Why We Believe - Jesus is the Messiah

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Luke 24, starting in verse 1. Hear now the word of the living and the true

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God. But on the first day of the week at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.

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And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. When they went in, they did not find the body of the

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Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.

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And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them,

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Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.

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Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.

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And they remembered his words. And returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

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Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary, the mother of James and the other women with them, who had told these things to the apostles.

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But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in.

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He saw the linen cloths by themselves, and he went home marveling at what had happened.

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That very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.

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They were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together,

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Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

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And he said to them, What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk? And they stood still, looking sad.

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Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened here, there, in these days?

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And he said to them, What things? And they said to him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who is a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him.

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But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.

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Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.

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Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.

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And he said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

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Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory?

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And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the

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Scriptures the things concerning himself. Thus far is the reading of God's holy and inspired word.

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Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, as we come today to worship you and to hear your word and to study the glorious truths about your work in history, we pray that you would allow us to see.

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We pray that, God, by your Spirit, you would speak today through your word. You would open our eyes to the truth.

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You would embolden us in our faith and proclamation. We pray, Lord, that you would please get the teacher, the preacher out of the way and then allow everyone to remember what they've learned from you and forget me in Jesus' name.

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Amen. So why we believe. That's what we're doing right now, a series on why we believe.

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We did why we believe the Bible is God's word. We did why we believe in the

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Trinity. And now we are in a study on why we believe Jesus is the Messiah.

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Now, first, I want to say as we open up this discussion, this particular section of Scripture, I think, is one of the ones that I go to when

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I consider the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ and his kingdom and his work in history because this really separates the

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Christian faith from all other world religions in many, many ways that we have such a large message today.

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I can't go into all the details in terms of how distinct this message is, but this particular section gives us the history of what

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I think is the most incredible Bible study in the history of the world. Can you imagine being there for that?

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Jesus himself, the whole Old Testament is about Jesus. Yes, it's real history.

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Yes, it's God's story in history. Yes, this is real people and real history, real flesh and blood, real living, breathing human beings experiencing

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God's world and God's control of history. Yes, that's true, but all of the Old Testament is really

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God's story about Jesus who's coming. Even down to all the peculiar things they were being told to do, whether it was with dietary restrictions or this very strange activity of the priesthood and all the animal sacrifices and the temple being built and all the dress rehearsals that they were engaging in, all were really about Jesus.

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Everything was about Jesus. The temple was about Jesus. The sacrifices were about Jesus.

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The Passover was about Jesus. Even all of our heroes in the Old Testament, we have these four shadows in those heroes.

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They were really about Jesus. And so now we have the one that it was all about incarnate, now in flesh,

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God with us, God walking among us. He has just accomplished his victory over death and now he's walking along a bunch of sad saps that couldn't see it.

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They couldn't understand. I mean, just consider for a moment the jolt it would have been to see Jesus crucified, bloody, beaten, bruised, and destroyed on that cross.

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I mean, this is real life. I mean, this is why it says in the very text itself, the Bible doesn't lie about the failures and unbelief of all the heroes in Scripture.

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It doesn't lie about their lives. I mean, if you read Genesis, it's not very long. You're reading Genesis and you're like,

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I don't know if I should be reading this to my kids. I mean, there's some stuff in there. That's supposed to be funny. There's some stuff in there.

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You're explaining to your kids. You're like, was that right? No, that wasn't right at all.

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That was actually really bad. But the Bible doesn't whitewash the history of our heroes.

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It just tells the truth. And in this very story, we see that there was even doubt at the resurrection of Jesus amongst those who were following Jesus, the disciples.

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And why? Because these are real people. This is real life. People don't rise from the dead.

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They don't do that. They don't rise from the dead. And so they just can't feel it.

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They can't see it. They can't wrap their minds around the person they just saw, battered and torn and bruised and destroyed and murdered on that tree.

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They could not fathom that he could really come back from the dead again. And so it was something they just were in a moment of disbelief.

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And here's Jesus walking alongside the incarnate one. Everything the Bible was all about is summed up right next to them.

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And what does he say to them? He says, foolish ones, slow of heart to believe all, here it is, that the prophets have spoken.

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What does he anchor his indictment on them on? What's he anchored on?

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You've got the scriptures. You should have known the story and the glorious grace here in this moment is now the one that all those prophecies are summed up in actually gives them a

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Bible study going from Moses through all the prophets explaining all the places.

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Now, here's the thing. Listen, there are some great, great books on my shelf about the prophecies of Jesus and unpacking what the temple was all about and how it pointed to Jesus and the priesthood and the sacrifices.

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I mean, there are some great Christian teachers in history that have unpacked it in such a way as it gives you goosebumps.

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It truly does. It's shocking at times, like, how could someone not believe this? This is

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God. It's clearly divine. But can you imagine being there for Jesus to actually explain those details to you?

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It just had to be the most amazing experience those people had ever experienced.

