Jeff Durbin || Jesus Is The Promised Messiah

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If you would, please open your Bibles to your Old Testament, the book of Isaiah, chapter 53.

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Isaiah, chapter 53. As you get there,

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I'll remind you that this was written over 600 years before the life and ministry and death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus.

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We have actually a copy of the entire scroll of Isaiah that was found in the area of the

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Dead Sea in Qumran that predates Christ by about 200 years. And so what you're looking at before you now, we have an actual scroll that was found buried with all of this, exactly as it is, about 200 years before the time of Christ.

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And the reason I mentioned that is because as I read this, you will see that it is so clearly

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Jesus as Messiah that people were arguing before this particular scroll was found in the late 1940s, people were arguing that there was, this was some interpolation.

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Somebody put this in about Jesus into the scrolls of Isaiah after the time of Christ because nobody could get this much right and predict this much before the time of Christ.

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And then of course, in the providence of God, this little shepherd boy named Muhammad was throwing rocks into caves in the area of the

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Qumran. He heard something crash or break and so they went down. And then you have, of course, the famous discovery of the

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Dead Sea scrolls and inside there was an entire scroll of the book of Isaiah. And so what

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I'm reading to you now, written about 600 years or more before the time of Christ and we have an actual scroll you can look up online.

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You won't be able to read it, but you can look it up online that predates Christ by about 200 years.

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Isaiah 53 verse 1, hear now the word of the living and the true

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God, who has believed what he has heard from us and to whom has the arm of the

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Lord been revealed for he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground.

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He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him.

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He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and as one from whom men hide their faces.

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He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

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Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions.

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He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed.

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All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the

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Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent so he opened not his mouth.

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By oppression and judgment he was taken away and as for his generation who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people and they made his grave with the wicked and with the rich man and his death although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.

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Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief.

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When his soul makes an offering for guilt he shall see his offspring.

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He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hands.

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Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous and he shall bear their iniquities.

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Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors.

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Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.

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Thus far as the reading of God's holy and inspired word, let's praise God's people. Lord, this is glorious and powerful.

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What an obviously divine thing.

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Your word is in so many ways incomprehensible, God. Lord, we confess we're creatures and there's no way for us to plumb the full depths of this incredible story of redemption.

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Thank you for these promises. And Lord Jesus, thank you, our God and Savior, for fulfilling all of this, that you were crushed for our iniquities.

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By your wounds we are healed, that you make intercession for us, that you are numbered with the transgressors, that you poured out your soul to death, and yet you prolonged your days.

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You rose again. God, we pray, Lord, for this message today. You'd get the teacher and preacher out of the way.

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I pray, Lord, that people forget me and remember here what they've learned from you and your word and your spirit.

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Please speak by your spirit mightily today. In Jesus' name, amen. So again, we're in our core doctrine series, working through what

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God has put down as a foundation in many ways for us as a church body, about 15 years as a church plant.

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Many of you have been here since the very beginning, and so there's so much that's going to be proclaimed from the pulpit today that you know and you know well, but there's so many new members of our body that we believe it would benefit to lay down those core foundations.

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How has God used this body in so many powerful ways to transform the world in so many lives?

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How? I can assure you it's not through amazing pastors, it's not through superstar pastors or something special in us in terms of the leadership of this church.

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What God has done to transform the world in so many ways has come from his truth, from his word, from specific core doctrines and essential doctrines, and so we're starting this core doctrine series to lay down foundations because we believe those foundations, those truths are what have to be underneath a solid and biblical, healthy church that will be used by God to change the world for the glory of Christ.

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And so we started again with the Trinity because what is more foundational than that question of who is

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God? I mean that's everything, isn't it? We're telling the world this is the one and only true living

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God, we're telling our children this is who God is, this is who made you. You need to follow him with your heart, soul, mind, and strength, love him with everything.

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You need to obey his commandments. What's more foundational than who God is? And so we started with the doctrine of the

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Trinity, God is triune, and then we did a message on how does that story of redemption actually look even more powerful when you consider that God is

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Trinity, that there's a triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the

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Father choosing a people in Jesus Christ, predestining them, giving them to Jesus, saying save them,

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Jesus voluntarily condescending, laying down his life, representing those people, dying for their sins, conquering the grave, risen and ascended,

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Jesus saves his people, he'll lose none of all those that the Father has given to him, and the Holy Spirit of God, he comes into the life of the believer, opens their eyes, raises them to spiritual life, indwells them, is their guarantee of that future inheritance.

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It's a beautiful story of redemption. So the next step, I believe, the next step,

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I believe, is to get to the next question, what are we preaching to the world? What are we proclaiming to the world?

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When we say Jesus is Lord, when we say that he is the Savior, we need to answer some,

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I think, pretty important questions, like a question like, how in the world do you know that?

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Because it feels true to you? Because you were raised in a Christian church? Now that doesn't say much,

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I mean, yes, the Christian church is a great benefit to the world, it's Christ's bride, praise God for God's church, not diminishing the value and the power and the glory of Christ's bride.

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What I'm saying is, is that's no ultimate test for truth, your experience and my experience, because we could line up on this stage representatives from a host of man -made religions.

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Bring the Buddhist, bring the Taoist, bring the Hindu, bring

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David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, bring the Latter -day Saint, bring the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, bring the

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Rosicrucians, bring the Christian scientists, bring the Muslims, bring them all up on stage, and you will have some of the most powerful testimonies of how their religion, how their

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God has transformed their entire lives, people that are dedicated and devoted to their religion.

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And so, personal experience in something is no ultimate test for truth. It can be valid if the

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God is true, if the system is actually true, if it is actually true, then yes, your personal experience is true and beautiful and lovely and powerful.

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I don't want to diminish that in the least bit. Christ saves sinners. This room is full of transformed people, people who are one direction, who had a heart that was one way, locked on to certain things, and all of a sudden, eyes open, heart transformed, and they're the other direction.

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Many of you would testify like me. If it wasn't for Christ saving me, I'd be dead, without question.

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And so that personal experience is beautiful, but it is no ultimate standard for truth. And so I'm going to challenge all of us.

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This question of Jesus as Messiah, Jesus as Lord, is so vital.

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Again, think about just the claims of Jesus, just the claims of Jesus. The famous one that we all know,

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I hope you know it, John 14, 6, I am the way and the truth and the life, no man comes to the

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Father but by me. You have to consider the nature of that claim.

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There are a lot of competing religious claims, a lot of gods that want their day in court.

