18 is the term from which we get our word "exegesis.” It means to bring out of. It is the term for faithful preaching, that exposes the God-intended meaning of the text, rather than imposing human opinion on the text. John uses the word to say that Jesus is the exegesis of God. If you want to know what God looks like, just look at Jesus. "He is the radiance of the glory of God" says Hebrews 1:3, “and the exact imprint of his nature” (Heb. 1:3 ESV). He represents God and he manifests God. Recall the upper room, where Philip says to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." And in John 14:9, Jesus responds, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (Jn. 14:8-9 ESV) It’s as if Jesus says to Phillip, "Philip, you are asking an elementary question on graduation day."

Those who know my dad will tell you how much I resemble my dad, but I could never say, “If you've seen me, you've seen my dad." Yet Jesus is more than just a representation of God. He himself is the very image of God. He is God in the flesh. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” Jehovah Witnesses and other cults use this text, misuse

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this text, to teach that Jesus was the first thing God created. But to make that claim, would be for Paul to agree with the false teachers he writes this text to refute.

And it would deny the plain context of the text, where Paul is claiming Jesus is the Creator God. Firstborn here does not mean first in order. In that regard, Cain is the firstborn of creation. Here, the word “firstborn” means first in rank. It is the language used in Exodus 4:22, where God says to Pharaoh, "Israel is my firstborn," reflecting the special favor of divine rank that Israel had among the nations with God. And in Psalms, the Lord said to David, "And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.” (Ps. 89:27 ESV) This is the way Paul uses the term here. He writes Jesus is “the firstborn of all creation." The false teachers are claiming that Jesus is just another emanation of God, derived from generations of angels. Here, Paul refutes that, by teaching that Jesus is Lord over all creation. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn among all creation." He makes that point by claiming that Jesus both created the world and sustains the world.

Jesus created the world. Verse 16 explains verse 15 and shows us the three-fold relationship Christ has to creation. He first teaches that Christ is the source of creation. “For by him all things were created." Jesus is the creator of the world. Who created the world? Who created the universe? Who created the starry wonders above us? Who flung the stars out in space? Who scooped out the deep oceans? Who stacked up the mountains? Who made you and me? Paul claims, that if you check the label of everything created, it is all imprinted the same way, "Made by Jesus."

Jesus is the creator of the physical world. This is what Paul means when he refers to things on earth and things physical. He is the creator of the physical world around us. Robert Gromacki writes that Jesus alone should be praised. “When we view the minute complexities of life in a microscope or the vastness of the universe in a telescope, he alone should be glorified for creation, not some series of angelic emanations, not some impersonal mother nature, and not some atheistic theory of evolution. Jesus created everything visible on earth.”

And not only did he create the physical world, he also created the spiritual world. This is what Paul means when he refers in verse 16 to things in heaven and things invisible. He lists four categories: thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities. No need to try to distinguish those terms. The point is, whatever they mean, Jesus made all of them.

He is the one who created not only the physical world around us, but also all of the spirit beings in the unseen world around us, including evil angels aligned with Satan's wicked agenda. They must submit to the authority of Jesus Christ. He created the world and he is the source of creation.

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Jesus is also the agent of creation. All things were created through him. That is, he didn't just create the world and step back to leave it to its own devices. We are told that all things were created through him. The Bible says in John 1:3 that, "All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." Later, in Hebrews 1:1-2, we are told, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”

He is the source of creation, he is the agent of creation, and he is the goal of creation. All things were not only made by him and through him, but verse 16 ends by saying, "all things were created through him and for him.” (emphasis added) The glory of Jesus Christ is the goal of the created world. All things were made for his purpose, his pleasure, and his praise.

Philippians 2:9-11 says, "Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should 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." Jesus is supreme over all creation because Jesus created the world and Jesus sustains the world. Look at Colossians 1:17, "And he is before all things.” “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (Jn. 1:1 ESV) He is before all things. He predates and antedates all creation. Remember in John chapter 8 when the Jews are debating with Jesus? Unbelieving Jews are debating Jesus and they take offense to this young man, barely 30, talking about Father Abraham, as if he intimately knows Abraham, even though Abraham had died centuries ago. Jesus says in John 8:58, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." “And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Col. 1:17 ESV)

I was in the seventh grade at Crozier Junior High School, in the Los Angeles area, when I was first confronted with the atheistic claims of evolution. My science teacher, who I liked and respected, flatly denied the existence of a God and boldly declared, "Evolution is the only explanation for the creation of the world." I sat there in shocked silence. There was a classmate who tried to take the teacher on, quoting Genesis 1:1. By using technical, scientific language, he shot her down in front of the whole class and no one else dared to say anything. And I just remember how long that experience stuck with me. And when I look back, I just wish I could have simply said, "Science doesn't have the explanation for everything." That would have been the one thing I would have wanted to say. For instance, matter is made up of space. Go figure that one out. If matter is made up of space, what holds matter together? Scientists debate that and try to figure it out, but there is an answer!

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Verse 17 of our text teaches us that Christ is before all things and he is the one who is holding all things together. Jesus not only created the world, he sustains the world. Why do you think it is that the world is a cosmos and not a chaos? Why do you think it is that the earth is close enough to the sun that we don't freeze, but far enough away that we don't burn? Why do you think it is that the sun keeps rising in the east and going down in the west? Why do you think it is that winter, spring, summer, and fall keep passing in their course? Why do you think it is that the flowers keep budding, blooming, fading, and falling? One answer, Jesus is holding all things together. And what is true of the vast universe is true of your life, true of your family, and true of your ministry.

Jesus Christ is also supreme over the church. Colossians 1:18 states, "And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent." There are three titles for Christ in verse 18. He is, first of all, the head. The New Testament does not define the church, as much as it describes the church using various word pictures of body, flock, a family, a temple, and an army. The primary metaphor for the church in the Scriptures is that of a body. In most places, it refers to the mutual dependence of the members of the body. But here, the reference is to the total dependence the body has on its head. Anything without a head is dead. Anything with more than one head is a monster.

Jesus alone is the one true head of the church and he is the beginning. Revelation 22:13 states, "I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." He is the beginning. The text in Colossians also declares that he is “the firstborn from the dead" (Col. 1:18 ESV) In Revelation 1:17-18, Jesus declares, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I hold the keys of Death and Hades." He is the firstborn from among the dead. This is the second reference to the firstborn. Verse 15 says, "He's the firstborn of all creation." Now in verse 18, Paul states he is “the firstborn from the dead.” Again, this is about rank, not chronology. He was not the first dead person raised. He himself raised three persons from the dead. But of course, those acts were resuscitations, not resurrections in the truest sense, right?

Lazarus was raised, but died again. Jesus was raised and lives forevermore. He is the head, the beginning, the firstborn. The reason is so “that in everything he might be preeminent.” In other words, Jesus is the firstborn so that he might be supreme. Jesus is to have first place, full authority, and final say in everything that happens in the church. He is the firstborn, the beginning, the head, so that Jesus alone exercises supreme authority over the church. We should serve him, honor him, and worship him as the supreme head of the church. The text gives us two reasons for this.