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But you have to think about this for a moment in terms of how the Lord Jesus, when he comes back from the dead and he actually engages with some disciples who were actually, again, a bunch of sad saps, not seeing the big picture, not understanding, he anchors it in the

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Scriptures, the objective testimony of God in history,

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God's word testifying to what he was gonna do in the Messiah. So when Jesus actually is alive again, he points him back to what

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God had already spoken about him and his ministry. This is an important question because I have to ask you, why do you believe?

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Why do you believe Jesus is the Messiah? I noted at the beginning when everyone came in today and we started, there are some answers that Christians, well -intentioned, well -meaning

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Christians will give to this question of why do you believe Jesus is the Messiah? Now, I really want to direct this, of course, to all of us, but I want to challenge right now our kids.

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I want to challenge our children. I want to challenge our teenagers right now, especially those of you guys whose parents are deacons or pastors or you're raised in a

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Christian home. I want to challenge you right now. Why do you believe Jesus is the Messiah? You gotta really think about that because what will not save you in life is because mom and dad believe

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Jesus is the Messiah because this is my community I grew up in. I'm very comfortable with the Christian community.

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It won't save you. It doesn't make you a Christian. And when life gets difficult and there is cancer and there is death and there is disease and there is trauma and there is difficulty, because mom and dad say so is not a good basis for faith in Jesus Christ.

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It will not save you. It will not give you an enduring faith. And, as a matter of fact, just because mom and dad say something doesn't make it true.

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Is it the truth is the question we should all be asking. Why do you believe Jesus is the Messiah? People will say, because I know he is.

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Mm, right? I mean, that's really what that is. I mean, it amounts to kind of that, right? How come you believe

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Jesus is the Messiah? Because I know he is. I mean, really? I mean, couldn't we line up every religion in the world and each can give off that answer?

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They all believe in different gods. All believe in different religious texts. And is that really a coherent,

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Christian, philosophically cogent answer? Because I know he is. All right.

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Not a good answer. Not really a Christian answer. Not the answer of Jesus or the apostles.

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People often say, when asked this question, well, because of faith. Okay, yes, we have faith in Jesus.

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We trust in Jesus Christ. We trust in God's word. But I'm asking, why? Why do you believe

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Jesus is the Messiah? You can't simply say, because faith. I mean, we're not fideists.

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We don't believe in fideism. Just blind faith commitments. Foolish faith commitments.

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That's not the Christian worldview. That's not the Christian perspective. Because faith. That's not an answer.

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As a matter of fact, if you join us, if they ever open it again, which they're planning to do for the Christmas lights at the

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Mormon temple in Mesa, not far from here, to go do evangelism and love our Mormon friends and neighbors, to go give them the gospel.

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If you go with us, you'll hear them say things like, when challenged on why do you believe Joseph Smith's a prophet of God?

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Why do you believe it? They'll say things like, well, because I prayed about it. Because I have a burning in my bosom. Because I just believe.

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How are you going to counter that with, well, Jesus is the Messiah. Because I believe. That's not a coherent or Christian response.

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We should really repudiate that kind of mindset, to be honest with you. People will say, because I've had an amazing experience.

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Again, not a basis to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Don't do that. It's not

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Christian. It's not philosophically rigorous or cogent. It's not actually part and parcel to the Christian worldview.

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And the message of the Christian church for 2 ,000 years, saying I had an amazing experience. Now it may be true in your own personal experience that you have had an amazing experience knowing

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Jesus. I hope you have. And if you're a believer and you've experienced the miracle of resurrection, spiritual resurrection, regeneration, being joined to Jesus, then yes, you've had an amazing experience.

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You've experienced the divine. It's true. But it's not a cogent answer when someone says, why do you believe this?

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Because I've had an amazing experience. Well, you know, there's all kinds of people that do all kinds of depraved things that call them amazing experiences.

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I used to describe going out and doing drugs an amazing experience. Does that make it good?

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Does that make it true? Or how about the Mormon who says, I've got a burning in my bosom. How do you counter the claims of the

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Mormon, the Jehovah's Witness, the Muslim, or the person that is an Orthodox Jew when they say,

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I've had an amazing experience worshiping Allah. Or I've had an amazing experience in the

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Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. That is not a Christian answer. I've had an amazing experience.

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It's not Christian. It may be true, but it's not a solid answer. It's not the kind of answer that Paul would give or Jesus would give.

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It's not good, cogent, or biblically sound as an answer. It's not how

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Jesus did it. Again, after the resurrection and the road to Emmaus, Jesus points them to what?

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What the prophets had spoken. That's what they were missing. What happened in history with the

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Divine Son of God become man was a matter of historic record and it was a story that God had told long before it actually took place in history.

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It's not how the Apostles did it. When the Apostles engaged in the book of Acts with the world around them, with the message of the

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Gospel and the Kingdom of God in history, they did it in a different way than I have a good experience, or because He just is, or because I have faith.

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Let's go look at it real fast. Look at Acts, the book of Acts, chapter 9. You guys are all probably very familiar with this by now if you've been at Apologia Church for any length of time.

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Acts, chapter 9, is a great example of how the Apostle Paul engaged on this issue.