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They want to take the stands. A lot of religions will say, I don't like that claim of Jesus, I like the ethical system of Jesus.

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I mean, I saw recently Elon Musk, who I actually happen to like a lot, thank God that he took over Twitter.

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Elon Musk saying that he loves the Christian ethical system, that you love your neighbor as you love yourself.

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He loves the Christian ethical system, that you turn the other cheek, that you don't focus on retribution.

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And so, in so many ways, people will actually say, oh, I actually appreciate the message of Jesus. Jesus is lovely.

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Jesus taught to pray for your enemies, love your enemies, love your neighbor as you love yourself.

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Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. People love the message of Jesus. In those respects, how you love others and respect the image of God, all of humanity, people love that.

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But when you get to the actual claims of Jesus, where he says he's the judge of all the earth, and then he's returning to judge the living and the dead, that's where people turn off.

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But we can't take Jesus part way. Jesus, of course, you know the famous one as well from C .S.

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Lewis, I think it's, you couldn't say it better, with the claims of Jesus. Jesus is either

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Lord, liar, or lunatic. That is to say, in the modern, you would say

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Jesus is either a con man, a mad man, or he's

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God, God incarnate. There's no middle space there.

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You can't say, well, I like the ethical claims of Jesus, so I'll take those, but I won't take his exclusive claims.

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You can't do that with Jesus. Because if you say, no, he's not actually

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God in the flesh, he didn't die, he didn't rise from the dead, he's not actually Lord, he's not the promised

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Messiah, but I like his ethical system, that means he was a mad man or a con man.

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You want to follow him? You want to follow the ethic of a con man or a mad man? Now just fill it out a little bit more.

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What do I mean by mad man or con man? Jesus makes exclusive claims. He claims to be

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God in the flesh. He says that unless you believe that he is Yahweh, unless you believe

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I am, ego eimi, you will die in your sins. He claimed to be

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God in the flesh. People worshipped Jesus, worshipped him as God.

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He took the prerogatives of God and told people their sins were forgiven.

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Jesus showed his power over all of creation. He walks on water, turns stones, he can turn, he can multiply fish and bread.

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Jesus can turn water into wine. He shows that he has control over his whole creation. He gives legs to the disabled, touches the eyes and they're healed, raises people from death to life.

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And so we can't take the claims of Jesus and say, oh, I like his ethical system, but I don't like these claims over here.

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You can't do that. Because if he's not God, if he's not the Messiah, and he thought he was, he's crazy.

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Let's say it like it is. If he's not what he claimed to be and he really thought that he was, then he is a nutter.

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He's a crazy person. Just like the guy walking down the street right now as you go home screaming at the sky.

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An actual crazy person, self -deceived, or Jesus is like many of the religious con artists in history.

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Men like Joseph Smith Jr., an actual liar.

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If you study the life of Joseph Smith Jr., you'll see without question that the man was a known con artist, a known manipulator, a known liar.

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I believe with all of my heart, the man knew with all of his heart that he was lying through his teeth.

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You can look at the book of Abraham and what we know he lied about in terms of being able to translate reformed

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Egyptian hieroglyphics. Nobody knew he was lying at the time, but he knew he was lying. And now we know for certain he was lying through his teeth.

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For what reason? Many of the same reasons that many cult leaders do what they do, fame, fortune, women.

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So Jesus is either God in the flesh, a madman, or a con artist. You can't go in any middle space there.

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And just consider now, I want you to hear it with your own ears to talk about the stakes. Go to John chapter three.

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Luke, John, chapter three. This is a famous section of scripture. Most of you already know a piece of, even if you're new to the

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Christian faith. Just consider the claims of Jesus here.

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John chapter three, verse 14.

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This is in Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus. In verse 15 it says that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

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For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. That whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

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For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

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Whoever believes in him is not condemned. But whoever does not believe is condemned already.

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Because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world.

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And people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his work should be exposed.

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But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

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Is it true? Is it true? I mean, just consider.

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We walk to this text together as God's people. We know who Jesus is. And you hear these claims and they fill your soul with joy and light.

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But sometimes I don't think we, we don't peel back and consider that if any one of us stood behind this pulpit and made these claims about ourselves, you'd be laughed to scorn.

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Nobody would respect a person just walking down the street making these claims. So why do you believe this about Jesus?

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Why? We need to see this question with new eyes. It's important to have the answer.

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Just consider a couple more things in terms of the message of the apostles in the early church in Acts chapter 17, 31.

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The apostle Paul is in a famous setting at the Areopagus, Mars Hill.

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Famous setting. It's the historic place of philosophical debate and discussion. There's a lot that happened there.

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And the apostle Paul there confronts the idolatry of his generation.

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And he says that the father has raised Jesus from the dead, that Jesus is going to judge all the earth, and that you better repent and believe.

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That was the claim of the apostle Paul. That God has raised him from the dead, and that's God's proof that he is who he claimed to be, and that Jesus is going to judge the world, and you had all better repent in a hurry.

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That was the message of the apostle Paul. Or just consider 2 Corinthians 5 .10.

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You can write that down. Go look at it later. Very clear statement in terms of what does the Christian faith teach?

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Let's not pull punches. Let's not use smoke screens. Let's not diminish the claims of Christ in the

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Christian faith. The apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5 .10 says we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

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That's where scripture puts Jesus. Did you know that? There's one God. Only one God. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, we've done that, but scripture talks about Jesus being seated on the throne, and that Jesus is going to judge.

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That's a claim of the Christian faith. Can't stand in the middle of anything else. That's it.

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So my challenge to you is this. Number one, do you believe him?

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And number two, can you defend why? Why have you dedicated your entire life to Jesus?

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One more thing. Consider this, that Jesus has massive crowds.

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You know this is one of my favorites, because this is what God used to convert me, truly.

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Jesus has massive crowds coming to him, and he turns and he becomes the leader of the church shrinkage movement.

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Massive crowds. Massive crowds. And he turns around and he says to a massive crowd that could have truly benefited him, humanly speaking, in a worldly way of thinking, and he says to them, if anyone comes to me and does not hate, and then he names your favorite people, mother, father, sister, brother, wife, name your favorite people.

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Jesus says, if anyone comes to me and does not hate. That doesn't mean morally hate or unethically hate, like as in anger or hostility towards, but in terms of loving them more than me.

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He says this, you are not worthy to be my disciple.

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If your wife is more important to you than Jesus, you're not worthy to be his disciple. If your mother and father are more important to you than Jesus, you're not worthy to be his disciple.

