Matthew 27:23 (What Evil Has He Done?)

Artwork by Doug Kallerson

Matthew 27:23
What Evil Has He Done?

Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished. 16 And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. 17 Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18 For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.
19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.”
20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. 21 The governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?”
They said, “Barabbas!”
22 Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?”
They all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!”
23 Then the governor said, “Why, what evil has He done?”
But they cried out all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!”
24 When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.
25 And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.”
26 Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.

In the time allotted to each of us during the years we walk through life, and to varying degrees based upon where one is, the seasons of the year closely match the normally lived-out seasons of life. There is the spring where life begins, everything is fresh, young, pliable, vibrant, colorful, sweet-smelling, and so on.

Then comes the summer. It is a time of endurance. Life permeates everything, but it has become a more mature and developed life. It is a time of adulthood and strength. It is a time of great productivity, hard work, and revealed potency. For the wise, it is a time to store up for the future. The period will arrive when the provisions of this season’s produce will be needed.

Eventually, the fall comes along. It is a time of beauty, but of increasing tiredness. There is a change from the strength and productivity that so highlighted the summer to a time of slowing down, a need to rest from labor, and of diminishing output.

Those who stored up in the summer can rely on those stores to carry them through this period without forcing themselves to overwork. And that is a good thing because overwork can overload. And in being overloaded, damage can result. It’s surely not called “fall” simply because the leaves fall, but because man in this season can too.

The once-simple task of pruning the trees becomes a possibly life-threatening undertaking. Life slows down. Man can look back on the earlier days, remembering what once was, but he cannot get himself to go back there in reality. The season has taken over and it moves him further from who he once was with each day that passes.

And then comes the winter. The bleakness of ever-hardening joints and atrophying muscles sets in. The trees do nothing productive, the animals secret themselves away, hoping to not become prey to some other animal, and man’s faculties fail.

Solomon marvelously describes this condition in Ecclesiastes 12. That which once was vibrant and new, and which then became strong and developed, has gone through its failing fall, and has arrived at its woeful winter. It is the time when death is at hand and only the prospect of the coldness of a grave cut out of the frozen ground remains.

Man’s years end because his life force has been depleted. The journey that began in the spring has come to its termination.

Text Verse: “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16

If you take time to consider the world around you, one of the things you will notice, is that among individuals, cultures, and nations, there are hints of the biblical story everywhere you look. They may not be in line with the narrative, but it is as if there is a faint memory or inkling of what happened, or how things should be, still evident.

For example, most people agree that there is an evil force that exists. There is the idea that there is life after death. Many cultures have their own flood stories. The Chinese alphabet consists of characters that carry numerous hints of the creation story. And so on.

There is this ingrained knowledge in us of how things were, of how they should be, or of how they could be. They may just be vapory hints of the way the Bible presents these things, but they are there.

When I was young, one of my favorite albums was by the Beach Boys. It was entitled Endless Summer. To this day, if one of the songs from that album comes up – and even though I may not have heard it since I was 15 – I can remember every single word and every single note as if it had just played this morning.

Adam was created. The Lord breathed the breath of life into him, and he became a living being. From there, he was placed in a garden. From the account, it reads – at least to me – of a life more comparable to the summer span of man.

He wasn’t created as a little baby that had to grow. He wasn’t created as a failing older fellow that began to salivate every time he saw a rocking chair. Rather, he was – ostensibly – like any person in the prime of life that we may see today.

He was set in the garden and there was nothing set before him that would cause him to go through any seasonal changes that we now go through. Nothing except one simple thing…

“Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16, 17).

How simple that is! The man’s Endless Summer lay before him. It is that vapory hint of the ideal span of life that the Beach Boys sang about. A life of mature youth, vigor, productivity, unceasing enjoyment, and contentment. It is as if it is ingrained in us.

Hollywood movies, books, songs, and – indeed – entire albums, all hint at this marvelous state of life, as if it could be a reality. And because it could be, even though it is not, it is a hope that still exists because we want it to.

Because this hidden hope is so prevalent among humanity, it partly reveals why the gospel of Jesus is so relevant to all people. Every culture where the gospel is presented understands its premise. They get what it means because it speaks of the answer to something in us that is already there, but that previously had no suitable resolution.

It is the gospel – and it alone – that accurately, perfectly, and wholly meets the previously unfulfilled hope that exists in man’s soul. This is the relevance of the Person of Jesus Christ because the gospel is based upon His work. It is the greatest story ever told because it is the most relevant story ever told.

Truly unimaginable marvel and wonder suddenly becomes both imaginable and real through this most pertinent message that is revealed in God’s superior word. And so, let us turn to that precious word once again and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. A Messiah is Coming

Adam’s “endless summer” in Eden didn’t last very long. We can only speculate on how long he remained in the garden, but his son Seth was born in his 130th year of life. Seth came some unknown time after the births of Cain and Abel, but which was inclusive of all of Abel’s life, even if Cain was still alive.

As such, it takes Adam’s 930-year lifespan down to a rather short time in comparison to his years, and my guess is that the time in Eden was a lot shorter than that as well. How quickly paradise was lost! Regardless of the exact time, two major things resulted from his transgression.

The first is that he died on the day he ate of the fruit. But this death was not in regard to his physical life. Rather, it was regarding his spiritual life. We know this for several reasons, but the main one is based on what Paul says in his epistles, especially Romans, but probably most explicitly in Ephesians –

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespassesmade us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-7

Adam sinned, meaning he committed evil (the reason for saying this will be explained later), by violating the law set before him. In his sin, he died on that same day. From there, that same state of death (spiritual death, aka “dead in trespasses”) then infected all of humanity. A detailed explanation of that is recorded for us in Romans 5 –

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” Romans 5:12-14

This was the first, and immediate, consequence of his sin. He committed evil, and the spiritual connection to God – meaning the true life of man – was lost. Adam, and all who follow after him, are dead in this manner. The second, and obvious consequence of this state is physical death. It is this death we fear more, though it is only a death that results from the death we already possess –

“In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:19

The anticipated endless summer has become an endless winter. We are dead, and we shall die. And in our death, we shall remain dead forever. What a bleak and dreary existence it ultimately is. It is a world without hope, even for those who possess that inner elusive vapor of hope that there is something more.

Death awaits and when it comes, even that secreted away hope is snuffed out. But correction of this state is what the biblical narrative reveals. Adam had a hope, but it was not a vapory hint that remained from some long-hidden memory within the collective mind of man.

Instead, he had the words of the Lord that had just been spoken concerning a coming Redeemer. The promise of One who would bruise the head of the serpent was conveyed. The implication was that if the serpent was crushed, a return to paradise now lost would come about.

Therefore, Adam’s hope was a real, certain hope. The Lord had spoken and, therefore, it could come to pass. And, indeed, it must. The Lord had spoken.

It is this truth, passed on to Adam, and that was then passed on to his own children, that has been remembered in the subconscious man. The Lord created the seasons, and it is the hope of spring – of the renewal of life after the bleak and dreary winter – that reminds us it is so. It tells us that life can come from death.

But knowing how it could come about is the uncertain element that man faced, and which many still face. Indeed, there is a promise of One who is to come who would restore humanity to that beautiful place and state of Eden’s perfection. And because there is the promise, it has sunk into the collective mind of man.

All around the world, in innumerable cultures, there is the hope of someone coming who would bring man back to where he belongs. That place, that understood place – which is not our current world – has been given many names. And just what it will be like varies by tradition as well. But when you talk to people about it, they will almost always describe something that is beyond what we now know.

And along with that “something,” there is more often than not a “Someone” who they believe will lead the way. Of course, there are lots of opportunists out there who will also claim that they are that “Someone.”

If you want to get something out of others, all you need to do is convince them that you are the promised One. Jesus Himself spoke of this reality when He said –

“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand.” Matthew 24:23-25

But by saying what He said, specifically that there will be false christs, it implies that there is a true Christ. His next words indicate exactly that, calling this true Christ “the Son of Man,” and thus a reference to Himself –

“Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.” Matthew 24:26-28

He said it. What makes Him different than all of these others whom He claims are false? What is it that sets Him apart? It can’t be because He is Jewish. Lots of people are Jewish. They aren’t all the Messiah. That may be a necessary factor for being the Messiah, but it is not the principal one.

It is true that lots of Jewish people have claimed to be the Messiah, and lots of others have been called the Messiah, whether they claimed it or not. Even today, right in the land of Israel there are people who are heralded as the Messiah.

Likewise, there are lots of supposed messianic figures outside of Israel – either who have come or who are anticipated to come. Buddhists believe that they are following the right guy. Branch Davidians thought they were as well. Muslims think they are waiting for the true Messiah.

Obviously, Christians believe that “right guy” is Jesus. But within Christianity, there are varying ideas on who Jesus is and what kind of a Messiah he is. It is with all certainty that the Jesus who is proclaimed by the Mormons or the Jehovah’s Witnesses, for example, is not the same Jesus who is proclaimed by others within the faith.

And, unfortunately, even within “mainstream” Christian denominations, there have arisen other false impressions about who Jesus is and what He is like.

And then, of course, there are those people who claim they actually are Jesus. Right now in the world today, there are supposed “Jesuses” in the UK, Sibera, Zambia, Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and even until a few years back, there was one in Miami. Others have come and gone, and more seem to crop up with each passing year.

They have latched onto the name of Jesus and claim that they are Him. It’s a bit problematic when Jesus Himself said that when He returns, it would be in an unmistakable manner. But a little fudging of the scenario, and people will believe pretty much anything.

Who is this Man, and what sets Him apart?
What is it about Him that tells us He is the One?
What is the way to know? Where should our thinking start…
To determine if He is truly God’s own Son?

Why should we cast our lot in with Him?
So many have claimed what He now speaks out
Following the wrong “Messiah” would be dark and grim
How can we know without a shadow of doubt?

What is it about Him that will tell us He is the One?
As we seek the Redeemer of Israel
This man claims that He is God’s own Son
If it is true, just how can we tell?

II. Born Under the Law

The Beach Boys sang about things related to their ideal of an endless summer. What is it that would really make your endless days a time of summer? For me, it’s hard to even think on those lines. I was born, eventually I matured into a man, and now I’m heading into the fall of life.

And I can say that if the summer I lived went on forever, I’d rather not live forever. The world has a lot of beauty, there are fun times, there are great people that have come along over the years, but there is also weariness by the end of every day.

For most of the world, the summer of their life is simply a quest to be ready for the fall and winter. What kind of an existence is that? Really.

We have a bit of enjoyment as we go, but we know – for sure and without a doubt – that we will get old and we will either need to prepare for that, or we hope that someone else will be there to help us along until we finally keel over and die.

Solomon speaks of this type of existence in Ecclesiastes, and he opens the book with a note that pretty much sums things up –

“‘Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher;
‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’” Ecclesiastes 1:2

Other translations say “meaningless,” “futility,” “pointless,” and so on. What a miserable existence if this is all there is. And yet, Solomon elsewhere speaks of the summer gathering as a positive thing –

“He who gathers in summer is a wise son;
He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.” Proverbs 10:5

He doesn’t just limit this to humanity either –

“The ants are a people not strong,
Yet they prepare their food in the summer;” Proverbs 30:25

Obviously, Solomon is making a point about ants that should be then converted to a point about men. We know this because he had already noted the ant in relation to man earlier in Proverbs –

“Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.
How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep—
11 So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man.” Proverbs 6:6-11

But this begs the question. If we are to look to the ant and be like him by being prepared in the summer for what lies ahead, what is the point if everything is meaningless?       The same end will come upon the industrious man as will come upon the sluggard, but the sluggard just doesn’t wear himself out in the process! Who is the smart one then?

This is true, but only if the premise is that there really is the same end for both. What if, however, being prepared in the summer points us to a spiritual truth. What if the seasons are there to teach us a lesson?

Night is coming when no one can work. Winter is coming when life is at an end. And so on. We are instructed to be wise with our time. We are to be prepared now for what is coming. Paul says it this way –

“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15

Whether a saved believer, or someone who is looking for salvation, the statement remains true. The days are evil. If they are evil, it is because this is not a place without evil. An endless summer of evil days would be a terrible existence. I dare say that I cannot even imagine it.

People who talk about living forever in this world are just plain nuts. Who would want to live forever in a world as things are now? And yet, there they are. People are working on medicines, DNA advancements, and all kinds of other technologies in hopes of living forever.

Just two days after I typed the first draft of this sermon, an article came out in the Guardian, saying, “If they could turn back time: how tech billionaires are trying to reverse the ageing process / Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel are pouring huge sums into startups aiming to keep us all young – or even cheat death. And the science isn’t as far-fetched as you might think.” No thank you!

If I am going to store up in the summer of my life, it is going to be for something way better than this. Paul speaks of this in his first letter to Timothy –

“Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 18 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, 19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” 1 Timothy 6:17-19

When the Bible speaks of eternal life, it speaks of it in two different ways. The first is in that which is possessed, but not yet attained. The second is a state that is attained, but which is not at all like the one we now have. Thank God for that!

But, again, we need to know how to go from days that are evil to days without evil. This is the key to both understanding who the Messiah is and what He can truly provide. As this is so, defining what evil is becomes necessary.

In short, evil isn’t. It is not an entity that actually exists in and of itself. Rather, evil is a state (the state) of imperfection. To say that the days are evil is to say, “The days are not perfect.” To say that what Adam did was evil is to say, “What Adam did was imperfect.” It did not measure up to a standard of perfection.

To say that the virus in a sick person is evil is to note that something in him is not as it should be. Rust is a great example of this. A car without rust is as it should be. Its body is good. But when a hole occurs in the metal because of rust, that hole is a lack of metal. It is a lack of what is good.

If God created Adam as a living being, and if he died on the day he ate of the fruit that he was commanded to not eat, then it means that what he did was not good, and the result of what transpired, meaning death, is not good.

What is good is life. But it’s not the physical life that he continued to live. We know this, because the days are evil. As such, the life that is good, the life that is truly life, the life that is eternal, is found in the spiritual reconnection to God that was lost. Jesus said as much –

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:1-3

But again, how do we know that He is the One? How do we know that He can truly give this? The answer is found in the state of things as we have already gone over.

Adam sinned. He did something that lacked goodness. As such, it was evil. In this, he was separated from God. He spent the rest of his life apart from God and in a world that is evil. This doesn’t mean evil in the absolute sense.

Rather, it is a world lacking perfection. The good thing that once was has now been replaced with something less good. From there, we will experience different gradations of that lack of perfection because, as Paul said, “death spread to all men.”

This state of separation is inherited by all who descend from Adam as sin travels from father to child. So, we are imperfect and living in an imperfect world. As this is so, we now have a way of excluding those who claim to be the promised One, the Messiah.

It is not necessarily that they are living in the world that disqualifies them. The part of the car that doesn’t have rust is fine. It’s the hole where the rust consumed the metal that is lacking. The lack of goodness in one part of something doesn’t mean that everything lacks this goodness.

The thing that makes man evil isn’t that he is a man. It is that he is a man born from a man. Adam wasn’t evil when he was created. But in becoming evil, he passes his imperfection on to those who follow him. It is Adam, and each father after Adam, that passes on this state that is lacking goodness.

And so, how do we eliminate the false messiahs of the world? Well, if they are human beings that had a father that begat them, then they are not capable of being the true Christ. They bear the stain of sin, and they are thus disqualified.

Understanding this, every person ever born to a man and a woman, and thus every person ever born, stands disqualified. That is every person, except One. This is Jesus. But this is only the Jesus who is accurately portrayed and explained in the Bible. Jesus was born of a woman, but He was sent forth from God –

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” Galatians 4:4

This is also explained by the angel Gabriel who was sent to Mary –

And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.’” Luke 1:35

Jesus was born of a woman and of God. As such, no sin – no imperfection or evil – transferred to Him. He is qualified to be the Messiah. However, Paul said something else in Galatians 4:4, didn’t he. He said that Jesus was “born under the law.”