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In Acts, chapter 9, verse 20, after he had rose and was baptized, took food and was strengthened, he was with the disciples in Damascus, and it says in verse 20, and immediately he proclaimed

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Jesus in the synagogues, saying, He's the Son of God. And all who heard him were amazed and said,

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Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose to bring them bound before the chief priests?

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But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the

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Jews who lived in Damascus, but here it is, ready, by proving that Jesus was the

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Messiah. So here you have the Apostle Paul in direct engagement with the

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Jewish people who know their scriptures, and he's going right to the place where they're at, to the synagogues, engaging with them on this issue about Jesus as Messiah, and it says that he confounds the

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Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah. He proved it to them.

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He was arguing for the Christian faith, not just based upon personal experience. He was arguing for the fact that Jesus is the

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Messiah. Another example, just move over to Acts chapter 18, of how the church engaged the world after Pentecost.

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In Acts 18, 24, it says, Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus, and he was an eloquent man, competent, here it is, in the scriptures.

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He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.

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He began to speak boldly in a synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

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And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him, and he wrote to the disciples to welcome him.

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When he arrived, he greatly helped those who, through grace, had believed.

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For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the

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Messiah was Jesus. That's Christian practice. Not because I feel like it's true, or because I might say so, or because just blind faith.

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These early Christians were defending the fact that Jesus is the Messiah on the basis of the word of the living

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God. That's Christian practice. You can also see just in the

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New Testament itself, the argument being made in the New Testament is that Jesus is the fulfillment of all the

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Old Testament, everything that it was about, all that it was pointing to. If you look at the book of Hebrews, the whole book of Hebrews is about this particular point.

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Jesus is a better prophet, a better priest, a better king. Jesus is what all those things were pointing towards.

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Don't go back to the temple. That was about Jesus. Don't go back to the animal sacrifices. That's defunct now.

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It was all about Jesus. That was the argument of the early church, not I've experienced something amazing or just on blind faith.

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This whole story in history is about Jesus. That was the argument of the early church.

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If you look at the gospel according to Matthew, you can see, and I'd love to unpack this for a long time, but you can just see in the first couple of chapters that this is what they had their eye on.

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This was all about Jesus. Matthew opens his gospel with the genealogy. Most of us want to just skip right past that.

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It's beautiful. It needs to be there. It has to be there. In Matthew's genealogy, he's showing you that Jesus has the right to the royal throne of the

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Messiah. All of this was going towards Jesus. Jesus, through Joseph, his adopted father, has the right to the royal throne.

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Matthew's telling you that story. He truly is the king of the world because he has this lineage.

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Then something interesting happens is Matthew's doing something that actually many Christians don't realize is happening in the text.

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That is he's showing that Jesus is the true and the perfect Israel. What Israel was supposed to be,

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Jesus actually is. There's just this amazing contrast between Adam, the first created, the first man, what he was supposed to do by taking dominion over the earth, what he was supposed to do by cultivating

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God's garden and spreading God's garden city around the world, he didn't do. He failed.

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He sinned against God. Jesus actually is the perfect Adam. He actually will have dominion from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth.

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Of course, you have that beautiful scene with Jesus after the resurrection. Where did the sin, where did sin in the fall enter into the world?

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In a garden. Adam failed. Jesus actually is raised in a garden, a garden tomb.

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And the first thing that happens when the woman comes is she mistakes him as the what? The gardener.

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Why? Because he was just hanging out. Because he was doing something that looked like gardening.

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So you see this beautiful story being played out. What Adam failed to do,

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Jesus actually accomplishes. What Israel was supposed to do by being obedient to God's law, by being the true son of God, Jesus actually accomplishes.

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Matthew knows that. And in Matthew, you see he's telling the story of Jesus that really happened, but he's doing it through the eyes of Israel.

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Whether you can talk about Jesus thereafter, his life, and he flees into Egypt. Or you can talk about Jesus in the wilderness with the 40 days and the temptation, and he has victory over Satan.

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Hey, where else do we know about a wilderness and the number 40? Oh, that's Israel's story. They wandered around in a wilderness, sinning and disobeying

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God. But Jesus is the true and perfect Israel. When he goes into the wilderness, he obeys the

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Father. He's perfectly obedient as the Son. So you see that Matthew clearly knows the story of Israel was really pointing towards what

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Jesus was going to accomplish. It's all there. Matthew also has that constant reminder when he points to a text something happened, and it would say this was to fulfill what was written in the prophets.

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So Jesus did something, and Matthew goes, that's because this said that this is what was going to happen.

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This whole story is God's story woven together in history. So the challenge to you is why do you believe that Jesus is the

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Messiah? Now I asked you when you came in today, I asked you why do you believe? I told you not to shout it out, but hopefully it's in your mind.

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And I want you to think about this. Strong, challenging thing. We don't often as Christians think about this, but we need to.

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It's very important. It's important for our proclamation to the world to be courageous with it, because if it is the truth, it needs to be told to every single person we can.

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It's important for our relationship with Jesus to know why we believe in him, because the stakes are so important.

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Here's what Jesus says, the Bible says about Jesus. In 1

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John 5 12, it says that whoever has the son has the life, whoever does not have the son does not have the life, but the wrath of God abides in him.