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And then Jesus takes it and he moves it one step forward. He says, if you come to him, you must take up your cross to follow him.

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And today, admittedly, we have no idea what that means. I mean, we know what this means.

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If you've seen the Passion of the Christ, you know about the brutality of crucifixion. You know that. You've heard the stories.

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That's not what I mean in terms of, I know what that cross means and what happened. I'm talking about in that day, they got it.

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They were familiar with someone walking down a road, being whipped, carrying a wooden cross.

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They knew that carrying a cross ended in one place, death. There's no way out.

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Sentence has been given, you're going to die. And people could see this. It's a horrible way to die.

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A horrible way to die. And Jesus says, not only do I have to be more in your life in terms of your commitments and your love than anybody else, or you're not worthy to be my disciple.

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He says, you must take up your cross to come and die to follow him.

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And if you don't count the cost, don't come. These are claims of massive proportions.

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Jesus isn't saying, I want a piece of your life. If you could just add me to your life, like as an accessory, that's all

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I want from you. If you would just give me a chance. Jesus simply says, it's all of me or none of me.

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Come and die or don't come. Those are the claims of Jesus. So let's not mince words about it.

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It's exclusive. It's one way. It's all of you. It's everything.

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That's the message of the Christian faith. That's what Jesus says. My question is this, do you know why you believe that?

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Because let's be honest, those are some pretty big claims. Do you know why?

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Now here's where it gets a bit challenging. And I confess, for all of us, it becomes challenging.

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You hear about those claims. You see this amazing revelation and it's so big and powerful and complex and everything ties together and there's so much to it.

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It can be overwhelming. I confess that. It's overwhelming to me. Matter of fact, I'm 46 years old and the more

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I learn about the Bible, the more I realize I don't understand and don't know. I'm 46 years old and the more

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I walk with Jesus, the more I'm aware of my own sin and my own weaknesses, my own failures. This book,

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I have barely, barely begun to touch, barely. Your favorite theologian hasn't got maybe 1 % of this book down.

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That's the truth. It's that powerful. And so it can become overwhelming. And so when you see the apostle

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Peter, who once betrays Jesus, now goes to his death saying, he's alive from the dead.

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He's worth everything. He's God. He is the savior. He is the only way. When you see this man in 1

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Peter 3 .15 saying to set Christ apart as Yahweh, as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to give a reasoned defense, an apologia, an apologia, a reasoned defense for the hope that is within you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence, it can seem daunting,

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I confess, because the average Christian will simply say, I'm no

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James White. I mean, Dr. White is out of his mind.

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He schedules debate tours where, like, one day after another, he's debating, like, top representatives of another religion on completely different subjects.

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He'll do them days in a row. It's like, how do you fit that much information in that bald head?

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I know he's watching right now, so he can't do anything about it. It's true.

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It's amazing. And you see people like that. You see the famous apologists in history, men like Dr.

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Greg Bonson, a man whose shoulders I stand on. You look at the mind of a man like that and you say, how did you do that?

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How did you, how did you get so much together and collect all this and be able to make it all coherent so you could defend in such an amazing, robust way?

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And you look at that and you think, I'll never be like that. And the truth is, yeah, for most of us, that's exactly right.

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However, this is your savior. You're making the claim that he's

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God and that he's the only way to salvation. You don't get to make those claims and not be able to defend that truth.

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It is spiritual and intellectual laziness to simply say,

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I'll leave that to the experts. Because in fact, God says in 1 Peter 3, 15, that all of us, all of us must always be ready with a reasoned defense to everyone who asks us a reason for the hope that is within us.

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Yeah, do it with gentleness and reverence. And so my question to you, to each of us, is do you know why you believe this?

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Moms, yes, you need to be apologists. You need to be able to defend your faith, especially moms.

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Now culture would say, you guys are old school patriarchy, weird stuff. You've got the dads protecting and providing the family, mothers building homes, you know, only raising heroes and all for the next generation.

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You're just a mom kind of thing. You know, moms are like, I don't know if I can be an apologist or I can defend the Christian faith.

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You better know how to, moms. Why? Because who's doing most of the teaching and discipling of your children in the daytime when dad is away providing for the family?

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Who is laying the foundation for your children to provide a defense for the Christian faith?

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Let's be honest, it's mostly the moms, amen? Like if you're homeschooling in here,

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I hope it's not the dad staying home all day long and homeschooling. If that's the case, please call your pastors.

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We'd like to have a conversation. But I hope that it's the moms who are doing most of the homeschooling at home.

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And if you're homeschooling and you're a mom and you're saying, I can't be an apologist, I'm not going to engage in that, then where are your children going to fundamentally get it on a regular basis?

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Yes, dads are going to do it, but you have all the time with them. You need to be able to defend your faith.

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So can you, moms, explain to your children why you believe that Jesus is the

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Messiah? Because they're going to ask those questions they probably already have. And so I'm going to come down here for a second.

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So I want to ask, give you the opportunity to do it. So right now,

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I want you to tell me why you believe, give me one reason why you believe that Jesus is actually the promised

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Messiah. Raise your hands so we're not all talking at once. I want someone to give me a reason. I'm challenging you on the street.

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I'm telling you Jesus isn't the Messiah. I don't believe that he is. And so I want a reason.

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Give me a reason as to why, as to how you know Jesus is the Messiah. Go ahead and stand up, sir, and say it nice and loud.

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You got to be way louder than that. You got to be way louder. Okay, that's good.

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We'll stop there. So the evidence of the empty tomb. Okay, so you can go that route. You can say, this is a historical fact, can't really be denied that there's a historical reference to there's an empty tomb.

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You could demonstrate that. You have, of course, people in history you can pull from. You can pull from Josephus, Flavius Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny the

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Younger. You have all kinds of other, Suetonius. You can look at other resources. As a matter of fact, you're exactly right, sir.

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Even the greatest skeptics of the Bible today will say, yes, Jesus is an historical figure, and they'll admit to the fact that, yeah, the tomb was empty, the empty tomb.

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Okay? All right. Let's do another one. Let's start on this side and go over here. Yes, nice and loud.

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You got to stand up and you got to have a Charles Spurgeon voice. He fulfilled every

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Messianic prophecy. Now, oh, oh, you don't get away that easily. Give me one.

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You got to be louder than that. You got to, with your guts, like over here. Okay.

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He's born of a virgin. Very good. Thank you, sir. Okay. What else? I'm challenging you now.

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I'm saying, I reject Jesus as Messiah. He's not the Messiah. Why do you believe he's

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Messiah? Nice and loud. Very good.