Which law is he referring to? The question is important because the law was given to Israel, and yet Paul says that Jesus was sent to “redeem those who were under the law.” Paul is writing to the Galatians. They are not of Israel, and they were never under the Law of Moses. As such, he cannot merely be speaking of that law.

There is a law that man needs to be redeemed from. Paul using law as an example tells us about its effects on man –

“I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.” Romans 7:9-11

Adam was given a commandment, a law. In his breaking of that law, he died, and “death spread to all men,” as we have already seen. As this is the state of all men, God put the onus on Himself. He did this by calling out a nation from the world and giving it a law, the Law of Moses. It was to be His standard for righteousness for them to see and live by. As He says –

“You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 18:5

To live is to not die. The law is explicit. The man who does the things of the law will live. But the law of Adam already condemned all men. Death spread to all. Therefore, the way for man to live was to live this law out perfectly.

Christ, however, was not born under the law of Adam. Adam’s death did not spread to Him. But Paul says that He was born under the law to redeem those who were under the law. How could Christ redeem those under the law if he was born under the law given to Adam? He would bear Adam’s sin.

Hence, God gave Israel the Law of Moses. He then sent forth Christ, born of a woman but not of a man, and so He was not under the law of Adam (and thus He was without sin). But He was born under the law of Israel, God’s standard by which if a man does those things, he shall live by them.

If you see the point I’m making, it’s not just that Jesus came, but there had to be a law other than Adam’s law for Him to come under. He could not come under Adam’s law because he would bear Adam’s sin. But by coming under another law, He could both perform and redeem.

There was no imperfection (no evil) in Him at His birth. There was no imperfection (no evil) in Him under the law. This is testified to by the four gospels. It is testified to by His question to those who came against Him when He asked, “Which of you convicts me of sin?” (John 8:46). None responded.

It is also testified to in the lack of a response to the question of the Roman authority appointed over Israel, and who was thus over Jesus who is of Israel, when he asked, “Why, what evil has He done?” No response was given because no evil had been committed by Him. As such, Pilate proclaimed, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person.”

What Pilate could clearly see was ignored by those who stood against Jesus. No sin, no imperfection, and no evil were found in Him. And yet, they crucified Him.

What a wonderful, marvelous thing that God has done
He has brought us back to Himself this day
Through the giving of Jesus, His only begotten Son
We have the smooth path, He has paved the way

In Him is found life and length of days
And so, to Him we look and call out His name
To God, through Jesus, we shall give all our praise
He has removed our guilt and taken away our shame

Praise God all you saints of His, praise Him today!
Rejoice in the marvelous thing that He has done
God has brought us back to Himself this very day
Through the precious gift of Jesus, His only begotten Son

III. The Greatest Story Ever Told

One premise of the Bible, and which is something easily discernible among humanity, is that man is an imperfect being. If there is a God, it can be deduced that He is perfect. We don’t need the Bible to know this.

As this is so, then what He does is perfect. Because He created, His creation was perfect at the time He created. This can all be deduced without the Bible. And yet, there is now imperfection in the creation. The Bible explains how it came about, and it explains why things are the way they are at this time.

It also tells us that what is imperfect will be corrected, and that it will either be done through God’s giving of His own perfect Son, or through the purging of imperfection through the Lake of Fire. The Bible records that Jesus was born of a woman and of God. As such, He was born in a state of perfection.

He is fully God – perfect in all of His deity. And He was born fully Man – perfect in His humanity. There is no contradiction in this, something which is unlike the god seen in Mormonism or the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Jesus, the God/Man, was born in a state of perfection, He lived perfectly under the law that promised life to the man who did the things of the law. And He died on the cross in a state of perfection, having never sinned. The disciples were unaware of the nuances and failed to make the necessary connection stating, “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.”

Israel was redeemed from Egypt. They were brought into the covenant and under the law. As such, what did they need to be redeemed from? It’s curious that they would even say this, but Scripture had spoken of the redemption of Israel so much that it was something they knew they needed.

Scripture had taught about redemption from enemies, from oppression, and other such things. But these things point to something else, a state of imperfection, that which is evil. Logically, if there is evil – the lack of a good thing – then being redeemed must go much deeper than some temporary need.

They could not see that the very law that they were under only highlighted their own imperfections. As Paul said earlier, I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death” (Romans 7:9, 10).

Israel needed to be redeemed from the law, but the law was given to allow Jesus to redeem everyone, including Israel, from the law of Adam – the imperfection (the evil) – that condemned all men.

If Jesus had died under the law, it wouldn’t have meant very much to Israel, or to us, if He didn’t resurrect.

It would have meant that He was tainted with sin and the imperfection would have clung to Him. But if that was the case, it would mean He was not God. And if He is not God, then He would not have been born without sin. And if He was not born without sin, then He could not redeem us from the sin of Adam.

In other words, everything is tied up in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In His coming out of the grave, it means that He was (and is) sinless. If He is sinless, and yet He is a Man (a sinless Man had to die for the sins of Adam), then it means that He is also God because He would not be sinless unless He is God.

If he was a man created in Mary’s womb, even as a perfect man, then he would not be God. If this was so, then he would not have possessed the knowledge of good and evil.

In order to possess that knowledge, he would have had to learn through law what that knowledge meant. And in order to learn what that knowledge meant, then he would have to sin by breaking the law. As such, he could not redeem fallen man.

Again, everything is tied up in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It proves He is God. It proves He is the sinless Man. It proves that He can and did, in fact, redeem His people by dealing with our sin. And if He dealt with our sin in His death, then that means that our sin is dealt with forever. We have entered into a New Covenant where sin is no longer considered. We are not under law, either that of Adam or that of Moses, but under grace. And, as Paul says –

“Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:18, 19

What are we doing here today? We are celebrating the greatest story ever told. Pilate asked, “Why, what evil has He done?” The answer, because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is “None.” The perfection of God in Christ has accomplished all things for us.

This story is logical, it is understandable, it is without fault in all that it proclaims, and it resolves the greatest problem that man has ever faced. Through Jesus Christ, evil is eliminated, and death is swallowed up in victory.

You can live your life in futility, pursue that which is meaningless, and perish in the vanity of your impoverished existence, or (OR) you can come to Jesus Christ, be reconciled to God through His full, finished, final, and forever work. Demonstrate wisdom today and yield your soul to the One who loves you enough to have done these things for you. Call on God through Jesus.

And for those who are the redeemed of the Lord, be sure to demonstrate your thanks to Him today and always. After all, it is a long, long time that you will live – even to eternal days. Thank God for Jesus Christ our Lord. And all of God’s people say… Amen.

Closing Verse: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29

Next Week: Deuteronomy 33:1-5 Moses will pronounce his blessings and then he will die… (The Lord Came from Sinai) (99th Deuteronomy Sermon)

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you. He has a good plan and a purpose for You. Though Paradise was lost, He offers access to it once again through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So call on Him, and trust Him, and He will do marvelous things for you and through you.

A Celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

This is the gospel which was preached to you
It is also the one you received and on which you stand
It is the gospel of salvation, providing life that’s new
And which will carry you to the promised Holy Land

What is delivered to you is what was before received
That Christ died for our sins according to God’s word
He was buried and He rose, and so we have believed
And many witnesses testify to this message you have heard

Now, if Christ is preached that He is risen from the dead
How can some among you say the resurrection isn’t true?
If there is no resurrection after Christ was crucified and bled
Then our faith as well as yours is certainly askew

And if so, we are found false witnesses of God
Because we have wrongly testified of this mighty deed
And our faith is futile, no heavenly streets we’ll trod
And we are still dead in our sins; fallen Adam’s seed

Even more, those who have fallen asleep in the Lord are gone
And we are the most pitiable creatures the world could ever look upon

But indeed, Christ is risen from the dead
He is the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep
And as death came through one man, Adam, our federal head
So Christ will make all alive; our souls He will keep

There is an order to the Resurrection call
Christ was first, the pattern for the rest when He comes
When He does, He will make a shout out to us all
And we will rise as if to the sound of heavenly battle drums

Then comes the time, when He delivers the kingdom to the Father
When all rule, authority, and power have come to an end
The last enemy to be destroyed is death, never more to bother
Then the Son will to the Father eternal rule extend

But you ask, “What will we be like after our time of sleep?
After we have been buried in corruption’s pit so deep?”

Our body is sown in dishonor, but it will be raised in glory
It is sown in weakness, but raised in power – the resurrection story

The first man Adam became a living being, it is true
The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit, life to me and you

And as was the man of dust, created so long ago
So are those likened unto him, also made of dust
And as is the Man, the Lord from heaven, you know
That we shall bear His image for eternity just as we’ve discussed

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God
Nor can corruption inherit that which is incorrupt
Be we shall all be changed, and so, heavenly streets we’ll trod
In the twinkling of an eye, the change will be abrupt

When the last trumpet sounds, we will be taken to glory
We shall all be changed, completion of the gospel story

Where O Death, O where is your sting?
When Christ our Savior, us to Himself does He bring

Where O Hades, O where is your victory?
When Christ translates His children to eternal glory

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin the law
But thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord
My beloved brethren be steadfast in all you’ve heard and saw
And cling confidently to God’s eternal word

Know for certain that your labor is not in vain
Be of good cheer, Christ is coming again

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

Matthew 27:23 (What Evil Has He Done?)

Matthew 27:23
What Evil Has He Done?

Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished. 16 And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. 17 Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18 For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.
19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.”
20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. 21 The governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?”
They said, “Barabbas!”
22 Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?”
They all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!”
23 Then the governor said, “Why, what evil has He done?”
But they cried out all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!”
24 When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.
25 And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.”
26 Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.

In the time allotted to each of us during the years we walk through life, and to varying degrees based upon where one is, the seasons of the year closely match the normally lived-out seasons of life. There is the spring where life begins, everything is fresh, young, pliable, vibrant, colorful, sweet-smelling, and so on.

Then comes the summer. It is a time of endurance. Life permeates everything, but it has become a more mature and developed life. It is a time of adulthood and strength. It is a time of great productivity, hard work, and revealed potency. For the wise, it is a time to store up for the future. The period will arrive when the provisions of this season’s produce will be needed.

Eventually, the fall comes along. It is a time of beauty, but of increasing tiredness. There is a change from the strength and productivity that so highlighted the summer to a time of slowing down, a need to rest from labor, and of diminishing output.

Those who stored up in the summer can rely on those stores to carry them through this period without forcing themselves to overwork. And that is a good thing because overwork can overload. And in being overloaded, damage can result. It’s surely not called “fall” simply because the leaves fall, but because man in this season can too.

The once-simple task of pruning the trees becomes a possibly life-threatening undertaking. Life slows down. Man can look back on the earlier days, remembering what once was, but he cannot get himself to go back there in reality. The season has taken over and it moves him further from who he once was with each day that passes.

And then comes the winter. The bleakness of ever-hardening joints and atrophying muscles sets in. The trees do nothing productive, the animals secret themselves away, hoping to not become prey to some other animal, and man’s faculties fail.

Solomon marvelously describes this condition in Ecclesiastes 12. That which once was vibrant and new, and which then became strong and developed, has gone through its failing fall, and has arrived at its woeful winter. It is the time when death is at hand and only the prospect of the coldness of a grave cut out of the frozen ground remains.

Man’s years end because his life force has been depleted. The journey that began in the spring has come to its termination.

Text Verse: “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16

If you take time to consider the world around you, one of the things you will notice, is that among individuals, cultures, and nations, there are hints of the biblical story everywhere you look. They may not be in line with the narrative, but it is as if there is a faint memory or inkling of what happened, or how things should be, still evident.

For example, most people agree that there is an evil force that exists. There is the idea that there is life after death. Many cultures have their own flood stories. The Chinese alphabet consists of characters that carry numerous hints of the creation story. And so on.

There is this ingrained knowledge in us of how things were, of how they should be, or of how they could be. They may just be vapory hints of the way the Bible presents these things, but they are there.

When I was young, one of my favorite albums was by the Beach Boys. It was entitled Endless Summer. To this day, if one of the songs from that album comes up – and even though I may not have heard it since I was 15 – I can remember every single word and every single note as if it had just played this morning.

Adam was created. The Lord breathed the breath of life into him, and he became a living being. From there, he was placed in a garden. From the account, it reads – at least to me – of a life more comparable to the summer span of man.

He wasn’t created as a little baby that had to grow. He wasn’t created as a failing older fellow that began to salivate every time he saw a rocking chair. Rather, he was – ostensibly – like any person in the prime of life that we may see today.

He was set in the garden and there was nothing set before him that would cause him to go through any seasonal changes that we now go through. Nothing except one simple thing…

“Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16, 17).

How simple that is! The man’s Endless Summer lay before him. It is that vapory hint of the ideal span of life that the Beach Boys sang about. A life of mature youth, vigor, productivity, unceasing enjoyment, and contentment. It is as if it is ingrained in us.

Hollywood movies, books, songs, and – indeed – entire albums, all hint at this marvelous state of life, as if it could be a reality. And because it could be, even though it is not, it is a hope that still exists because we want it to.

Because this hidden hope is so prevalent among humanity, it partly reveals why the gospel of Jesus is so relevant to all people. Every culture where the gospel is presented understands its premise. They get what it means because it speaks of the answer to something in us that is already there, but that previously had no suitable resolution.

It is the gospel – and it alone – that accurately, perfectly, and wholly meets the previously unfulfilled hope that exists in man’s soul. This is the relevance of the Person of Jesus Christ because the gospel is based upon His work. It is the greatest story ever told because it is the most relevant story ever told.

Truly unimaginable marvel and wonder suddenly becomes both imaginable and real through this most pertinent message that is revealed in God’s superior word. And so, let us turn to that precious word once again and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. A Messiah is Coming

Adam’s “endless summer” in Eden didn’t last very long. We can only speculate on how long he remained in the garden, but his son Seth was born in his 130th year of life. Seth came some unknown time after the births of Cain and Abel, but which was inclusive of all of Abel’s life, even if Cain was still alive.

As such, it takes Adam’s 930-year lifespan down to a rather short time in comparison to his years, and my guess is that the time in Eden was a lot shorter than that as well. How quickly paradise was lost! Regardless of the exact time, two major things resulted from his transgression.

The first is that he died on the day he ate of the fruit. But this death was not in regard to his physical life. Rather, it was regarding his spiritual life. We know this for several reasons, but the main one is based on what Paul says in his epistles, especially Romans, but probably most explicitly in Ephesians –

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespassesmade us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-7

Adam sinned, meaning he committed evil (the reason for saying this will be explained later), by violating the law set before him. In his sin, he died on that same day. From there, that same state of death (spiritual death, aka “dead in trespasses”) then infected all of humanity. A detailed explanation of that is recorded for us in Romans 5 –

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” Romans 5:12-14

This was the first, and immediate, consequence of his sin. He committed evil, and the spiritual connection to God – meaning the true life of man – was lost. Adam, and all who follow after him, are dead in this manner. The second, and obvious consequence of this state is physical death. It is this death we fear more, though it is only a death that results from the death we already possess –

“In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:19

The anticipated endless summer has become an endless winter. We are dead, and we shall die. And in our death, we shall remain dead forever. What a bleak and dreary existence it ultimately is. It is a world without hope, even for those who possess that inner elusive vapor of hope that there is something more.

Death awaits and when it comes, even that secreted away hope is snuffed out. But correction of this state is what the biblical narrative reveals. Adam had a hope, but it was not a vapory hint that remained from some long-hidden memory within the collective mind of man.

Instead, he had the words of the Lord that had just been spoken concerning a coming Redeemer. The promise of One who would bruise the head of the serpent was conveyed. The implication was that if the serpent was crushed, a return to paradise now lost would come about.

Therefore, Adam’s hope was a real, certain hope. The Lord had spoken and, therefore, it could come to pass. And, indeed, it must. The Lord had spoken.

It is this truth, passed on to Adam, and that was then passed on to his own children, that has been remembered in the subconscious man. The Lord created the seasons, and it is the hope of spring – of the renewal of life after the bleak and dreary winter – that reminds us it is so. It tells us that life can come from death.

