Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] The Bible reading this morning, we're going to drift a little bit away from that. But the Bible reading, if you think about it, when they wrote that verse, when that was around, there would have been lions roaming literally around.
[00:00:14] And if you've seen some of the like in Haiti, the little houses are just sticks and mud.
[00:00:22] So you wouldn't sleep real well if you can hear a lion or a pack of lions or wandering around and roaring.
[00:00:29] They tell me that you can hear a lion's roar from between 2 and 3 miles unless you're deaf like me.
[00:00:36] But that wouldn't be a comfortable thing. So it really did show people that you have to be on alert because this guy called Satan is just like that and he's coming after us.
[00:00:51] And one of his main weapons is deception.
[00:00:55] He seldom tries to tell us that God doesn't exist, but he's more along the lines of did he say this or did he say that? And confusion and deception.
[00:01:10] So Satan had the arrogance to tempt Jesus.
[00:01:16] Now that's got to be arrogance.
[00:01:20] You're tempting the son of God. Well, he's not going to be real shy when it comes to tempting us if he's. And of course he didn't tempt Jesus, but he put it out there.
[00:01:31] So he's arrogant. He's been tempting and deceiving since time began.
[00:01:38] So if we don't know the truth, we're an easy target.
[00:01:44] He doesn't deny the existence of God, but he puts doubt in, in our minds. An example of that is right back in Genesis where he said to Adam and Eve, did God really say that?
[00:01:58] And this little seed of doubt turned into the problems that we have now along with some other lies. If you read that passage of scripture.
[00:02:11] Now one of the current deceptions, and I'm sure anybody on YouTube or anybody who's an Oprah Winfrey fan like myself, not.
[00:02:21] She used to invite people like Joel Osteen and some of the other high flying prosperity gospel mega church pastors on.
[00:02:29] And the thing that she wanted them to say, there is more than one way to God.
[00:02:36] She would be at them and at them and at them. And some of them did it in fact. And I think Austine was one of those sort of agree with that.
[00:02:46] So the current thing I saw the other day, there was a young guy on YouTube and I never saw very much of it, but it was enough to make me think, okay, here we go again.
[00:02:57] So this guy, I don't know how old he was, probably around 30, he said that there is more than one way to God. And he said, because there's only one verse that says Jesus is the only way.
[00:03:13] And that hasn't even been interpreted properly, he said in the original Arabic. Well, sorry, sunshine, but I think the original. The Gospels were written originally in Greek, so he got that wrong. And only one verse.
[00:03:29] So the verse we're talking about is John 14:6. I am the way, the truth and the life.
[00:03:37] No one comes to the Father but by me.
[00:03:43] And sometimes in churches we can start to lose that and we can get all clever and theological, but if we haven't got that in our heads, then we're in trouble. Doesn't matter what else we know.
[00:03:57] But only one verse, just a few chapters on. In Acts Acts 4:12, salvation is found in no one else.
[00:04:07] For there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
[00:04:17] So that's two.
[00:04:21] And they're there from COVID to cover.
[00:04:25] And then we go to a little bit different. Look at it. Go to Acts 16:29, or even back a little bit further.
[00:04:36] Remember, Paul and Silas were in jail and the others had been praying for them. And suddenly there was an earthquake and the jail doors flew open, the chains fell off them, and the soldier that was in charge was in a terrible state because if you lost your prisoners, you would have fallen on your sword.
[00:05:02] So he was about to kill himself because he assumed that if this had happened, all the prisoners had flee.
[00:05:08] But Paul yelled out and said, no, we're all still here.
[00:05:12] And then this guy said, shortening it up, sirs, what must I do to be saved?
[00:05:21] And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.
[00:05:31] So obviously the YouTube guy was not a Bible scholar.
[00:05:36] So in John 18:3, 11, and we, we get to the garden.
[00:05:42] So it's the night before the crucifixion.