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First of all, because of the incarnation of Christ. Verse 19 states, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell." In the wilderness wanderings of the children of Israel, they had no permanent dwelling place. They would live in extended stay, but temporary tents. And the tabernacle, where they met with God, was also temporary. And then, Solomon builds a temple to God, but in 1 Kings 8:27, Solomon asks, "But will God really dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!" Nothing on earth can contain the living God as a dwelling place, but the Bible says that in Christ, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. This is a statement as much about God the Father as it is about the person of Jesus Christ. God dwelled in Christ.

John 1:14: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." But not only did the Father dwell in Christ, he was pleased to dwell in Christ. In Matthew 3:17, Jesus receives this benediction from the Father: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." The Father, dwelt in Christ, was pleased to dwell in Christ, and it pleased the Father that all of the fullness of the Godhead should dwell in Christ.

In Colossians 2:8-10, Paul writes, "See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority." The supremacy of Christ and the sufficiency of Christ are inextricably tied together. Because he is supreme over all, there is nothing lacking in our salvation. We are complete in him. Jesus is everything that we need. We see this, not only in his incarnation, but also in his atonement. Paul continues in Colossians 1:19-20, "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross." The word "reconciled" assumes that a relationship has been broken. And this is the human predicament. Sin has separated us from God. However, God has graciously sought us and provided a means of reconciliation through his Son.

Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:5-6, "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.” We have been reconciled, but not only have we been reconciled, but God has "reconciled to himself all things." (Col. 1:20 ESV) Notice how this all-inclusive language is used throughout this passage. Verse 15 teaches that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation." Verse 16: "For by him, all things were created." Verse 17: "And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Verse 18: "He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent." And in Verse 19: "In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” And now, we see through his reconciling work, all things have been reconciled to himself.

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Not only are we beneficiaries of his reconciling work, but so is all of creation. Everything in heaven and on earth. He has made “peace by the blood of his cross.” (Col. 1:20 ESV)

This is language not used anywhere else. The Bible says a lot about the blood of Christ and a lot about the cross of Christ. Here, Paul joins the ideas together and speaks of the blood of his cross, emphatically declaring the total sufficiency of the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is because this Christ is who he is and has done what he has done that we can live, minister, and witness with confidence in him. "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ," Paul writes, "God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:20-21 ESV) This is the good news of Jesus Christ.

Have you ever heard of the Battle of Blue Licks? It's the final battle of the US Civil War, but it's a battle that should not have taken place. It should not have taken place because peace had already been declared. The news was just slow to get over the Appalachian Mountains to Blue Licks, Kentucky. As a result, a battle was fought there that should have never taken place because peace had been declared. Is this not the world around us, fighting against God, when peace has been declared by the blood of Jesus? May the Lord use you to go and proclaim this Christ and his work to a dark, sinful, and needy world. “Alas! And did my Savior bleed and did my Sov’reign die? Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? Was it for crimes that I had done he groaned upon the tree? Amazing pity! grace unknown! And love beyond degree! At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight,And now I am happy all the day!” 8

Isaac Watts, Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed, accessed June 9, 2017, http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/8

Alas_and_Did_My_Savior_Bleed/.

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“Placing Our Faith and Hope in God” | 1 Peter 1:20-21 Matt Carter

I got the privilege of meeting with a couple of students recently, and one of them asked me the question. He was from Kenya. He's going back to Kenya to be a missionary there. He said, "So many people are moving from the rural areas of Kenya into the cities. The gospel has almost no influence there. How do I go into a city and have an impact in the city when I don't have any influence?"

And the answer that I gave him was, "You have something to offer the influential people of the city that they cannot find anywhere else in the world and that is the gospel. They are looking for satisfaction of their soul, to meet the deep needs of their soul, and they're trying to find it in all these other areas. They will never find it. They can get anything they ever thought they dreamed and desired. It will not meet those desires of their soul. You have that answer." And so that's basically what we're going to see in this text. And so regardless of what your calling is on your life, the answer to the power that you have in ministry is here.

Peter is writing to the church and in 1 Peter 1:20, he writes, "For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you." I want to focus on verse 21. The text states, "who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God." (1 Pt. 1:20-21 NASB) Peter's making the argument, "I want give you three reasons why you should be putting your faith in God and why you should be putting your hope in God."

Now, it's important to remember who Peter is writing this letter to. He's writing a letter to a persecuted church. This is a church that is going through incredible persecution and trials in life. He's encouraging them in their faith to walk with Christ in the midst of a culture that is hostile to Christianity. This is a very applicable book to where we're at today in the 21st century. And in verse 21, he’s communicating to them, "Look, I'm going give you these three reasons why in the midst of everything you're going through in this culture, you need to be placing your faith and you need to be placing your hope nowhere else but in the Lord, in the gospel of Christ."

Now, before I walk through the text and give you those three reasons, there a couple of things I want to address when Peter says, "You put your faith and hope in the Lord." The first one is, what does he even mean when he says put your faith and hope in God? Those are words that we hear all the time in church, and so they have kind of lost their meaning. Well,

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of course, we put our faith and hope in God, but why is he saying that? Why is he taking a verse, the Holy Spirit inspired text, to say, "Hey, make sure you're putting your faith in God and your hope in God?" Well, here is the answer:

The word faith simply means to trust. It means to actively put your trust into something. And so when I walk up on stage to preach each week, in a very real and tangible way, I am putting my faith into the stage to hold me up, right? It means to trust into something. The other thing we have to keep in mind is in the context of this verse. Faith carries with it the idea of a present trust. And so Peter's saying, "Look, you need to put your faith, or your present trust, into God for your life. Right here, right now."

He uses the word hope. Hope is a very different word in the Greek. I won't go into all the meaning but it's a different word than faith. While faith means to place your trust into something now, hope means to place your trust into something in the future. It's also important to note that the way that you and I, as Americans, use the word hope is very different than the biblical use of the word hope. When we use the word hope, we use it in terms of wishful thinking. We use it in terms of having an optimistic outlook on something. "I hope this happens." We're wishfully thinking that something's going to come true, but the biblical word for hope is not based on optimism. The biblical word for hope is not based on a wishful thinking or a positive outlook. The biblical word for hope is based on the 100 percent absolute assurance of God's promises.

In other words, when God makes a promise, it always comes true, and so you can put your hope in that. In verse 21, Peter is making an argument based on three things, which I'll get to in a second. You can have your faith for right now, you can put your trust into the Lord right now, and you can put your assurance for the future in the Lord.

Now, there's one other thing that I want to address before I jump in the three reasons. Now that we know what faith and hope mean, I want to explain why I think this is critical for us today, as believers and for our ministry. Right now, as we speak, everybody who’s alive, every Christian, every non-Christian, every single person that's ever lived and ever will live, is going to put their faith for today and they are going to put their assurance for tomorrow into something.