But knowing how it could come about is the uncertain element that man faced, and which many still face. Indeed, there is a promise of One who is to come who would restore humanity to that beautiful place and state of Eden’s perfection. And because there is the promise, it has sunk into the collective mind of man.

All around the world, in innumerable cultures, there is the hope of someone coming who would bring man back to where he belongs. That place, that understood place – which is not our current world – has been given many names. And just what it will be like varies by tradition as well. But when you talk to people about it, they will almost always describe something that is beyond what we now know.

And along with that “something,” there is more often than not a “Someone” who they believe will lead the way. Of course, there are lots of opportunists out there who will also claim that they are that “Someone.”

If you want to get something out of others, all you need to do is convince them that you are the promised One. Jesus Himself spoke of this reality when He said –

“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand.” Matthew 24:23-25

But by saying what He said, specifically that there will be false christs, it implies that there is a true Christ. His next words indicate exactly that, calling this true Christ “the Son of Man,” and thus a reference to Himself –

“Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.” Matthew 24:26-28

He said it. What makes Him different than all of these others whom He claims are false? What is it that sets Him apart? It can’t be because He is Jewish. Lots of people are Jewish. They aren’t all the Messiah. That may be a necessary factor for being the Messiah, but it is not the principal one.

It is true that lots of Jewish people have claimed to be the Messiah, and lots of others have been called the Messiah, whether they claimed it or not. Even today, right in the land of Israel there are people who are heralded as the Messiah.

Likewise, there are lots of supposed messianic figures outside of Israel – either who have come or who are anticipated to come. Buddhists believe that they are following the right guy. Branch Davidians thought they were as well. Muslims think they are waiting for the true Messiah.

Obviously, Christians believe that “right guy” is Jesus. But within Christianity, there are varying ideas on who Jesus is and what kind of a Messiah he is. It is with all certainty that the Jesus who is proclaimed by the Mormons or the Jehovah’s Witnesses, for example, is not the same Jesus who is proclaimed by others within the faith.

And, unfortunately, even within “mainstream” Christian denominations, there have arisen other false impressions about who Jesus is and what He is like.

And then, of course, there are those people who claim they actually are Jesus. Right now in the world today, there are supposed “Jesuses” in the UK, Sibera, Zambia, Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and even until a few years back, there was one in Miami. Others have come and gone, and more seem to crop up with each passing year.

They have latched onto the name of Jesus and claim that they are Him. It’s a bit problematic when Jesus Himself said that when He returns, it would be in an unmistakable manner. But a little fudging of the scenario, and people will believe pretty much anything.

Who is this Man, and what sets Him apart?
What is it about Him that tells us He is the One?
What is the way to know? Where should our thinking start…
To determine if He is truly God’s own Son?

Why should we cast our lot in with Him?
So many have claimed what He now speaks out
Following the wrong “Messiah” would be dark and grim
How can we know without a shadow of doubt?

What is it about Him that will tell us He is the One?
As we seek the Redeemer of Israel
This man claims that He is God’s own Son
If it is true, just how can we tell?

II. Born Under the Law

The Beach Boys sang about things related to their ideal of an endless summer. What is it that would really make your endless days a time of summer? For me, it’s hard to even think on those lines. I was born, eventually I matured into a man, and now I’m heading into the fall of life.

And I can say that if the summer I lived went on forever, I’d rather not live forever. The world has a lot of beauty, there are fun times, there are great people that have come along over the years, but there is also weariness by the end of every day.

For most of the world, the summer of their life is simply a quest to be ready for the fall and winter. What kind of an existence is that? Really.

We have a bit of enjoyment as we go, but we know – for sure and without a doubt – that we will get old and we will either need to prepare for that, or we hope that someone else will be there to help us along until we finally keel over and die.

Solomon speaks of this type of existence in Ecclesiastes, and he opens the book with a note that pretty much sums things up –

“‘Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher;
‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’” Ecclesiastes 1:2

Other translations say “meaningless,” “futility,” “pointless,” and so on. What a miserable existence if this is all there is. And yet, Solomon elsewhere speaks of the summer gathering as a positive thing –

“He who gathers in summer is a wise son;
He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.” Proverbs 10:5

He doesn’t just limit this to humanity either –

“The ants are a people not strong,
Yet they prepare their food in the summer;” Proverbs 30:25

Obviously, Solomon is making a point about ants that should be then converted to a point about men. We know this because he had already noted the ant in relation to man earlier in Proverbs –

“Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
Provides he supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.
How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep—
11 So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man.” Proverbs 6:6-11

But this begs the question. If we are to look to the ant and be like him by being prepared in the summer for what lies ahead, what is the point if everything is meaningless?       The same end will come upon the industrious man as will come upon the sluggard, but the sluggard just doesn’t wear himself out in the process! Who is the smart one then?

This is true, but only if the premise is that there really is the same end for both. What if, however, being prepared in the summer points us to a spiritual truth. What if the seasons are there to teach us a lesson?

Night is coming when no one can work. Winter is coming when life is at an end. And so on. We are instructed to be wise with our time. We are to be prepared now for what is coming. Paul says it this way –

“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15

Whether a saved believer, or someone who is looking for salvation, the statement remains true. The days are evil. If they are evil, it is because this is not a place without evil. An endless summer of evil days would be a terrible existence. I dare say that I cannot even imagine it.

People who talk about living forever in this world are just plain nuts. Who would want to live forever in a world as things are now? And yet, there they are. People are working on medicines, DNA advancements, and all kinds of other technologies in hopes of living forever.

Just two days after I typed the first draft of this sermon, an article came out in the Guardian, saying, “If they could turn back time: how tech billionaires are trying to reverse the ageing process / Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel are pouring huge sums into startups aiming to keep us all young – or even cheat death. And the science isn’t as far-fetched as you might think.” No thank you!

If I am going to store up in the summer of my life, it is going to be for something way better than this. Paul speaks of this in his first letter to Timothy –

“Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 18 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, 19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” 1 Timothy 6:17-19

When the Bible speaks of eternal life, it speaks of it in two different ways. The first is in that which is possessed, but not yet attained. The second is a state that is attained, but which is not at all like the one we now have. Thank God for that!

But, again, we need to know how to go from days that are evil to days without evil. This is the key to both understanding who the Messiah is and what He can truly provide. As this is so, defining what evil is becomes necessary.

In short, evil isn’t. It is not an entity that actually exists in and of itself. Rather, evil is a state (the state) of imperfection. To say that the days are evil is to say, “The days are not perfect.” To say that what Adam did was evil is to say, “What Adam did was imperfect.” It did not measure up to a standard of perfection.

To say that the virus in a sick person is evil is to note that something in him is not as it should be. Rust is a great example of this. A car without rust is as it should be. Its body is good. But when a hole occurs in the metal because of rust, that hole is a lack of metal. It is a lack of what is good.

If God created Adam as a living being, and if he died on the day he ate of the fruit that he was commanded to not eat, then it means that what he did was not good, and the result of what transpired, meaning death, is not good.

What is good is life. But it’s not the physical life that he continued to live. We know this, because the days are evil. As such, the life that is good, the life that is truly life, the life that is eternal, is found in the spiritual reconnection to God that was lost. Jesus said as much –

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:1-3

But again, how do we know that He is the One? How do we know that He can truly give this? The answer is found in the state of things as we have already gone over.

Adam sinned. He did something that lacked goodness. As such, it was evil. In this, he was separated from God. He spent the rest of his life apart from God and in a world that is evil. This doesn’t mean evil in the absolute sense.

Rather, it is a world lacking perfection. The good thing that once was has now been replaced with something less good. From there, we will experience different gradations of that lack of perfection because, as Paul said, “death spread to all men.”

This state of separation is inherited by all who descend from Adam as sin travels from father to child. So, we are imperfect and living in an imperfect world. As this is so, we now have a way of excluding those who claim to be the promised One, the Messiah.

It is not necessarily that they are living in the world that disqualifies them. The part of the car that doesn’t have rust is fine. It’s the hole where the rust consumed the metal that is lacking. The lack of goodness in one part of something doesn’t mean that everything lacks this goodness.

The thing that makes man evil isn’t that he is a man. It is that he is a man born from a man. Adam wasn’t evil when he was created. But in becoming evil, he passes his imperfection on to those who follow him. It is Adam, and each father after Adam, that passes on this state that is lacking goodness.

And so, how do we eliminate the false messiahs of the world? Well, if they are human beings that had a father that begat them, then they are not capable of being the true Christ. They bear the stain of sin, and they are thus disqualified.

Understanding this, every person ever born to a man and a woman, and thus every person ever born, stands disqualified. That is every person, except One. This is Jesus. But this is only the Jesus who is accurately portrayed and explained in the Bible. Jesus was born of a woman, but He was sent forth from God –

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” Galatians 4:4

This is also explained by the angel Gabriel who was sent to Mary –

And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.’” Luke 1:35

Jesus was born of a woman and of God. As such, no sin – no imperfection or evil – transferred to Him. He is qualified to be the Messiah. However, Paul said something else in Galatians 4:4, didn’t he. He said that Jesus was “born under the law.”

Which law is he referring to? The question is important because the law was given to Israel, and yet Paul says that Jesus was sent to “redeem those who were under the law.” Paul is writing to the Galatians. They are not of Israel, and they were never under the Law of Moses. As such, he cannot merely be speaking of that law.

There is a law that man needs to be redeemed from. Paul using law as an example tells us about its effects on man –

“I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.” Romans 7:9-11

Adam was given a commandment, a law. In his breaking of that law, he died, and “death spread to all men,” as we have already seen. As this is the state of all men, God put the onus on Himself. He did this by calling out a nation from the world and giving it a law, the Law of Moses. It was to be His standard for righteousness for them to see and live by. As He says –

“You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 18:5

To live is to not die. The law is explicit. The man who does the things of the law will live. But the law of Adam already condemned all men. Death spread to all. Therefore, the way for man to live was to live this law out perfectly.

Christ, however, was not born under the law of Adam. Adam’s death did not spread to Him. But Paul says that He was born under the law to redeem those who were under the law. How could Christ redeem those under the law if he was born under the law given to Adam? He would bear Adam’s sin.

Hence, God gave Israel the Law of Moses. He then sent forth Christ, born of a woman but not of a man, and so He was not under the law of Adam (and thus He was without sin). But He was born under the law of Israel, God’s standard by which if a man does those things, he shall live by them.

If you see the point I’m making, it’s not just that Jesus came, but there had to be a law other than Adam’s law for Him to come under. He could not come under Adam’s law because he would bear Adam’s sin. But by coming under another law, He could both perform and redeem.

There was no imperfection (no evil) in Him at His birth. There was no imperfection (no evil) in Him under the law. This is testified to by the four gospels. It is testified to by His question to those who came against Him when He asked, “Which of you convicts me of sin?” (John 8:46). None responded.

It is also testified to in the lack of a response to the question of the Roman authority appointed over Israel, and who was thus over Jesus who is of Israel, when he asked, “Why, what evil has He done?” No response was given because no evil had been committed by Him. As such, Pilate proclaimed, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person.”

What Pilate could clearly see was ignored by those who stood against Jesus. No sin, no imperfection, and no evil were found in Him. And yet, they crucified Him.

What a wonderful, marvelous thing that God has done
He has brought us back to Himself this day
Through the giving of Jesus, His only begotten Son
We have the smooth path, He has paved the way

In Him is found life and length of days
And so, to Him we look and call out His name
To God, through Jesus, we shall give all our praise
He has removed our guilt and taken away our shame

Praise God all you saints of His, praise Him today!
Rejoice in the marvelous thing that He has done
God has brought us back to Himself this very day
Through the precious gift of Jesus, His only begotten Son

III. The Greatest Story Ever Told

One premise of the Bible, and which is something easily discernible among humanity, is that man is an imperfect being. If there is a God, it can be deduced that He is perfect. We don’t need the Bible to know this.

As this is so, then what He does is perfect. Because He created, His creation was perfect at the time He created. This can all be deduced without the Bible. And yet, there is now imperfection in the creation. The Bible explains how it came about, and it explains why things are the way they are at this time.

It also tells us that what is imperfect will be corrected, and that it will either be done through God’s giving of His own perfect Son, or through the purging of imperfection through the Lake of Fire. The Bible records that Jesus was born of a woman and of God. As such, He was born in a state of perfection.

He is fully God – perfect in all of His deity. And He was born fully Man – perfect in His humanity. There is no contradiction in this, something which is unlike the god seen in Mormonism or the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Jesus, the God/Man, was born in a state of perfection, He lived perfectly under the law that promised life to the man who did the things of the law. And He died on the cross in a state of perfection, having never sinned. The disciples were unaware of the nuances and failed to make the necessary connection stating, “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.”

Israel was redeemed from Egypt. They were brought into the covenant and under the law. As such, what did they need to be redeemed from? It’s curious that they would even say this, but Scripture had spoken of the redemption of Israel so much that it was something they knew they needed.

Scripture had taught about redemption from enemies, from oppression, and other such things. But these things point to something else, a state of imperfection, that which is evil. Logically, if there is evil – the lack of a good thing – then being redeemed must go much deeper than some temporary need.

They could not see that the very law that they were under only highlighted their own imperfections. As Paul said earlier, I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death” (Romans 7:9, 10).

Israel needed to be redeemed from the law, but the law was given to allow Jesus to redeem everyone, including Israel, from the law of Adam – the imperfection (the evil) – that condemned all men.

If Jesus had died under the law, it wouldn’t have meant very much to Israel, or to us, if He didn’t resurrect.

It would have meant that He was tainted with sin and the imperfection would have clung to Him. But if that was the case, it would mean He was not God. And if He is not God, then He would not have been born without sin. And if He was not born without sin, then He could not redeem us from the sin of Adam.

In other words, everything is tied up in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In His coming out of the grave, it means that He was (and is) sinless. If He is sinless, and yet He is a Man (a sinless Man had to die for the sins of Adam), then it means that He is also God because He would not be sinless unless He is God.

If he was a created man in Mary’s womb, even as a perfect man, then he would not be God. If this was so, then he would not have possessed the knowledge of good and evil.

In order to possess that knowledge, he would have had to learn through law what that knowledge meant. And in order to learn what that knowledge meant, then he would have to sin by breaking the law. As such, he could not redeem fallen man.

Again, everything is tied up in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It proves He is God. It proves He is the sinless Man. It proves that He can and did, in fact, redeem His people by dealing with our sin. And if He dealt with our sin in His death, then that means that our sin is dealt with forever. We have entered into a New Covenant where sin is no longer considered. We are not under law, either that of Adam or that of Moses, but under grace. And, as Paul says –

“Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:18, 19

What are we doing here today? We are celebrating the greatest story ever told. Pilate asked, “Why, what evil has He done?” The answer, because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is “None.” The perfection of God in Christ has accomplished all things for us.

This story is logical, it is understandable, it is without fault in all that it proclaims, and it resolves the greatest problem that man has ever faced. Through Jesus Christ, evil is eliminated, and death is swallowed up in victory.

You can live your life in futility, pursue that which is meaningless, and perish in the vanity of your impoverished existence, or (OR) you can come to Jesus Christ, be reconciled to God through His full, finished, final, and forever work. Demonstrate wisdom today and yield your soul to the One who loves you enough to have done these things for you. Call on God through Jesus.

And for those who are the redeemed of the Lord, be sure to demonstrate your thanks to Him today and always. After all, it is a long, long time that you will live – even to eternal days. Thank God for Jesus Christ our Lord. And all of God’s people say… Amen.

Closing Verse: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29

Next Week: Deuteronomy 33:1-5 Moses will pronounce his blessings and then he will die… (The Lord Came from Sinai) (99th Deuteronomy Sermon)

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you. He has a good plan and a purpose for You. Though Paradise was lost, He offers access to it once again through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So call on Him, and trust Him, and He will do marvelous things for you and through you.

A Celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

This is the gospel which was preached to you
It is also the one you received and on which you stand
It is the gospel of salvation, providing life that’s new
And which will carry you to the promised Holy Land

What is delivered to you is what was before received
That Christ died for our sins according to God’s word
He was buried and He rose, and so we have believed
And many witnesses testify to this message you have heard

Now, if Christ is preached that He is risen from the dead
How can some among you say the resurrection isn’t true?
If there is no resurrection after Christ was crucified and bled
Then our faith as well as yours is certainly askew

And if so, we are found false witnesses of God
Because we have wrongly testified of this mighty deed
And our faith is futile, no heavenly streets we’ll trod
And we are still dead in our sins; fallen Adam’s seed

Even more, those who have fallen asleep in the Lord are gone
And we are the most pitiable creatures the world could ever look upon

But indeed, Christ is risen from the dead
He is the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep
And as death came through one man, Adam, our federal head
So Christ will make all alive; our souls He will keep

There is an order to the Resurrection call
Christ was first, the pattern for the rest when He comes
When He does, He will make a shout out to us all
And we will rise as if to the sound of heavenly battle drums

Then comes the time, when He delivers the kingdom to the Father
When all rule, authority, and power have come to an end
The last enemy to be destroyed is death, never more to bother
Then the Son will to the Father eternal rule extend

But you ask, “What will we be like after our time of sleep?
After we have been buried in corruption’s pit so deep?”

Our body is sown in dishonor, but it will be raised in glory
It is sown in weakness, but raised in power – the resurrection story

The first man Adam became a living being, it is true
The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit, life to me and you

And as was the man of dust, created so long ago
So are those likened unto him, also made of dust
And as is the Man, the Lord from heaven, you know
That we shall bear His image for eternity just as we’ve discussed

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God
Nor can corruption inherit that which is incorrupt
Be we shall all be changed, and so, heavenly streets we’ll trod
In the twinkling of an eye, the change will be abrupt

When the last trumpet sounds, we will be taken to glory
We shall all be changed, completion of the gospel story

Where O Death, O where is your sting?
When Christ our Savior, us to Himself does He bring

Where O Hades, O where is your victory?
When Christ translates His children to eternal glory

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin the law
But thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord
My beloved brethren be steadfast in all you’ve heard and saw
And cling confidently to God’s eternal word

Know for certain that your labor is not in vain
Be of good cheer, Christ is coming again

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

Luke 1:26-38 (The Power of the Highest Will Overshadow You)

Luke 1:26-38
The Power of the Highest Will Overshadow You

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”
38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Yesterday, 25 December 2021, we celebrated Christmas as Christians do all over the world at this time each year. However, it is clearly evident from Scripture that Jesus was not born at this time of the year. Some falsely proclaim that Jesus was born in the springtime around the Passover. That is unmistakably wrong from the biblical text, but it is sensational, and it sells well.

The biblical narrative clearly places His birth during the fall season. Specifically, it would have been on Yom Teruah, or the Feast of Acclamation as is recorded in Leviticus 23:23-25. This can be easily determined from the Bible itself by first following the account set down in Luke 1 and Luke 2, and then by using the information he provides to search the Old Testament to definitively place the timing of the event.

To more clearly see this, you can read or watch the sermon entitled “Leviticus 23:23-25 (The Feasts of the Lord, The Memorial of Acclamation)” from the Superior Word Leviticus sermons. There, the account is laid out to demonstrate this.

This day that would have been Jesus’ birth, Yom Teruah, or the “Feast of Acclamation,” is known by some as the “Feast of Trumpets.” But the Hebrew word used, teruah, does not necessarily refer to trumpets, even if trumpets were blown. It simply means that the people were to raise a tumult of joy – shouting, whooping and yelping, blowing trumpets, and so on.

The specific name is stated in Numbers 29 where it is called Yom Teruah, or Day of Acclamation. In Job 38, the root of teruah – the word rua – is used when speaking of a shout of rejoicing at the time of creation –

“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements?
Surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
To what were its foundations fastened?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy? Job 38:4-7

This is the sense of the word, and of what is to occur. Teruah can be a war cry, an alarm, a shout of joy, the blast of the trumpet, and so forth. In the words of Leviticus 23, it is termed zikaron teruah, or a “memorial of acclamation.”

The Greek Old Testament specifically translates this day as mnémosunon salpiggon, or “memorial of trumpets,” but that is more of an explanation than of a translation of the Hebrew.

In modern Israel, the day is known as Rosh Hoshana or “Beginning of the year.” But biblically, that term is not appropriate to describe the event. The redemptive calendar, upon which the Feasts of the Lord are given, begins in the spring, not in the fall. The modern calendar used in Israel does not follow the biblical calendar that was given by the Lord for clues about the coming Messiah

It is a problem because people in the church have mixed up the events of the Feasts of the Lord so completely that almost nothing taught matches what the Bible actually says. It really takes a complete severing from everything that is taught today, and a return to the biblical text alone, to properly know what is going on and how it points to Jesus. Without this, there is complete confusion concerning the purpose, meaning, and significance of the Feasts of the Lord as detailed in Scripture.

Text Verse: “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” Luke 2:10-12

The reason for repeating all of this detail concerning the timing of Jesus’ birth, and the appropriate terminology concerning it from previous sermons, is to establish a baseline for us to consider why we celebrate “Christmas” at this time of year.

But even before that, we should define what the term “Christmas” actually means. This is because folks love to find a conspiracy in everything, including what they claim is an overt connection to the Roman Catholic mass. It is true the word is from the word that defines the mass, but that doesn’t imply that this is some unholy word that should never be used.

The word is simply a shortened form of “Christ’s mass.” It is found in writings as early as 1038 where it is called Crīstesmæsse. The word “Christ” comes from the Greek word Christόs, meaning Christ. That comes from the Hebrew mashiakh, or “Messiah.” And both Messiah and Christ mean “anointed.” Thus, it refers to the “Anointed One.”

The word mass comes from the Latin word missa, the celebration of the Eucharist. That comes from eucharistia, or “thanksgiving.” It is a word found predominantly in Paul’s writings, but it is also found in Acts and in Revelation. The last use of it in Scripture is in Revelation 7 –

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom,
Thanksgiving and honor and power and might,
Be to our God forever and ever.
Amen.” Revelation 7:12

Hence, one can see the word “Christmas” is a perfectly biblical word, even if it is not actually found in the Bible. It is the giving of thanks for what God has done in Christ. At times, the term is substituted for Xmas, something seen as derogatory and a dismissal of the name of “Christ,” but that is also incorrect.

That is a shortened form of Christόs which in the Greek alphabet reads Χριστός. The Greek letter chi looks like a modern X. This is not a new invention, but it actually goes back to Middle English where the first two letters, Χρ (chi and rho), are seen in place of the full word.

So far, that has been a lot of information that hasn’t told us anything about our sermon text, but it gives us the basis for much of what we need to know concerning why we just celebrated Christmas yesterday, except for why we celebrated it yesterday and not in the September/October time frame when Christ was born.

If the birth of Christ is what we are celebrating, and if that happened in the fall, then people argue that there must be some devilish reason why we have been so misdirected to observe it at the end of December. And, indeed, haters of everything Roman Catholic do their best to come to this conclusion.

Just type into your search bar “pagan origins of Christmas,” and you will find every possible reason why this is not a Christ-oriented day at all. One example of this is the common saying that the Norse, Druids, Celtics, and others – all pagan of course – observed the winter solstice at this time.

Others tie it directly to the Roman feast called Saturnalia, in honor of the god Saturn, which was held on 17 December, and which was later expanded to hold festivities as late as 23 December.

There is a problem with these analyses though. And that is that we are not observing Saturnalia on those dates. We are also not observing the winter solstice on 21 December. We are observing a thanksgiving to Christ on 25 December.

The timing of the events is close, and there is a reason for that, just as there is a reason that the feast of Passover was at the same general time as the spring equinox which occurs around March 20th of each year. Not unsurprisingly, this was also a time of pagan observances.

This time of year is one of renewal and new hope as the long winter comes to a close. To say that Christians are observing the equinox or a pagan ritual at this time is shallow, and it is no different than saying that Christians are observing the winter solstice in some pagan fashion.

It is important not to make stuff up that is without any basis in reality, but rather we are to instead seek out the knowledge of God in Christ and find out why we observe the things we do. And that is what we do when we search out the word of God. And so, having just noted that the timing of the Passover was given by God for a reason, we should think on what that is.

Its timing in the annual calendar comes at the time when Christ died, was buried, and when He resurrected. The spring is the perfect time for this to occur. Just as the season looks to the renewal of life, so the resurrection of Christ looks to it as well. There is new life to be found for every believer who comes to Him based on faith in what occurred at that time.

Yes, the exact timing of what many call “Easter” is not always the same as the day that the Jews observe the Passover, even though they do occur at the same time occasionally. But the calendars we use are not the same either. In order to accommodate the calendar and thus the life cycle of those under that different calendar, a specific dating of the observance was made for the Christian calendar.

Likewise, the timing of Christmas is a time of thanksgiving for what God has done at this time of the year when the nights are the longest and the world seems at its darkest.

But what does that timing have to do with the Holy One of God? The answer is so simple and so easily determined that it is sad that people spend so much time trying to connect the day to pagan festivals instead of just thinking the matter through.

The birth of Jesus Christ from the womb occurred on the day of Yom Teruah, in the fall time. Armed with that knowledge, all we need to do is backdate from there 280 days (+/-), the approximate time for human gestation. From there, we come up with approximately 25 December.

This is the same approximate time that the Feast of Dedication, mentioned in John 10:22, was observed. Today, Jews call that Hannukah, or the “Festival of Lights.”

Like the timing of the Passover and Firstfruits, and the timing of Good Friday and Resurrection day (aka “Easter”) – which do not always coincide, but which do from time to time – the Feast of Dedication and Christmas do not always coincide, but they will from time to time. This happens when the two calendars (the Hebrew and the Christian) merge.

We don’t know who first sat down and did the calculation for fixing what we today call Christmas, but someone did. He did so to align with 25 December, not on 17 or 21 December. And he did so not to align with a pagan festival, but it was surely to align with the birth of Christ. However, it was not from the womb, but in the womb.

This One, who explicitly calls Himself “the light of the world” in John 8:12 and again in John 9:5, is the One who came at the darkest time of the year, thus fulfilling a pattern based on the words of John –

“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” John 3:19

The Feast of Dedication, also known extra-biblically as the Festival of Lights, was celebrated by the Jews at this time of year as a foreshadowing of the true Light that would come into the world at that darkest of times. It is He that would dedicate God’s true temple and sanctify it as holy to the Lord.

One thing is for certain, despite what modern society tries so desperately to hide, the true birth of a person is the day he or she is conceived. That is why the term in the womb is called “human gestation.” A human has come to exist, and that child is being prepared in the womb to survive outside of the womb.

The Koreans get this. They consider a year in the womb as being counted toward their actual age. Thus, each person is considered a year old at birth. They then add a new year onto their age each year on New Year’s Day. Despite this, their actual birthday is still considered as a day of celebration of their birth.

That’s just a cute squiggle for your brain and has nothing to do with the biblical narrative. But it reveals a truth that they get, whereas the hateful left dismisses any such notion as completely unfounded. In them, we can say in Gumpish fashion, “Stupid is as stupid believes.”

And it is certain they don’t actually believe this, but they believe the lie outwardly so that they can continue to try to feel good about their wickedness. To understand this thinking, take time to read Romans 1 today. Paul explains it exactingly.

Regardless of that, now that we have all of this wonderful background information to understand the why and the when of what occurred, we can return to Luke and marvel at what God has done in Christ at this time of the year.

Mary, being a girl who understood how such things work, asked the angel who came to her, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” The question was not one lacking faith. She simply didn’t get how it could be.

Her words indicate that she surely understood the whole thing about having babies, and what she understood didn’t include the thought of virgins having them. As such, the angel spoke to her words that are more incredible than anything else that had ever been heard by human ears.

If you think of the enormity of what he says, it is literally impossible to grasp the totality of it. He began his words saying, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you.” Exactly what this means must be determined from a careful analysis of the rest of Scripture.

In such an analysis, it is perfectly evident that the Holy Spirit is God. This is completely obvious, and it is undeniable when properly looked into. We did a ten-part series on doctrine before we started into Deuteronomy. One sermon from that series carefully evaluates the doctrine of the Trinity. It is a doctrine that is manifestly clear. God is three Persons in one essence – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Therefore, to say that the Holy Spirit would come upon Mary is to say that the essence of God, as revealed in the Person of the Holy Spirit, would come upon Mary. This is the same Person in the Godhead that hovered over the waters in Genesis 1:2 and who brought the chaos into order. It is also the same Person in the Godhead that is said to be the Source of life for all beings –

“You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
And You renew the face of the earth.” Psalm 104:30

What is said to Mary, however, does not speak at all of the creation of life. Rather, it speaks of the issuance of life. The son born to Eve in her union with Adam was not a creation, but was rather a product of who they were as beings. Thus, the term “conceive” is used.

The Greek word that defines conception, not creation, is what is used concerning Christ in Luke 1:31. It is the word sullambanó, a compound word coming from sun, with or together, and lambanó, to receive.

There is the sense of life issuing from both Mary and the Holy Spirit just as there is life from the union of a man and a woman. Creation is excluded in the thought. Rather, the word “beget” is what defines what occurred. The union of two issuing forth into a new being. In this case, and because of who the two are, we have something unique in all of the universe – both temporal and physical.

The pattern was set forth on the first page of the Bible where all life is said to produce after its own kind. As such:

The Father is God: the issuance is God.
The mother is a human being: the issuance is a human.

As the Child is a male, the issuance is the God/Man, Christ who is Jesus.

Again, the word “creation” cannot be used in the explanation of what occurred. To do so will introduce heresy into what is said. Life begetting life is what has occurred. There is human life that was originally created, but there is the Divine life which is uncreated.

Without explaining how it happened, Paul explains that it did, in fact, happen –

“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:
God was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.” 1 Timothy 3:16

God was manifested in the flesh. This is what we call the Incarnation. God did not become a man – as if the infinite became finite, a logical contradiction and an impossibility. Rather, God united with humanity. The infinite has united with the finite. It is something both non-contradictory and completely possible.

John, with failing human words, expresses what occurred –

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” John 1:1-4

&

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

What came forth was flesh, because He came through humanity. But He is also begotten of the Father. As such, He bears a glory that extends beyond that of humanity. Even to the glory of God because He was there before flesh existed. Paul refers to this at several times and in various ways, such as –

“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6

Likewise, John opens his first epistle with this thought –

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—” 1 John 1:1, 2

This concept continued to be explained to Mary with the next words of the angel, “and the power of the Highest will overshadow you.”

Here the term “power” is used to describe the “Highest.” In other words, the One who is Most High is also the Most Powerful. They are not two things, but one. As such, it makes the words of Luke 1:32 more understandable. There, the angel – using the same word – said, “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest.”

As such, the same thing that makes a child receive the paternal nature of a man is what makes Christ receive the paternal nature of the Highest. Again, Paul alludes to this –

“but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:24

What God possesses because of who He is, is then revealed through the Son because of who He is. He has received the paternal nature of the Highest, and thus Christ possesses the power of God and the wisdom of God. And, once again, Paul tells us of what God is doing through this dual nature of Jesus – who is the Christ – when he says –

“Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not  imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:18, 19

God didn’t just send a man to reconcile the world to Himself, such as, “Elijah, I want you to be the one who will reconcile fallen man to Me.” Obviously, that wouldn’t have worked, because Elijah was born of fallen man; he received the sin of Adam. But more, God didn’t create a new man, like Adam, and say, “I am sending you to reconcile the world to Me.”

That wouldn’t have worked, because that man would have no knowledge of good and evil. As such, he would not be a suitable substitute for fallen man. But once he gained that knowledge, he would be fallen, just as Adam fell. It is the inevitable outcome of gaining that knowledge.

Rather, God took care of the matter Himself. The One with infinite knowledge of all things – God – was “in Christ.” As such, He was capable of reconciling the world to Himself. The marvel, the absolute stunning and incredible nature, of what God has done is beyond our ability to grasp.

