Jesus: Lord of All

0:00 Philippians 2.5, let's dive into God's Word. Let's open with prayer. Father, we come before you today. And Jesus, we recognize, as children of God, we recognize you are Lord of all. You're Lord of our life. You're Lord of the universe. And Lord, we live in that every day. But we recognize there's a whole world out there that doesn't acknowledge that you are Lord They think they're Lord They may think that the president is Lord I think that the governor thinks he is Lord But father truly you are Lord And one day at the end of this message we're going to see one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father We look forward to that day, Lord, that we could see that happen. And so, Lord, we surrender this date and this time to you.

0:57 Would you speak to us by your Holy Spirit? In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So there's an article entitled, How to be Miserable. It says, think about yourself, talk about yourself, use I as often as possible, mirror yourself continually in the opinion of others. listen greedily to what people say about you expect to be appreciated be suspicious be jealous be envious be sensitive to slights never forgive a criticism trust nobody but yourself insist on consideration and respect demand agreement with your own views on everything sulk if people are not grateful to you for favors shown them never forget of service rendered shirk your duties if you can do as little as possible for others. D.L. Moody says God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves. That describes a life without Jesus, a self-centered, self-focused life. The goal is pleasing oneself, pampering oneself, pitying oneself, personifying oneself, and promoting oneself, not considering others, not caring about others, not living or loving or glorifying God with your life. That's the way to be absolutely miserable. And there are a lot of miserable people in the world today. Have you ever noticed that those who live for the sinful desires of the flesh are never satisfied? By the way, if you've ever tried that, you find that you're not satisfied. You could put yourself first in everything that you do, and you will find that you are the most miserable person of all, because that's what the Bible teaches, and it's true.

2:51 But that's what the world is promoting. Live for yourself. Glorify yourself. Exalt yourself. Look out for yourself. Numero uno, right? And what has that gotten anybody? Nothing but misery. The heart sets the direction, the mind plans the course, and the life follows. If Jesus is Lord, I will plan to follow him, and my life will reflect his rule in my life. Everywhere I go, if you were to listen to me talk, if I say that Jesus is Lord of my life, you should be able to follow me around, listen to how I talk to my wife. And by the way, you won't hear a perfect conversation from Shadrach to his wife. Because sometimes Shadrach might be in the flesh, but what you should hear soon after is, I'm sorry I spoke to you in that way.

3:46 That's the lordship of Jesus Christ ruling over your life. Nobody's perfect. I used to work with a guy. He used to say, you Christians use that as a cop-out. I'm not perfect. I'm just forgiven. and I would tell him it's a biblical truth. But he'd say, well, that's no excuse for you to sin. And I'd say, you're right. I never said it was an excuse, but it is a practical reality. Jesus is either Lord of my life or I'm Lord of my life. You see, someone's going to Lord over my life and it's either going to be me or it's going to be Jesus. Now, the definition of Lord is in the Greek, kurios. Can you say that? Kurios. kurios. It's Lord, and it means having power or authority. Other ways it could be translated as master, owner, one who has absolute authority, sovereign, ruler. In everyday Greek, kurios could refer to a human master or one in authority, but in the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint, the word that is used to translate the divine YHWH. It's the name Lord. When you see Lord capitalized in your Old Testament, it's the covenant name. So we see our first point found in Philippians 2.5, Jesus, Lord of my mind, because that's where it begins. It begins with a decision.

5:13 Each and every day when I wake up, who is going to be Lord over my life today? Shadrach or Jesus? And by the way, if it's Shadrach, I'm in huge trouble. Well, I'll tell you what, sometimes Shadrach is in control until the coffee kicks in, right? And you're like, oh man, I'm tired. Get out of my way. I don't want to hurt anybody. You've seen those coffee cups that they say, don't talk, don't talk. And then when the coffee gets below the mark, it changes colors and then it says talk. I mean, I'm not that bad. I'm just saying, right? Some of you, you need to just chill out on your coffee. Philippians 2.5, it says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men.

6:13 Isn't that what we just celebrated at Christmas? God encapsulated in human flesh, the ruler of the universe, stepping into humanity, clothed as a baby, growing up. I mean, how wild that God would enter into this world through the womb of a woman, that God would subject himself to a womb. Think about the humility of that. He didn't show up in pomp, Not the first time, the second time is going to be very, very different. But the first time, he came in the way we all came, through a mother's womb. And we entered into this world. He subjected himself to be a baby, to be held by a human, to be needy of a human being, for the nourishment of her milk, to rely on a human to raise him.

