Sermons
from Lone Rock Bible Church Natural Easter (Part 2) Back in the sixties, folks were encouraged to "do what comes naturally" Jesus has been doing that all along:
Do you realize you don’t have to have Easter just once a year, that Jesus is alive now? Isn’t that great? Isn’t that just amazing that we serve a God who doesn’t make an appointment and say I’ll show up then. Not at all. We’re going to talk about a risen Savior again this morning. We’re going to talk about what comes naturally to God, that should perhaps astound us, but not Him. I have a few facts here from nature: The human brain is capable of doing 10 quadrillion calculations per second, which is 100 times faster than the world’s faster computer. There are about 100 billion nerve cells in the brain. The English spittlebug can jump 27-1/2 inches straight into the air, which is 117 times its body length. This would be equivalent to a man jumping over a 70 story building, like Superman. Caterpillars have more than 4,000 muscles. People have 639. The mother Mexican bat can find her own baby in a nursery full of 20 million pups in as little as 12 seconds. And they do all look alike. Some dragonflies have up to 20,000 lenses in each eye. A horse’s heart is able to pump about 50 gallons of blood per minute, which is much faster than a gas pump can fill the tank of your car. The feet of the gecko are so sticky they can hold onto a ceiling upside down with a single toe. The heart of a giraffe weighs 25 pounds, is two feet long and has walls three inches thick. When the giraffe lowers his head to get a drink of water, a sponge valve prevents the blood pumped from the heart to the head of the giraffe from blowing his brains out. That took about 350 to 400 million years to evolve and in that time there were just dead giraffes every waterhole you found! This stuff fascinates me; it amazes me. I have to remember something – what is amazing or incomprehensible to you and me is not so to God. The Bible talks about the world in which we live and move and have our being. The Bible talks about a spirit world. The Bible talks about a world where we would consider everything that would occur from there or in there to be supernatural. The Bible talks about earth and heaven and even life under the earth. I think it’s amazing that our God moves with equal ease among all realms of the universe. The events of the cross, to Him, are absolutely natural. We have to slow down here and think this through. Looking at the crucifixion and the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus should absolutely change the way we think. It should heighten our appreciation for our God and draw us ever nearer to Him. We talked last week, Easter Sunday, how it was a natural crucifixion If you take Jesus, who is perfectly holy and righteous, and put Him among people who are not, their natural inclination as enemies of a holy God is to do away with Him. They did! Peter points that out very clearly in his sermon in Acts 2. It’s what natural enemies do. That was followed by a resurrection. Death cannot hold Him. That isn’t an option. It’s like catching a bear in a butterfly net. You can catch him but he isn’t going to stay caught. You cannot kill the author of life. The story of Jesus in the gospels does not end with the crucifixion nor with the resurrection. There is more. What follows the resurrection and the resurrection appearances was the ascension of Jesus. That too may be considered a natural course of action for Him to take and a natural reign for Him to assume. In the 20th chapter of John’s gospel the scene is the tomb and Mary has gone to finish the funeral preparations and to anoint the body. A very interesting conversation takes place there in the garden that I think will shed some light for us. She notices that the stone has been rolled away and two angels were there. She turned around and beheld Jesus standing there (verse 14). She didn’t know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She thought it was the gardener. "Whom are you seeking?" She said if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him and I’ll take care of it from there. Jesus said to her, "Mary," He spoke to her by name. She said, "Rabboni ," teacher. Evidently she grabs hold of Him. She is seeking to hold on to Him. She is very glad to see Him. She is trying to comprehend the miracle that has occurred so she grabs hold of Jesus and He says to her very clearly, "Woman, stop clinging to me. I haven’t ascended because I must ascend. It is the natural thing for me to do. Don’t try holding me back. It isn’t going to happen. My place is at the right hand of the Father in exaltation. That’s My place. I belong, He says, face to face with My Father, and in that verse "I must ascend." He says it twice. I’m out of here. Jesus is not the only person in Scripture to be resurrected. There were several in the Old Testament and several in the New Testament. In Matthew 27 it talks about at the crucifixion how the tombs were opened and people came walking out from their graves. What that would have been like to see. There were a number of people resurrected in Scripture but all of those people had to have another funeral. They got two. Most of us only get one. The only one who didn’t have another funeral coming after being resurrected was Jesus because