We fight with words in order to explain what God has done, but we are always just one misspoken word away from heresy. Or we provide words that are insufficient to bring the mind to the state of where it should be in relation to the knowledge of how God did it.

But the words do generally tell us what occurred and what it means, even if we cannot properly and fully grasp, or state, the extent of what happened. As such, we come to the next words of the angel to Mary, which are, “therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”

Mary was a physical human being who bore the DNA of her parents. Her DNA would have transmitted on from her to Jesus. This isn’t only logical, it is to be inferred from those verses that say Jesus is the Offspring of David, is of the seed of David, and so on.

This is also to be perfectly understood from the genealogies recorded in Matthew 1 and Luke 3. If this were not true, and if God created Jesus immediately and directly in the womb of Mary (a heresy known as Valentinianism), then Jesus would be a created, not a begotten, being. But this was not the case.

However, what is it that completed the human nature of Jesus? How did that come about? The Bible does not tell us. It simply states that Jesus was born and that no human father was involved in the process. That leaves us with a mystery at this time, but it did occur.

Somehow, God clicked the tumblers of the building blocks of Jesus’ humanity in the womb of Mary to have this incredible framework form into a human being. And it came about. And even though we don’t know how this occurred, the record testifies to the fact that it did happen.

And to leave Mary (and thus us who have been told the story) with a sufficient (albeit incomplete) explanation for how it occurred, the angel said to her, “For with God nothing will be impossible.” At this time, and maybe forever, we do not have all of the information to know what transpired in the womb of Mary – at least I don’t, and I don’t think anyone else has suitably explained it either.

But we are armed with the words of the text, and we are asked to believe that the seemingly impossible was possible because God is in the details. With this knowledge, we can know that on that Christmas day, over two thousand years ago now, God united with humanity, and then the Offspring of that union developed into a Child who was born from the womb and into the world.

The record of His birth, His life, and the works that He accomplished is sufficiently detailed in the four gospels to give us all we need to know in order to make an informed decision about “Who is this Man?” He is the Son of the Highest who possesses all of the power of heaven and earth. He is the Son of God who bears His holiness, His grace, His love, and His mercy.

He is also the Judge who will preside over all mankind because He is the incarnate word of God who reveals and expresses the unseen God to us. What God spoke through the prophets is more fully realized in Christ. Where the prophets might say, “Judgment is coming,” God in Christ says, “Judgment is come.”

And be sure, judgment is also coming, but it is coming, because it has already come –

“Jesus answered and said, ‘This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.’ 33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die.” John 12:30-33

Judgment has come through the death of the humanity of Jesus. As we already saw, God did not become a man, and God did not die on the cross of Calvary. Rather, Jesus the Man, who is also fully God, died on the cross. But God in Christ did not die.

When Jesus died, the world was judged. Everything necessary for all of judgment, for all of human history, was judged at that moment. Everything from the fall of Adam until the last breath of the last man that will ever take place on this earth was judged at that moment.

Jesus Christ has the power to judge, He has the authority to judge, and He has the right to judge it all. It doesn’t matter one diddly if we like that, or if we don’t like it. It doesn’t matter one smidgeon if we believe it or not. And it doesn’t matter doodly squat what we think, because what God has done in this matter does not include us in the process. Rather, it includes us in the results of the process.

God in Christ did the work, and He did it for us. The incarnation was for us. The circumcision on the eighth day was for us. The temptations He faced were for us. The long walks along the paths, trails, and highways of Israel were for us. The reviling accusations, the jeers, the sneers, and being shunned by His people was for us.

And when Jesus was betrayed, mocked, disowned by His people, scourged, and crucified – it was for us. There is nothing in what God did in Christ Jesus that filled a need in Him. He is the ruler of this universe and the One who directs all things according to His wisdom. And yet, He did what He did for us.

For whatever incomprehensible reason, He decided that this thing that He would do in Christ was of value. David, even before the cross, asked of the Lord the most honest question he could put forth. In fact, he was so curious about the matter, that he repeated it in two psalms, Psalm 8, and Psalm 144 –

“Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him?
Or the son of man, that You are mindful of him?” Psalm 144:3

David just wasn’t getting it. “Lord, why do you even bother with us?” He knew He did, and he knew that there was a purpose for it, but he just couldn’t fathom what that purpose could be.

Now, here we are on the other side of the cross. We have seen what God was willing to go through for us. And we consistently fail to ask that same question, even now when it is infinitely more appropriate to ask, “Lord, why did You ever do what You did for people like us?”

This is why the Lord has the right to judge all things. It is because He did it. And that judgment can go in only one of two directions. It will be imputed to us because God already judged us in Christ, or it will be a judgment against us because we have failed to receive what God has done in Christ.

God in Christ is the measure. He is the standard. He is where we must find ourselves. Or we will be forever separated from Him. The choice is ours because a bit over two thousand years ago, the Holy Spirit came upon a young virgin, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her. When that happened, the Holy One who was born from this event was and is called THE SON OF GOD.

What is Christmas day? It is the celebration of and the giving thanks for that which is simply incredible. It is a day of contemplating the infinite love of God which is found in the giving of a Son to the people of the world. Through this, we can experience the divine – not in some ethereal way, but in a real and personal way.

The life that is Christ Jesus is essentially the same life that now quickens us, but it is realized in a different way. We are not begotten of humanity and deity as Christ was, thus becoming the God/Man. We are humans who are born of God through an act of faith in what He did for us.

As this is so, we are now called children of God, we are now granted an inheritance that is incorruptible and eternal in nature, and we have the everlasting hope of paradise restored, plus. The plus is Jesus.

Adam couldn’t have fathomed what the Lord would do to bring him back to Himself. David pondered why he was attentive to us at all, and he could find no suitable answer. We, on the other hand, do know what extent God would go to make it possible. But our knowing only makes what He did all the more difficult to grasp.

Surely, O God, what is man that you are mindful of him? We may never fully know, but we have eternity in His presence to try to find it out. Thank God for our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ. Thank God for the child of Christmas who is also the Lamb who was slain. Yes, thank God for Jesus Christ. And all of God’s people say… Amen.

Closing Verse: “And now the Lord says,
Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him,
So that Israel is gathered to Him
(For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord,
And My God shall be My strength),
Indeed He says,
‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles,
That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’” Isaiah 49:5, 6

Upon hearing the news of what would happen to her, Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” If you are the redeemed of the Lord, you can be assured that whatever comes your way, from moment to moment, is already known to God.

As surely as he had planned and purposed for Mary to be the mother of Jesus, He knows what is in store for you as well. And so, through the good and through the bad in the year to come, be of the mind that you will respond according to the words of Mary, “Let it be to me according to your word.” He will see you through to a good end, even if things are rocky along the way.

My friend Izabela sent me a note recently, she said, “My 10-year-old granddaughter Lily wrote her first poem.” It is a great poem and I’d like to read it to you now.

Christmas is fun
Gifts are nice
But the best gift of all
Is Jesus Christ

Next Week:  Deuteronomy 29:1-9 Moses has something he wants to address… (I Have Led You Forty Years in the Wilderness) (84th Deuteronomy Sermon)

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you. He has a good plan and purpose for you. He sent His own Son into the world to reconcile you to Himself. Remember the enormity of what that means each day of your life. And then, follow Him and trust Him as He continues to do marvelous things for you and through you.

The Zeal of the Lord of Hosts

Unto us a Child is born
A time to rejoice and not to mourn

Unto us a Son is given
The One to lead us from death to a’livin’

And the government will be upon His shoulder
Every eye will see Him; every soul will be His beholder

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom’s realm
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever – He at the helm
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this

And His name will be called Wonderful
The Counselor and Mighty God is He
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, pure and white as wool
Of the increase of His government and peace, no end shall we see

Do not be afraid, for behold
I bring you good tidings of great joy
Which will be to all people, forever told
The wondrous story, the birth of a Boy

For there is born to you this day
In the city of David, a Savior, it is He
Who is Christ the Lord, to whom heaven’s hosts obey
The Messiah has come, and now you may go and see

And this will be the sign to you:
You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes
Lying in a manger, a glorious view
The Christmas Child whom our Heavenly Father bestows

A Child like no other has come to dwell among us
He shall lead us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake
And His name is called out, His name is JESUS
Come, and of the Heavenly Child partake

He is God’s gift and heaven’s treasure
He is Immanuel – God with us
And He bestows upon us grace without measure
The Christmas Child, our glorious Lord Jesus

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Presenting the Word of God to the People of God

Presenting the Word of God to the People of God

A close friend of mine asked me to have breakfast with him recently so that we could discuss something pressing upon him. Not sure of what was up, I – of course – agreed.

In our conversation, he said he had come to the conclusion, from a purely secular perspective, that the only thing that could save our nation from inevitable collapse was for the people to be turned back to a right relationship with God. There is nothing in the political arena that is capable of doing that at this point.

I think his thoughts are based on the fact that there is really no other avenue that will stop the fast-paced moral slide into the abyss that is occurring in the nation, and indeed in the entire world. There is no doubt that unless this unholy tide is stemmed, it will be too late in a very short time. Indeed, it may be too late even now.

In fact, just a week ago, I reported that “More than 120 retired American military officials have signed an open letter warning that America has veered left under Democratic control and that the nation’s survival is on the line.” They said –

“Under a Democrat Congress and the Current Administration, our Country has taken a hard left turn toward Socialism and a Marxist form of tyrannical government which must be countered now by electing congressional and presidential candidates who will always act to defend our Constitutional Republic.”

The main problem in America comes from the fact that the same people who have crept into the government, meaning the communists, have also secured themselves into almost every seminary in the nation. This may sound conspiratorial, but it is not. The leftist agenda in this nation is a communist agenda. The two, at this point, are inseparable.

If all you watch is the mainstream media, this may seem surprising to you, but they have been, for many years now, at the forefront of this by reporting a false narrative while these communists have slowly worked their way through both the government and our churches.

Text Verse: “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:1-5

To understand this problem, and to look back at how long this has been planned, we will go to a report submitted to the US Congress in 1963.

On Thursday, January 10, 1963, the Honorable A.S. Herlong, Jr. of Florida submitted, in an extension of remarks to the US House of Representatives, what he entitled “Current Communist Goals.” In his submission, he specifically named forty-five goals of the communists in order to gain control of this nation.

What I am presenting to you now is a sermon on how I prepare my sermons. It seems like this would otherwise be a waste of time. There are churches everywhere. Seminaries have courses on homiletics. And so on. Isn’t that enough to get the word of God out in a proper manner to the church? No, I do not believe it is.

Many seminaries teach a great deal, but little of it is based solely on the word of God. Some of them teach nothing of the word of God at all. And it is perfectly evident from what issues from innumerable churches across our land, from week to week, that the word of God is not the main concern of what they are presenting to the attendees.

But that is exactly what the structure of the church is established for. It is not there to push agendas, it is not there to make people feel good, and it is not there to be a self-perpetuating money maker. It is an institution that is to be designed around one main thing – the word of God. And that word of God is given to tell us, above all else, about His dealings with humanity through the Person of Jesus Christ.

Further, I’m not saying that the way I prepare sermons is the best way to do so. However, there are countless sermons spoken forth on any given Sunday that have – literally – nothing to do with the word of God. And those that do may only touch on the word. The rest of the time, people are simply given an easy message that is intended to encourage them in some manner.

This is not a proper way of informing people about the contents of the word of God. Whatever these people are being taught in seminary, it is not enough. That is perfectly evident. And so, I will convey to you my own method of sermon preparation so that any who truly cares about the word will be able to follow this path without all of the learning curve that I had to go through in order to come to where I am now.

The truth is, though, that this would be unnecessary if pastors were properly trained in the biblical text and proper theology, and also if they were willing to spend the necessary time it takes to prepare and present the type of sermons to their congregations that would protect their flocks from the damage inflicted by such ungodly people within the society.

This is not a sermon on either politics or communism, but these points must be understood as – at least in part – a basis for understanding why such a sermon is deemed by my friend to be necessary at all. Our churches have been led down a sad path of theological apostasy, and the only way to rectify that is to turn ourselves to what is sound and reasonable. And this is to be issued forth from any pastor who truly feels the weight of his responsibility to the flock he presents himself to each week.

Immensely important things like exalting the word of God that tells us about Jesus Christ in our church gatherings are to be found in His superior word. And so, let us consider that precious word once again and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. An Unholy Agenda

With the thought in mind that I said earlier about the leftist agenda in the United States actually being a communist agenda, and that it is being championed by the democrat party, I need to substantiate that before we go on. And so, of the forty-five points submitted by Representative Herlong to the United States House of Representatives in 1963 that I mentioned a moment ago, please consider the following twenty-eight –

  1. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
  2. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
  3. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
  4. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
  5. Gain control of all student newspapers.
  6. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
  7. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, and policymaking positions.
  8. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
  9. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”
  10. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”
  11. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.
  12. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
  13. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, and healthy.”
  14. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.”
  15. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.” (Remember these goals were published to expose them in 1958) Coincidence?
  16. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
  17. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the “common man.”
  18. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the “big picture.” Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
  19. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture–education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
  20. Eliminate all laws or procedures, which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
  21. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
  22. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
  23. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
  24. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].
  25. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
  26. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
  27. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
  28. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use [“] united force [“] to solve economic, political or social problems.

This was 1963, almost sixty years ago. Were we to go over each of these points, even with only with a broad brushstroke of printed articles from the past year, we would be able to identify that almost each and every one of them has been carefully and meticulously introduced, pursued, and fully completed within one party of the United States of America – the democrat party. This is unquestionable, it is without controversy, and it is beyond contestation.

Our government has been fully taken over by the communists and we have let it happen, above all, because we have replaced our faith in God with false idols of prosperity, wealth, consumption, moral turpitude, and even downright depravity. And, sadly, it is the church that has often been at the forefront of this amazingly precipitous decline.

Of all these forty-five points, the most important one, though only listed in position 27, says, “Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with ‘social’ religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a ‘religious crutch.’”

The reason this is the most important one is that if proper religion were maintained within the churches of our nation, none of these other points would have occurred. We would have remained on guard, we would not have allowed sexually, politically, and morally deviant people to overtake our society. And we surely would not have allowed the democrat party of these United States to succeed in destroying the foundational Christian underpinnings of this nation.

The man in the White House, his vice president, and indeed all of his associates – along with the democrats in the House and the Senate – are opposed to the right, perfect, and moral doctrines found in Scripture – wholly and entirely. Any person who has read through the Bible even once, and even if he does not accept the Bible as God’s word, could come to no other conclusion.

Everything stems back to, as Jude says, the “faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” In our somnambulance, it is a faith that we have let go of, and we are now paying the price for our slumbering.

Almost every mainstream denomination has been completely sold out to this leftist agenda. Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and so on. They have, for all intents and purposes, become bastions of communist ideology. Even the once sound Southern Baptist Convention has been infiltrated by this ideology, and it is quickly turning aside from the sacred and precious faith.

And because people within the congregations were unwilling to step away from what was occurring before their eyes, the power of these miscreants increased within the government because the people who run these churches are in the same bed as those who run this government.

It no longer matters to those in the democrat party if they commit the most horrendous of perversions because those in the churches are not there to condemn them. Think of Barney Frank – and how many years ago was that! Indeed, these churches are there to support them.

These words are not intended to condemn immorality within society. I am not the judge of those things. I can only highlight them as examples that are contrary to what the Bible expects for the society, and especially for the people of God. God will judge. Our accusations will convert no one. Only a proper explanation of what God expects in order to come to a precious saving faith in His provision will convert anyone.

Those churches that have held to the morality of Scripture as sacrosanct are belittled by members of their own denominations, by a complicit media, and now by a complicit group within Big Tech.

The voices of moral reason and godliness have been silenced both actively and passively. Actively by the tech companies, by government itself, and even by those within the hierarchies of these denominations who hold power over those in lower positions. And passively this has come about by those pastors who are too afraid to speak out at what is going on.