7:09 How wild is that? And you think about that, he left eternity's throne room to enter Mary's womb. And we're told to let this mind be in us. The word is phroneo, and it means to exercise the mind or to think. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13 verse 11, when I was a child, I spoke as a child. How do babies talk? Now, I don't just mean goo-goo-ga-ga, but their vocabulary is limited, and the things that they talk about are things that children talk about. They might come up to you and talk to you about their toys, you know, like what they just got for Christmas, where you might say, I don't want to talk about your toys. I want to talk about something deeper. Well, they can only speak at their level, right? So Paul says, when I was a child, I thought as a child, I understood as a child, but when I became a man, what did he do?

8:08 He put away childish things. Childish. There's a difference between childishness and childlikeness. We're to be like a child in our faith, but we're not to act like children. Think about it. Can children be selfish? Christmas, they got their toys, and then one of the other cousins came along and was the first word that they may have said, that's mine. You may have come in here today and you saw your seat and someone was sitting in it and you said, that's not mine. I'm going to go sit somewhere else because I love Jesus because he's Lord of my life or Lord of all. Either way, right? That's not your parking spot because Jesus is Lord of the parking lot. You may have your seat in the house.

9:08 You're like, but it's my throne. It's where I sit when I come home. It's a lazy boy. It's 100 years old. It's falling apart, but it's my throne. And you come in and one of the kids is sitting in it. And they see you and then they scamper away real quick because it's your throne. We'll let them sit in your throne sometimes. and you sit in maybe some other place in the house. You're like, but I feel out of sorts. You know what? Be a servant. Be a servant to your family. Be a servant to all. In order to know or to have the mind of Christ, we must know the word of God. How can you know the mind of Christ if you don't know the word of God? He's not gonna just, you know, shove it in there without you reading. It comes through the reading and the hearing of his word. And as you read his word, as you hear his word, the more you read his word, the more you hear his word, the more you can think like him. And I tell you what, I need it. Especially, I have found the older you get, there's things that bother you more and more, like people breathing.

10:05 Now you're all laughing because you all feel the same way, right? You wake up in the morning and you're like, what is that breathing sound? Oh, it's my spouse. It's already irritating me. I mean, I'm glad they're breathing, but just don't do it so loud.

10:26 You're like, your poor wife. No, don't worry. If it's super quiet when I wake up, I'm like, is she out of bed? And so I'll reach over really slowly. Sometimes she's just being really quiet and I touch her and she's like, what? And I'm like, oh, I didn't mean to wake you up. I'm sorry. Other times I use the phone's light and I kind of flash it around the room. and she's like, so this morning that's what I did. I woke up and I was like, it's super quiet. So I got the phone and I started flashing. She goes, I'm awake.

10:54 And I was like, oh, okay. Turn to Romans 8.5. for those who live according to the flesh, what do they set their minds on? Yeah, do you know what it means to live according to the flesh? It's like to live according to what maybe I want to do that makes me feel good or whatever aspirations that I may have. By the way, they're not all bad. Like it's not a bad thing to say, hey, I want to be able to own a home. Well, good luck in California. but it's not a bad thing to say I want to own a home it's not a bad thing it's not a bad thing to say you know oh maybe I want to buy a new car or whatever those aren't sinful things but they can become sinful if they occupy the throne of your heart if that's all you think about and that's all you work towards it can become a sinful thing because it's the preeminent thing and it rules over your life rather than Jesus ruling over your life. You see, you've got to be careful because we can interchange these things even throughout the day. But for a person who lives solely for the sinful desires of their flesh, everything that they do is to please themselves or to better themselves in some way, shape, or form at the cost of others. So they set their minds on the things of the flesh.

12:16 Notice, it first begins in the mind and then it's lived out in action. Okay, but then he says, those who live according to the Spirit, what do they set their minds on? The things of the Spirit. Okay, I recognize that there's things that irritate me. If you recognize there's things that irritate you, you can overcome those things in your life because you recognize maybe there's something that I'm being petty about. so I have to be careful not to get upset because I allow something to bother me because what will happen is I will mistreat somebody if I allow something to irk me then I could be rude to somebody why don't you knock it off before I shove that thing up your nose you know what I'm saying you could be very rude but what we need to do is be controlled by the spirit so when we're walking in the spirit, we're thinking, how can I please God? How can I glorify God? How can I be loving to those around me? I want my kids to know that I love them. I want my kids to know that I love Jesus. I want my family to know that I love Jesus. I want my family to know that I love them. I want my grandkids to know those things. All of that, right? I want the church, when I walk around the church, I want the church to know that I love them. I don't want people to say, oh, I don't think he likes me. That'd break my heart. If you thought I didn't like you, you better come talk to me.