It's how we were wired. It's how we were created. Every single human being is going to put their faith and trust into something. It's not a matter of if people do it; it's a matter of what or who they are putting their faith and hope into. And so the reason that we do that is because all of us have these internal needs and desires that drive our decisions every day of our life. If you were to stop and think for a second, you could probably get down at the bottom of, "What are the things I'm looking at? What are the things that I'm desiring in my

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heart, in my life, that I think will make me happy, that I think will bring me contentment? What are those things?" And you could probably say, "I'm putting a measure of my faith and I'm putting a measure of my hope into something." That's what we do. We think that this thing, this object, this person we put our faith and hope into is going to meet those internal needs.

I think about times in my life where I've done that. I think about high school, a long time ago. I grew up in a little small town in East Texas called Athens, Texas. There are about 5,000 people that live there. It was a really little backwoods town and I wanted more than anything else to get out of that town. I wanted freedom. I wanted to get away from my parents. I wanted to get out of my high school. I wanted to go to college. I wanted to be on my own -- do what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it. And so in a very real way, I was putting my faith and my hope into this object of freedom. I thought if I could just be free, then all these needs and desires I have would ultimately be fulfilled.

Well, here's the thing: I woke up one day, I graduated from high school, and I found myself in college. I had this thing that I always thought would meet the desires of my heart. I got that freedom, but what I discovered very quickly is that freedom is not a great object to put your faith and hope into. Because what I discovered is that freedom meant that mom no longer did my laundry. Amen?

Freedom meant poverty. Freedom meant that I'm looking through my couch cushions for coins to go to Taco Bell to survive. That's what freedom meant. And so I discovered very quickly that this thing that I had spent my entire junior high and high school career putting my faith and hope into wasn't a worthy object of my faith and hope.

I think about when I was in seminary. At times I would think, "Man, if I could just get to the place where I didn't have to write any more papers, and I don't have to go to any more classes, and I can just be a pastor of a church, then that's when life's really going to get started. That's when I'll finally be happy. That's when I'll be doing what it is that I'm called to do and I want to do. That's when everything's going to be awesome." Well, one day, I was done with all my papers, and I was done with all my classes, and I walked on a stage and I got a little piece of paper. In a very real and tangible way, I put my faith and hope in the pastorate.

And then one day I was a pastor and then had these little things, these little people called deacons in my life who made me miserable. And in the pastorate, you've got these pesky little people called your congregation who have a tendency to get sick and go to the hospital in the middle of the night. And I don't know if you've probably heard of this before, but sheep bite, and they walk up to you, and they say things like, "That was the best sermon you've ever

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preached in your whole life." And you think that's a compliment, but the way I hear it is, "All the other sermons you have preached, they stunk." And so you wake up one day and this object that I'd put my faith and hope into my whole life, I got it. I realized that even something like the pastorate is not a worthy object to put our faith and hope in. And I could tell you that exact same story and that exact same outcome for every single thing in my entire life or for every single person in my entire life that I've ever put my faith and hope in.

Here's the little life lesson: Every single person in your entire life eventually is going to let you down. Every person. Every person in your entire life eventually is going to disappoint you. Ladies, if you're not married, I got some bad news for you: Your husband is going to let you down. Gentlemen, your wife is going to disappoint you. Your parents are going to disappoint you. Your boss is going to disappoint you. Your heroes in the faith are going to disappoint you. Your best friend is going to let you down and disappoint you. Not only is every person in your life going to eventually let you down and disappoint you, but I've also discovered that everything in your life other than God will disappoint you.

Think about this: If fame, money, fulfilling work, and a perfect body were the secret to meeting the deep desires of your soul, then the people of Hollywood would be the happiest people on the planet. But all you have to do is look at the divorce rate and their suicide rate to know that that is absolutely not true. Every person and every single thing in which you could ever put your faith and hope will eventually let you down, but One.

I want you to see the claim of the Scripture in Romans 10:11. In this text, the apostle Paul writes, "For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.’" (Rom. 10:11 NASB)

That's an audacious claim. One translation says that those who put their faith in the Lord will never be disappointed. There's a whole book of the Bible, Ecclesiastes, where the richest guy, the most powerful guy ever, Solomon, says, "Hey, I want you guys to know I've tried it all. I've tried work. I've tried money. I've tried women. I've tried everything and it’s all vanity. I've found one thing and it's the Lord." The claim of the text is, "Only the Lord will not disappoint you." And so Peter gives us, in verse 21, three reasons why God and God alone, why the gospel of Christ, is the only object worth putting our faith for today and our assurance for tomorrow in. Everything else is going to let you down.

Look at verse 21. Peter writes that the church "through Him are believers in God." Here, the first reason he gives is that through Him we are believers in God.

Why does Peter say, "Look, one of the foundational reasons you need to be putting your faith for today and all of your assurance for tomorrow in God is because, through Him, you are a believer"? What does he mean by that? Well, I have a feeling that Peter's probably

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making reference to Matthew 16 here, where Jesus says to his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” And then Jesus looks at His boys and says, "But who do you say that I am?” And Peter starts talking because Peter's always the one who starts talking, and Peter says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  And I want you to see what Jesus says to him in response, in Matthew 16:17: "And Jesus said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 16:13-17 NASB)

He said, "Peter, the reason that you're able to say and believe that I'm the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, is not because of your intellect. The reason that you're able to say and believe and confess that I'm the Christ, the Son of the Living God, is not because you did all the math and came up with the right answer. The reason that you believe that I'm the Christ, the Son of the Living God, is not because somebody walked up to you and convinced you that is the truth." Jesus said, "The reason that you believe I'm the Christ, the Son of the Living God, is because your Father, who is in Heaven, revealed that to you."

The first thing Peter's saying to us is, "Look, the reason you put your faith nowhere else but the Lord, the reason you put your hope in nowhere else but the Lord, is that God was the one that began the good work in you. And if He is the one that began the good work in you, then you can trust and put your hope into Him that He's going to finish the good work in you." And that's exactly what Paul says in Philippians 1:6. Paul says, "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Church, if you have a genuine faith in Christ, it's because there was a point in time in history that the Lord looked at you and revealed to you, in your heart, the truth of who He is. Paul's point in Philippians 1:6 and Peter's point in 1 Peter 1:21, is that God didn't start this work in you to leave you hanging. God didn't start this work in you just to let you go. The reason you can put your faith in him, the reason you put your trust in him alone, and the reason you can put your hope in him, is if you have a genuine faith in him, that's because He did it. He's going to hold on to you until the end. Don't put your faith and hope in anything else.

Look at the second thing that Peter gives us. In Peter 1:21, he says that the church "through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead." He's making this argument: "Put your faith and hope in God." And the second thing he says is that "God raised Him from the dead."