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And the suit makes it better, beautiful. So very good.

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So the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 says exactly that. The Apostle Paul was first a skeptic.

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He's hostile to the Christian faith. He doesn't believe in the Christian message. He's rounding Christians up. He says in Galatians that he persecuted the church and he tried to actually destroy it.

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You might know about the experience on the road to Damascus where the Apostle Paul has his eyes opened. He sees who

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Jesus truly is. He takes a beeline right to the synagogue and immediately starts doing what?

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Defending that Jesus is the Messiah on the basis of what? From the scriptures.

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He's going to the synagogues using the scriptures to prove that Jesus is the Messiah. But later on in 1

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Corinthians 15, it says exactly that point. He says that Jesus appeared alive and he names some people and ultimately to himself.

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And he essentially says, if you don't believe me, there are over 500 eyewitnesses to his resurrection.

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And he says essentially during a time where hostile witnesses could be brought forward against this message, this claim to the resurrection, he says some of these witnesses are alive to this day.

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In other words, if you don't believe me, go ask them. All right?

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So let's do some more. Why do you believe Jesus is the Messiah? Yes, nice and loud.

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No, you got to stand up. There you go. Way louder.

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You got to. There you go. Okay. Very good.

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So you can take. Thank you. So more from personal experience thing. Okay. But someone says, well,

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I reject your experience. And by the way, I also reject the claim that I am naturally born a sinner.

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I think I'm doing all right by myself. I think I'm a good person. I'm proud of the person I am. I do good to people.

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I just gave some guy at the gas station 50 cents because he said he was trying to get home to his wife that needed eye surgery or something.

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It was some, you know, I'm a good person. I give, you know, I try to take care of people. I, you know, I gave a homeless guy a sandwich once and that was nice.

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You know, I'm trying to be good to my wife. I think I'm a good person. I reject that Christian message and I actually,

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I reject your experience. Okay. So do you have more? Come on now. A room full of Christians at Apologia.

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I need some more. Why do you believe Jesus is the Messiah? Nice and loud. You're in a good spot to just yell it right out.

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Okay. Okay.

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So you're appealing to the old Testament scriptures from the book of Psalms. Psalm 22 is a

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Psalm written about a thousand years before the time of Christ. And this is the Psalm that historically Christians have pointed to that actually describes the passion of the

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Messiah. In other words, the Jewish people were singing that song for about a thousand years before Jesus and it had meaning of course to them, but they couldn't have possibly understood its meaning until they saw the fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

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The story of the Messiah's death and resurrection, by the way, and his work in the world, all the families of the earth will return to worship

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Yahweh is right there in Psalm 22. Let's do one more. One more. Why do you believe Jesus is

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Messiah? Yes. Can you be super loud? Good.

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Very good. No, that's good. That's good. In terms of verifying something in historical narrative in the

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Bible, the flood, yeah, there is global evidence for the flood. Amazing evidence for a global flood.

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Stuff that just perplexes the secularists and humanists and those who reject biblical history.

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They have a lot of challenges with geology and we know, of course, that geology is what it is because of what

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God did with the global flood. That definitely is something you can point to in terms of demonstrating that the narrative in Scripture about the flood is something that actually happens, but let's do one more.

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One more on how we know Jesus is the Messiah specifically. Yes. Yeah. So, there is absolutely good validity to that.

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I think you have to tie it to something, has to be connected to something that's objective and true.

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So, the transformation of the world through Jesus and people's lives personally, transforming the world and cultures and all the experience people have had in history with Jesus is meaningful, but I believe that it's only meaningful if it's tied to something objective like God's revelation.

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Because if we detach it from God's revelation, well then we could have the Muslim come in here and say the same thing, right?

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I mean, how many Muslims are in the world right now? A lot. As a matter of fact,

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Muslims are growing, outgrowing other cultures by a landslide in terms of having more babies.

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I mean, if you go to London right now and some parts of London, it doesn't even look like London anymore. If you go to Dearborn, Michigan, you'll think that you got dropped off in Afghanistan or something like that.

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So, they're growing rapidly and transforming the world with their religion. And so, if it's not tied to something objective, you're going to lose the ability to have the philosophical or apologetic punch.

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So, you guys ready? There you go. So, the old school apologians already know where I'm going and I constantly want to put this before you, and I'm honestly upset that not many of you said it, and I'm just joking.

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We need to know how to defend this. So, years ago, I came up with a way, a system we could put together in our heads so we can coherently put this out to explain why we believe that Jesus is

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Messiah. Now, by the way, I am barely, barely going to scratch the surface today. I am barely going to nick it in terms of all the messianic prophecies of Jesus as the

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Messiah. When I first heard the gospel, when

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I first heard the gospel, I knew nothing about the Christian faith except bare bones, basic stuff in terms of,

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I knew there was someone named Jesus, people said he died and rose again, and that he was coming again.

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I knew the basic stuff. I didn't know anything about really the identity of Jesus, what the Bible was about. It sat on my parents' stereo wherever we were at in the world, and it collected an inch of dust wherever we went.

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We never cracked that thing or read through it, so it was a mystery to me. And so when I first heard the gospel,

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I received a couple things from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. I received a cassette tape, the kids are like, a what, a cassette tape, and it had just a bunch of Bible verses in songs so you could memorize them.

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I received a copy of the Gospel of John, and I received a book from D. James Kennedy.

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And all the book was, was messianic prophecies fulfilled in Jesus, and what I loved about this book, what

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I loved about it, is that the book itself didn't actually have any explanation of anything.

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It didn't have a bunch of writings from the author, all it was was just a little booklet, it was not comprehensive, but it was a lot of messianic prophecies fulfilled in Jesus.

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It was just the Old Testament prophecy, the New Testament fulfillment, it was just the Bible verses set alongside one another.

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And I was blown away, 16 years old, made a profession of faith in Jesus, and I did say, well,

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I really need to know whether he is the Messiah, how do I actually know that he is, can I prove that, and that book blew me away.

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I was on fire after reading that book, I was like, this is the truth, it's unavoidable, nobody can stop this, and I couldn't shut up in school about it.

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But I got in trouble in school a lot for talking about Jesus and reading the

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Bible in class. I was just on fire, I couldn't believe that the world didn't see this, didn't know this, how could you, how could you avoid this glorious story?

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Messianic prophecy after messianic prophecy fulfilled in Jesus. And so, my question is, is

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Jesus the promised Messiah? And my answer is, what? Most definitely,

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M -O -S -T, messianic prophecies fulfilled in Jesus, the original life of Jesus, the symbols fulfilled in Jesus, and the transformation of the lives of the apostles, people today, and the world itself.