I do not need to dwell on this point any further, and I shall not. The damage is done, the infection has set in, and unless pastors are willing to exalt the morality found in Scripture to its rightful place within this society once again, even those pastors who ride a borderline approach are soon to be rounded up… and executed. Mock that if you will, but the hour is not long in coming. History is not without precedent in this regard. Rather, it is filled with it.

When faced with their own demise, most pastors will, sadly, simply step off the borderline and set their feet ontto the left of it, aligning themselves with the forces of iniquity that they are too terrified of to speak out against any longer. Yes, I suppose most will choose this path when the time comes.

Tragedy in the Garden

The woman was enticed, and she ate of the fruit
She passed it on to Adam and he ate as well
He became the second willing recruit
And together they left a sad story to tell

Their eyes were opened to their exposed state
They realized that life in sin just ain’t so great

They sewed together figs to hide their shame
And made coverings that just wouldn’t suffice
The Lord questioned them about their hiding game
And they realized that sin just ain’t so nice

“Where are you?” called the LORD. (Though he already knew)
“I was hiding because I realized something wasn’t right
I was afraid to answer, I’m naked … yes, it’s true
And so, I hid myself, like a shadow in the night”

“Who told you that you were naked? What is this you did do?
Have you taken of the fruit which I told you not to eat?”
“It was the women who did it… the one made by You
She told me of its yumminess… and how it was so sweet”

I thought it would be so good, but I guess I paid the price
I’m beginning to see that sin really ain’t so nice

“Woman, what is this thing that you have done?
Traded life under the heavens for life under the sun.”
Oh my Lord it was the serpent. He deceived me and I ate
And now I’m seeing that sin just ain’t so great”

Oh God that we could take it back and undo what we have done
Life was wonderful under the heavens
But it’s terrible under the sun

What can we do make things right?
Where can we turn to be healed?
How long will we be cast from Your sight?
How long until the grave is unsealed?

I have a plan, children, but you’ll have to wait
Many years under the sun toiling in the heat
But I will someday open wide heaven’s gate
When My own Son, the devil will defeat

I will send My own Son, the devil to defeat

II. How My Sermons are Prepared

For those preachers who are set and ready to put as first position the lives they have been called to, it means hard work is ahead. It is undoubtedly true that most pastors do not write their own sermons. Some have their staff write them so that they can deliver them with panache on Sunday morning.

There are books with formatted sermons already available. Sermons can be downloaded from the internet, and they can be purchased from innumerable people who will do the work for them so that they can get back to the more important issues of the ministry – be it a day of golfing each week, or some other time of leisure that would be otherwise unheard of if they truly devoted themselves to the calling set before them.

This should not be. Though you will not find this in Scripture, I am of the belief that no sermon should ever be preached by a pastor that he has not personally put together after struggling in the battle of preparing it. If he cannot do this one thing – this most important and intimate thing – for those he is shepherding, he should not be their shepherd.

Congregants should find out where their pastor’s sermons come from. If they are not from him and his personal studies, then what he is preaching is the work of another, and the doctrine may or may not even be what he believes. But it is the doctrine presented by the pastor that guides the church. And it is the church alone, that can stand against the unholy tide flooding the nations of this world.

And, before going on, a note of correction for those pastors who are willing to speak out – from the word – concerning the moral issues of the society: The term “Judeo-Christian values” is not a sound or appropriate way to refer to the values of the nation they are trying to return morality to.

Pastors may put forth terms such as “biblical values,” or they may be more specific and say, “Christ-centered biblical values.” But the term “Judeo Christian values” exalts the faith, whatever that may be, of Jews who do not believe in Christ… to the same level as those people – Jew or Gentile – who do. It is a perverse term that should never have become a part of the standard lexicon of faithful preachers of the word of God.

The entire body of Scripture, Old Testament and New, cannot be properly understood or explained without Jesus Christ being the central focus of what is being presented from Scripture. Jesus made that explicit in John 5 –

“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” John 5:39, 40

&

“Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” John 5:45-47

It is unconscionable for the preacher to preach in the church of the saints of Jesus Christ without clearly demonstrating, each and every week, that this precious word of God – conveyed to us by God through men of God – points to His workings in redemptive history completely and entirely, with Jesus Christ as the focus of what God is doing.

And finally, before I explain the mechanical “how” of preparing a sermon as I do, I will say this – clearly and without ambiguity. No person should be allowed into the pulpit to preach on the word of God unless he is fully versed in the word of God.

If he has not read the Bible through, innumerable times, and if he does not commit to reading this word every single day of his life – first thing in the morning and last thing at night – he should not be your preacher.

Any person can go to the streets and share the gospel, even preach the gospel. But for a complete and well-prepared analysis of God’s word from the pulpit, that person must be fully aware of the contents of the entire body of Scripture.

This does not mean various theologies of Scripture that anyone can learn in a seminary without knowing the word of God. This means knowing the word of God so that they can tell when the theologies of Scripture are being improperly taught to them when they attend seminary.

We have put the cart before the horse by sending people unaware of Scripture off to seminary to learn doctrine. Proper doctrine is to be derived from an analysis of Scripture. Scripture is not to be interpreted from man-derived doctrines.

No wonder we are in the pickle we are in! When a person enters a theological seminary and he is not yet well-versed in Scripture, he is subject to be taught anything – no matter how perverse – and he will accept it from that point on.

This is the same model that has been introduced into our secular schools all over this nation. We are training young minds to believe in a communist model of life, and this is what they will cling to – believing that what they are trained is correct – for all their days. And this all started because these communists first infected the churches of those who are now the teachers in our schools.

When Alexis de Tocqueville wrote about the young democracy planted in this nation, he highlighted the religious nature of the people of this land. He was adamant that the traditional religion of America is certainly of the highest importance in the nation’s statesmanship.

So much was this the case that he said that our religion – our Christian faith – “should be considered the first” of the nation’s “political institutions.” He concluded that America must at all costs “maintain Christianity.” This cannot occur unless pastors first properly explain this precious message to those who will enter into the political arena.

And that cannot occur when we ordain pastors who are unaware of the contents of the precious treasure we call “The Word of God.” If a person is well-versed in Scripture, there are many ways to present it to a congregation. Today, most sermons are presented as “life application” sermons, instructing the congregation on how to live one’s life in regard to whatever issue is being presented in the subject material.

Although there is nothing wrong with this approach, teaching the contents of the word of God, line by line, will mold congregants into people who are aware of the nuances of Scripture. With such a presentation, from week to week, they will not need to be told how to live their lives in a biblical manner. They will know how to do so because they will be aware of what the Bible expects of them.

This is the approach that some denominations take, and it is the approach that I myself follow. And so, as tedious as it may appear, I want to give a brief overview of how these sermons are put together. I honestly believe it is the most effective way of conveying the word of God to the people of God, and if enough voices rise from the pulpit with this approach, those who hear will understand the truth, reliability, and power of this word.

Each week, I follow on from whatever passage ended the previous week. We started our biblical adventure on October 23th, 2011, with Genesis 1:1. Since then, we have slowly and methodically progressed through the five books of Moses, so that today, a bit less than ten years later, we are going through the fifth book of Moses, Deuteronomy.

Following this approach has been both spiritually rewarding, and I am sure it has been edifying to all who have continued through these books, myself included. In the early chapters of Genesis, even until about Genesis 35, I feel I went far too fast through the verses. I wasn’t attentive to the detail as I should have been, and I was unlearned in any meaningful sense in the Hebrew.

Therefore, this has been as much of a learning experience for me as it has been for those who have participated in these sermons. The process has remained basically the same, but it has been slowly modified here and there to where we are now. It is my hope that in explaining how I write these sermons, it will help others in progressing more quickly past those points of learning that I had to struggle through.

I had no model to go by, no pattern laid out, and I had to discover what did work and what did not work. Even today, I will slightly amend my approach as needed.

When I started typing the sermons, I chose a passage by the size or content of the passage and determined to write a sermon based on that. At times, this is still necessary, but it is now the exception rather than the rule.

Instead, I will have the framework of the sermon laid out each week – a template that I use for each sermon. This has a title (which includes the book, chapter, and verses of the sermon and the subject of it); a text passage (whatever the subject verses are referred to during the sermon); a text verse (a verse that will anchor the entire text passage to the mind of the listener); and the standard closing of the opening section which is substantially repeated each and every week.

After this, will be a place for the main points of the sermon – be it two, three, or even four sections. Then comes a closing verse (a verse that will sum up the thought of what has been presented). After that will be a note of what the contents of the next sermon will be. And then a place is left for a poem based on all of the text passage for that sermon.

There is a reason for each of these. Maybe surprisingly, the poem for the sermon, or sermons, for the entire coming chapter is the first thing I type. Supposing I have completed the verses for Deuteronomy 17, then before I actually start the Chapter 18 sermons – meaning the week before I start – I compose a poem based on all verses of Chapter 18. This poem is as close to the original text as I can possibly make it.

That is now complete, and I don’t have to worry about it interfering with the typing of whatever sermons come out of Chapter 18, be it one sermon or five. As the contents of each sermon are completed, I simply take the poem and divide it according to the verses that were included in it. For example, Deuteronomy 18 turned out to be three sermons – 1-8; 9-14; and 15-22.

The question may be, “Why do you do a poem based on the verses of each chapter?” Being glad you asked, I will explain. The reason is that before giving the sermon, the sermon text is read – Deuteronomy 18:15-22, for example. After that, the sermon is given based on those eight verses. After the sermon has been given, a poem, based directly on those eight verses and matching them as closely as possible, is then read.

In all, the sermon passage is therefore heard in three different ways. It is, thus, a memory tool for the congregation. As poetry is different in tone and make-up, even if it is almost a mirror of the text itself, it is a completely unique memory tool.

Out of sheer laziness, because of the amount of time it takes, several times, I have thought to drop this part of the sermon. And each time I thought to do so, someone has walked up out of the blue and said how much the poem helps them to process what they have just heard.

With the format laid out and the poem done for the entire chapter, on the next Monday, I start into the sermon itself. I have the format all ready, and so I start by reviewing the verses that I will be going over and immediately get into analyzing the first verse. We’ll say it is Deuteronomy 18:15.

What I do is to open (at least) 8 tabs on the computer. The first six are from BibleHub.com and are set to the following:

1) Bible Hub – a parallel of the verse being evaluated with approximately 25 different translations of that verse. Sometimes, looking at them isn’t necessary. Sometimes reading all 25 translations is needed. It is an invaluable tool.

2) Bible Hub – the entire verse in the Hebrew with a link to Strong’s concordance for each word; each word in Hebrew; a literal English translation for each word; and the morphology of each word. Each word is linked to those various tools, and each is meticulously reviewed by me in all four of these aspects, as needed.

If the word being looked at is a new word in Scripture, that is noted, and its meaning and etymology are explained during the sermon. The introduction of new words, the number of times the words are used in Scripture, and other such information can be an integral part of understanding the passage.

This may be the most important tab open and spending an hour or more on a single verse is not uncommon.

3) Bible Hub – commentaries from (for the Old Testament) Charles Ellicott, Joseph Benson, Matthew Henry, Albert Barnes, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, John Gill, the Geneva Bible, Cambridge, and the Pulpit Commentary.

4) Bible Hub – the commentary of Adam Clarke.

5) Bible Hub – the commentary of John Lange.

6) Bible Hub – the commentary of Keil and Delitzsch.

To get a fuller idea of what the verse being looked at is saying, I read almost every word of every commentary just named. This is an important step. These men have been trained in the biblical languages, and they have built their commentaries on some of the finest Bible scholars in all of church history who preceded them.

With the exception of Cambridge, for an evaluation of the Bible as an inspired text, these are some of the finest commentaries available. Cambridge is terrible in this regard, and their commentaries are often worse than useless – they being a bunch of liberal scholars.

And yet, their insights into the structure of the passage, and their analyses of the mechanical aspects of the Hebrew are invaluable. This past Monday, they pointed out a gender error in Deuteronomy 21:10 that not one of the 28 translations of the Bible that I read for the sermon caught, and not one of the scholars named above caught. And yet, without that, the typology of Jesus Christ in that passage would have been overlooked or flawed.

Even when their conclusion concerning the meaning of the text is completely wrong, as it most often is, what they submit can often alert the reader to something nobody else ever even hints at.

In other words, in their attempt to call the contents of the Bible into question, they will often bring out marvelous insights that – when thought through – do exactly the opposite.

As a side note concerning Bible Hub. It is one of the best sites I know of for the type of work I do. It is an invaluable resource and without it, the labor involved in what I do would go from 6-10 hours to 15 or even 20 hours, or more. There is no site that I appreciate more.

However, as this was put together by man, there will be errors at times. When I find an error in any part of the pages I am evaluating, I do not ignore it. I immediately stop my sermon typing and email John at Biblehub.com with the corrections. I sent one to him this Monday from that same verse. His site is a masterpiece of biblical information, and we want a perfect site for the users.

7) Bible Gateway – the chapter that is being evaluated (in this case Deuteronomy 18) is opened. This is kept open all day and often needs to be referred to innumerable times. I always use the same version for sermon typing (NKJV). Any variations in version are always cited.

8) Bible Gateway – an extra bible search engine is opened in order to search out passages from elsewhere in the Bible that will be cited. At times, I may open two or three extras if there is a lot going on.

9) In addition to the above, if there are any names of places or people included in the passage, a tab is opened for Abarim Publications. They have the finest and most accurate analyses of the meaning of biblical names to be found. Many “Bible Name” sites are so far off of an actual meaning of the names that they are useless. Caution and care must be taken when considering biblical names.

With all of these tabs open, and with reading everything involved with each of them for analyzing each verse, and then putting it together into a cohesive and understandable (well, hopefully) analysis for the congregation, I still take time to do one more thing with the verse that seemingly has nothing to do with the sermon. And yet, it often helps me to put together thoughts that are actually invaluable for the sermon.

It is something I recommend to anyone who wants to progress in their understanding of the Hebrew, the structure of the verse, and of how that verse can be misunderstood. I have taken one version of the Bible and I compare it directly with the Hebrew, word for word, and then check that translation for error – for every verse I look at.

In my case, and for personal reasons, I chose the King James Version. The reason this is productive is because it leads to other really valuable insights that you might not even have imagined. If you are going to analyze the Bible for your sermons as I do, I wholly recommend you pick a version of the Bible and do exactly this with each verse.

As a side note, I also type a commentary on a single verse of the New Testament seven days a week. Other than the Gospels, Acts (which is next), and Revelation (which is now three quarter complete), I have a full commentary on the entire New Testament. The reason I bring this up is that I do the same evaluation of the Greek against the KJV as I do for the sermon from the Old Testament Hebrew. If you would like my Hebrew/Greek comparison of the KJV, it is on our website.

At the end of the text study and sermon typing, we will say for Deuteronomy 18:15-22, I immediately finish the body of the sermon by typing closing comments. They are usually something that is more of a life application concerning what has been looked at.

However, there are times I will completely skip a life application, and simply go on to convey the glory of what Christ has done in relation to the subject matter at hand. In the end, the summary to the sermon is what will settle the minds of those listening and help them to redirect to what is most important.

That is either their life responsibility in relation to God, or simply contemplating the glory of God. Either way, this is an invaluable part of a sermon, and it must be carefully presented to leave the listener with the thought that they are accountable to this great, gracious, and yet holy God.

When that is spoken out to them, they should be moved into their soul over His goodness as is relayed to us in the redemptive narrative that is presented in the pages of Scripture.

Once this is completed, I will usually only then figure out what I want to be my text verse for the sermon. As I explained earlier, it is a verse that will anchor the entire text passage to the mind of the listener. In the case of Deuteronomy 18:15-22 the text verse is of Isaiah 8:19, 20.

Normally a text verse will be one verse, or a few at best. However, at times, it may be a whole passage if needed to convey the thought properly.

Next, I will figure out a closing verse. That is a verse that will, hopefully, sum up the content of the passage for the reader to say, “Yeah, I get that!” For that particular Deuteronomy sermon, I chose Hebrews 12:18-24.

Next, unless I have already divided the sermon up into individual sections, I will do that at this time. This is important because there are almost always changes of thought within the sermon that should be separated in order to help the reader transition.