13:41 I don't know. He didn't look at me the other day. He didn't smile. I was just walking one morning. There was nobody in the courtyard. And we have a checklist that we do each Sunday, make sure everything's on and ready to go for you guys when you show up. And I was just walking through, looking, you know, and I wasn't smiling. And one of the ushers said, hey, Shadrach. I was like, yeah. And he goes, you could smile. And I said, I'll smile when everybody gets here. you know but it was just I was looking around I didn't see anybody so I was like I don't you know I don't walk around when nobody's around like I don't just wake up. I'm out making my coffee all by myself. that's a pour over by the way just in case you're wondering what i'm doing you're like you just push a button i do a pour over okay you're like what's a pour over i'm the coffee maker they don't have to rely on technology all i need is fire coffee beans and water and that's it and the ability to move my arm you know but i don't just wake up like hey i want to walk around everywhere. No, but I have been told when I'm not smiling, I look mad.

14:59 do I look mad I do well maybe I am you guys are being judgy see I've been told when I'm not smiling I look mad so if I'm if I'm being stern like if I was talking to my kids I was like listen you know I raised my eyebrows a little bit and my wife is like you're really upset and I was like I don't feel really upset but see what you feel and what you look like, those are two different things. So while I don't feel really upset, I look really upset. So you got to be, you got to be aware of what you look like when you talk to people, right? And so sometimes I know if I was making a face, I was like, you know, I know what I'm doing. You're talking to me, I was like, okay, yeah, whatever. You know, I mean, like, yeah, I know it's like listening to Gavin Newsom talk about our deficit and he's blaming it on the rain.

15:58 And I was like... Oh, you think I'm going to believe that, mister? I wasn't born yesterday. It just rained this week. And you're saying, oh, we don't have any more money. What about the fires? Never mind. Don't get me started. I've got to move on. I'm getting in the flesh. this is why we get along so well because we think the same see for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace because the carnal mind is enmity against god for it is not subject to the law of god nor indeed can be so then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You know what?

16:53 Even if you are a child of God, when you're walking in the flesh, you're not pleasing him. Self-righteousness does not please God. Oh, look at me. I don't drink coffee. You're brought under its influence. Okay, whatever. Being in the form of God. The word form means outward expression of his inward nature.

17:26 In the form of God. He didn't consider it robbery to be equal with God. In Colossians 2.9 it says, In him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That means he had all the power of God as a human being. But did he use all the power of God while he was in human form? The answer is no. We'll look at that in a moment. But he had all of the ability of God. 100% God, 100% man. There wasn't like an 80-20 split. 100% God. You need to understand that. Jesus always was, always is, and always will be God. Period. And if you deny that, you are not a child of God. Nobody that denies Jesus is God is going to heaven. Nobody.

18:21 Because Jesus is the way to eternal life. And so you need to know that. Don't get caught up with cults and what they say. They all deny that Jesus is God. They say that he is a prophet, he is a good man. And C.S. Lewis, and Pastor Jack mentioned this recently, he wrote a book and in his book he has a section either the book is titled Lord Liar or Lunatic or the section is entitled that, I forget but he goes through it and he says that he is either Lord because he is who he says he was or he is a liar because he claimed to be God and he wasn't or he's a lunatic because he claimed to be God and really believed that he was God but he was not God he can only be one of those three things but he cannot be a good man or a good teacher who claimed to be God if he was not God. Then he would be a liar and a lunatic. And we should reject his teachings and the Bible as a whole.

19:16 But the reality is, is that he is God and he is Lord. He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. And I said this already, it's because he was and he is and he always will be God. Look at John 1.1. John 1.1. in the beginning was the Word. I love that.

19:41 The Word was with God and the Word was God. This is where cults change it. They say the Word was a God. Ooh. You know you talk about adding to the Bible? That's an addition to the Bible that would heap condemnation upon you. He wasn't a God. He was God. Meaning he always was God. Before the baby in Bethlehem, he always was God. There was never a time that Jesus was not God. He was in the beginning with God. And we know if you go throughout the scriptures, you find out that he created everything. Isn't that awesome? So when you look at the giraffe and you say, wow, our giraffe's beautiful, but kind of weird. Right? That big old long neck. But they're beautiful and sweet creatures. Unless they're swinging that neck around at you.