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Stop and think about that. If it's true, if it's true, then it means that every single person in this world who does not know

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Jesus, the wrath of God abides in them. And if you have

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Jesus, if you trust him, if you know him, you have life. The stakes are so serious, so high.

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Here's another claim of Jesus, just consider it when I ask you the question, why do you believe Jesus is the Messiah? Jesus says in John chapter 8, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.

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So who's that? Well, that'd be about everybody. Okay, that covers the whole human race, all slaves to sin.

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And Jesus said that if the son sets you free, you shall be free indeed. It's a bold claim. He says that he's the one that sets people free.

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Everybody is in bondage to sin, but Jesus Christ sets people free from their bondage to sin.

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The problem of the world is sin and rebellion against God. We are all slaves to sin.

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And Jesus makes the claim that he will set you free. It's not something, by the way, that any other prophet would dare to say.

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Pastor James mentioned that in last week's message about the Trinity. Jesus makes claims that would be blasphemous if he weren't

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God in the flesh. This is one of them. Another claim of Jesus, let's go to it to talk about why it's so important.

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John chapter 3, you all know this text. In John chapter 3, starting in verse 13, look at this.

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It says no one is ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the son of man.

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It's a bold claim. No one is ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the son of man.

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And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

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There it is again. What happens with Moses in the wilderness, with that serpent, and everybody who would look upon the serpent.

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Yeah, that's really, it's about me. Whoever looks upon me, who believes in me, he'll 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 because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God and this is the judgment.

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The light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

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For everyone who does not, who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his work should be exposed 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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These are bold claims. They are serious claims and I'll leave you with one more. John 14 6.

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I hope you have this memorized. Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes to the father but through me.

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Now let's be honest for a moment. Take a moment and come with me now. Think about this. These are bold claims.

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If I made them from this pulpit, you should leave here in a hurry and never come back.

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Any mere man making these claims deserves to be locked up, shunned, rejected.

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But Jesus makes the claims that he's the only way to be at peace with the father, the only way.

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That if you don't have him, you do not have life. If you don't have him, you're still in your sin.

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And it is true. I like how C .S. Lewis put it and I wouldn't agree with everything C .S. Lewis said of course, but he did say it well

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I think when he said Jesus is either lord liar or a lunatic. He either is who he claimed to be or he knew he wasn't and he was lying to people and he should be rejected or he thought that he was

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God in the flesh, thought he could save people from their sins, but he wasn't and he was nuts.

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But you can't put Jesus anywhere else. Lord, liar, or lunatic.

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His claims are too big, too strong, too powerful. So why do you believe that Jesus is the

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Messiah? The consequences are devastating. When we think about this question, when you think about the question first and foremost from the perspective of Jesus on the road to Emmaus when he points them to the prophecies and to the prophets and does this amazing, this epic bible study he takes them through Moses and all the prophets and talks about all the places that it was talking about him.

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That's because God separates himself distinctly from all other man -made religious systems and idols in that he can actually tell you the future before it happens.

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He says that he declares the end from the beginning and in his showdown with the idols in the book of Isaiah chapters 40 through 46, go read it later, he challenges the idols of men to tell the future.

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Go for it. Problem is his idols can't do a lot of talking and they don't control anything.

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So God challenges man -made religious systems by saying go ahead, have your God tell you what's going to happen.

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Now they can't because they don't wield history, they don't control anything. They are mute and dumb.

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They can't speak or control anything. And of course God says that he can also tell you the past and why it happened that way.

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When we think about the Old Testament, one of the unique things of Scripture is the fact that Scripture bases even a test of a prophet on the fact that the prophecy has to be 100 % fulfillment correct.

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Any failed prophecy means false prophets. In Deuteronomy chapter 18, the question is asked, how should we know the word which the

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Lord hath not spoken? And God tells him, when the prophet speaks in the name of the Lord and a thing does not come to pass, that is the word which the

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Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you shall not be afraid of him. That's a powerful thing.

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God's saying in his own word, he's saying in his own word, any false prophecy is an indication that you are a false prophet.

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And why is that so powerful? Because this revelation from God spanning hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years and locations with so many authors is chocked full of prophecy.

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And we think about Jesus, is he the Messiah? We need to think about it in terms of the prophecy of the

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Old Testament because that's what they rooted it in. So I've done this, many of you guys have heard this before,

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I've done this in a way to try to have it memorized by us as Christians. There are other ways to do this, but this is the way that I've put together, so you're stuck with me today.

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And the question is Jesus the Messiah, is he the Messiah?

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Is he the one who was promised? My answer is most definitely. Most definitely.

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M O S T Most definitely. It's an acrostic. The M stands for messianic prophecy and I would refer to this as direct messianic prophecy telling us the who, the where, the why, the what, the when of the

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Messiah. And the O in most definitely is the original life of Jesus that shows us that he is the one that was promised.

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The S in most definitely is the symbols fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And the

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T in most definitely is the transformation of his people and the world.

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And so let's do it. Are you guys ready for this? Yes? We're going to do the fire hose today, alright? So, messianic prophecy.