In the case of Deuteronomy 18:15-22, it was divided up into three sections –

  1. Him You Shall Hear (verses 15 & 16)
  2. I Will Require It of Him (verses 17-19)
  3. III. You Shall Not Be Afraid of Him (verses 20-22)

Each of these main points are based on words that are conveyed directly within those verses. It is, thus, a word for word memory tool for the listener of the sermon, whether he or she realizes it or not.

After dividing the sermon up in this way, I then take the time to type a poem that reflects the sentiment of what was and what will be conveyed between the sections. I do one poem prior to the beginning of any second, third, or fourth section.

Hence, because there are three sections in the sermon from Deuteronomy 18:15-22, there will be two intervening poems. The reason for this is that it allows listeners or readers to mentally stop and clear their minds of the overload of information that they have just been presented… because there is an overload of information that has just been presented.

I learned to do this while reading a sermon by Charles Spurgeon, and it has been something I have done almost since the very beginning of my time as a preacher. I cannot imagine giving a sermon without this.

So, what is left at this point? Only two things are left for the sermon to be completed. The next thing I do is to now type the introduction to the sermon. Yes, that is almost the last – not the first – thing that I do. It is very rare for me to do it at any other time, but it does happen occasionally.

This comes at the end of the sermon typing because until I have done the conclusion of the sermon, I don’t know what that conclusion will be. But the conclusion is based on the contents of the sermon, and I don’t know what the contents of the sermon will be until the sermon is complete.

Once the conclusion is done, then the opening is typed to closely match what is said at the conclusion, and I can’t match that opening with the conclusion until I know what the conclusion says. This is the standard way of presenting such information – give a thought, explain that thought, and then sum up that thought.

In the case of the sermon, because the summing up is done first, then the opening must come afterward in order to match the summary, which is based on the contents of the sermon. Everything finds its place when it is done this way. Listeners are reminded of what they were told at the beginning of the sermon, and it will thus much better instill in their minds the contents of the entire sermon.

After the opening comments are completed, there is one more thing that needs to be done – the main title to the sermon. The sermon verses need to be put into the title. These weren’t known until the sermon was complete. In this case, Deuteronomy 18:15-22. After that, and last of all, the sermon is given a name.

Obviously, a title is a normal part of a sermon, but that is only chosen based on the contents of the sermon. Therefore, the contents of the title are usually the first and the last parts of the sermon to be completed. For example:

Deuteronomy 18:15-XX is the first thing I know about the sermon. When the sermon is complete and I know which verse has ended the passage, I then complete that part: Deuteronomy 18:15-22. This is actually necessary because there are times where I will start a sermon and will end up only evaluating one verse for the entire sermon. So, this part of the title must be completed after I know the sermon’s contents.

From there, and only then, is a title chosen. I used to choose titles for viewer appeal – “This sounds good and will catch people’s attention.” I no longer do this. I don’t care about catching people’s attention. I care about a proper presentation of the word of God. Therefore, the title is now, almost always, chosen directly and word-for-word from the sermon text. Thus, the sermon title is now complete –

Deuteronomy 18:15-22
A Prophet Like Moses

This is how sermons are prepared at the Superior Word.

To worship and to serve the Lord our God
Eternal fellowship in a land of Delight
On hallowed soil our feet will trod
And the Lord shall always be in our sight

In His light, to walk and also to praise
The Lamb of God who was slain
Illuminated by His ever-glowing rays
No tears, no fear, no sorrow, no pain

Come to the waters and be restored
Drink and receive Grace from the Lord

Heaven’s door is open for all to go through
But you see it’s guarded with cherub and sword
So, to pass through the gate, this you must do
It is the gospel, “Call on the Lord”

By faith in His work and by faith alone
Access is granted past heaven’s sword
His blood was shed for your sins to atone
Again, I beg you, call on the Lord

Again, I implore you, call on the Lord

III. Other Technical Aspects

Preparing a sermon as I do does not mean that when I am done on Monday, that the sermon work is done. Not by a longshot. Unlike a life application sermon that you can type up and have ready in an hour or so and then set it aside for Sunday morning, my 7-10 (or more) hour Monday sermon typing is only a beginning step.

First, a sermon that has been done in the way I do it cannot be conveyed to the congregation with minimal notes. It cannot be looked at once and then spoken forth either. Rather, what is typed is usually so intricate and complicated that it must be read, just as it is typed, to the church.

The first thing I do is to set the sermon aside for an entire week or more so that I mentally let go of everything that has been put together. After this, I read it out loud, check for errors, move things so that they fit better within the sermon, add in or amend things, and so on.

At the same time, I do the graphics work for the sermon. Everything that will be inserted into the video copy of the sermon that the congregation doesn’t get to see (but they get to see me live, so it’s a happy trade off), is prepared for when the video work is done.

After that, the sermon is set off to the side for the next nine or so weeks. That is because I type the sermons ten weeks in advance. This is an invaluable tool for several reasons. First, if I get sick or am otherwise unable to be at the church, I am unlikely to get behind.

Secondly, in doing another nine sermons in the order of Scripture, I am able to learn much more about what is coming, and often new points that I had not even thought of for those nine as-yet unread sermons will come out. If I could do sermons one hundred weeks in advance, how much more would this be the case. But one can only do so much.

And third, special sermons – such as at Christmas or Resurrection Day – will not interfere with the flow of the sermons out of the book we are engaged in at that time.

One week before giving the sermon, usually on Friday, I practice it out loud. This actually has the benefit of me getting my mind off the sermon I will be giving on Sunday, and it will have me ready for the next week because I now have all of the information from two sermons in my head to some extent.

On the week that I give the sermon, I will then practice it out loud each day, checking for things to correct or amend, and getting myself familiar enough with it so that it, hopefully, is passable to the church when it is given. They are far too gracious as they ignore my less than satisfactory oratory skills. For this, I am blessed.

Finally, on Thursday, I print off a copy for everyone that attends, I put it on the church website, scheduling it to appear on Sunday morning, and on Friday morning I send a copy of it out to those who attend online. And, on Friday as with each week, I then practice the next week’s sermon again, and the cycle continues on.

After giving the sermon on Sunday, I must then go home and edit and render the video, and then upload it to various sites on the internet. Once that is done, everything for the next ten weeks of sermons is moved forward one week in my sermon files, and the day is done.

Monday morning, a new battle is engaged as I face the daunting challenge of typing a new sermon – “Oh Lord, prepare my fingers for the battle that lies ahead.” It is my weekly petition to be given the grace of facing His word and not being left entirely defeated in the process.

To conclude: The point of this sermon is to help those who cherish this word, but who have not yet formed a sound approach to presenting this precious gift to the people they minister to.

Please note: it will make no difference that I have done this sermon unless it gets out to others, so I hope you will be willing to share it if it has been a blessing to you.

Closing Verse: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” Luke 4:4

The Word of God – holy, pure, and perfect too
It is given to satisfy man’s weary soul
In this life we trod, let us take an eternal view
And allow the word to convert us to God’s heavenly roll

There, in the Book of Life our names will be
Because we pursued His word and found Jesus
Innumerable redeemed, there by the glassy sea
Such a marvelous thing God has done for us

If we will just open the Bible, our own Book of Life
And accept what it says as holy and true
Then between us and God will end the strife
The word is given; to us life begins anew

Thank You, O God, for this marvelous word
In accepting its truths our place in heaven is forever assured

 Hallelujah and Amen…

Isaiah 26:19 (Your Dead Shall Live)

Isaiah 26:19
Your Dead Shall Live

“Your dead shall live;
Together with my dead body they shall arise.
Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust;
For your dew is like the dew of herbs,
And the earth shall cast out the dead.” Isaiah 26:19

Isaiah 24-27 is referred to as “Isaiah’s Apocalypse.” There is judgment, woe, and death recorded there, but there is also restoration and life. Scholars argue over the context and whether the words are referring to an actual resurrection, or whether they are being used figuratively when speaking of enemies in a conflict.

For example, the words, “Your dead shall live,” could be speaking of actual dead, or it could be speaking of the state of Israel – in a dead condition and sorely needing revival.

The next words, “Together with my dead body they shall arise,” are more complicated. The words “Together with” are inserted and immediately give an impression not necessarily intended. The Hebrew reads “my dead body they shall arise.” Thus, it may be two separate clauses – “My dead body” and “they shall arise.”

In other words, “My dead body” is a singular construct and thus it would refer collectively to the dead of the Lord. Then as individuals “they shall arise,” being third person plural, would refer to each individual of that body arising. But what does it mean?

Again, this could be figurative language speaking of Israel in a hopeless condition but being spiritually revived – as in the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37. Or it could be referring to the actual dead of the Lord being brought back to life.

At the end of Isaiah’s apocalypse, in Isaiah 27, it refers to the great trumpet being blown that will bring Israel’s outcasts back to the land. That is echoed by Jesus in Matthew 24:31. Both speak of a time of great trouble for Israel, a time of hiding for the Lord’s people, and then a time of regathering of the people.

Having said that, there is no reason to not take this in both a literal and a figurative sense. Israel, as a nation, is seen as a template of what God does in Christ for the individual believer. As elsewhere, the words then could have a twofold significance.

The point and purpose of the coming of the Messiah is that of restoration and life. There is a problem that needs fixing, we cannot fix it, and the Lord sent Christ Jesus to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

Text Verse: “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” 2 Corinthians 1:20

The day before typing this Resurrection Day sermon, after a long day of church, video editing, and so on, I was sitting at the table having dinner when Sergio emailed me and asked about this particular verse from 2 Corinthians. He said, “I’m not sure what it means in context. I’ve heard pastors take it out of context.” At first, that seems contradictory.

But he knew what they were saying was out of context, even if he couldn’t put his finger on what the correct context was. As I had lamb chop all over my fingers, and as I was wiped out from the day’s work, I simply punted and sent him the link to my 2 Corinthians commentary.

Five minutes later, he excitedly emailed back citing my commentary, “Christ is the incarnate answer to the promises of God.” He then said, “Woooooooooowwewww. It makes ALL the sense in the world now!!!! I have tears understanding this verse now!!!” His use of accompanying emoticons was quite impressive.

He then said, “All the pastors (and recent famous worship songs) I’ve heard made this verse about ‘me’ and ‘us.’ But it’s all about Christ! Fulfilled in Him!!!!”

With that, I really wanted to know what someone else had said about the verse to get him so inquisitive at 1am Israel time. His answer was –

“He said (paraphrase): ‘what’s your purpose in life? What’s your motive? It’s important to establish one! Paul’s purpose was to share the gospel amongst the nations while being imprisoned… but we are free. So, our purpose is to have eternal life, get better life, and get God’s promises for us. The promises of Yes, and Amen, and the spirit.”

With that, I called the analysis “minty bubbles.” They taste good, but they have no substance. The sad part was that he said it was a discipleship video for young believers.

The next morning, Sergio said he was still thinking about the verse from the night before. My response was, “Me too. The minty bubbles are not completely wrong, but they have come at the idea in the wrong way. If they are treating the reception of the promises as being first directed to us, it is a self-centered doctrine. If we acknowledge that all promises of God are fulfilled in Christ, then it is Christ-centered. The secondary reception is us. Obviously, there would be no need to send Jesus if we didn’t exist. But the purpose is not for us to be exalted or blessed apart from Christ. Rather, it is for us to exalt God because He did this for us through Jesus. We are the recipients, but the purpose is the glory of God.”

Whether Isaiah’s words immediately speak of a spiritually dead condition of Israel or not, they convey a literal truth that God has done something in the world of which we are the recipients of that effort.

It is true that there would have been no need for it to have been done if we didn’t exist. But the purpose of the doing wasn’t so that we would have abundance and prosperity. Rather, the purpose of what He has done is first and foremost to bring glory to Himself. The good that we receive is not the purpose, it is the result.

Today is Resurrection Day 2021. But Resurrection Day is a day that comes after Good Friday. There would have been no resurrection without Christ’s death first. And there would have been no need for Christ’s death if we weren’t already separated from God.

Let us remember this. What God has done is because we are in a pit, God promised to get us out of that pit, and God sent Jesus to make that possible. To God be the glory. This is a truth that is to be found in His superior word. And so, let us turn to that precious word once again and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Sadness at the Graveside

Regardless as to whether Isaiah’s words are to be taken figuratively, literally, or both, the fact that we could even debate them tells us that we have an understanding of what it means to die. And of that which results from death.

Taking the words and analyzing them from a negative perspective shows us this. In saying “Your dead shall live.” It means that something is dead. If we are talking about something that is dead, we are – by default – referring to something that was alive.

We don’t talk about rocks being dead. They were never alive, and so we don’t speak of them in that way. When someone says, “My car died,” it means that it has stopped running. It is not in the state it was intended to be. Such is the case with people. We are alive, and then we die.

To say “your dead” signifies a close and personal connection to the dead. If someone in Bolivia dies, there is nothing close and personal to us, unless we are from Bolivia. We wouldn’t say to a person from Czechoslovakia “your dead” when referring to the dead guy from Bolivia.

When the Lord, through Isaiah, says, “Your dead shall live,” it is confirming that there was a personal connection to the dead. If you take the Bible as the truth of man’s history on the earth, then you know that death was never the intent for people.

God created man for a particular purpose. In the Genesis narrative, when did He create the man? Was it on the first day? The second? The third? No. When God created man, it was on the sixth and final day of His creative effort. And not only did He do it on the sixth day, He did it at the end of the sixth day – after creating the land animals.

Man was the crowning aspect of the creation, the finishing touch. Everything was prepared for him first, and then the Lord God worked the dust, formed the man, and called him to life.

Chapter 2 of Genesis immediately began with –

“Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” Genesis 2:1, 2

Only after stating that does it go back and fill in the information left out of Chapter 1. God created man on the sixth day, and then it says that He, the Lord, planted a garden in Eden and placed the man there.

The word used in Genesis 2:15 is yanakh. It means to lay down, set, and so on. It is from the same root as nuakh, or to rest. The verb, being causative, signifies that the Lord “rested” the man in the garden.

It then says that he was rested there for a purpose. Most translations say that the action was so that man could “tend and keep” the garden, but that is not the intent at all. Such a translation causes a gender discord between the verbs and the object of those verbs.

Also, if the man was rested in the garden, it would make no sense to have him tend the garden. This is especially so for two reasons.

The first is that man was created on the sixth day. The seventh day is a day of rest and that day, according to Hebrews 4:3, continues on forever. God worked and then rested. The second reason is that the man’s responsibility was not to the garden, but to God.

The man was not rested there to tend and keep the garden, but to worship and serve the Lord. This is the purpose of the Sabbath. The seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord. In Exodus, the Lord provided the manna for the people, and they were to rest, not work.

This was to recall to their minds the rest that man had lost. God created man at the end of His week of work. He rested the man in the garden after the work was complete. The relationship was to be one of worshiping and serving the Lord in intimate fellowship.

My friend Kyle picked up on this while watching the Genesis sermon and helped me to expand on it for this sermon. It is in this state of rest that man was to live. As it was in fellowship with God, the intent was that it was to be forever. But intent and result are not always the same. The Lord gave the man a choice, a garden of delight and life, or the knowledge of good and evil, and death.

The very fact that death was an option means that the other option was not just life, but life without death. One tree was law – “You shall not eat of its fruit,” while the other tree was grace. It was simply there in the garden with no prohibition attached to it.

Man chose life under the law by choosing the fruit forbidden by the law. But as Paul tells us, “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law” (1 Corinthians 15:56). And the word confirms that. The Lord said to the man –

“In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:19

So, there is what Isaiah is referring to. The man was taken from the dust and he became a living being. The man would return to the dust, because he was no longer alive. In saying, “your dead,” he was noting that they were once alive. In saying they “shall live,” he is indicating that this state of death would end.

The Lord then says through Isaiah: nebelati yequmum – “my dead body; they shall arise.” The people of the Lord are “His dead body,” meaning His body of people who have died.