20:35 Hippos? Not so sweet. They're pretty angry little creatures. They're like a little tank with four legs and a big giant mouth. But he created those things, the duck-billed platypus. And then evolution comes along. It's like, oh, you know. It's like, no, no, no. That's the way God made it. It's made that way. And they're like, they don't get it. But here's the reality. sheep would die without a human taking care of them they absolutely defy evolution and they're not the only animal by the way there's quite a few other animals that absolutely defy evolution because evolution says that the the animal world lived you know thousands and millions of years before humanity blah blah blah blah but the reality is they couldn't have lived without human interaction. They would be dead. The Bible calls us sheep. Sheep are not the brightest in the animal kingdom. Sheep will walk. One sheep could walk right off of a cliff and other sheep won't go, oh my gosh, did you see what just happened to Fred? We should definitely not go off that cliff. No. Fred's like, and then what happens? The other ones are like, hey, what happened And you have a pileup.

21:57 And the Bible is like, you're just like them. Oh, me? Titus 2.13 says, Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people. Isn't that awesome? That he redeemed us. He purified us. God, look, if you're not a believer and you're sitting in here today, just know this. God's not saying to you, clean yourself up and then come to me. He doesn't say that. He says, come just as you are. You come just as you are, and he'll change you. You have no power to stop doing what you're doing, any more than I had power to stop doing what I was doing before I came to Jesus. As a matter of fact, before I came to Jesus, I didn't even want to stop doing what I was doing. I liked it. But that night when I realized I needed Jesus, and I went down in the field at the Harvest Crusade and gave my life to Christ, he changed everything. I can't tell you how one day I wanted to do drugs and the next day I didn't want to do drugs. The power of God. I know that now. But then I was like, I don't know, my friends were like, come on, let's go do drugs. I was like, no, I don't want to go do drugs. They're like, come on, let's go do drugs. I was like, I don't want to do drugs. That's all I kept telling to them. And then one day they came and they said, you know what? We're sick of you preaching at us. I said, what? I didn't even know what to preach yet. I just said, I don't want to do drugs. And to them, that was preaching.

23:36 It was the light shining in the darkness. And they said, we don't want any part of that. And I was clueless. I was like, wow, my friends all left me. Well, what a loser I am. And then I had a whole year of no friends, except I learned to make Jesus my friend. he became my best friend and then he brought me friends when I could handle it when it wasn't like I was running to my friends to try to find you know my my needs being met or whatever I learned that Jesus could meet all my needs every need that I had and I learned how to be alone with him you know that's not such a bad thing I get if you're lonely I understand that it's hard but you're never truly alone when you have Jesus. I get. He's like, I don't feel him in the room. I can't talk to him the way I would talk to another human. And I would say, why not? Because I do.

24:33 I talk to him just the way, with respect, of course, with honor, because he's my Lord. But I talk to him just like I talk to anybody else. I can say, Lord, you know what? I'm having a bummer day. I don't, that guy just cut me off and I'm not happy now. And I would really like to flash my brights at him. And then maybe the Holy Spirit would say, and what are you going to do? And I could say, I'm not going to shine my brights at Him. so what did jesus do he made himself of no reputation so also rendered he emptied himself known as the doctrine of kenosis the word kenosis comes from the greek and it means to empty in theology the doctrine of kenosis refers to christ's voluntary self-emptying when he became a human. So he laid aside all of the abilities. He could take them up at any second because he's God. But he chose to limit himself so that he could be tempted as we are yet without sin, right? So that when he went to the cross, he was sinless. So when he died on the cross and took the punishment for my sin, it was paid in full. The debt that I owed is paid in full. You see?

26:05 That's why I get to go to heaven. It's not because I'm great. It's not because, you know, oh, I tithe a certain amount of money in my life. It's not because, you know, I kept the Ten Commandments. I can't. You think you can keep the Ten Commandments? Oh, yes, I can. Oh, really? I'd like to follow you out into the church parking lot right after service. I need to follow you to your car, and I'd like to sit in the back seat while you drive home. I like to hear you speak to the waitress when they mess up your order. Mm-hmm. You're like, well, I never actually killed somebody physically, but maybe you have in your mind. it does not mean christ gave up his deity it does not mean a late he laid aside the independent use of his divine privileges to fully experience humanity but think about all the people today trying to make a reputation for themselves the first thing that came to my mind is social media and i want to just give you a warning there are a lot of people on youtube facebook instagram whatever social media you may use, they're out there and they're creating a name for themselves.