Peter brings us back to the resurrection and why we put our faith and hope in Jesus. There was a point in time where Jesus was lying dead in the grave. He wasn't sort of dead. He wasn't mostly dead. He was dead. And in the power that only God possesses, He breathed

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life into his Son, and Jesus came rising from the grave. There are a lot of implications of the resurrection for why we put our faith and hope in the Lord. One of them that Paul mentions gives us a ton of insight for why God and God alone ought to be the object of our faith and hope. It's found in Philippians 3:8-10. Here, the apostle Paul writes:

"More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Phil. 3:8-11 NASB)

Paul, in essence, is saying to us in this passage, "There are two things I want more than anything else: I want to know Jesus, and I want to experience Christ. I want to have a knowledge that is based on experience. I want to know him." And then, he says, "I want to experience the power of the resurrection."

What an absolutely interesting thing for a human being to say. For a human being to say, "I want to personally access and experience the power that God used to raise a dead guy to life." Now, why in the world would the apostle Paul say that he wants to actually experience the power of the resurrection? The reason that Paul said that he wants to experience the power of the resurrection is because it's entirely possible, likely, and promised that the believer will experience the power of the resurrection, not only in one’s faith for salvation, but in life.

It is important to emphasize Paul’s statement, “the power of His resurrection,” because it's one of the reasons I'm a big believer in God. There are some things in my life, some things I've experienced, some things I have seen and done that I absolutely cannot explain apart from a power that did not come from me.

I'll give you a couple of examples. One is preaching. I am scared to death to stand in front of people and talk. During my first semester in college I took a speech communications class. On the first day of class our professor said, "Alright, here's what you have to do tomorrow in class. You have to stand up in front of the whole class by yourself and tell us your name, your major, and your hometown. Everybody has to do that tomorrow in class." And I thought to myself, "There is no way I can do that," and I dropped the class that next day. Long story short, I became a youth pastor and had never really taught. It was really early in my ministry. I never really taught prior to this other than one little small group Bible study for about six kids. My pastor came up to me one day because Easter was coming up and we were doing a

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sunrise service and a regular service. He didn't want to do both services, so he asked if I would preach the sunrise service. This was back in 1996, and I was around the age of 22. I don't know why, but I said yes.

I was scared out of my mind to do that! I stayed up all night for several nights working on this sermon and it was horrible. As I was reading it all I could think was, "This is bad; this is going to fail." And my fiancée at the time, now my wife, told me, "I'm praying for you because I think you're going to fail." She was really encouraging.

Here's what happened. I'm scared out of my mind and I'm praying like crazy. I walked up into the pulpit, and I remember it like it was yesterday. There was a peace that came over me that I had never experienced in my entire life until that moment. There was no other arena in my life that I ever experienced this peace that came over me. I started to talk, and as a guy who's not very articulate in life, there was an ability for me to be able to stand up and speak. All I could think to myself was, "This is not me.” I looked out and some people were weeping as I was telling stories and expositing the text. At the end of the service, some people trusted in Christ. I looked down at my fiancée, and her eyes were like saucers. She was staring at me the whole time.

I walked off the stage right to her, and I thought she was going to say, "Matt, that was awesome! Great job! Oh my gosh, I can't believe that! That was amazing!" She said none of that. She looked at me and she said, "The guy on that stage is not the guy I know." Now, why would she say that? It's because she, too, saw a power coming out of me that didn't come from me. It's the power of the resurrection.

I've seen it in my marriage. We've been married for 21 years and at about year eight or nine, we hit a pretty rough spot in our marriage. We were believers, and we would never get divorced, and so we weren't going to get divorced, but it was rough. There was a night in particular where we had fought and it was bad. She left and went out with some of her friends. I was home all by myself and I was at the end of my rope. And in desperation, not knowing what else to do, I got on my knees, and I prayed this prayer: I said, "Lord, I need you to change me. I'm not asking you to change her. I just need you to change me and make me different." Something happened in that moment. I'm here today, and I have not been perfect in this by any stretch of the imagination, but I want you to know that in that moment, right there, God changed me. God changed my heart. He gave me an ability to respond to her in kindness that I had never ever had the ability to do before.

I had the ability to love her and to serve her in a way I had never actually had the ability to do before. And I simply cannot explain the power and ability to do these things and exhibit the fruit of the Spirit apart from a power that did not come from my flesh. We could

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all tell stories like that. Peter is saying, "Look, the reason you need to be putting your faith into the Lord and the reason you need to be putting your hope into the Lord is because if you are a believer in Christ, you have the Holy Spirit inside of you. You have access to the power that raised Jesus Christ from the grave." That is a power that you won't experience or receive from any person or any other thing in all over the world. That's the only place you can have that power. It's through God.

The first reason for why Peter says to “put your faith in the Lord and the hope in the Lord" is that "through Him” we're “believers in God, who raised Him from the dead." The last thing he says is, "and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God." Why does Peter say that not only did God raise Jesus from the grave, but He also gave Him glory? What's he talking about? What I believe this means is that although Jesus Christ was not the first person to be raised from the dead, Jesus Christ was the first person to be raised from the dead and to never die again. He is still alive today. I think that's what he's saying. He raised Him from the dead and glorified Him. You see, Lazarus was risen from the grave by Jesus. He was in the ground for days and Jesus raised him from the dead. But what happened to Lazarus? Eventually he got old, and he got sick, and he died again.

Jesus raised the widow’s son from the grave, but what happened? The widow's son eventually grew old, got sick, and died again. What Peter is saying here is that Jesus Christ is the first person in all of history who died, was raised to life, and never will die again. He's on the throne, and He's alive right now as we speak. And so what that means is that death has been defeated. The greatest enemy of human existence is death. It's the one enemy that cannot be defeated in all of history and Peter is saying, "Our Jesus, our Lord, He conquered it. It's dead. The war is over." And that's why in 1 Corinthians 15:55, the reality that Jesus was risen from the grave and is still alive today hits Paul, and Paul starts talking smack to death. He says, "O death, where is your sting? [...] Death, you have been swallowed up in victory."

The reason that we put our faith for the present in the Lord, the reason that our hope is in the object of the Lord alone, is because he died, he rose again, and he's still alive. And in the same way, you and I too will die, we will rise again, and we will never die. He's the first fruits of the resurrection. Never ever lose the passion and awe of the reality that you serve a risen Savior. Our God is alive; He's not in the ground somewhere.

I'll end with this story. I have a son who is 12 now, but when he was 3, I brought him to an Easter pageant. At the pageant, he did something that made me realize I had lost the awe of the resurrection. He was just starting to talk. He was just putting sentences together. We had been telling him about Easter, and we were good parents, right? We told him, "Look, it's not about the Easter bunny, and it’s not about candy." My man was into candy. We told him,

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"It's not about all that. Jesus rose from the grave." And so he bought in. He's like, "Alright, Jesus rose from the grave." I don't think he knew what that meant, but he knew that Jesus was alive and he was all about it.