[00:05:46] And Jesus a little earlier had been obviously praying and sweating tears, sweating blood, like. And he called out to the Father to take this cup away if there was any way he could do that. But if not, your will be done.
[00:06:05] So he knew what was coming, and yet he was prepared to go through with it.
[00:06:10] So Judas.
[00:06:12] And this is in John 18:3,11. The other Gospels don't have this little bit.
[00:06:19] It's a little bit different.
[00:06:21] Look at it. So Judas came to the garden guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.
[00:06:36] Now, I wondered why Judas needed to go to Jesus and give him the hug and the kiss. But if you imagine the Scene we're in a garden. It's dark, and a lot of guys probably dressed very similar and had beards.
[00:06:50] There was torchlight flickering, so it wouldn't have been easy to identify someone who I guess they assume might have run.
[00:07:01] So Judas was to point him out to hug him. But it doesn't go into that in John here.
[00:07:11] So Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and said, who is it that you want?
[00:07:20] Jesus of Nazareth, he replied.
[00:07:24] They replied, I am he.
[00:07:29] Jesus said, I don't know whether you've noticed this next little bit.
[00:07:40] And Judas, the traitor, was standing there. When Jesus said, I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground.
[00:07:51] These are Roman soldiers, trained to the hilt, armed to the hilt, armor on.
[00:07:59] They'd probably been through wars and through all sorts of things.
[00:08:05] With that one little I am, they drew back and fell to the ground.
[00:08:13] The word of the Lord is a powerful thing.
[00:08:20] So if he hadn't wanted to go to the cross, one would assume he could have just walked like he did at the crowd on the cliff. He could have just walked straight through them and nobody could have touched him. But he knew from the beginning of time that he was the way, the only way. There was no other way.
[00:08:43] Again, he asked, who is it you want?
[00:08:46] Jesus of Nazareth, they said. And Jesus answered, I told you that I am he.
[00:08:53] If you are looking for me, then let these men, the other disciples, go.
[00:08:57] This happened so that the words he had spoken should be fulfilled. And the words were, I have not lost one of those you gave me.
[00:09:07] So prophecy and fulfillment of prophecy and things that were said is so important all through the scripture.
[00:09:15] Then Simon Peter drew his sword and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear.
[00:09:23] And the servant's name was Malchus.
[00:09:26] Jesus commanded, peter, put your sword away.
[00:09:30] Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?
[00:09:35] He knew there was no other way. Oprah's saying there are other ways explained to them that they need to do a little more research.
[00:09:45] So now we're going to Skip to Luke 24:1332. And this is all coming together, pointing to the fact that there was no other plan. This, from the beginning, was the plan that Jesus would die for us.
[00:10:02] So this is after the resurrection.
[00:10:06] Now, on the same day, two of the disciples were going to a village called Emmaus. So on the road to Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, they were talking with each other about everything that had happened.
[00:10:22] As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them, but they were prevented from recognizing him.
[00:10:35] So I wonder whether I used to worry, obviously it's just a God thing. He's prevented from recognizing him. But was his face still battered?
[00:10:49] We know that his hands were still scarred.
[00:10:53] We know that there was still the spear mark in his side.
[00:10:59] And we know that in Revelation that talks about and I saw a lamb who looked like he'd been slaughtered.
[00:11:06] So did Jesus retain those wounds?
[00:11:10] That's an aside, but here it says they were prevented from recognizing him. He asked, what are you discussing together as you walk along?
[00:11:24] They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas answered, Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?
[00:11:43] What things? He asked about Jesus of Nazareth. They replied, he was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.
[00:11:56] The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death.
[00:12:01] And they crucified him.
[00:12:03] But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. So they were still thinking, big sword, white horse, he was going to come in and everything was going to be dandy.
[00:12:20] And what is more, it is the third day.
[00:12:26] It is the third day since this all took place.
[00:12:29] And in addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early in the morning, but they didn't find his body.
[00:12:38] They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive.
[00:12:46] Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it was just as the women had said. Always believe your wives, men, if they say it's true.