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The amazing thing about Jesus from the Old Testament is that I can give you the portrait of Jesus.

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We can paint that portrait. We can give you the picture of the Messiah without ever even touching the

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New Testament itself. I've told this story many times of the conversation I had with a Jewish girl many years ago at a hospital and I challenged her.

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I said I will show you that Jesus is the Messiah and I will do it from your book. From the

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Tanakh, the Torah. I will do it from the Old Testament. And she scoffed. You won't be able to do that. I said, I'll tell you everything you need to know about him as Savior and Lord by using the

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Old Testament alone. And she said, okay, deal. And by the end of the time we had together she was calling her mom saying,

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Mom, I think I'm believing in Jesus. So we know the who, the where, the what, the when, the why of Messiah from the

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Old Testament. I'm not going to begin to exhaust this today but let's do some of them right now.

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The who of the Messianic prophecy from the Old Testament. Go to Isaiah chapter 9. Isaiah chapter 9.

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The who of the Messiah. Now there are so many promises about the one who is to come but this is a specific identifier that is unique that demonstrates that only

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Jesus could be the Messiah. The Messiah has a particular identity.

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Now I want you to, as you're getting to Isaiah 9, remember this. In the book that you are looking at right now.

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This is the book that we use most often when we are doing evangelism say with, we talked about a lot today but you are in Mesa, Arizona.

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Welcome. With our Mormon friends and family. This is the text that we are in.

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In Isaiah you have so many amazing texts that demonstrate that there is only one

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God. The Old Testament is clear there is only one God. The Shema, Shema Yisrael, Yahweh Eloheinu, Yahweh Echad.

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Here O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Deuteronomy chapter 6. That was part of their morning and evening prayers.

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There is only one God. Isaiah 43 10. Before me there was no

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God formed neither shall there be after me. God says in Isaiah 44 6 and 44 8.

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I am the first and I am the last. Besides me there is no God. And God asks a rhetorical question.

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He says is there a God besides me? Indeed there is no other God. I know not one.

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He is the only God. There is only one God. He is God from all eternity.

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Psalm 90 verse 2. From eternity into eternity you are God. This very prophet as he is writing this book he fills it with testimony.

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He is the sovereign God. He tells you the future before it happens. He can tell you the past and why it happened that way.

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And he is the only God. And yet right here in Isaiah 9 6 through 7 we have this promise of the

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Messiah. And here is what it says For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.

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So what do we have? Stop and think. A child a son. That is a human. Humans are born child.

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They grow up. They come from their mother's womb. This is a human. A child.

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A son. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called

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Wonderful Counselor. Names of Yahweh in the Old Testament. And here it is.

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El Gibor. The mighty God. Everlasting Father is description of not his person like he is the father in heaven but he is the eternal one.

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The father of eternity. The prince of peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.

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Here it is. Messianic. 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

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Lord of hosts will do this. It's clearly Messianic. It's about David's throne. It's about the

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Messiah. It's a child. It's a son. And this is strange. It's the mighty God.

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How many gods are there? Come on now. That's an easy one. How many gods are there? There's only one

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God and the very next chapter it names Yahweh as El Gibor.

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And yet the one who says there's only one God says here the one who is actually going to have

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David's throne who's going to be a child and a son is the mighty God. The eternal one is coming on David's throne as a son and as a child.

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Now watch. There's only one God. Amen? Yes? So only

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God could be the Messiah because El Gibor is going to be the child and the son.

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So the who of the Messiah is kind of specific. Kind of specific.

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Now the where of the Messiah. Where is he coming from? This is powerful too. If you go to Micah 5 .2.

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Micah 5 .2. Small book. Small prophet. Minor prophet in the Old Testament. Micah 5 .2.

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We're going to be singing songs about this soon. Probably around my Christmas tree before Jason and Holly do.

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In Micah 5 .2 here's the text. But you what's the word?

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Bethlehem who are too little to be among the clans of Judah from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel.

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There's Messiah ship right there. Whose coming forth is from old from ancient days.

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So where's the Messiah coming from? Bethlehem. Oh little town of Bethlehem.

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What's interesting about the story of Jesus and you think about how God wields history. This is actually kind of a crazy thought.

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Mary and Joseph aren't in Bethlehem. They're somewhere else. But God actually through his providence has a pagan government call a census.

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So they're not in Bethlehem. Do you get it? And God directs a pagan government to have

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Joseph and Mary make their way all the way back to Bethlehem where lo and behold Jesus is born.

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God is sovereign. He even controls wicked governments and their taxes.

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But his goings forth are from old, yea even from everlasting. So the who, the where, the what of the

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Messiah. And I have to do this fast. I would love to do this forever today but I got to do it quickly today. Go to Isaiah 53.

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What is going to happen with Messiah? Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah 53.

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Now you have to actually start Isaiah 53 recognizing that the chapter and verse subdivisions are a later addition.

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So we can't just say well the discussion really starts in 53. It actually starts above it. Go to 52 13.

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Here it is. Behold my servant shall act wisely he shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted.

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As many as were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and his form beyond that of the children of mankind.

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So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him for that which has not been told them they see and that which they have not heard they understand.