His natural place was not this world. His natural place is at the right hand of the Father and that’s where He had to go. This is part of the plan. This isn’t Plan B. This isn’t an emergency course of action. This is exactly as it was to be. He made that very clear throughout the course of His ministry, particularly passages from the gospel of John. It talks about Jesus from eternity past. The first two verses of John’s gospel talk about in the beginning, there He was. He was continually being in the presence of the Father face to face, eye to eye, in long-standing, perpetual loving harmonious relationship. That’s where He is from, from the Father, in heaven. In John 6 Jesus declared to the crowds: "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven." I came out of heaven. That’s where I am from. Like our brother who is from South Africa; he is going back to South Africa; that’s where he is from. Jesus is saying my home is there. I came down as the living bread. "If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh." That’s My role; that’s My place. In John 17:5, Jesus praying to the Father, reminding all of us before God that His home is with the Father. He shared that realm, that glory, with the Father before the world even was. It’s only natural that He go home. There’s another passage, a key to understanding who Jesus is. It is the 2nd Psalm. Psalm 2 applied back in 1,000 B.C. It applies today and in my thinking it applies more profoundly all the time as we see a world internationally in turmoil, in upheaval, in unrest, in uncertainty, in despair, and as we see world leaders, national leaders, leaders at all levels just trying to figure out what to do, who is on first, who has the plan, where are we going. Nobody knows, and if I were not a Christian, I would be petrified. If all I am left with is where the world leaders are taking us, we are in deep weeds because they don’t have a clue. Yet one thing they all agree on is that they are not following Jesus Christ. Take me to any nation, any level of society, local, county, state, federal, international, show me leaders, people in positions of influence who make the Word of God their first recourse. They don’t exist. It isn’t happening in this world. The world is not on God’s wavelength and this is why.
Does that not describe our world today?
That means something that isn’t going anywhere.
Here’s their rallying cry:
Let’s do this thing outside of the will of the God of heaven. This goes kind of back to point one. We have some natural animosity going on. We just aren’t going to do it that way. You can look the world over and find none who are sensitive to the spirit of Christ nor obedient to the Word of God. "Let’s do this on our own. We don’t need God." But wouldn’t it be nice if He would bless us. We would like that. We would like rain in season and prosperity and peace and all that, but not for His sake, for our own. He who sits in the heavens takes a look at this and He just scoffs. By the way, this is the only reference I find in all the Bible that God laughed, and isn’t a pleasant sight. The Lord scoffs at them. That’s what is going on now. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury because God has it worked out from His standpoint. God has the solution in place. God is not being caught by surprise nor sleeping. "I have My King." Isn’t that great? God has selected a king. He is Messiah. "I have installed My King." Not upon some high and lofty mountain that the world would look at and say "No." He should live at the United Nations or He should live in Washington, D.C. or some world capitol. No, God says My King reigns from Zion. It’s not even a mountain compared to what we know mountains to be. It’s a little hill, but it’s Mount Zion, God’s holy mountain, making it quite special. God tells His Son in accordance with this Psalm, the nations are Yours. Your inheritance are the nations and you shall break them with a rod of iron and shatter them like earthenware. They’re done. The King will rule. He will take it all apart, all the bad, and remake it all good. He will judge. It’s His to do. So what are we supposed to do about this? I love this Psalm because it gives us personal application and if there is a message for world leaders anywhere in the Bible it’s right here in Psalm 2 where it says, "Therefore oh king, show discernment." Use your noggin. Think this through. Take warning oh judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage, some translations say, "Kiss the Son." Bow before Him because He is exalted to the right hand of the Father. He is the one who reigns. He is the one returning to judge the world with righteousness and with finality. You best kiss Him now lest He become angry and you "perish in the way for His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take their refuge in Him." Psalm 110:1 -- The LORD says to my Lord (Yahweh says to my Messiah) Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet. This verse is the most frequently quoted Old Testament verse found in the New. It talks about the Messiah of God being elevated to the right hand of the Father in his place as righteous judge. They understood that in Jesus’ day, which is one of the reasons they killed Him. Back to Acts 2. I’ll read verses 32 through 36, this business of a natural reign of Jesus.