That is a stated fact, but it doesn’t explain how they became His dead body. That is a completely separate part of the matter, and it also goes back to the Genesis narrative. The man failed to accept the grace, and instead he opted for the law, meaning disobeying it.

The serpent deceived the woman, calling into question the truth of the Lord’s word. But it was in the act of eating the fruit of the tree, the fruit forbidden by the Lord – meaning in violating the law – that death resulted. The law was given, violating the law was sin, and death was the inevitable consequence. As Paul says in Romans 3:20, “by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

If the Lord had put the tree in the garden and said nothing about eating its fruit, then they could have eaten it and not died. It isn’t the fruit, but the violation of the law, that brought the death. As this is so, then it cannot be by the law that life can come.

When Isaiah says “my dead body” while referring to the people of the Lord, it cannot be by the law that they became His dead body, only that they became dead by the law. So how did they become His, if not by law? The answer is introduced in the curse upon the serpent –

“And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:15

The Lord promised that the Seed of the woman would come to correct the matter. Shortly after that was stated, and after the Lord told the man that he would toil the ground until he returned to the dust, the account says –

“And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.” Genesis 3:20

The man was told that he would die on the day he ate the forbidden fruit. He then was told that he would toil all the days of his life until he returned to the dust. Obviously, and putting two and two together, he was able to grasp that he was already dead in one sense, and then he would also die in another sense because he was alive still.

Thus, “death” has more than one meaning. As this is so, then “life” has more than one meaning as well. In calling His wife Eve, he was acknowledging this.

Her name is Khavah, “Life.” Abraim, in analyzing the name, says, “The name Eve denotes the collectivity that is common to the behavior of living things.” In this, they translate her name Symbiosis. There is a commonality to the life that would come through her.

In other words, Adam had come to understand that the life that he had lost would be restored. He did this while standing there as a living, breathing man. And therefore, he could not have been thinking of physical life at all, but of the spiritual life that he had lost. This was his “death” that occurred on the day he ate of the fruit.

But he had believed what the Lord said concerning One who would crush the serpent. In his belief, it then says –

“Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21

The clear implication is that this action by the Lord was in response to the man’s naming of His wife. There they were, dead. And yet, he called her “Life.” Not because of the life they possessed, but because of the life that they would possess.

Adam believed, and the Lord covered the man’s nakedness. As these were garments of skin, it means the Lord took an animal and slayed it in order to cover him. A transfer was made. An innocent died, a guilty one was covered – all because of a simple act of faith.

The Lord was, at that time, showing what pleased Him. He was also showing in typology how He would come to cover all who pleased Him, meaning by their faith. However, there are consequences for our actions, even if our sins are covered. In His sentence upon the man, the Lord had said that he would toil for his food until he returned to the dust.

But the garden is a place of rest, not toil. And in the garden is the tree of life by which man can eat and live forever. Because of these things, the man was driven out from the garden to abad, or work, the ground. It is the same word that was used of his purpose in the garden, but with an entirely different context. He was to worship and serve the Lord, now he would serve the ground.

The rest, in the place of rest, was removed from him because he was removed from it. From this point on, everything in Scripture is, in one way or another, given to reveal how man would be returned to that lost rest in the place of rest.

Adam, though destined to die, had found the way to life. The narrative then immediately went from the account in the garden to the two sons of Adam and Eve. With very little in the narrative to explain why things turned out as they did, a contrast is set between the offerings the two made to the Lord.

The Lord accepted the offering of Abel, and he rejected the offering of Cain. However, there is enough said that the author of Hebrews explains what the difference between the two was. It wasn’t the type of offering, but the attitude behind the offering. Of this, he says –

“By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.” Hebrews 11:4

The offering of Abel was one of faith. This is what made the offering more excellent. It was a hope-filled offering anticipating the life that was promised to his parents. Cain’s offering lacked this, and it was rejected.

From there, Hebrews 11 lists one person after another from one biblical account after another. And each time he does, he introduces him or her with the words, “By faith.” The deed or act they did is placed secondary to the idea of it being a deed or act of faith.

It is this, then, that distinguishes the people of God from all others. And it is those who died in faith that are collectively called “my dead body” in Isaiah 26. It is of this group of whom it then says, “they shall arise.” They are alive because of faith, even if they are dead in the body.

Someday, their bodies will arise because the Life is in them, and that is because they have believed the word of the Lord, meaning the Seed of the woman will come to accomplish His work. It is this simple hope that gives life, even in a body of death.

We know this is the case, and that it is not by a particular genealogy, that the life is granted. It is true that a particular genealogy was selected in order to bring in the Messiah. But being a part of that genealogy or not has no bearing on whether one is truly of the Messiah.

We know this because the line through which the Messiah comes is through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But from Jacob, it is only through Judah that He would come. And yet, all twelve sons of Israel possessed the same hope, even though they were not all in His direct genealogy.

And we also know it is so because at times in the narrative, people are brought in from outside of the twelve sons of Israel, and they also possessed that same hope. Some of them were even brought directly into the line of the Messiah through marriage.

And we also know it so because Job was not of this genealogy at all, and yet, his record of interaction with the Lord, and the faith he possessed, assures us that he too possessed the same life as those of faith in Israel. As he himself said –

“And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,
27 Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!” Job 19:26, 27

Only a person with a complete lack of understanding, or a personal bias against such a notion, would argue that Job is not included in the collective described as “my dead body.” Indeed, when they arise, Job will be among them. It is the hope in Messiah that makes it so. Job’s faith made him a son of God.

It is the amount of available revelation that sets the boundaries of this saving faith. One cannot have faith in a false Messiah. As the revelation of God concerning Him is increased, it is the responsibility of the individual to accept what has been presented and believe it.

This is why the Jew who has rejected Jesus will not be saved. God has provided the increased revelation, this has been rejected, and his trust is in something other than the Lord’s provision. On the other hand, Job’s understanding of the promise was far more limited. He had the word passed down from Adam until Noah, and then from Noah down to him.

As limited as his understanding was, it was enough. He sought after God, knowing that God had a plan and a purpose for him because of the promise. He had faith in that promise, and by faith the Bible calls him a son of the God, meaning the true God.

This is the pattern set forth for man to be saved, and faith in the promise is the expectation. There may be sadness at the graveside for those who mourn their dead, but for those who have lived in faith, they shall rise. For those who mourn and yet know this, it is a mourning of temporary loss, but also of hope-filled anticipation. Because of Messiah, there is a day coming when there will be a blessed reunion.

Your dead shall live; they shall rise to life again
My dead body will not be lost; they shall arise
To them, life I give, the faithful sons of men
The gift without money and without cost, even a glorious prize

Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust
You shall rise again when I make the call
Because in My Son, you placed your trust
No more shall you be covered by death’s terrible pall

For your dew is like the dew of lights, reinvigorating the soul
And the earth shall cast out the dead
You shall receive heavenly rights; you are entered on the scroll
The days of dust are gone, replaced with beauty instead

II. To the Glory of God

As we opened, I told you about Sergio’s inquiry concerning 2 Corinthians 1:20. He seemed almost dejected about what he had heard from others. The reason this was so is that they had made the plan of God me-centered.

That is fine if you want the Bible, and indeed your life, to be all about you. But if it is all about you, it is actually a sincerely vapid existence, and a truly miserable hope you have. Sergio caught onto this, and so it caused an internal conflict.

The promises of God are to us, but they are realized in Christ. He is the incarnate answer to the promises of God. When Sergio saw the clarity of what Paul is conveying, he was moved to tears.

One can see the contrast between Cain and Abel. Cain, like that pastor Sergio cited, would have been elated at the news that God’s promises are realized in him. Abel, on the other hand, like Sergio, would have been appalled. “Me? That’s why I’m bringing this offering to You! It’s not about me, but about my hope in what You have promised.”

Abel had a hope beyond his earthly life. It was a hope of rest in the place of rest that his parents had once known. Someday, his hope will be realized. As Isaiah says: haqitsu v’ranenu shokene aphar – “Awake and shout for joy, dwellers of dust.”

It takes the reader right back to Genesis 3 once again –

“In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:19

The man from the dust would return to the dust. Likewise, so would all who follow him. But for those who lived in faith, that state would not be final. In the curse upon the serpent, he was told that he would eat the dust. But despite this, he would not prevail over the faithful who had returned to the dust.

The hope of Messiah is that the bonds of death would be broken. Those the earth had reclaimed would be brought forth once again to shout aloud in joy. If you think about it, it is right that man is born, lives, and dies in this hope. Generation after generation it is so, telling us that when our renewal comes, it is because of what He has done, not what we have done.

If it were because of our deeds, the ground could not hold us. But it does. Even for two thousand years it has. Death has continued to reign, and the dust continues to receive more. And yet, those who hope continue to hope.

If it were merely God’s promises fulfilled in us, they surely would have been fulfilled by now. But being God’s promises fulfilled in Christ, every soul that is added to those who will rise only increases the glory. Someday the call will be made, and those in the dust shall awaken.

Isaiah describes how this will happen, saying, ki tal oroth talekha – “for dew lights your dew.” It is a poetic way of saying that the dew that settles upon those dead is like the dew that comes in the morning. When the completeness of the light shines forth, everything is nourished by this morning dew, and it is brought to vigor.

In the same manner, a time is coming when life will be suddenly and completely reinvigorated into those who dwell in the dust. They will reanimate in a new form and come forth. Paul describes the two states as they were and as they will be –

“The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.” 1 Corinthians 15:47-49

This change will be so sudden and so abrupt because of the reinvigorating power of Christ that Isaiah continues with the words, va’arets rephaim tapil – “and land ghosts will overthrow.” It is a poetic way of saying that the place where the dead are will be cast down and defeated. That is again reflective of Paul’s words –

“For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So, when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’
55 ‘O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?’” 1 Corinthians 15:54

This is the promise, and this is the wonder that we anticipate each year as we celebrate Resurrection Day. But before we finish, we need to remember that in order for Christ to come forth from the grave, He first had to go to the grave.

Adam disobeyed God. Through this, sin entered the world. And death came through that sin. From there, the Bible reveals that death spread to all men, because – as Paul says – all sinned. In other words, because we were in Adam when he sinned, we bear the guilt of Adam.

This is true in several ways. It is true legally because Adam is our federal head. He is the first man from whom all other men come. Just as the leader of a nation represents his citizens, so Adam represents all who come from Adam.

It is true potentially. It says in Genesis 5 –

“And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters. So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.” Genesis 5:3-5

We have no idea how many children Adam had. It could have been 10 or it could have been 150. All were potentially in him and all that were born actually came from him. In the same way, any normally functioning person could have any number of children, or they could have no children. Every person who comes after someone is potentially in that person, and any number of possible people could come from that same stream.

And it is true seminally. Acts 17:26 says, “…and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth.”

Again, in Hebrews 7, Levi is said to be in the loins of Abraham, and that because he was, he paid tithes to Melchizedek through Abraham even though he wasn’t yet born, and even though he wouldn’t come for three more generations. He was seminally in his father before he ever existed.

Because of these things, all of us are in Adam in these three ways and thus we all bear his sin in these ways. We are born spiritually dead – as we saw from the account of Cain and Abel.

There is a disconnect between us and God, and there is a sentence of condemnation hanging over our heads from the moment of our conception. It is a sentence that is merely waiting to be executed. (John 3:18)

As this is so, something external needs to be introduced in order for the sentence to be changed from condemnation to restoration. The way that external correction came about was for God Himself to unite with human flesh in the Person of Jesus. He did this in the womb of Mary.

As His father is God, He did not receive Adam’s sin. He was born qualified to cover our sins, just as the innocent animal’s skin covered Adam and Eve of their nakedness.

Further, Christ Jesus was born under the Law of Moses – the covenant God made between Himself and the people of Israel. In that covenant, He stipulated that the man who did the things of the law would live by them. Christ already had life in Him, but being born under the law, He had to fulfill that law.

This is what the gospels then record. The Son of Man was born without sin, and He lived out the law without ever sinning, proving Himself not only qualified, but capable. He did what we could not do because the sin already existed in us.

And then, in fulfillment of the law, He died. In other words, as He had no sin, and as He committed no sin, the law found its completion in Him. In its completion, it ended, and a New Covenant replaced it. It is the Christ covenant.

It is the fulfillment of what was promised. It is what Adam anticipated when he named his wife “Life.” It is what Abel anticipated when he made his offering. It is what Job hoped for when he sat and spoke with those with him.

Christ Jesus gave up His life so that we could be granted what we could not otherwise possess. In His death, God provided an atonement – a covering – for sin. And that covering is offered in the exact same manner for us as it was for those in the past, meaning by faith. Adam had faith and was covered. That was only a type of what God would do in Christ.

Now, in Christ the final, full, and forever covering of sin is granted for those who simply believe. Though it has been two thousand years, God is still imputing to His people the same righteousness in the exact same way. And with each person who accepts the premise and is saved, the glory to God increases.

Sergio asked about Paul’s words concerning Christ, “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” The answer is that God’s promises are fulfilled in Christ. From there, and only from there, do those promises then belong to us.

Jesus Christ is the answer to the problem that plagues us. His death is the remedy for our condition. In His burial, He bore our sin into the grave. And His resurrection is the proof that it is so. The atonement is made, the sin is expiated, the life is granted, and eternity lies just ahead for those who will – by faith – accept the premise and receive what God has done through Him.

This is the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus, and this is the grace of God that says, “I have done the work so that you may enter My rest.” Please be wise and receive this wonderful gift of life and restoration. May it be so, and may it be today.

Closing Verse: “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.” 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

Next Week: Deuteronomy 15:12-23 So hard to imagine, and yet it is true… (The Lord Your God Redeemed You) (48th Deuteronomy Sermon)

A Celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

This is the gospel which was preached to you
It is also the one you received and on which you stand
It is the gospel of salvation, providing life that’s new
And which will carry you to the promised Holy Land

What is delivered to you is what was before received
That Christ died for our sins according to God’s word
He was buried and He rose, and so we have believed
And many witnesses testify to this message you have heard

Now, if Christ is preached that He is risen from the dead
How can some among you say the resurrection isn’t true?
If there is no resurrection after Christ was crucified and bled
Then our faith as well as yours is certainly askew

And if so, we are found false witnesses of God
Because we have wrongly testified of this mighty deed
And our faith is futile, no heavenly streets we’ll trod
And we are still dead in our sins; fallen Adam’s seed

Even more, those who have fallen asleep in the Lord are gone
And we are the most pitiable creatures
———-the world could ever look upon

But indeed, Christ is risen from the dead
He is the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep
And as death came through one man, Adam, our federal head
So, Christ will make all alive; our souls He will keep

But there is an order to the Resurrection call
Christ was first, the pattern for the rest when He comes
When He does, He will make a shout out to us all
And we will rise as if to the sound of heavenly battle drums

Then comes the time, when He delivers the kingdom to the Father
When all rule, authority, and power have come to an end
The last enemy to be destroyed is death, never more to bother
Then the Son will to the Father eternal rule extend

But you ask, what will we be like after our time of sleep?
After we have been buried in corruption’s pit so deep?

Our body is sown in dishonor, but it will be raised in glory
It is sown in weakness, but raised in power – the resurrection story

The first man Adam became a living being, it is true
The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit, life to me and you

And as was the man of dust, created so long ago
So are those likened unto him, also made of dust
And as is the Man, the Lord from heaven, you know
That we shall bear His image for eternity just as we’ve discussed

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God
Nor can corruption inherit that which is incorrupt
Be we shall all be changed, and so, heavenly streets we’ll trod
In the twinkling of an eye, the change will be abrupt

When the last trumpet sounds, we will be taken to glory
We shall all be changed, completion of the gospel story

Where O Death, O where is your sting?
When Christ our Savior, us to Himself does He bring

Where O Hades, O where is your victory?
When Christ translates His children to eternal glory

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin the law
But thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord
My beloved brethren be steadfast in all you’ve heard and saw
And cling confidently to God’s eternal word

Know for certain that your labor is not in vain
Be of good cheer, Christ is coming again

Hallelujah and Amen…