27:20 And then they get a following. And they start feeling like they're somebody. Because they've got, oh, I got 100,000 followers. Who cares? Oh, I got a million followers. Who cares? I've got 10 million followers. Who cares? What does that mean? You have some authority now because you have 10 million followers. So they begin to think higher of themselves than they should. They begin to think that their opinion matters more than anybody else's opinion. It doesn't even matter if it's true or not.

27:54 They are self-proclaimed, self-professed Bible teachers. They start talking about things that they shouldn't be talking about. They're not called by the Holy Spirit to be a teacher of God's word. unknowing that those who are teachers, including myself, will receive a more strict judgment than you all, by the way. you know God could I'm not saying he does this but he could say of all of you I'll grade you on a curve he doesn't do that I get no curve there will be a measuring tool and what I said from this pulpit or any pulpit or whatever I said as a teacher of the word of God will receive a stricter judgment Amen.

28:46 that's what this plaque is a warning you don't know that you see this plaque up here this plaque there's a plaque right here standing on top of it it is a warning to anyone that would stand in this place and teach anything other than the word of God that would mess up the word of God that would stand upon what's buried down in the ground beneath me, retired Gideon Bibles. but these people get on YouTube and they start talking about things and they don't even know what they're talking about leading people astray attacking gossiping all for clicks so they can get their check I'm not saying they're all doing it that way but there are many who do you have to be careful you have to be careful what you allow. And Pastor Jack has been saying this. You have to be careful what you let in these eyelids and what you let in these ears because what goes in these two frontlets ends up here in the heart. It settles in the heart and it can take you captive. It can plunder you.

30:02 It can mess you up. That's why we're supposed to be careful. There is a stricter judgment coming. Another way is to put on a show at church. To be one thing at church and to be another thing at home. There's people who have this sweet church voice. Oh, hi, good morning. Oh, it's so good. I'm not saying everybody that has that voice is the devil. You come into church, good morning. Oh, I've got to get away from that person. You know, it's not that. I'm talking about the people who know that they do it. They have a certain voice when they pray and a certain voice when they talk. Why is it different?

30:45 Why would it be different? Exactly. It's in the flesh. You talk to people one way at church, you talk to your family another way at home. The Bible calls this hypocrisy. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees over being hypocrites. He said, well, did Isaiah prophesy you hypocrites, as it is written? These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and in vain they worship me. Meaning the words coming out of their mouth don't come from their heart. They're in vain. When God hears it, it's vanity to him because the heart doesn't match the words. the heart's evil or wicked or off and we sing so other people can hear us sing but we don't submit to his lordship in our life we're a hypocrite we're told in Philippians 2.3 let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself when we come in we should come in for the benefit of others now I'm not saying this church I've heard too much in my life that people get upset at a church because they didn't get what they wanted.

31:57 You know, I never saw that in Scripture. And the apostles, they met daily to make sure everybody got what they wanted. That it was the way each man had desired in his own heart. Yeah, I didn't really like that pastor. He was kind of dry.

32:17 Oh, I like that pastor. He's funny. I get it. I like funny too. It makes it fun. But what if you get a pastor who's not as funny? Do you go, oh, I wish the funnier guy was here. This is going to be a long hour. you know we should sit with the same bible open same anticipation that we're going to hear from the holy spirit because that's who we need to hear from if you came to hear from shadrach you're in trouble I'm an idiot You may say, no, no, no. I say, no, I am. I know I am. church isn't about what I get out of it church is supposed to be we come together and we each have gifts and we're looking to exercise those gifts to the benefit of the other that when we come in here we're built up that when we go back out those doors we go back out into the world with the boldness and with the spirit in a different way that we came in because we come and beat up from the world don't we you watch the news you come in you're like Amen.

33:28 man. You come in and you listen to the word and you encourage one another and you go, that's right, Jesus is on the throne. Let's go back out into the world. And you go back out and you listen and you're like, oh man, California is terrible. I wish I could move. The Holy Spirit's like, don't you go anywhere. You stay here. I'm not done here. I'm not done here. Don't you go anywhere. You say, I want to run. He says, I know you want to run, But don't worry, I'm with you wherever you go. I have not left you and I will not forsake you. I'm the Lord your God and I'm the Lord over California.

