Salvator Mundi—Savior of the World - Louie Giglio

0:26 in a collection called Jesus and His Own Words. In other words, not what did the preacher say, or what did my mom say, or what does the guy on TV have to say, or what did the pundit have to say, but what does Jesus say about Himself? And today we're looking at one of the most important words of Christmas and one of the most important things that Jesus said about himself. But what we want to emphasize more than anything today is that Christmas is about Christ. It's called Christmas after all. And Christ more means more Jesus at Christmas. So that's what we're wishing our neighbor. That's what we're wishing our family member today. That's what we're wishing each other today. More Jesus today. More Jesus in your family today. More Jesus in your thinking today. More Jesus for your future today. More Jesus in everything that God has given you to steward today. Merry Christmas.

1:29 Merry more Jesus to you. That's what Christmas is really all about. Many think he was the most important person in the history of the world. George Bancroft, who founded the Naval Academy, said, I find the name of Jesus Christ written on the top of every page of modern history. Amazing. Charles H. Spurgeon said, Christ is the great central fact of the world's history. To him, everything looks forward and backward. All lines of history converge upon him. All the great purposes of God culminate in him. The greatest and most momentous fact which the history of the world records is the fact of his birth. Philip Brooks, who penned the words to a little town of Bethlehem. I know we've got a lot of guests here today, but anybody in church last week when Grant was preaching about Bethlehem. It's the, what is it? It's the house of bread. Hey, there's more people that got that so far than any other gathering today. I'm glad some of you were here last week. Oh, little town of, sing it with me, of house of bread. And it is perfect. It's amazing.

2:50 He said, I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that have ever marched and all the navies that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life, the life of Christ. I love listening to these different points of view. H.G. Wells, the famous historian, said, it is interesting and significant that a historian, without any theological bias, whatever, should find that he cannot portray the progress of humanity honestly without giving a foremost place to a penniless teacher from Nazareth. A historian like myself, who does not even call himself a Christian, finds the picture centering irresistibly around the life and character of this most significant man.

3:58 Then Scott Lauderdale. As the centuries pass, the evidence is accumulating that measured by his effect on history, Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet. And to close, Ralph Waldo Emerson. The name of Jesus is not so much written as plowed into the history of the world. That baby born in that manger is the most significant person ever born on this planet. And who does he say that he is? Well, before we let Jesus speak, let's hear from the angels in Luke chapter two. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

4:59 But the angel said to them, do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. All the people at 515 today. All the people at Cumberland today. All the people in church online today. All the people in the whole world. This is going to be good news of great joy today. In the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. There's our word. A Savior has been born to you. The 12 words of Christmas. A Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you, the angel continued.

5:51 You'll find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly, a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace to men on whom his favor rests. this most significant person on earth, the angel said, is a savior. That word, obviously, is the word that leads to salvation. That's the same root word. But it also has another meaning, and the meaning is deliverer. I'm coming to set people free, to set the captive free, to set those in all kind of bondage free, to set everybody with chains holding them back free. That's what the angel said about Jesus, that he was the savior of the world.

6:49 We talked a few Easter's ago. Were you here when we talked about this famous painting? It had been uncovered a few years ago. It actually was under another painting which had been painted on top of it. And as it was restored and recovered, it became clearer and clearer that this painting was done by Leonardo da Vinci, the lost da Vinci painting. and there was all kind of testing done and all kind of art critics brought in and now most of them all would agree that it's a Leonardo da Vinci painting lost for a long long time for centuries and then a documentary was made about this whole process of the discovery and the verification process and the ultimate auction of this painting and as you watch the documentary which is all about the salvator mundi, the savior of the world, everybody's talking about, is it a Leonardo? Is it a Da Vinci? Is it real? Is it authentic? Is it a Da Vinci? Did Da Vinci really do it? And all through the whole documentary, they're going, the salvator mundi, the salvator mundi, the salvator mundi. Is it? Is it? Yes, the salvator mundi is real. The salvator mundi isn't real. The salvator mundi, the salvator mundi. Dozens and dozens and dozens of times, they're saying, savior of the world, savior of the world, savior of the world, savior of the world.

8:04 And at the whole documentary where they're asking, is it adventure? No one ever asked. Is he the savior of the world? But what did he say about himself? In Luke 19, this famous story comes and everybody knows this story because it's about Zacchaeus. And what do we all know about Zacchaeus?

8:27 Wouldn't you love that to be the one thing people know about you? recorded in the eternal word of God. The grass will wither and the flower will fade, but the fact that Zacchaeus is short, that will live forever. Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man there was there by the name of Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector and was wealthy. Now remember, Luke is the doctor traveling with Jesus, a disciple of Jesus, but a physician. And he's the one who gives us all the details in his eyewitness account of Jesus. So he wants us to know, A, he's a chief tax collector. And as a result of that, he was wealthy. Another thing we're going to learn about him in a few verses is that he was a cheater. And that's how we got wealthy. He was working for the Roman government, taxing the Jewish people and taking a cut. And so he was hated by the community. And now he wanted to see who Jesus was. But because he was, say it with me, short, he could not see over the crowd.