We have all seen Him. Remember the passage in I Corinthians 15. He appeared, He appeared, He appeared, and then to 500 at a time. So there is no denying that He has been raised. He appeared.
Absolute, clear confirmation that Jesus is Messiah. The point of the Holy Spirit being poured out at Pentecost as predicted by Jesus is to link the Spirit with Jesus and confirm the fact that He was indeed Messiah. The Old Testament said clearly that when Messiah shows up His Spirit will be a part of that appearance. From Isaiah 11:2: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me." "The Lord and His Spirit (Isaiah 61, Isaiah 42, Isaiah 11), it’s there. They understood that when the Spirit shows up, this must be the real deal and indeed it was. Peter says you can’t deny it. It’s happened right here among you. If He is Messiah, He is exalted to the right hand of the Father. The most natural think in the world for Him to do is to go home and to assume His seat, which He did, from which the Bible says, he will return. Here is Jesus as represented in the book of Hebrews. It talks about in these last days God spoke to us by His Son, speaking now of Jesus, "whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world." Somehow He glued those 20,000 lenses on the eyeball of the dragonfly. Do you begin to see what He is about?
He can identify each of those 20 million bat babies. It’s all His. He has designed and created and sustains it all. When He made purification of sins, that’s the cross, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Peter says let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both master and Messiah. This Jesus, whom you crucified. Are we beginning to get the picture? He is the Master and Messiah, this Jesus of Nazareth. He is the King of Kings and He is the Lord of Lords. So what are you going to do about it? What are we left with? The Bible talks about how Jesus came to earth and offered Himself on the cross as a sacrifice for sin, and He rose again in order to confirm the fact that the cross is valid and then He appeared. He could have done all of that in a corner. We would never have known. An atonement would have been made and the deal sealed and we wouldn’t have known. But no, He appeared, He appeared, He appeared. He confirmed who He was and what He had done and He gave the message clearly to these people and they are sharing it with us today. So what are we going to do? I’ll tell you what these people wanted to do. Look in Acts 2. Have you ever caught a deer in the headlights? See what’s happening here. He is both Lord and Christ and you crucified Him and they said, "Oh, my." Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart. That’s a very unusual expression in the Bible. It’s only found a few places. The closest parallel we can find is when the sons of Jacob come in to find that the prince of Shechem (Genesis 34) had violated their sister. It says they were absolutely speechless with horror and shock. They were stunned to the core of their being, and that’s how these people were. When the realization hit them of what they had done and who they had done it to, they asked this question in one of the greatest Bible understatements found in the pages of Scripture (Acts 2:37.) "What shall we do?" And I’ll bet they squeaked it out. What shall we do? They couldn’t ignore this, and neither can we. What shall we do? They asked a natural question and they were given the obvious answer: repent. The obvious answer: surrender, give it up, repent, each of you. The promise is to you and your children and as many people as the Lord shall call to Himself, that’s you and me. Why? Because the Bible says that Jesus died for sins, all sins of the world to include yours and mine. He went to the cross for our sins too. Think of your last one. Don’t talk about it, just think about it. The last sin you pulled – paid for long ago by the One who is Master and Messiah. What are we supposed to do? I share some responsibility here because my sins and the sins of those scribes and Pharisees and Judas Iscariot and all those people, all the people combined put Jesus on the cross as the sacrificial Lamb of God. So what are we going to do? Peter says here’s your answer: you repent, you surrender. Let’s back up a second. The Master has conquered. He has conquered sin, he has conquered death, he has conquered the devil. He has won. He is standing here and staring at us, if you will, in a word, and is saying, "What are you going to do with this?" Peter’s answer is