Well, what Central Baptist did not tell us, and what we had not yet told Sammy was that Jesus had to die before He was risen from the grave. The three-year-old had not comprehended that. So we're sitting there in the Easter pageant and the little man was sitting in my lap. The pageant goes on and eventually Jesus is brought out and He's put on the cross, and they nailed the nails into Him. And Sammy's eyes were huge. Jesus then lowers his head, and they bring Him off the cross, and He's lying there dead. Sammy looked over to me and he said, "My Jesus die?" And that's how he could speak at that time, "My Jesus die?" And I was like, "Yeah, buddy. Jesus, He died. He died for our sins. He had to die. He's come back to life." And then he said it a little louder. He goes, "My Jesus die?" I was like, "Yeah, yeah, buddy. He died. He died on the cross. He's paying for our sins right there." And he quits looking at me, and he kind of looks up and says, "My Jesus die!" And he starts screaming it. So I hand him to my wife. I'm like, "Woman, get him out of here."

And so she grabs him and she gets him out of there. He's screaming all the way back down the hallway. And he's screaming, "My Jesus die! My Jesus die! My Jesus die!" And she got him out in the back foyer, and she calmed him down. She finally convinced him, "Look, it’s okay. He's coming back. He's going to rise from the grave. He's going to be alive." And he was weeping, just crying. She got him calmed down and he was sniffling, and she decided to bring him back in. They walked in right at the moment where the light came on, smoke was coming out of the tomb, the stone was rolled away, and then Jesus came walking out of the tomb. And Sammy looked at my wife, Jennifer, and he said, "My Jesus alive?"

And she said, "Yes. That's what I've been telling you!" And he goes, "Tell daddy." And so she's like, "Yeah, let's go tell daddy." And so she walks him down. I was sitting in the back somewhere and she puts him on my lap. He goes, "My Jesus alive!" And I was like, "I told you! I told you! He's alive!" And then, he said it a little louder, "My Jesus alive!" I said, "I know. Shh, I know."

And he screamed it again and stood up on my lap, and he started screaming, "My Jesus alive! My Jesus alive!" I thought about quieting him down, but I looked up, and about 19 rows were turning around looking at us as he's screaming over and over, "My Jesus alive! My Jesus alive!" And I looked at all of these people who were watching had tears in their eyes. I think it hit them in that moment, as it hit me, that we had lost that childlike passion and awe that our Savior came out of the ground. And Peter is saying, "Look, you want to go to the nations? Here's what you need to remember. You want to be a pastor? Here's what you need to remember. You want to be a stay-at-home mom that loves her kids? Here's what you need

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to remember. Our Jesus is alive and you minister out of that. You don't put your faith and you don't put your hope anywhere else.

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“The Return of the King” | Revelation 19:11-21 Danny Akin

Let us look at the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, chapter 19. I thought that it would be appropriate to wed the doctrine of Christology to the doctrine of Eschatology. That's exactly what I want to do: wed Christology to Eschatology. In particular, I want to focus on the return of the King. Jesus is coming again.

Revelation chapter 19, verse 11, "Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords."

"Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, 'Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.' And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh." (Rev. 19:11-21 ESV)

And then move with me to chapter 21, verse one, and reading through verse five. "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.’ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he

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who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.' Also he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'" (Rev. 21:1-5 ESV)

Revelation 19-22 is the way the Bible is supposed to end. It is the way the world is supposed to end. It is the way that our hearts long for time to come to an end and eternity to be ushered in. John Piper, I think, puts it well when he says in the context of the coming again of Christ: "There are two appearings of Christ. One is called an appearing of grace, the other called an appearing of glory. The Christ who will come in glory is the Christ who came in grace. What God's grace has begun in our lives through the first coming of Christ, his glory will complete in our lives through the second coming." And so, what I want to do is walk through these wonderful, magnificent verses.

The Bible many times addresses the coming again of our Lord. But no passage of scripture, I think, does it quite the way that Revelation 19, verses 11 through 21 do it. And so, there are three movements to these verses that I want to show you this morning. Let me put them on the table and then we're going to walk through the passage, allowing this to form and provide our outline. First of all, King Jesus will return in glory and power. That is verses 11 through 16. Secondly, in verses 17 and 18, King Jesus will judge all who reject him. And finally, in verses 19 through 21, King Jesus will defeat the enemies who oppose him.

John's vision then begins with Jesus returning in glory and in power. And his particular emphasis or focus is on this aspect of our Lord's coming again, his complete and total victory over all the powers of evil. In other words, in Revelation chapter 19, John sees the coming of Christ as the coming of a conquering warrior Messiah. George Eldon Ladd said, "He will come in bloodstained garments, destroying all hostile and opposing powers with his mighty sword. In his cross and resurrection, Christ won a great victory over the powers of evil, and by his second coming, he will execute that victory." Now, as we look at his return in glory and power, I think there are three observations we can make. Number one, His appearance will be glorious. Verse 11 says, "Then I saw heaven open and behold a white horse." This is not the first time that we have seen a rider on a white horse. There was one that appeared back in chapter six and verse two. And though, of course, Bible scholars debate as to the identity of that particular individual, I think it is best understood as the spirit of conquest that is ultimately embodied in the beast of Revelation chapter 13, the person we know more popularly as the Antichrist.

But here in Chapter 19, it is not that rider, but a much different rider. This is the return of the king and as he returns on a white horse, in context, I think the idea is one both of victory and also one of purity. In fact, the description that unfolds would, I think, support that understanding. What we see here are the first of five names that are given to the Lord Jesus in Revelation 19. First of all, he is called Faithful and True. The Bible says, "It is in

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righteousness that he judges and makes war." The word "faithful" conveys the idea of reliability, the idea of dependability, the idea of his trustworthiness. The word "true" conveys the idea of his authenticity, his genuineness, that he is indeed the real thing. You put the two together and you can summarize this: What he says, you can believe. And what he does, you can trust.

In fact, as the faithful and true one, he can do what no other king can or ever will be able to do. The text tells us that it is in righteousness that he will judge and that he will make war. Only this King can be described in that way. But John continues his description in verse 12. And in verse 12, he adds three further characteristics to this one on the white horse. He says, first of all, his eyes are like a flame of fire. Secondly, on his head are many diadems, many crowns. And thirdly, he has a name that no one knows but himself. He says that his eyes are like a flame of fire. This communicates the penetrating insight, indeed, the divine omniscience of the one on the white horse. Now, that is a thought that has great practical application for every one of us. He is the omniscient one who looks into and peers into the very recesses of your heart and of your soul. On the one hand, that ought to bless you. On the other hand, it ought to terrify you. It ought to terrify you, why? Because Jesus Christ sees every action, Jesus Christ sees every thought, Jesus Christ knows every single emotion of your heart and soul that you have ever had.