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Most definitely, so if you're thinking, I don't know how to do all this, I gave you a bit of a cheat sheet, okay?

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Most definitely, messianic prophecies fulfilled in Jesus. We had a couple mentioned there, but I want to point you to something in terms of, this is how

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Jesus did it. This is how Jesus did it. Now, I'm not going to read the whole section to you, you can read it later, but in Luke chapter 24, you know it's one of my favorite scenes,

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Jesus is now alive from the dead, there are some people on the road that are very confused because they just saw him now murdered on that cross, and dead people don't just come back to life, and so they are scared, confused, dismayed, they don't understand what's going on, and Jesus is now alive walking next to them on that road, and they can't believe what's happened.

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They were so sure he was the Messiah. They were confident that he was the one.

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They knew about his miracles, they saw his righteous life, they saw his love, they saw the truth, they saw him raising people from the dead, they saw all of that, and now he's dead, and dead people don't come back to life.

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They saw Jesus raising somebody to life, well that's powerful, but now he's dead.

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How is he going to come back to life? And so they're confused, and Jesus confronts them.

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In Luke 24 -25, he says this to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken, was it not necessary that the

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Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory? Stop for a moment.

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What is the center of his chastisement? What is he rebuking them for?

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Not for what their eyes see. He's rebuking them because they should have known.

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He's challenging them, he's saying, you've got the Bible, you've got the scriptures, why are you so slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken?

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Here's my point. Jesus bases this upon the fact that God already told you this.

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This is in God's word. You have God's word in front of you. This should not have confused you.

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The scriptures said that I was going to die and rise again. Why are you so confused about that?

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Why are you a bunch of sad saps? The Bible said this was going to happen. Why are you so confused?

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And Jesus chastises them for what? Being foolish and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

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Here's what it says. And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

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What an epic Bible study, amen? To be there at the feet of Jesus after the resurrection and having

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Jesus take you through the Bible to show you everywhere that the prophets had spoken about him, that had to be powerful.

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I don't know how long that took because there was a lot of content, but it says that he did it. And that's powerful.

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So is Jesus the Messiah? Most definitely. Messianic prophecies. And I assure you once again,

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I am barely, barely, barely nicking the surface here. When I mention messianic prophecies, what

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I like to do here is speak to specific prophecies. Prophecies that point directly to Jesus.

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I'm talking about prophecies written hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus comes into his earthly ministry.

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Hundreds of years. Books that were written down by different authors in different geographical locations with distance between them in time, writing down God's revelation through the

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Holy Spirit. There's no way they could have put this story together. They weren't even connected in time.

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And they're prophecies that are specific and direct. Prophecies like where is the Messiah coming from?

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And this is one of my favorites. When is the Messiah coming? Who is the

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Messiah? What is the Messiah going to accomplish? And how is he going to accomplish it?

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The messianic prophecies, the where, the when, the who, the what, the how. I'm just going to give you a few, a few of them, and I'm going to challenge you later to get more on your own.

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Fill up your toolbox with scriptures that demonstrate the divine nature of this story of Jesus.

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Let's start quickly with the where. Micah 5, verse 2. It's interesting.

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It's interesting. Because Micah 5, 2 is kind of a dual prophecy in my mind.

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Micah 5, 2 gives you a prophecy hundreds of years before Jesus that tells you where the

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Messiah is going to originate from. Where he's going to come from. But it tells you more. Not only does it say to Bethlehem, out of you will come.

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It's a prophecy of the Messiah. But it says, and his goings forth are from old, yea, even from everlasting.

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He is from eternity. So you have location and identity right there in Micah 5, 2, long before Jesus comes.

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Now this is powerful also. Think about it. Think about it. Jesus did take some heat, did he not?

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Jesus did take some heat when now he's in his ministry now. He's overcome Satan and temptation in the wilderness.

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He's out in his ministry doing amazing things. Teaching the gospel. And they're like, hey!

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We found the Messiah! We found the Messiah! It's Jesus of Nazareth.

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And Nazareth is this nothing little place. Nothing. You've heard me say before that not very long ago, skeptics and critics of the

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Bible used to mock the Bible at that point saying Nazareth didn't exist in history. It's a made up place.

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Couldn't find it on the map. Couldn't find it anywhere. Because it was a nothing little place. Nothing special ever happens there.

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It's probably not very beautiful. Maybe it's kind of ugly. Maybe it's, you know, not the place you really want to visit to go to a good place to eat.

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Maybe, you know, it's like Apache Junction, okay? I'm joking. Or Tucson.

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Anytime someone says, hey, you want to go to Tucson, I'm like, not in a million years.

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By the way, ReformCon's in Tucson next year. It really is. You're going to see me walking around with a gist of the whole time.

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That face. Sorry. A little excursus there on how I feel about Tucson.

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Tucson. But you have to notice the humble origins of Jesus.

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When they can't fathom that this messianic king who's going to rule the entire universe and the world, who's going to sit on the throne of David, who's going to transform everything, who's going to bring the families of the earth to worship

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Yahweh. Are you kidding me? He's from Nazareth? Like stop playing.

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It can't be. From Nazareth? So everyone knows it's Jesus of Nazareth. That's a little bit confusing though, because it says that the

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Messiah was going to come from where? Bethlehem. And isn't it just so interesting that it just so happens that the pagan world decides to do a census right around the time of Jesus' birth.

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And so the reason that Jesus is born in Bethlehem is because providentially this pagan government wants to have a census and so where does

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Joseph have to go with Mary? He has to go back to his original hometown, which is where?

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Bethlehem. And so the Messiah had to come from Bethlehem. That's where Jesus was born.

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That's where they initially spent time. And then they flee and the rest of the story you know.

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But Micah 5 too. How about the when? This is one of the most delicious sections of scripture.

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Go to Daniel chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9. Now I can promise you this. I am not even going to begin to unpack this passage right now.

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I have done a sermon on it. It's somewhere online. I think I did two sermons unpacking Daniel chapter 9.

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There is so much here. I would love to spend days.

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But let's just start it. Daniel chapter 9. This is the time of the Babylonian captivity.

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Daniel has been in prayer. He's been agonizing over the situation of Israel. This is hundreds of years before the time of Christ.

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God, listen, up to this point God has made so many promises.

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So many promises. Isaiah was written before this was.

