The God Man (Part 3)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. This is the second part of our message on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. We're going to be looking at Luke chapter 5 in just a moment, so turn there if you're not there already.

The God-Man and the Outline of Christ's Life

Luke chapter 5. Last week, we began by pointing out that Jesus is the God-man. Jesus is the God-man. So while there is one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, is one person but with two natures.

There is the human nature and the divine nature. So while Jesus the man had a beginning nearly 2 ,000 years ago when he was born in Bethlehem, Jesus, the divine Son of God, has no beginning or end. As the scripture says in Micah chapter 5 verse 2, his goings forth are from old even from everlasting.

Last time, we began with this outline of the life of Christ. So if you began taking notes last time, you can add to them. But last time, we began the story of Christ or the life of Christ with the Annunciation.

Then the nativity of Jesus, followed by his circumcision as one born under the law. We looked at Jesus at age 12 when he was in the temple. And we pointed out how basically we know nothing about Jesus from age 12 up until about age 30 when he began his public ministry.

And even before that, before Jesus ministers among the people, we saw his baptism where he was anointed by the Holy Spirit, followed by his 40 days in the wilderness where he was tempted by the devil.

Jesus then began his teaching ministry. And do you remember what Jesus proclaimed? He proclaimed that the kingdom of God was at hand. Jesus healed, performed signs and wonders, which authenticated the words that he spoke.

However, from very early on, Jesus faced opposition and persecution, mainly because he challenged the preconceived notions about who the Messiah was supposed to be. That as well as his rebuke of Jewish unbelief and his indication that the grace of God would be brought to the Gentiles.

So this is where we pick up this morning where Jesus is now calling his first disciples. In this early period, he is preaching around Galilee where he recruits his first followers who began to travel with him.

Men who would go on to form the core of the early church. All right, Luke chapter five, we're all turned to Luke chapter five. We see Jesus calling his first disciples here. They were what? Fishermen.

They were just average, common, ordinary men. And Jesus puts on this display, this miraculous display where they catch more fish than they had ever probably seen before. Luke chapter five, starting in verse seven.

So after this catch of fish, this miracle says, so they signal to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink. And when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus's knees saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man.

Oh, Lord.

The thing about Peter that we know he's going to go on to become the leader, or at least the spokesman of the 12 apostles. And whatever Peter knew at this moment, we're not really sure how much he understood.

But he understood this much. He understood that Jesus was Lord, that Jesus was holy, and that he wasn't. That much he understood. And really, that's all it initially takes to become a follower of Christ, that we recognize that he is Lord, that he is holy and righteous, and that we are not.

If you can accept that, then you can become a follower of Christ. So Peter responds with humility, Lord, depart from me. I'm a sinful man. And Christ honored that. It says, do not be afraid. Jesus says this to Peter, do not be afraid.

From now on, you will catch men. So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed him. Wouldn't that be amazing that you could go up to someone and tell them about Jesus? And they just forsook all to follow the Lord.

So the first followers of Jesus were fishermen, average, ordinary men. And they include two sets of brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and his brother, Andrew, as well as another set of brothers, James and John.

Disciples and Apostles

Now, it's a common misconception to think that Jesus had only 12 disciples. That's not true.

That's not true.

Some people think he had 12 men, 12 disciples, and then maybe a few women. But that really wasn't the case at all. Jesus had many followers, many disciples who learned from him. And out of that larger group of disciples, now he commissions 12.

So this is the next point in our outline. So just understand this difference, okay? A disciple is what? A disciple is basically a student. He followed Christ. He learned from Christ. A disciple is basically a student.

Jesus had more than 12. So a disciple is a learner, a student. An apostle, though, is an official representative, one who is sent. That's what the word apostle means, one who is sent. A messenger, like we would think of as an ambassador who speaks with the authority of the one who sent them.

So here's the thing to remember. The apostles were disciples. They were students of Christ.

That's true.

But not all disciples were apostles. Jesus, out of that larger group of disciples, chose 12 to be apostles. So we use the term interchangeably among the 12, but the two terms do not mean the same thing.