34:04 Not Gavin. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord over California. He's the Lord over the United States. He's the Lord over the earth. He's not moved. He doesn't slumber. He's not unaware of what we're going through. And by the way, it's way worse in other parts of the world. He's the Lord over Iran. He's the Lord over Iraq. He's the Lord over India.

34:35 He's the Lord over England and Australia. Is He the Lord over your life? He took the form of a bondservant. He didn't come and demand to be worshipped. He lowered Himself to our benefit. In Mark 10, verse 42, it says, You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to give his life a ransom for many. And I love, Pastor Jack just recently taught in the Christmas messages that in the Gospels, there's three Gospels that have genealogies except for Mark. Mark has no genealogy, and that's because Mark portrays Jesus as a servant.

35:31 Servants, they had no records or rights. And so in Mark, there's no genealogy. Jesus isn't rebuking leadership. He's rebuking evil, self-serving, or self-righteous leaders. who were using and manipulating people to their own benefit. The Pharisee ruled wrongly over groups of people. Today, some want to rule over groups of people, and they want to do so wrongly. They want to do so to their benefit. Leadership is a good thing when it's in the right way. Biblical leadership, that's a good thing.

36:13 Whereas we said, even as the Son of Man did not come to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. In the upper room, when his disciples apparently refused to minister, Jesus laid aside his outer garments, put on a long linen towel, and washed their feet. He took the place of a menial slave. That is a picture of the doctrine of kenosis, that he laid aside his outer garment and he put on the long towel and he washed their feet. That's exactly what he did when he left eternity and entered into humanity. He laid aside his kingly lordship robes, if you will, and he put on human skin and he came as a servant. To have the mind of Christ is to seek to bring glory to him with my life and exalt him, not to bring glory and attention to myself. Now, when we do that, when we have the mind of Christ, this leads to action. Faith that is lived out in action is true biblical faith. As a follower of Christ, I could never say my relationship with God is private. You ever heard someone say that? Oh, I have a relationship with God, but it's private. What that's code for, I don't have a relationship with God.

37:29 because point number two Jesus is Lord of my actions he's Lord of my actions because we see in 2.8 of Philippians being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross he humbled himself to the point of death think about that God allowed himself to be put on a cross and have his physical human body killed you remember in the garden when Peter pulled out his sword and cut off the high servant's ear high priest's servant's ear and Jesus immediately put it back and he told him don't you know that right now I could call in a legion of angels the Bible says he was led as a lamb to the slaughter yet he opened not his mouth he was accused he didn't say a word Luke 22 verse 42 he said father if it is your will take this cut from me, nevertheless not my will, but yours be done. Hebrews 5, 7 says, in the days of his flesh, when he offered up prayers and supplication with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save from death and was heard because of his godly fear, though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered, and having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him. Isn't that glorious? It's like the picture of what happened through the garden all the way through his death and resurrection to the point of death.

39:00 So from the very highest to the very lowest. From the Lord of the universe to dying on the cross. Jesus says in Matthew 16, verse 24, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? There isn't a currency on the planet that you could exchange for your soul, except for the blood of Christ. That's it. To receive the free gift of salvation. You cannot earn it. You cannot buy it. I think this past week, Elon Musk became even more of a billionaire. it's like how is that even possible it's like he's got so much money you know and then i started thinking like what does he do with it like there's he will never spend it in his life he could leave it to all his kids for like ever not there won't be forever but you know i mean you know i'm saying for as like as long as maybe the musk family goes they'll be they'll be rich they don't have to work a day in their life they would never run out of money because just the interest alone on that is is compounding, right? So, I mean, what does he do with it all? He's so rich, he could give everybody on the planet money. Will he? No. Well, there's certain people he shouldn't.

40:38 They mismanage it anyways. Look at them, right? Point number three. Point number three. Jesus, Lord of all. Philippians 2.9. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven, of those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. What a crescendo. Wow. Every knee will bow, every tongue confess. Therefore, God has highly exalted him. The word means above, beyond, exceedingly, to lift up, to raise, to exalt. Put together, it means to exalt to the highest possible degree, to elevate beyond all others, to raise, to supreme rank and honor.

41:42 Isn't that amazing? Like there's no one greater, no one higher than Jesus. Ephesians 1.19. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe? According to the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. And he put all things under his feet.