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So many promises. They know the Messiah is going to come from Israel. It's going to be

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David's seed. Abraham's going to have descendants as numerous as the stars. All the nations are going to obey this

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Messiah. The families of the earth are going to return and worship Yahweh. The Torah is going to go forth from the people of God.

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Isaiah chapter 2, he will establish justice on the earth. He's going to be all these things to the world.

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And now they're in captivity in Babylon because of their sin. So Daniel is agonizing and he's praying.

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That's the context. Hundreds of years before Jesus. Now here we go. Daniel 9.

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The angel Gabriel. I love that. By the way, I love, love, love, love that. I love that.

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Do you love that? You don't even know why I'm saying it, most of you. I love that.

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Hundreds of years before Jesus. It is the angel Gabriel that shows up to tell

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Daniel that the moment you started praying, I was sent to tell you this.

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And here's what is going to happen with the Messiah. Here is when he's coming. Who was the angel that shows up, that shows up in Jesus' life?

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Who is the angel? The angel Gabriel. I wonder if like Gabriel, do angels have those kinds of emotions?

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Are they like on pins and needles? Like, yeah, yes, yes. It's almost, are they excited like that? I wonder.

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We'll find out one day. Are they like really emotional? I don't really know. Do they get giddy and excited? I wonder.

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Because Gabriel tells Daniel, this is what's going to happen. And then he shows up in the ministry of Jesus and the life of Jesus and makes the announcement.

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The angel Gabriel. I love that. OK, Daniel 9, 24. 70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city.

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Listen. Listen to what's going to happen. To finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity.

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To bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place or the most holy.

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There's disagreements on how that should be translated. I think to anoint the most holy is the best.

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I think that's about Jesus. Know, therefore, and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and rebuild

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Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks.

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Then for 62 weeks, it should be built again with squares and moat, but in troubled times. Now, again,

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I can't unpack all that for you. But let me just tell you, it is powerful and glorious. And you can count down literally to the day, to the day of Jesus coming into his ministry.

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It's a powerful thing. But listen. And after the 62 weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing.

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The word there, cut off, is the same word used to describe a violent death, a violent death.

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The anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.

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Its end shall come with a flood. And to the end, there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.

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And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week. And for half of the week, he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering.

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And on the wing of abomination shall come one who makes desolate. And so the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.

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I am resisting all the temptation to unpack all this, because it is absolutely, undeniably amazing in terms of the timing things that happen here.

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And they fit with the life of Jesus, the covenant that Jesus makes. It's an amazing thing.

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But here's what you need to grapple with. Daniel 9, hundreds of years before Jesus. There's no way out of this.

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It says that what's going to happen is this, end of sin, finish transgression, atone for iniquity, bring an everlasting righteousness, seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint the most holy.

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All right. Jesus makes those claims, doesn't he? What does he say as he's dying? He says what? It is what?

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Finished, makes an end of sin. Did Jesus atone for iniquity? Well, a few of you believe that.

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Did you know you were in a Christian church right now? Did Jesus bring an everlasting righteousness?

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Yes. Now, you might be saying, OK, how does this exactly fit,

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Pastor Jeff? Well, I'll tell you as simply as this. When, listen, if you don't know your Bible's history, it's

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OK. I'm going to bring you into it right now. When Daniel wrote this, when Daniel wrote this, the

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Jewish temple is gone. It is destroyed. There is no

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Jewish temple. It's destroyed. That's also why he's lamenting. That's why he's grieving.

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The temple has been destroyed. So in this text, it says the anointed one is going to come and be cut off.

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He's going to die a violent death. And then the promise is made that there's going to be a next desolation, another temple destroyed.

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So what's this prophesying? Are you ready? Daniel is prophesying, or getting a prophecy here, about this.

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There will be another Jewish temple, and the Messiah is going to come and be cut off.

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He's going to die a violent death before that temple is destroyed. Brothers and sisters, when was the second

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Jewish temple destroyed? In full 70 AD. So in terms of the timing of the

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Messiah, are you ready for this, ultimate proof of the Christian faith and Jesus Christ as Messiah? Are you ready for this?

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The Jewish temple is destroyed and gone. If Jesus isn't Messiah, there is no

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Messiah. If Jesus isn't the Messiah, there isn't one. Because that Jewish temple has been destroyed.

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And you know, of course, about my story of bringing that to a rabbi that was hostile to the Christian faith at a public event.

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He gave an entire two -hour message on how we know Jesus is not the Messiah.

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He didn't touch any of the texts that Christians have used for 2 ,000 years to prove he is. And so I walked right up to him when it was over.

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I told him I appreciated him spending the time. But I asked him, I said, why haven't you, or why didn't you talk about any of the prophecies from the

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Torah or the Tanakh or any of the Old Testament books that Christians have used for 2 ,000 years?

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How come you didn't touch those verses? He said, I did all of them. I said, you didn't touch any one that I would use. He said, well, like what, young man?

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And I said, well, like Dano chapter 9. And I opened Dano 9. I showed it to him. It says all these things have to happen, end of sin, everlasting righteousness, atonement for iniquity, the

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Messiah has to be cut off, and then the second Jewish temple is destroyed. I said, rabbi, when was the second

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Jewish temple destroyed? He said, well, everybody knows it was destroyed in 70 AD. I said, right.

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I said, rabbi, if Jesus isn't Mashiach, who is? And he looks down at the text, looks up at me, looks down at the text, runs his finger through, turns the page a few times, and he says, give me your email and I'll get back to you on this.

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There's no way out. There's no way out. God tells us when the

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Messiah is coming. And he tells us not only when, but what's surrounding the coming of the Messiah is pretty significant stuff in the life of the

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Jewish person. Wouldn't you say an end of sin, everlasting righteousness, atonement for iniquity are a big deal to the

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Jews? And Gabriel says, this is what Messiah's gonna do, and he's gonna be cut off, and then the second temple's gonna be destroyed.

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Brothers and sisters, there's the ultimate proof of Jesus as Messiah is that he came on time and as planned, and he fulfilled everything the scriptures say about him.

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Amen? So is Jesus the Messiah? Most, just joking.

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I get that everywhere, right? Yes, okay, most definitely. Messianic prophecies, the where, the when.

01:00:03

Now, I love this, the who. Now, this ties so well together with everything we've been talking about the last couple of weeks, right?

01:00:12

Let's try the test now, ready? Please don't fail this one. If you fail this one, I'm gonna resign. How many gods are there?