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And here it is. Who has believed what he has heard from us and to whom has the arm of the 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 he was despised and we esteemed him not.

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What's interesting is that Isaiah is writing this about 700 years before the time of Jesus. There's only one

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God yet the son and child who's coming is El Gabor and now we have this beautiful description of Messiah who is rejected by men and he's despised and he is 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. That's what's so shocking to them about Jesus.

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When he enters in here's this lowly servant Jesus. Think about it.

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We found the Messiah he's from Nazareth and they're like can any good thing come from Nazareth?

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That's like the Messiah we found him he's from Tucson. I mean really.

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You get the point. It's out there. It's like saying the president of the United States was from Apache Junction.

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You're like how? Sort of on the outskirts. A small place. What's really going on there?

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It's not a very special thing. What do you mean he's from Nazareth? And that surprised them.

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And here you have Jesus and it shocks them because there's this portrait in the Old Testament of the

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Messiah. You have these different parts of his life and his ministry that admittedly would have been confusing.

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You've got Isaiah 53 where he's despised, he's rejected, he's lowly. God is putting the sins of God's people onto the

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Messiah. And you have in the same book Isaiah. The promise of the Messiah's kingdom that's victorious and all the nations are drawn to God.

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So they have almost like two sides of a face to look at Jesus. One broken and one beautiful and so when

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Jesus comes in half of them are going hey the Messiah's going to win the world to God, bring all the families of the earth to God.

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How is Jesus of Nazareth the king of the world? What? How? But the text tells you.

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It says he's despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.

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Now what's amazing here is what did the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem think and say about Jesus as he was being punished and brutalized and crucified?

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What did they think about Jesus? They thought that he was dying for his own sins.

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They thought he was being crushed for his own sins. They thought that he was a fraud and a false prophet and so the

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Jewish leadership in Jerusalem crucify him, crucify him. We have no king but Caesar.

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We want Barabbas. You take Jesus. And they're mocking Jesus on the cross because they think he's just a sinner.

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And the text in Isaiah 53 says about Jesus that they 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 this is powerful.

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And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. I'll stop for a second.

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There are some who try, I think, in a very weak way to say that this this isn't about Jesus.

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This is about the people of Israel. There's proof that it's not. The people of Israel can't take anybody's sins because they are clearly not able to.

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They are sinners. And it says that the Lord is laying on this one the iniquity of us all.

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And it says this, 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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And that's a beautiful picture of Jesus on the way to the crucifixion. By oppression and judgment he was taken away and as for his generation who considered that he was, here it is, cut off out of the land of the living stricken for the transgression of my people.

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Again, this can't be Israel dying for the sins of the world in some sense because Israel is sinful in themselves but it says here that this messianic person, this character here described for us, he is cut off.

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He is going to die for what? The transgression of God's people.

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Messiah, who is the king of the world, who is going to draw all the families and nations to God who is going to rule over God's kingdom, he is going to be cut off.

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He is going to die a violent death out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of God's people.

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He is going to die for the sins of God's people. And they made his grave with the wicked and with the rich man in his death.

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Jesus, of course, yes, was crucified amongst common criminals. Jesus was, of course,

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I think it is valid to bring it up, he was buried in a rich man's tomb although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.

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Again, there is proof, again, this is not Israel. Israel has done lots of violence and there was lots of deceit in their mouth.

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But yet this one who is coming, who is despised, he is pierced through for our sins, our transgressions.

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The Lord lays on him the iniquity of us all and he has done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.

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He is sinless. This one who is coming, who is going to be cut off from the land of the living for the transgression of God's people, he is sinless.

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And this is powerful and this is where you have to draw out of this for a moment and get very, very personal. Yet it was the will of the

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Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. Do you ever stop to think about that?

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It was the will of the Lord to crush Jesus for you. You really have to take that in, brothers and sisters, because you can get from a place of theological, abstract, out there stuff and miss the

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Father's love for you. Now I've brought this up often when I read this particular passage.

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I have three sons. Three sons. And I have to be honest.

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I love you all so much. I would give up my life for you as the call of a shepherd.

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But I couldn't give up any of my kids for you. Isn't that the love of a father?

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Right? But it says it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief.

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The Father loves his people so much that he crushed his son for you.

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That is a mind -boggling, divine, incomprehensible incomprehensible love that we will spend eternity plumbing the depths of.

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And it says here, when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days.

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Wait. What? On the one hand, he's cut off out of the land and living. And in the very same text as he's pierced through for our transgressions, and it says the

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Lord lays on him the iniquity of us all, it says when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring.

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He shall prolong his days. So he's going to die for the sins of God's people, but he'll see his offspring and prolong his days.

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What do you have there? The death and the resurrection of Jesus. All that story in Jesus.

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And it says the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied.

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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 spoiled 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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That's Jesus. That's Jesus. So the who, the where, the what?

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How much time do we have? Doesn't matter. Let me do one more.

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Psalm 22. I think this is an important one. We did read it at the, or Jerry read it at the beginning here of our service.

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And I want to just, as you get there, I want you to think about this just for a moment, because I think this is one of truly the most powerful, beautiful things.