There's nothing about you that escapes his knowledge. In fact, he actually knows you better than you know yourself. I am so grateful that no one knows me like that but Jesus. The fact of the matter is if even one of you knew this day some of the things that I have thought, some of the things that I have felt, I promise you I would not be here today. I would be too embarrassed to stand in front of you. And so it should be a terrifying reality, a sobering reality, to know that he knows you in that kind of a way. And yet it is a blessed reality, because knowing you as he does, knowing you in all of your sin, knowing you in all of your wickedness, knowing you in all of your rebellion and your evil, he still loves you. That is amazing grace to know that we have a God that knows us in that kind of intimate way, and yet he still loves us and demonstrated so by sending his son to die on the cross.

Yes, his eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems. The ESV decided to take the word that is in the Greek text, diadema, and bring it over into English because there are actually two words for crown that you find in the Bible. There is the word Stephanos, if your name is Stephen or Stephanie, your name means crown. And that is the crown of victory. But there's also the diadema, the diadem, and that is the crown that is always given in the context of royalty, or in the context of sovereignty and power. He doesn't have a single crown on his head. No, in this apocalyptic imagery, he has many crowns on his head. And when you ask why, the answer is given in verse 16: because he is the King of kings and he is the Lord of lords.

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And so his eyes are like a flame of fire, on his head are many diadems, and the Bible says he has a name written that no one knows but himself. Now, to my utter amazement, there have been a number of times in my life when someone has come up to me and said, "Brother Danny, over there in Revelation 19, it says that Jesus has a name that no one knows but him. What do you think that name is?" It says in the text that the only person who knows that name is him. So I suspect if he is the only one who knows it, then nobody else knows it.

I think the reason he has a name that no one knows but him is, on the one hand, to communicate no one can claim authority over him. No one has a hold on him. But I think there's something more fantastic than that: I believe after you and I have been in Heaven for millennium after millennium after millennium, we will still not have exhausted the knowledge of how great and how wonderful and how fantastic Jesus is. In fact, for all of eternity, we will be learning more and more and more about the wonder of the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. I think that's why he has the name that no one knows but himself.

But then look at what it says in verse 13. Two more descriptions are added. He says, first of all, he is clothed in a robe dipped in blood. Secondly, he bears another name. In addition to Faithful and True, he also has the name “the Word of God.”

Now, see the robe dipped in blood. The context of this passage and the parallels that you find in Isaiah chapter 63 verses 1 through 6, and also even in Revelation chapter 14 in verse 20, would perhaps indicate that the blood here is the blood of his enemies. That would be the most natural reading of the text. But it would also be important for us to note that in the book of Revelation, the importance of the blood of the martyrs is noted on a number of occasions in chapter 6, verse 10, in chapter 17, verse 6, and in chapter 18, verse 24. Furthermore, in the book of Revelation, the blood of the redeeming Lamb is highlighted in chapter 5 in verse 9. And so perhaps the blood that we see here in verse 13, the robe dipped in blood, is a reminder that the enemies of God will be judged.

It is a reminder that the saints will be vindicated, and it is a reminder that the redemption of the Lamb will be remembered for all of eternity. And personally, I like the latter idea the most because I do think it is teaching us, at least in part, that for all of eternity we will be reminded of the fact that without the shedding of his blood, there would have been no forgiveness of sins. Liberal theologians on the earth may apologize and shy away from talking about the blood, but there is no embarrassment in Heaven over the blood of the Lamb. No, we will be reminded that without the shedding of his blood there is no forgiveness of sin.

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But then we see a fourth name–the concealed name in addition to Faithful and True: We see that he is also called “the Word of God,” which is just a reminder that he is the perfect communication of God. I think John, of course, would draw us back to John chapter 1, verse 1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the word became flesh and dwelt among us,”( Jn. 1:1, 14a ESV). This is a reminder that when you look at Jesus, you're looking at God. When you listen to Jesus, you are listening to God. As Hebrews chapter 1 teaches us, "In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son" (Heb. 1:2a ESV).

And so, verses 11 through 13 focused on the fact that his appearance is glorious. But secondly, verse 14 also emphasizes the fact that his army is holy. Look at that phrase in verse 14, “And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.” (Rev. 19:14 ESV) When the King returns, he will be accompanied by his armies. I think the plural tips us off that both angels and saints are in view. In fact, again, theologians and Bible commentators will often debate, "Well, who do you think is in view here in verse 14 when it speaks of the armies that are going to come with him?" And they will point out that the angels are repeatedly said to come back with Christ in Zechariah 14, Mark 8, Luke 9, Matthew 13, Matthew 16, Matthew 24, Matthew 25, 1 Thessalonians chapter 3, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, Jude 14 and 15.

So, there is no debate, no question, that when he comes again, angels are coming with him. But the Bible also says that when he comes again, believers will accompany him as well. You see this in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 14 and also in Revelation chapter 17 and verse 14. But contextually, I believe verse 14 is reflecting verse 8, and in verse 8 it is very clear that the ones in view are not angels but the ones in view are believers. Notice there he is talking about the marriage of the Lamb to his bride. Look at what it says there in verse 7 and 8 of chapter 19: "Let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory,"- Why?- “for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride,”- believers, the church- “has made herself ready; it was granted to her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure."

In other words, the redeemed, clothed in the imputed righteousness of Christ, the redeemed whose righteous deeds reflect what Christ is doing in their lives, are those who are following him on white horses. Now, I don't want to make too much out of this, but I do note the phrase they “were following him on white horses” (Rev. 19:14 ESV). In other words, when he comes again, the Lord Jesus will not fight his battle in the same way most military leaders fight their battles today. Most military leaders today, when they engage in battle, are far, far, far in the back behind the lines. But when the Lord Jesus comes again, he'll not be at the back, he'll be at the front.

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Furthermore, when we come back with him we will not be participators in this battle, we will only be spectators. We will only be there watching him clean up and watching him bring victory. Because here's the deal, brothers and sisters, when he came the first time, he didn't need your help or mine, and when he comes the second time, he won't need our help then either. No, we'll be there but we will not be participators in this battle, we will be spectators watching him win the day.

His army is holy, but then, thirdly, his authority is unparalleled. What you see in verse 15 and 16 are three images: The sword, the staff, and the winepress. These depict the unparalleled authority of the returning King. And what you see John doing is something that he does throughout the book of Revelation. In the 22 chapters that make up the book, there are 285 direct quotations from the Old Testament. Some have said there are more than 400 citations of the Old Testament in the book of Revelation.

And so, here he begins to bring a number of them together in verses 15 and 16. He says, “From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations," (Rev. 19:15a ESV). He quotes from Isaiah chapter 11 and verse 4. It also says there that in addition to the sharp sword coming from his mouth, “he will rule them with a rod of iron,” drawing from Psalm 2 verses 8 and verse 9. And then he uses the imagery of the winepress, drawing from Isaiah chapter 63 verses 3 through 6, where it says, "He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty" (Rev. 19:15c ESV). In other words, he is coming to judge the world in vivid wrath and in vivid judgment as the sovereign God, designated here as God the Almighty.