[00:13:01] But they did not see Jesus.
[00:13:04] And he said to them, how foolish you are and how slow to believe.
[00:13:12] All the prophets have spoken.
[00:13:16] Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?
[00:13:23] So he's saying, they should have known that this was going to be the path.
[00:13:30] Why did they not understand that?
[00:13:33] And then we're going to jump to verse, verse 30.
[00:13:37] When he was at the table with them, he took bread and gave thanks and broke it and began to give it to them.
[00:13:46] Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him.
[00:13:51] And he disappeared from their sight.
[00:13:55] And this is the bit that I love. And this is the question that we all need to ask ourselves.
[00:14:04] They asked each other, were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scripture to us?
[00:14:18] When the Scriptures opened in the pulpit, when the Scriptures opened in the home, when the Scriptures opened at Bible study, is there this Excitement and this heart burning?
[00:14:32] Or is it just, oh, here we go again?
[00:14:35] Hopefully it's exciting and we want to know more, because if we don't, maybe we've never really understood what it was all about.
[00:14:47] And you think about a little story I read, and apparently it's an American story that they use a little bit, but it was back in Abraham Lincoln's time, so Civil War sort of a time.
[00:15:05] And outside the gates of the White House, there was a soldier, a wounded soldier, and he was sitting there and he just wanted to get in and talk to the President. His family were battling. He was battling, as you can imagine, but they wouldn't let him in to talk to the President.
[00:15:27] So finally, a young boy came out and he walked up to the soldier and he said, tell me what's wrong?
[00:15:39] And the soldier said, we're really struggling after the war. We've got no food, we've got no shelter. We've got.
[00:15:49] I just want to talk to the President. He needs to do something about this.
[00:15:54] So the little boy said, come with me. And he took him by the hand and he walked straight through the guards, who just sort of stood to attention. He walked up the steps to the front door, and the guards again nodded and stood to attention. He walked down the passage to the Oval Office.
[00:16:14] He opened the door and he said to the president, dad, this man needs to talk to you.
[00:16:23] Isn't that what Jesus has done?
[00:16:28] Why are prayer meetings not full? Why are we not on our knees more? We have got a savior who went through all this, and he's waiting to say, dad, this guy needs to talk to you.
[00:16:48] He's there advocating for us.
[00:16:53] We don't need a priest. We don't need anything else. We have the ability now, because of what Christ has done, to go straight to the throne room of God.
[00:17:05] And Jesus is there saying, dad, this guy Daniel has got some requests.
[00:17:14] Can you please listen?
[00:17:17] Is that awesome or what? That should make our hearts burn.
[00:17:23] And if we live with that knowledge, these seats all should be full so it does look like you love each other.
[00:17:34] We're missing something.
[00:17:40] And we've seen Jesus, despite asking the Father, if it is possible to take this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours.
[00:17:53] And he willingly went through all this for us.
[00:18:00] And do we understand what that cup was? The sin of all the world from beginning to end. And it was poured out on him. It wasn't just the fact that he was whipped and his flesh cut open, and then he was thrust against a pole that would have been Full of splinters. And can you imagine the splinters into the wound of the strip flesh? That was bad enough.
[00:18:28] But what was worse, he was to take God's cup of wrath and drink the last dregs.
[00:18:34] And not only that, if you remember, for the first time in eternity, God the Father turned his back on Jesus at his lowest point.
[00:18:55] And that's why he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
[00:19:01] If that doesn't stir something in us and say, I want to serve a God like that, if that doesn't want us to say, here I am, send me.
[00:19:14] And if we think there's another way after all that, I think not.
[00:19:24] Why, if there's another way, would there be the cross?
[00:19:30] A loving father sends his only begotten son to this terrible death.
[00:19:40] And there was another way. But God said, well, we're here now, we've got this all prepared, we may as well go through with it. I don't think so.
[00:19:49] It was the only way.