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There is so much depth. It's like an onion. There are so many layers. I could honestly do,

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I could do this until midnight, right? I mean, I'm telling you the truth. I could legitimately sit here. You want to?

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No, it's okay. We could do this until midnight. There are so many layers. It is so incredible and beautiful.

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I want to try something with you real fast. So let's do this together as an experiment. Okay? Amazing grace that saved a...

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Very good. I once was lost, was blind. Very good.

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How great... Oh, I thought I sounded bad. I thought, maybe

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I am a good singer. No, I'm just kidding. I cannot sing at all. But you see, watch.

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I start the verse and you know the Christian song, and you could finish it.

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All I did was give you a couple words and you started singing back, just on the basis of a few words.

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I want you to consider for a moment that when Jesus was crucified, when He was dying on that cross and suffering for our sins, that there were

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Jewish people encompassing Him. And they were in synagogue.

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They were raised in synagogue. And do you know what their hymnal was? Their song book? Psalms. The book of Psalms.

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And I want you to remember, there's this moment on the cross where Jesus is surrounded by the Jewish people who know their song book.

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They have these memorized the same way you have Amazing Grace memorized. And Jesus says very few things.

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But on the cross He said, My God, My God, why have you, what?

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Forsaken me. And at the foot of the cross was a congregation. And when the lyrics started pouring out of Jesus' mouth, if those

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Jewish people at the foot of the cross had finished the song, they would have sung

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Psalm 22. And here's what it says. My God, my

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God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning?

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Oh my God, I cry by day but you do not answer, and by night but I find no rest.

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Yet you are holy and thrown in the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted.

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They trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued. In you they trusted and were not put to shame.

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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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Isn't that incredible? If you know the story of the crucifixion and what took place on that very dark day, you know that this scene was playing out and as Jesus said, my

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God, my God, why have you forsaken me? If they would have only finished the song, they would have been singing about their own experience at the foot of the cross that day.

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But it goes on. It says yet you are he who took me from the womb.

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You made me trust you at my mother's breast. On you was I 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. Many bulls encompass me.

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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 joints. My heart is like wax.

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It is melted within my breast. Remember? So on the cross, here's what

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I'm going to do because of time. I have so much I want to do. I'm going to split this message in half. I'm going to finish this.

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We'll do the rest next week. Sound good? Because I don't want to rush. So I want to give you details here.

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On the cross there are Jewish people, there are the

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Romans, there are the soldiers. Now if you don't know this, the way that you would die from crucifixion, of course there is blood loss, you're weak, but you would die from crucifixion through suffocation, generally speaking.

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And so as Jesus is hanging there on this cross, the nails are pierced through here.

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It was an intense unbelievable pain that we can't even begin to imagine. Truly.

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Can't even begin to imagine. Remember on the way to the cross, Jesus is beaten with a cat of nine tails.

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If his back was ripped open with a cat of nine tails, it's a whip with pieces and there are sharp objects attached to the ends and they would stick into the back of the victim and then yank out flesh and meat.

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It's very possible that portions of Jesus' insides would have been exposed. Jesus would have had his face beat in.

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They pulled his beard from his face and they smashed a crown of thorns onto his head.

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And as Jesus is on that cross in agony, suffering, I want you to know

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I'm a martial artist as well and one of the things that I used to teach people in self -defense is how to escape from wrist grabs and locks and chokes and holds and things like that.

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And one of the things you can do when you're closest inside that are very effective is you can hit where the blood flow is.

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You can also hit where there are nerves. And one of the nerves that is extraordinarily painful if you strike it or you put a lot of pressure on it when someone grabs your wrist is right here.

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It's right running alongside here. So I used to teach kids and women and people who weren't very strong that if you get grabbed, here's how you get your hand away, but you can also strike this nerve as hard as you can and it will cause the hand to release because it kind of gives a big shock.

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I want you to consider I was teaching people how to do that by way of self -defense to hurt people and make them let go.

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Jesus was on that cross and that nail is going through his arms and his body weight is hanging from here which means that that nail was putting pressure right against that nerve which was just sending constant pain and shock because it was pressure right against that nerve the whole time and there is blood loss.

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But as Jesus is suffering and he's suffocating trying to breathe by pushing up from the bottom, gasping for air, he would have eventually lost the ability to do that and drop down and was suffocating so it's an all day agonizing process to gasp for air and then force yourself back down and then back up again, breathe and then suffocate.

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Breathe and then suffocate. So you died. And what's interesting is that the text tells us that when they're dead that the soldiers then go to Jesus and they take a spear just to be sure that Jesus is dead and they shove it through his side and it says blood and water flowed out.

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Many people who are medical examiners and doctors have talked about this that that probably is descriptive of the heart sac itself bursting blood and water flowing out.

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It's interesting as they would have been singing the song and they're witnessing all this, I am poured out like water, all my bones are out of joint, my heart is like wax it has melted within my breast.

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Oh by the way, remember this, Jesus' bones were not broken, they broke the bones of the criminals with Jesus, they broke their legs so they couldn't push up to get air anymore but they didn't break his legs, they pierced through and his heart like wax was melted within him.