most appropriate: Repent, surrender. Why wouldn’t a person surrender to Jesus? Did you ever think about that? Why not surrender? Sometimes, surrender is not a good option. It’s based on a person’s sense of duty and the nature of the conqueror. Sense of duty kept all those guys at the Alamo until it was over. They were not going to surrender. A sense of duty very strong, so no, they’re not going to surrender. Nature of the conqueror – sometimes you’re better off dead because the conqueror is a tyrant, a despot, and you don’t want to be in subservience to this guy, so you are better off dead. So don’t surrender, let them kill you. But what if the winner, the victor, is gracious and benevolent and overflowing with mercy and has proven it? It had to be one of the greatest tragedies of the Second World War. As U.S. forces were getting closer and closer to Japan in the spring of 1945 resistance was getting stiffer and stiffer. One of the last and one of the worst battles of World War II was the battle for Okinawa. The Japanese refused to surrender. They were convinced that the United States would not treat them well. They convinced the Okinawan civilians that the U.S. soldiers would eat them and torture them so there was no surrender. One hundred ten thousand Japanese died at Okinawa; 150 thousand civilians, many of whom the Marines and Sailors of the U.S. forces watched jump from cliffs to their deaths, convinced that the winners wouldn’t treat them well. Folks, Jesus treats us well. When Joseph’s brothers, who had sold him into slavery, found out that he was their lord in Egypt, their smartest, most naturally obvious course of action was, "Joseph, can we be on your side. You’ve forgiven us, now let us be with you." And he’ll keep them alive because He is benevolent. That is how Jesus is with us. Peter says repent. Repentance is a change of mind followed by a change of will followed by a change of behavior. It’s like I’m going down the road one way and I turn around and go the other way. I first have to change my mind, then I change my will and go the other way. That’s all it is, very simply. What repentance is not is, "I’m sorry I was caught." That was repentance I used to pull when I was a kid. As Mom was whaling away I was repenting, but that’s not what’s talked about here. Furthermore, it isn’t simply mere emotional sadness over a situation. That’s what happened with Esau. The Bible said he repented even with tears but not repentance unto salvation. His stopped with his emotions. He just felt bad. Repentance is not outward admission in order to get off the hook. "Who all wants to repent? We’ll feed you." "Well, I’ll repent then." No, repentance means change of mind, change of will, change of direction. Repent and be baptized, what’s with that? These Jewish people understood that baptism following that change of direction signified identification with this new way. They knew that. For us, I consider baptism as educated funeral. That old person is dying and I’m rising in newness of life symbolized by going in the water. The water doesn’t save me but it symbolizes the fact that my sins are washed away and I’m identified with Christ in His death and burial and resurrection. It’s symbolic. It’s meaningful. It doesn’t save me, but it naturally follows repentance. Repent and be baptized, it says, for the forgiveness of sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. In Hebrew thought this Holy Spirit and washing from sin all worked together beautifully. Surely God’s renewal of His people by His Spirit goes hand in hand with symbolic cleansing. Folks, if you have never repented, if you have never reached the point in life where you realize that the One who has taken the victory, the One who has beat the devil, the One who has beat the cemetery, the One who offers newness of life, is gracious and merciful and good. If you have never surrendered to that One I’m wondering, why not? Or have you have found a better way? If so, I want to read your book -- soon. There is no better way. When the God of heaven takes your sins or mine in Himself and pays our debt forever, you can’t beat that. We are called to repent. We are called to put all our trust not in ourselves, not in our church, not in something we did as a child or something having to do with tradition, but all of our trust only in Jesus. That’s natural, isn’t it? Shouldn’t it be? "Scripture
taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Jim Carlson 2007, Lone Rock Bible Church, Stevensville Montana, USA |