01:00:19

One. Whew, okay, all right. No. Only one

01:00:24

God. None before, none after, the first, the last, the beginning and the end, only one God. None before me, none after me, one everlasting

01:00:33

God. That's fundamental to everything we believe. And hundreds of years before Jesus came, they couldn't have possibly understood this.

01:00:45

They couldn't have possibly fully comprehended this. But go to your Bibles to Isaiah chapter nine.

01:00:52

Again, I'll remind all of us that there is an entire scroll of the book of Isaiah from the

01:01:01

Dead Sea Scrolls intact and together that matches ours, all the other ones today.

01:01:13

And the person who wrote this is a monotheistic Jew. They only believe, like us, in one true and living

01:01:23

God. Okay? So in Isaiah nine, six, it says, for to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder.

01:01:36

Just stop for a moment there. Isaiah nine, hundreds of years before Jesus comes, we have a promise.

01:01:42

There's actually many messianic prophecies in the book of Isaiah. It's my favorite because it's just chocked full of them.

01:01:49

But it says this, a child and a son. Well, what is the nature of a child and a son?

01:01:57

A human. We're talking about a human being here. Now they understood that.

01:02:03

David's son, the seed of David, the seed of Abraham. He's one of us. He's an

01:02:08

Israelite like us. Of course, he's gonna come as a son. He'll be a baby. A human being like us.

01:02:16

Okay, so that's not hard to understand. That's expected. We believe that. That's how all of our prophets have come.

01:02:22

Like the rest of humanity, just like us. 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

01:02:32

Wonderful Counselor. Pause, that's a bit confusing. Why are we using exclusive titles of Yahweh for this coming messianic king?

01:02:46

Why is Isaiah, who's a monotheistic Jew, saying there's a son coming and a child coming, who is Wonderful Counselor?

01:02:51

And you go, wait, hold on just a moment. We're Jews here, we're monotheists. Those are titles for Yahweh.

01:02:58

Why are you using them for this child and this son? But it gets worse. It gets worse.

01:03:05

It says next, Mighty God, El Gabor.

01:03:10

El Gabor. Now brothers and sisters, El Gabor is a pretty exclusive name.

01:03:17

El Gabor is what Yahweh is called just a page later. Yahweh, El Gabor, the

01:03:24

Mighty God. So pause, you're telling me, hundreds of years before Jesus comes as a monotheistic

01:03:29

Jew, that a son is coming, a child is coming, that the government's gonna be upon his shoulder, he'll be the king, he'll rule and reign, and he is

01:03:38

Yahweh? Yahweh, God Himself, Everlasting Father, the

01:03:50

Father of Eternity, 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

01:04:06

Lord of hosts will do this. Now pause for a second here. If we're talking about the identity of the

01:04:11

Messiah, who is the Messiah, you can't get much more exclusive than Yahweh Himself.

01:04:18

There is only one true and living God. And it says the son who's coming, the child who is coming to be given is

01:04:25

Yahweh, El Gabor, the Mighty God. So when we talk about messianic prophecies fulfilled in Jesus, we know where He's coming from.

01:04:38

We know when He's coming into history, what's gonna surround His coming. We know who the

01:04:43

Messiah is. And just quickly go to Isaiah 53. I read through that in full, so we wouldn't do it through this sermon.

01:04:54

I read through it in full at the beginning of the message because I wanted to read it all in your hearing. I can't unpack it all in this sermon, but I wanna point you to something.

01:05:06

In verse three, it says, he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

01:05:11

And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.

01:05:20

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions.

01:05:32

He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was a chastisement that has brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed.

01:05:39

What's that saying? It is this powerful vision of the future where it's saying that this messianic king is gonna come and there's nothing about him, no beauty, nothing's gonna attract you to him.

01:05:51

Kind of like just some guy from Nazareth, some lowly guy, no red carpet laid out before Jesus in his earthly ministry.

01:06:00

They don't have money in their ministry. Jesus has to feed his followers with a miracle. It's not

01:06:05

Benny Hinn. It's not Kenneth Copeland with a private airplane and private airport at his house, not fat bank accounts.

01:06:15

When the Messiah comes into the world, it even says, foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

01:06:26

There's nothing about Jesus. That's why they didn't like it. What are you saying? You cannot be the

01:06:31

Messiah who rules the world. The government shall be upon his shoulders. Of the increase of his government and the peace, there will be no end.

01:06:39

And you're saying you, Jesus of Nazareth, this little nothing of a man from Nazareth, that you're the ruler of the world?

01:06:47

You've gotta be kidding me. And Isaiah said exactly that. It's exactly how

01:06:54

Jesus was gonna come into the world. But here's what's even more powerful. It says this. It says, we esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.

01:07:03

Now, take us all into the scene before the cross. Before the cross that day, what were they doing to Jesus?

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Abusing him, reviling him, mocking him. I mean, essentially like, if you're the

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Messiah, if you're so powerful, you're the ruler of the world, you're the seed of David, you're gonna rule all the throne, you're dying on a cross now.

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And they're basically saying, all right, if you've got all the power, come on down. Like, if you're gonna rule the world, come on down.

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They thought that he was being punished for his own sins.

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At the cross, they were saying he was a false Messiah and that he was being punished rightfully in their minds by God.

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But what did Isaiah say? We esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions.

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He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds, we are healed.

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And this is one of my very favorite parts of this. There's so much here, but this.

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All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

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So the Messiah is not just gonna be someone who comes to rule the world as some military leader.

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And that was the problem. They wanted somebody who was gonna rule the world militarily, rule with an iron rod and iron fist and stomp the

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Roman domination. That's what they wanted. They don't like a lowly

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Messiah, a friend of sinners and tax collectors. They don't want somebody that can bleed like Jesus.

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They don't like him. They want someone more mighty than that. They want someone with more prestige than that, more power, more money than that.

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But Isaiah says, this is why he's coming. He's pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities.

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And what's it say? Yahweh lays on him the iniquity of us all. That's who

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Jesus is. But as you continue to read Isaiah 53, you'll see Isaiah 53 clearly says in verse eight that he's going to be stricken for the transgression of God's people, that he's gonna be cut off out of the land of the living.

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So listen, pause. Luke 24, he challenges and chastises what? The disciples on the road for not believing what the scripture said about him.

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They're like, how can the Messiah die? How does he die? The text says he was gonna be cut off out of the land of the living.

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That's why Jesus can say, why are you slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken?

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Because Isaiah 53 says he's gonna die. And then it says in verse 10, that he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days.

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That's a death and that's a resurrection. That's why Jesus said they're slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken.