All right, look at Luke 6. Skip over to Luke 6. Luke 6, verse 12. We'll start there. It says, now it came to pass in those days that he, that is, Jesus, he went out on the mountain or to the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God.

And when it was day, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose 12, whom he also named apostles. Simon, who is also called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon, called the Zealot.

Judas, the son of James, and last and certainly least, that's my added commentary, last and certainly least, Judas Iscariot, who also became a traitor. So this is the next point in our outline, the commissioning of the 12 apostles.

Jesus calls his disciples to himself, chose 12 to be his official representatives. All right, now let's turn to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew 5, this is going to be the next point, the teaching ministry of Jesus, the teaching ministry of Jesus.

The Sermon on the Mount and the Law of Moses

And we're going to get a summary of his teaching ministry by looking at his most well-known discourse, the Sermon on the Mount. Everyone loves the Sermon on the Mount, right? Very few understand it. So Jesus had this teaching ministry.

And what were some of the things that Jesus taught? Let me ask you this. The things that Jesus taught, were they completely new? Totally detached from the law of Moses? Or was there a continuity with God's previous revelation of himself?

Well, the latter is the case. So here in Matthew chapter 5, we see the Sermon on the Mount. And I think it goes unchallenged that the Sermon on the Mount is the most famous sermon ever preached. The sermon is recorded in Matthew chapter 5 through chapter 7.

Most people are familiar with it. I think just about everybody has heard of the Sermon on the Mount. However, much fewer have understood the overall point of the Sermon on the Mount. I just want to read to you one thing that I pulled offline.

And you know how this goes, right? Anything you pull offline or read online, you've got to take it with a grain of salt. More or less, this is accurate, though. It says, the Sermon on the Mount is the longest continuous discourse of Jesus found in the New Testament.

That's true.

And has been one of the most widely quoted elements of the canonical Gospels. That's also true. It includes some of the best known teachings of Jesus, such as the Beatitudes, the widely recited Lord's Prayer.

And the Sermon on the Mount is generally considered to contain the central tenets of Christian discipleship. Okay, so whatever you read or whatever you might think, whatever you hear about the Sermon on the Mount, many people fail to understand what Jesus is doing here in this sermon.

First of all, who is he speaking to? Yeah, he's speaking to Israelites. That does matter. Last week, I pointed out how Jesus challenged the Jews in their ideas about who they were and who God was and what God expected from them.

So the most important question of all is, what does God expect from you? How does one enter the kingdom of God? That's the most important question of all. How can we be saved? So Jesus is kind of laying the groundwork to answer that question.

Abraham, the Law, and Human Inability

So before we look at a few examples from the Sermon on the Mount, here's the problem. Okay, here's the problem. Abraham had received the promise of God. And the scripture says that Abraham believed God.

He was justified by faith. He believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Amen.

Do we agree with that? God gave the promise to Abraham. He believed and he was justified because of his faith.

That's good.

But the descendants of Abraham, this is the problem, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the children of Israel, overall, they failed to walk in faith, trusting in the promises of God. Promises which included the land that God said he would give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Make a long story short, God, because of their transgressions coming out of Egypt, God gave Israel at Mount Sinai, he gave them the Ten Commandments. God gave them his law. And what they failed to understand, number one, was their inability to keep it.

And then number two, that the law brought a curse because of their inability to keep it. So, the Jews, here's the problem, they believed they were righteous because God made a covenant with us and because we follow a list of rules.

Is that the same as our situation today? I think it is. There are many people who claim to believe in God, to believe in Jesus, and they think that they are righteous because they superficially keep a set of rules.

And I do this and I do that. I don't do that and I don't do that. Therefore, I am righteous before God. This is reflected any time you ask a stranger, you know, do you think you're going to heaven? Most people, if they believe in God and they believe in heaven and hell, they would say yes.

And you ask them, why do you believe that you are going to heaven? What's the almost universal response? The most common response, people say, I'm going to heaven because what? Because I'm a good person.

And that's basically what the Jews thought. We have a covenant with God.

We're good.

We follow the rules. Therefore, we're right before God. Jesus is trying to show them that is not the case. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Loris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, loriscornickchurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.