42:18 Like Lord of all. There's not anything that is not put under him. Nothing. A name that is above every name. Jesus. Is the name above every name. Jesus. That's why in the world that is the most loved and the most hated. You don't hear people cursing Muhammad. You don't hear people cursing Joseph Smith or Gandhi. When people are going to curse, they curse Jesus' name. Why? Because it's the name above all names. Hell knows it. Unbelievers know it. You might ask somebody, do you even know who Jesus is? Nope. And believe it or not, there are people living in our community, they don't know who Jesus is. Isn't that wild? They live right up the street from you. They might live on your street. They might be your next door neighbor. They don't know who Jesus is.

43:21 Maybe they've heard the name. They heard it because it's a cuss word in their home. But they don't know who he is. The Hebrew name Yeshua, shortened from Yehoshua, meaning Yahweh is salvation or the Lord saves. It means to save, to deliver, or to rescue. It's the short form of Yahweh, the covenant name of God. In Greek, Iesus.

43:50 Transliteration of the Hebrew, Yeshua, into Greek, meaning Yahweh saves. It is retained from Hebrew through Greek readers or though the Greek readers wouldn't automatically know what it meant. They did in Hebrew. but a Greek creator might not completely understand the meaning of the word but you and I, we understand the meaning of the word look, you could have grown up in church but if you're not born again it doesn't have the same meaning to you than it does to me I know what the name of Jesus means eternal life he's the door, he said he's the only way to eternity there's not many ways there's one way. There's many ways that lead to hell. There's one way that leads to heaven. By the way, you are all going to live for eternity. You are an eternal being. Where you spend eternity is based on what you do with Jesus this side of eternity before you die.

44:51 the first death the second death isn't annihilationism it's not seeking to exist or uh not the word is seeking ceasing thank you it's not ceasing to exist it's forever death forever dying forever torment Matthew 121 says you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. And at that name, Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. Every knee of every person who has ever been born. Everybody will one day bow their knee and they will confess. And you have a choice. You do it this side of eternity or you do it on that side of eternity.

45:44 Either willingly or unwillingly. but hell is eternal. Daniel 12, 2 says, those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. In Matthew 25, verse 46, Jesus said, these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. That's why it's important you understand the consequences. What is the good news if it's just, oh, you die and then someday you just cease to exist? Well, how is that good? Well, why don't I just live the way I want to live then and die, and maybe I have a little, what, short punishment of some sort? It doesn't matter how extreme it is. It could be that I'm on fire for a couple of years, but then I just cease to exist. I could just live and have all the pleasure that I want in this life. But that's not what the Bible teaches.

46:38 The Bible teaches that hell is eternal. And that's why the gospel is good news, because Jesus came to save you from eternity, being separated from him in a place of torment where Jesus said there's weeping and gnashing of teeth and it never ends. the alternative is to bow your knee today to the Lord Jesus Christ to confess him as Lord and to receive the free gift of eternal life but you see something's at stake something's at stake and that's the way you want to live you want to live for yourself you want to set your mind on the sinful desires of the flesh than Galatians and the law of reaping will be exactly what you receive in your life for that lifestyle.

47:38 The wages of sin is death, the book of Romans says, but the gift of God is eternal life. Maybe you made it through Christmas without receiving Jesus as your Lord and Savior. I'm not letting you out of here today until you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior. I'm just kidding. We'll let you out, but that's up to you. Now, Jesus is Lord. Here's the exhortation for the believer. Turn to John 13, verse 12. John 13, 12. We're almost done. Hang in there. I know it got a little intense. you say well I don't like hearing about hell well you know what the gospel isn't really the gospel if you don't talk about hell okay just so you know and by the way Jesus spoke more about hell than anybody else in the bible why because he doesn't want you to go there come on it's not a hellfire you know condemnation message it's a message of grace it's a message of hope it's a message of you can't do it, so God did it for you. That's the message of the Bible, that God loves you so much, he sent in the sentence of the world. You say, yeah, I know that verse, but did you know that it says in Romans 5, 8, that God demonstrated his love towards you, and that while you were a sinner, Christ died for you, died for you when you were just living it up in your sin. That's when he displayed his love for you. Jesus said there's no greater love than a man would lay down his life for his friends. Jesus laid down his life for you. Think about that. Here's the exhortation for the

49:39 You do them. Acts 2.36 says, Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. If he's the Lord, then I'm submitting to him. Acts 10 36 the word which God sent to the children of Israel preaching peace through Jesus Christ he is Lord of all Is he Lord of your life? Now the invitation for the unbeliever Romans 10 verse 8 The word is near you and it's in your mouth and in your heart That is the word of faith which we preach that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