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Why are you being so foolish? This is what was prophesied. Now there's more here in the text, but that gives us the where, the when, the who, the what.

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And finally, Psalm 22, which was read in your hearing today. I love how Tim does it with passion.

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In Psalm 22, we'll end here for today. And yes, you're gonna get more later, but there's just so much more to the story

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I want you to know. In Psalm 22, and many of you could do this part of the sermon for me,

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I hope. If you could, if you can, then hopefully

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I've done my job right as your pastor. Psalm 22. Psalm 22. Now you're looking at what the

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Jewish people had as their songs.

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They sang these in worship. They taught these to their kids. Do your kids have any songs they memorized?

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Moms, do you have like a bedtime song you sing to your kids, dads?

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Any ones your kids can immediately just go right off and start singing that song? Famous family songs.

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These are our worship songs as we know as a family. My family has some, they're mostly Elvis gospel hymns, but that's because it's just playing on rotation in my house.

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But listen, I want you to think about it in light of that. The Jewish people and their families and their tradition and their synagogues and their worship, they sang these songs and they sang them for a very, very, very long time.

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Psalm 22 is written about a thousand years before Jesus comes. Okay, are you ready?

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You've done this with me many times before, but it's important to get the weight of it. If I were to say amazing grace, you would say that saved a,

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I once was blind, you know, I could just throw out any part of the song and you could just finish it for me because it is part of our tradition.

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It's what we know, it's instinctive. You hear it, you respond. You can get, you can attach the next parts because you're so familiar with it because you've sang it so much and you've heard it so much.

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All right, so here's how Psalm 22 starts. My God, my

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God, why have you forsaken me? That's how the song begins.

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Now, you see what you just did with me? With amazing grace, because of the Christian tradition you're a part of, you know that song back and forth.

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And you know what's amazing? Check this out. It's not just you that know it. It's so famous that you can go to a football game with a bunch of secularists and humanists and guess what?

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If someone started singing it out loud, the whole stadium could still sing it. It's that famous. They would start singing along.

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And here, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Is in, it's in their hearts and minds.

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They know the song. And Jesus on the cross says, my

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God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Now, he wasn't just singing that song.

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He was experiencing it in a way far greater than any

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Jew ever connected to that in history. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

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And listen, every Jewish person at the foot of that cross, mocking and reviling

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Jesus, should have finished the song. My God, my

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God, why have you forsaken me? Because if they had finished the song, if they would have started singing with Jesus, they would have been singing about what was taking place right in front of them.

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Here's what I mean. Verse six, but I'm a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people.

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All who see me mock me. They make mouths at me. They wag their heads.

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He trusts in the Lord. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him for he delights in him.

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Have you read the gospels? Have you read the story of the crucifixion? This is exactly what they say at the foot of the cross.

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This is exactly what they're doing to Jesus. If they had just finished the song, they would have realized that they were right in the midst of the fulfillment of Psalm 22.

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That song they had sang for so long. Yet you are he who took me from the womb.

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You made me trust you at my mother's breasts. On you I was cast from my birth and from my mother's womb you have been my

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God. Be not far from me for trouble is near and there is none to help.

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Many bulls encompass me. Strong bulls of Bashan surround me. They open wide their mouths at me like a ravening and roaring lion.

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I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. You've heard the story of the dislocation of the bones in crucifixion, suffocating because you can't pull up.

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My heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast. They literally pierced Jesus' rib through the side and the testimony of the witnesses, it was blood and water poured out.

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Medical people have examined that account and said that would have meant that his heart sac was pierced, literally melted within him.

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My strength is dried up like a pot shirt and my tongue sticks to my jaws. You lay me in the dust of death.

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For dogs encompass me. A company of evildoers encircles me. They have pierced my hands and my feet.

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They have pierced my hands and my feet. Strange, strange, really strange that we have a description here that matches crucifixion.

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Written about a thousand years before Christ, before crucifixion was even a thing. Before it was even a thing.

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They have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. Jesus' bones weren't broken, the criminals were next to Jesus.

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They stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and from my clothing they cast lots.

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So here you have this powerful display of the passion of the Messiah, about a thousand years before Jesus.

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And again, brothers and sisters, if they would have just finished the song, they would have realized they were singing in the midst of Psalm 22 being fulfilled right before their eyes.

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But I'm gonna give you some hope here. Psalm 22 is ugly in the beginning, isn't it?

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You lay me in the dust of death. I'm a worm and not a man. They pierce my hands and my feet.

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Dogs encompass me, they encircle me. Ravening and roaring, casting lots from my clothing.

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It's ugly, it's dark. Many of the Psalms are dark, super dark.

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But that's not where it ends. In verse 22, it says, "'I will tell of your name to my brothers.

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"'In the midst of the congregation, I will praise you. "'You who fear the Lord, praise him. "'All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him "'and stand in awe of him.

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"'All you offspring of Israel.'" Verse 27, "'All the ends of the earth "'shall remember and turn to the

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Lord. "'And all the families of the nations "'shall worship before you, "'for kingship belongs to the

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Lord "'and he rules over the nations.'" This Psalm goes from dark and depraved in terms of what they're doing to Messiah to turning to this glorious truth.

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The Messianic King is gonna rule the nations. All the families of the earth are gonna return to worship

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Yahweh. And I love to do this. I'm not gonna tell you to look at your neighbor and say something to them, but I want you to consider the room before us right now.

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How many of us are Jewish by birth or ethnicity? How many of us are physically descended from Israel in this room?

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Not many. How many of us are from the tribes and tongues surrounding the world in one room right now, worshiping and loving the

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Lord God of Israel because of Jesus, the Messiah? All the families of the earth shall return and worship

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Yahweh. I love the different colors in this room. Don't you? I love the diversity of the tribes in this room because it shouts to us that Jesus is in fact the

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Messianic King. He is the one that fulfills all the prophecies. He is doing what

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God said that he would do and putting all of his enemies under his feet and bringing all the tribes, tongues, peoples, and nations to return to Yahweh.

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Isn't it a glorious thing? Yes? Isn't it powerful? So is Jesus the

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Messiah? Most definitely. There you go. Praise God. We win. Okay, good. Most definitely.

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Next week, I'll pick up on the next part of the acrostic to make sure that we're all equipped to define and defend how we know

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Jesus is the Messiah. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for your goodness to us. I pray, Lord, that you would allow us all to fall more deeply in love with these truths and to,

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Lord, store them up in our minds and our hearts so we could tell the world about how glorious you are,