And of course that begs a question: “By what right does he do this to this world when he comes again?” Verse 16 gives you the answer: "On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords" (Rev. 19:16 ESV).

Now, let me make a comment about verse 16, and I actually got in trouble in making the same comment one time in a church. Some people have used verse 16 to make the argument for and to seek to find biblical warrant for tattoos. They will say, "Well, go read Revelation chapter 19 and verse 16 and it says, 'On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.'" Now, let me make a couple of comments: First of all, I don't find anything, personally, unbiblical about having a tattoo. Now, I'm not going to say it's always smart, but I've got nothing against you having a tattoo. I'll just remind you, though, that once it's there, without some type of painful treatment, it's going to stay there for the rest of your life. And what looks really cool on your body at 20, may not look so cool at 60 or 70 or 80, so just keep that in mind. You might want to put it in a place where people don't always see it all the time or put it in a place where the skin doesn't get flabby real quickly—just a word of council there. Just trying to help you out. But I have no problem with them. In fact, a

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number of believers have used tattoos for evangelistic purposes, and that is fine with me. So understand I'm not making an argument against tattoos. And I know the Old Testament Scripture that you're going to come back with and throw at me if you're against them. You're taking it out of context, so don't even try it.

But I don’t think this is a warrant for tattoos in Revelation 19:16 because I don't think it's on, literally, his thigh. I think it is on the robe as it drapes over his thigh. And so, on that robe, along the thigh, you have the name written, drawn again from Deuteronomy chapter 10 and verse 17, and Daniel chapter two and verse 47, he is the King of kings and he is the Lord of lords. He alone is the sovereign King and Lord. This phrase communicates that he has no equal. There's no competition. He possesses the full divine authority and absolute power over all that exists. And this is the one who is coming again. David Jeremiah says it beautifully: "When we sing, ‘all hail the power of Jesus' name, let angels prostrate fall, bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord of all’ we are proclaiming he is coming again.” 9

And so King Jesus will return in glory and in power.

Now, two further observations. In verses 17 and 18, we see that King Jesus will judge all who reject him. It says in verse 17, "Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called out to all the birds that fly directly overhead, 'Come, gather for the great supper of God'" (Rev. 19:17 ESV). And then there's a litany of persons that the birds are going to eat their flesh.

Two observations about the fact that he will judge all who have rejected him. Number one, there will be no escape. John Piper says, "The second coming is like lightning and vultures," and then he makes this comment, "Christ coming will be globally unmistakable, it will be as publicly unmistakable as lightning and the second coming of Christ will be like vultures who come on a corpse. Matthew 24:28 provides supporting evidence. When the world is ready for judgment as roadkill is for the vultures, then he will come in great wrath. This will not be private, secret or pleasant for unbelievers. He will come on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And the judge will be like vultures sweeping in on the corpse of human rebellion.” The Apostle John sees an angel. The angel is standing in the sun—not literally in the sun, but in this apocalyptic imagery an angel appears in the heavens with the sun to his back providing an almost ecliptic kind of appearance, an ominous appearance. And this angel has a very direct assignment: he cries with a loud voice to all the birds that fly overhead, "Come, gather for the great supper of God."

Now, you ought to underline that phrase, "the great supper of God," because it stands in stark contrast to the marriage supper of the Lamb that is discussed in chapter 19 verses 1-10. There in chapter 19 verses 1-10, the saints are called to come and celebrate with the Lord at

David Jeremiah, Escape the Coming Night, 206.9

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the supper. But here, sinners are called and condemned by the Lord for a bird feast, a vulture's banquet where they are the entree. And it is a great supper because all rebellious sinners on Earth will be present, and try as they might, there is coming a day when there is absolutely no escape for those who have rejected the offer of grace and salvation that God has extended to the nations through faith in Jesus Christ.

Secondly, there will be no discrimination. It says there in verse 18 that they will come “to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders." You say, "Well, that's great, I'm not in that group." Read the rest of the verse: "and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great." When Jesus comes again to judge this world, social status or rank will not exempt you from the judgment. Indeed, you will stand before him, as every man will stand before him, giving an account for why it was that you rejected the gracious, generous offer of salvation that God put before you in the person of his Son. Scott Duvall, a wonderful scholar at the Ouachita Baptist University, says it this way: "Everyone will participate in one of two eschatological feasts. The righteous joining in the wedding supper of the Lamb or the wicked becoming the feast at the great supper of God. God will judge the wicked from every social category. Social status or rank will not be enough to exempt the ungodly from the judgment." So the Bible teaches us a day of universal righteous reckoning is coming. Everyone will be held accountable for their rejection of the Lamb.

Finally, number three, King Jesus will defeat the enemies who oppose him. I believe the battle of Armageddon is noted several times in the book of Revelation. We get additional information in the two prior accounts: Revelation 14:14-20 and Revelation 16:12-16. As Chuck Swindoll has well said, "The battle of Armageddon will be a disappointment, because it will be over in a flash. It will last but a moment." Indeed, Swindoll says it like this, "Let's cut to the chase. Before anyone on Earth can utter the word 'Armageddon,' the battle will be over. When God determines the end has come, it is curtains." Martin Luther's wonderful hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” I think, helps us here when he tells us and leads us to sing, "One little word shall fail him." And that's exactly what will happen when the sword comes out of the mouth of the returning Son of God.

And here are two things that will occur: First of all, Jesus will capture his enemies. The beast of Revelation 13:1-11, I believe, is a reference to the Antichrist. The beast and the kings of the earth with their armies are gathered to make war against him who is sitting on the horse, and against his army. Verse 20 says, “And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet, who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image” (Rev. 19:20 ESV). And so you have the two great enemies of God noted here in chapter 19. I would add, the third great enemy of God, Satan, is introduced at the beginning of chapter 20 so that you have this unholy trinity

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once more brought together. Satan, who counterfeits God the Father, Antichrist, the beast from the sea who counterfeits God the Son, and the false prophet, the beast from the land, who counterfeits the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

I don't care what your eschatology is. We can all agree that that type of theological dynamic is going on. Well, here, they are captured, it says, by the one that is on the white horse. But let me just make one quick reference here, one quick observation: It says of the false prophet, who in the presence of the beast, had done signs by which he had deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who had worshipped its image. This is just a reminder, brothers and sisters, that not everything that appears to be a miracle is a miracle. And secondly, not everything that is a miracle is necessarily a miracle from God. Always check the source. Always see who gets the glory, and I'll just state this simply. If anyone gets the glory other than King Jesus, mark it down. It is a miracle that did not come from God. Well, interestingly, these are the first two inhabitants of eternal hell, described here as the Lake of Fire. I'll just note, in passing, there is not a hint of annihilationism in these verses.