50:34 Martin Lloyd-Jones said, if he is not Lord of all, he is not Lord at all. If he's not Lord of all, he's not Lord at all. You cannot separate Lord and Savior. He cannot be Savior if he's not Lord. You might think, oh, I'm gonna go to heaven. Why? Oh, because I have him as my Savior. Do you do the things that he says? No, actually don't do anything that he says. Then he's not Lord. And if he's not Lord, then he's not Savior. You can't separate those two things. You understand? He's Lord and Savior. He's not Lord or Savior. He's Lord and Savior. The Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The name above all names. The highest name. long ago there ruled in persia a wise and good king he loved his people he wanted to know how they live he wanted to know about their hardships often he dressed in the clothes of a working man or a beggar and he went into the homes of the poor no one whom he visited thought he was their ruler one time he visited a very poor man who lived in a cellar. He ate the coarse food the poor man ate. He spoke cheerful, kind words to him. Then he left.

51:51 Later, he visited the poor man again and disclosed his identity by saying, I am your king. The king thought the man would surely ask for some gift or favor, but he didn't. Instead, he said, you left your palace and your glory to visit me in this dark, dreary place. You ate the coarse food I ate. you brought gladness to my heart. To others you have given your rich gifts but to me you have given yourself. The King of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself to you and me. The Bible calls him the unspeakable gift. The unspeakable gift. What I'd like you to do right now is just close your eyes for a moment and bow your heads. because I think that there's two separate groups of people in the room today that perhaps need to make a decision.

52:42 And the first is those that... maybe you really are truly born again. And I do believe that it's truly possible to be born again and to be living in the flesh, to temporarily live in sin, or to get caught up. The Bible even says that we can get caught up in sin. sometimes a circumstance led to that sin other times a willful decision of the heart led to it but today you need to recommit your life to the lordship of Jesus the bible says in 1st john 1 9 that if you confess your sins he's faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness maybe you've been living with it for a short time or off and on for a long time and I just want you to know that today the lord wants to deliver you from it. He wants absolute reign in your life, not because he's about bossing you around,

53:50 but because in his infinite love for you, he wants the absolute best for you. and that sin is keeping you from experiencing the joy and the peace and the life that God has planned for you. If that's you, I just want you to raise up your hand. I want to pray for you. I'm not going to ask you to come forward. Just to simply lift up your hand. I see some hands going up around the sanctuary. Just a simple acknowledgement that I'm not living for Jesus right now and I need to. Nobody's looking around, just me. See, hands up all over.

54:35 So I'm going to pray, and I want you to just pray this in your mind and in your heart, not out loud. pray along with me Father thank you that you sent your son for me thank you that I am your child I acknowledge my sin to you and I ask you to forgive me. I ask you to cleanse me. I ask you to restore unto me the joy of my salvation enable me by your spirit to walk away the next time that temptation comes to be able to say no,

55:31 that I might glorify you as the Lord of my life with every breath. You can put your hands down. And those today that have not received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you realize through the preaching of this message that Jesus is not the Lord of your life. If you were to die today, you would go to eternal torment.

55:55 Not because God's not good, but because you have been rejecting that free gift. And if today you'd like to receive that free gift, again, I'm not gonna ask you to get up and come forward, but I want you to raise up your hand just right where you're sitting. It'll be an acknowledgement public enough for myself that today I wanna receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior, that I want to confess with my mouth and believe in my heart and know when I walk out of this place that I'm a child of God.

56:23 God bless you. I see a hand over to my left and in the back and the front. Anybody else? Over here to my right. God bless you. come as you are God's not asking you to clean yourself up He wants to change you He's the Lord of all God bless you Put your hands down and pray along with me And those of you that are believers Let's pray this together and encourage them Dear Jesus I am a sinner And I need a Savior I confess my sin to you today And I ask you to forgive me of all my sin. I believe, Jesus, that you are God, that you died on the cross, and you rose from the dead.

57:17 Enable me to live for you every single day. In Jesus' name. Father, we thank you that you are ruling and reigning, and no matter what happens on this earth, there is not a thing that escapes your ever watchful eye. You are Lord. And one day, Jesus, you will come again. And we know that that day is soon. You will come, physically set up your throne in Israel, on the throne of David, and you will rule and reign for 1,000 years in righteousness. and Lord we look forward to spending eternity with you bless your people today Lord as they go out of this place may you bless them cause your face to shine upon them be gracious unto them in Jesus name we pray amen let's close in this last song of worship