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My tongue sticks to my jaws, you lay me in the dust of death for dogs encompass me a company of evildoers encircles me, they have pierced my hands and feet,

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I can count all my bones, they stare and gloat over me, they divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots.

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Can you imagine being there that day when Jesus in agony cries out, my

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God, my God why have you forsaken me? If they would have just started singing they would have seen this entire scene play out right in front of them but can

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I point something out that we often miss from Psalm 22? Clearly you have within this song that they were singing for so long before Jesus clearly you have the story of Jesus and the crucifixion right in there but there's something else at the end there's the death of the

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Messiah but then the Psalm actually ends with this, 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 he dies but the result of his death is all the families of the earth, all the nations coming to worship

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Jesus. Now I want you to stop for a moment and I want you to look around we have one room in the middle of the desert and look at all the different colors look at all the different backgrounds all in here 2 ,000 years later worshiping the

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Lord God of Israel because of Jesus Jesus is the

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Messiah is Jesus the Messiah? Most definitely he is we'll end it here on this last point related to the families of the earth the

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Messiah was to bring the nations to God Genesis 49 10 opening of the

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Bible it says this that one is coming, Shiloh is coming and it says this, it says to him shall be the obedience of the nations to him shall be the obedience of the nations.

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Psalm chapter 2 says the father says to the son in the psalm it says ask of me

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I'll give you the nations for your inheritance, the very ends of the earth for your possession the father promises to the son all the nations to Jesus.

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Psalm 72 says he shall have dominion from sea to sea from the river to the ends of the earth Psalm 110 1 says that he'll be at the right hand putting all of his enemies under his feet making them a footstool for his feet.

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Isaiah 9 6 -7 the one we were already in the son, the child who has gone himself it says the government will be upon his shoulder and of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no ends he is the ruler, he is the king, he is the one who's bringing the nations.

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Isaiah chapter 2, same book we were just in, says that this Messiah is going to draw all the nations up to God's mountain, they're going to get drawn upwards to God's mountain.

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The promise is all the nations coming to God, Psalm 22 all the families of the earth returning to worship

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Yahweh Daniel chapter 7 13 -14 Daniel says in the night visions one like a son of man coming on the clouds of heaven and he came up to the ancient of days, that direction is up and it says to him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, people of every tongue and language would worship and serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed remember

01:00:28

Jesus as he's ascending Matthew 28 18 -20 what's he say after he accomplishes his victory over death, he is risen again from the dead, he says to his disciples he says all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me and he says what therefore go and do what disciple the nations baptize them and teach them to obey the promise of the

01:00:59

Messiah is he was going to win the world, bring the nations to God and the last thing Jesus gives us are marching orders is okay it's mine now, go get them go get them and that was the promise of the

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Messiah so we know through messianic prophecy the who of the Messiah the where of the Messiah, the what of the

01:01:18

Messiah next week we'll start this again at the when of the Messiah the Bible tells us when the

01:01:25

Messiah is coming and I'll leave you here, maybe with a cliffhanger if Jesus isn't the Messiah there is no

01:01:31

Messiah there isn't one because the Messiah had to come before the destruction of the second

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Jewish temple and that was destroyed fully and finally in 70 AD if Jesus isn't the

01:01:45

Messiah brothers and sisters, there isn't one he had to come at a particular time in history, the

01:01:52

Bible tells you when the Messiah is coming this is why by the way there was so much fervor in the first century about who's the

01:02:01

Messiah, where's the Messiah you're the Messiah, he's the Messiah, where's the Messiah so many false messiahs in the first century, why?

01:02:07

because Daniel tells us when the Messiah was to come so is

01:02:13

Jesus the Messiah? most definitely messianic prophecy, the original life of Jesus, the symbols fulfilled and the transformation that the

01:02:21

Lord Jesus brings in the lives of his people and in the world so the call of the gospel is this repent and believe

01:02:30

I told you as we started this, Jesus makes some bold claims, he's the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the father but by him, listen, you gotta take that seriously if you're in this room right now and you don't trust in Jesus Christ, you gotta take it seriously, he's

01:02:43

Lord liar or lunatic, it's either true or it's not, and if he is the Messiah then you are under the wrath of God apart from him you're enslaved to your sin

01:02:54

Jesus is the promised righteous one, he's God in the flesh who lived perfectly, obeyed the law of God perfectly in the place of his people, died a death that they deserved to die, and he conquered death he is on that throne of David seated, ruling and reigning he's the king of the world, and the call of the gospel is a command turn from your sin to the living

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God, turn to Christ to live, trust in him and what he has done alone you come to Jesus and abandon your self -righteousness all of your righteousnesses which are just filthy rags to God, you come to God naked bringing nothing you have empty hands and open mouth receiving water from God living water, you come to Christ to live, the call of the gospel is to repent and to believe come to Christ and live

01:03:45

Jesus says come and die take up your cross, come and die, join him, die and live again so the call is to come for life and forgiveness and peace, repent repent and believe the gospel let's pray we pray