[00:19:53] So we need to know that and we need to shut anybody down because that's another deception that Satan is using. And it's on YouTube, it's all around the place.
[00:20:03] All roads lead to heaven.
[00:20:06] And we hear that everywhere, don't we? If we go to non Christian funerals. Ah yes, he's riding with Bubba in the sky.
[00:20:13] Oh yes, he's looking down. Well, I'm sorry, he's not.
[00:20:20] Unless he's committed his life to Christ the Savior, then I'm afraid there is another not so pleasant fate.
[00:20:31] We're given the choice. It's not that God is cruel. He says, why would you come to spend eternity with me if you don't like me, if you don't want to spend time with me, I'm not forcing you. If you choose hell, then you choose hell.
[00:20:47] But there is a better way.
[00:20:49] Choose life.
[00:20:51] Our friends need to know that. People need to know that. Especially young people need to know that.
[00:21:00] So the church, I saw a little thing on church growth and it was saying that the platform should never be the thing.
[00:21:12] Everybody has got a part to play and everybody's part is just as important as the guy on the platform.
[00:21:21] Don't lift him up and put the cleaner down if they are serving God. Everyone, we're all part of the body and we're all different.
[00:21:31] We don't because one thing doesn't function without the other.
[00:21:36] And it goes through that in the scripture.
[00:21:38] We're all part of that body and we all need to be doing so. If you want to Grow a healthy church. Don't worry about the platform, activate the pews.
[00:21:49] And I know that, and I've seen it over the years. You'll be pastorless for a little while and everybody's running around doing what we should be doing.
[00:21:58] But then a pastor comes and some people go, ha, at last. Now we're paying him all that money. We don't have to do that anymore.
[00:22:07] Well, yes, you do. It's not about him.
[00:22:12] I mentioned before that we had had some awesome opportunities over our time. And back in the 90s, mainly 70s and 90s, we put on a lot of gospel concerts. And Steve Fitzallen was telling me not that long ago that as you look from the platform down to the gallery in that corner at one of those concerts is where he gave his life to Christ.
[00:22:44] So you never know, you put all this work in and you don't see much result. And then years later you will hear somebody say, I was at one of those events and I gave my life to Christ.
[00:22:59] And that I was talking, and I'll close with this, you'll be pleased to know I was talking to a young guy after a church service and I was saying to him, you know, mate, you might never know what effect your ministry has had, or it may be 20 years before you find out.
[00:23:28] I'd no sooner said about the 20 years bit than a woman who I didn't recognize walked up and hugged me, which is understandable. Hey.
[00:23:40] And she said, you were a great, a big part of my salvation.
[00:23:52] And I thought, who are you? I don't know. And then she said, I was at a Steve grace concert and 50 people went out and we went out and counseled them. And she must have been one of those younger.
[00:24:12] And I looked at Andrew or I looked at her and I said, oh, that's gotta be 20 years ago.
[00:24:18] And he's over behind her going like, how cool was it that it was 20 years? Pretty much right on that.
[00:24:30] Now we'd seen the result of one of those people that had gone out because often you don't see them again.
[00:24:38] So whatever you do for God, he notices. If nobody else notices, that's a good thing because that keeps you humble.
[00:24:47] But God notices and that's all really that matters because it's him. We serve nobody else.
[00:24:56] So, yeah, I just want to pray.
[00:25:01] Heavenly Father, I pray that we would be deeply struck by that verse.
[00:25:08] I am the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me.
[00:25:16] Lord, I pray that the words I have spoken you would have taken and changed and as they entered the ears and the heart of the listeners, that you would do what you need to do with those words.
[00:25:32] And, Lord, again I pray that our hearts would burn with excitement, with anticipation for all that you do, that all that you have done and all that you will do. And, Lord, to know that the King of Heaven loves us is such a humbling, humbling thing.
[00:25:57] So help us with that, Lord. Help us to make a commitment today to serve you with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul.
[00:26:06] And I pray this in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.