So, he will capture his enemies and then, finally, he will slay his enemies. Look at what it says in verse 21: "And the rest, they were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds, they were gorged with their flesh." The late John Phillips says it so very well: "Then suddenly, it will all be over. In fact, there will be no war at all in the sense that we think of war. There will be just a word spoken from him who sits astride the great white horse. Once he spoke a word to a fig tree, and it withered away. Once he spoke a word to howling winds and heaving waves, and the storm clouds vanished and the waves fell still. Once he spoke to a legion of demons, bursting at the seams of a poor man's soul, and instantly they fled. And now he speaks a word and the war is over. The blasphemous, loud-mouthed beast is stricken where he stands. The false prophet, the miracle-working windbag from the pit is punctured. And still another word, and the panic-stricken armies reel and stagger and fall down dead. Field Marshals and generals, admirals and air commanders, soldiers and sailors, rank and file, one and all, they fall. And the vultures descend and cover the scene."

David Platt sums it up well, I believe, in his message on Revelation 19: "What a powerful picture of Christ, on a white horse, Faithful and True, the Righteous Judge, the Messianic Warrior, who sees all, knows all, judges all, crowned with diadems and shrouded in mystery, he comes to conquer God's enemies once and for all to end the history of the world with the revelation of God's word. To rule the nations as he brings the wrath of God upon this world dominated by sin and Satan, of this one there can be no question. He and he alone, he is the King of kings and he is the Lord of lords."

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The King will return. It is my prayer that all of us in this room are indeed ready and rightly and properly waiting. There is an empty tomb in Jerusalem. And because there is an empty tomb, there is an ascended Lord. And because there is an ascended Lord at the right hand of the Father in Heaven, there is a King who is coming again.

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About the Authors

Danny Akin Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Dr. Danny Akin currently serves as the President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and is a Professor of Preaching and Theology. Dr. Akin and his wife Charlotte have

traveled to Sudan, Turkey, Middle East, Kenya, Asia, Central Asia, Thailand, India and Paraguay serving students and missionaries and helping share the gospel. Dr. Akin has been married to Charlotte Akin since May 27, 1978.  They have four sons who all currently serve in

the ministry.  They also have 3 daughters-in-law and 12 grandchildren.

Matt Carter The Austin Stone Community Church

Matt Carter serves as the Pastor of Preaching and Vision at the Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, Texas, which has grown from a core team of 15 to over 8,000 attending each Sunday since he planted it in 2002. Matt has co-authored multiple books including a commentary on the Gospel of John in The Christ Centered Exposition Commentary series

and two group studies, Creation Unraveled and Creation Restored, which traced the gospel message through the book of Genesis. He holds an M.Div. from Southwestern Seminary and

a Doctorate in Expositional Preaching from Southeastern Seminary. He and his wife Jennifer have been married for over 20 years, and they have three children, John Daniel, Annie, and

Samuel.

H.B. Charles, Jr. Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church

Since 2008, H.B. Charles Jr. has served as the pastor-teacher of the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Florida. Prior to joining the Shiloh Church, he led the Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church of Los Angeles for almost eighteen years. Succeeding his late father, he began his pastorate at Mt. Sinai at the age of seventeen – a senior in high

school. He is the author of several books, including It Happens After Prayer, The Difference

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Jesus Makes, On Preaching, and On Pastoring. He is also the host of the OnPreaching podcast. He is married to Crystal, and they have 3 children.

Ligon Duncan Reformed Theological Seminary

Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III is the Chancellor & CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary and the John E. Richards Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology. He served as Senior Minister of the historic First Presbyterian Church (1837) in Jackson, Miss. for 17 years

(1996-2013). He is co-founder of Together for the Gospel, Senior Fellow of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (having served as both Chairman of the Board and

President), and was President of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals from 2004-2012. Duncan served as the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America (2004-2005). He studied at Furman University, Greenville, SC (BA); Covenant

Theological Seminary, St. Louis (M.Div., MA, cum laude); and the University of Edinburgh, Scotland (Ph.D.). Duncan has edited, written, and contributed to numerous books. Ligon

and his wife Anne have two teenagers and they reside in Jackson, Miss.

J.D. Greear The Summit Church

J.D. Greear is the pastor of The Summit Church, in Raleigh-Durham, NC and author of Gaining by Losing (2015), Jesus, Continued…(2014), and Gospel (2011). God has blessed The

Summit Church with tremendous growth. Under J.D.'s leadership, the Summit has grown from a plateaued church of 300 to one of more than 8,000. J.D. has also led the Summit to

further the kingdom of God by pursuing a bold vision to plant one thousand new churches by the year 2050. In the last ten years, the church has sent out more than 370 people to serve on

church planting teams, both domestically and internationally. J.D. completed his Ph.D. in Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary where he is also a faculty member,

writing on the correlations between early church presentations of the gospel and Islamic theology. He and his wife Veronica live in Raleigh, NC and have 4 kids: Kharis, Alethia,

Ryah, and Adon.

Johnny Hunt First Baptist Church of Woodstock, GA

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Dr. Johnny Hunt has been the pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia since 1986. Dr. Hunt served as President of the Pastors’ Conference of the Southern Baptist

Convention in 1996. He also served as President of the Southern Baptist Convention for the terms 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. He received his BA in Religion from Gardner-Webb

College and MDiv from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is married to Janet, and they have two daughters and four granddaughters.

David Platt International Mission Board

Dr. David Platt is the President of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. He previously served at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary as the Dean of Chapel and Assistant Professor of Expository Preaching and Apologetics, Staff Evangelist

at Edgewater Baptist Church in New Orleans, and eight years as the Senior Pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, AL. He has traveled extensively to serve alongside

church leaders throughout the United States and around the world. He holds a Bachelor of Arts, (B.A.) and Bachelor of Arts in Journalism (A.B.J.) from the University of Georgia, and a

Master of Divinity (M.Div.), Master of Theology (Th.M.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the founder of Radical, a resource ministry, dedicated to serving the church in making disciples of all nations. David and his

wife, Heather, have four children, Caleb, Joshua, Mara-Ruth, and Isaiah.

Afshin Ziafat Providence Church of Frisco, TX

Afshin Ziafat is the lead pastor of Providence Church in Frisco, TX. Before taking his current role in October 2010, Afshin spent over a decade traveling nationally and internationally

proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in churches, retreats, camps, conferences and missions. Afshin helped launch Vertical Bible Study at Baylor University in Waco, TX. He also partners with Elam Ministries and has traveled into the Middle East to train Iranian pastors. He received his undergraduate degree in history from the University of Texas at

Austin and an MDiv in Biblical Languages from Southwestern Seminary. He and his wife, Meredith, currently reside in Frisco, TX, along with their daughters, Elyse and Ansley.

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Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary seeks to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by equipping students to

serve the Church and fulfill the Great Commission.

www.sebts.edu