9:40 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree to see him since Jesus was coming that way. when Jesus reached the spot. Remember the spot. We've got news that the miracle man is coming to town. Throngs of people have rushed to the street. Little guy is up in a tree, you know, branches, leaves, looking around, trying to see. Jesus reached the spot. This might be the most important part of this talk today. He looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today. So he came down at once and welcomed Jesus gladly. Now, here's the thing that I don't want us to miss in a story that we've all heard, a lot of us, from when we were little tiny kids. When he reached the spot, A, he looked up and saw him. And B, even though nobody had on a name tag, he called him by his name.

10:49 How did he know his name? You're like, he's Jesus. That's how he knew his name. And I just don't want us to miss this today. I don't want you to miss this today. There are thousands of people in this gathering today. But if the son of God walked in this room in bodily form, he could look right into your eyes and say, I see you and call you by your name. you may not think you're in a place to see him, but I promise you he is in a place to see you. You may not want him to see you today. You're hoping to duck into the service and duck out of the gathering, maybe without anybody seeing you really. But God knows you. He sees you. And if you're looking for him, he'll call you by name. If you're not looking for him, he can still call you by name today. He goes home with Zacchaeus and they have a revival. We'll talk about that in just a second. But before we get there, all the people saw this and began to mutter just like we would in our neighborhood, seeing people coming and going all the time.

11:58 And they said, he's gone to be the guest of a sinner. And so a lot of people are doubting Jesus. Do they know? Does he know? Is he aware? Is he clued into the fact that this guy's cheating everybody? That's the guy who's going to go to his house? We had all the prominent people all up at the front of the crowd, looks right over them into a tree, and goes home with a sinner.

12:22 But then look at this, verse 8. But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, look, Lord, here and now I give half my possessions to the poor. Now, something transpired between here when he welcomed him gladly to his house. There was a revelation moment, and Zacchaeus realized who Jesus was. He realized where he stood with God and what Christ was coming to do. And some transformation happened there. To the end that he said, he stood up and he said, Lord, look, Lord, here and now, I give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I've cheated anybody out of anything, I'll pay back four times the amount. Now, the little footnote here is when you have an encounter with Jesus, things in your life change. Your business gets straight.

13:17 Your mind gets straight. Your relationships get straight. Stuff gets made right. Why? Because salvation isn't a promise of a ticket to forever. It is a transformation of us right here and right now. And this Zacchaeus moment has changed everything. And so Jesus proclaims to Zacchaeus, today, salvation, there's our word, the Savior has come to this house. Not only did you get transformed, but literally salvation came to this house because the Savior came to this house. Salvatore Mundi came to your house today. and now this man too is a son of Abraham. He went from being a cheater and a stealer and a liar to becoming a son of God.

14:11 And listen to Jesus' own words about himself. For the son of man, that's the title that Jesus used the most. It also has the context of deliverance under it. It's a reference to an Old Testament prophecy about him that he would be a deliverer. The Son of Man, the deliverer, the Savior, came to seek and to save the lost. Savior. has come. to seek and to save the lost. I think those may be the two most important things about you. Number one, that God is seeking you.

15:05 you're like well i'm not even seeking god he's seeking you that's what he came to do and that's who he is and he's doing the work to save you the two most important things about you this Christmas is that God is seeking you to save you. And why is he doing that? Because that's how much you matter to him. How do we know how much we matter to him? Well, we see the way he's seeking us and we see the way that he saved us. How was he seeking us? He came into the mess of the manger. That's how he was seeking us. We have sanitized the manger.

15:57 We've got the hay all neat. We've got the blanket all perfect. The baby looks fantastic. Mary looks amazing. The music's playing. Joseph is, you know, looking great. And we've sanitized all that now and kind of memorialized it all. But I'm telling you, when Jesus was born in that stable, it was a mess. The angel told the shepherds, go and see him. You'll find him in a manger. You'll find him in a feeding trough. In a stable, it stinks. That's where you're going to find him. And when he was born, I'm telling you, there was no medical team there. There were no nurses or assistants there. There was no medical devices there. It was just a teenage girl having a baby in a stable, and it was a mess. If you've ever seen a baby born, you know it's a joyous mess.

16:44 And imagine Mary holding Jesus. It's covered with blood. covered with the mess of birth. And Joseph hustling to get a basin and fill it with water and probably with salt and trying to make a crude saline solution to wash and cleanse the baby and especially where the after effects of the separation and birth. A total mess in the manger. God being born in a stable. That's God's desire to seek after you and to find you. He didn't come in a chariot or a jet. He came in a manger. And who got the invitation to the sip and see? The ladies smiled. The guys were like, I don't know what you're talking about.

17:39 Ladies, tell your guys later. Who got the invitation to the sip and see? These unbathed, robust smelling dirt under their fingernails, dung on the soles of their sandals, bottom rung of the social ladder, simple sheep keepers. Thank you. that's who got invited to the sip and see.

18:14 Jesus came into the mess of the manger. He came seeking and saving the lost. And how did he save us? In the mess. Jesus died on a garbage dump. outside the walls of Jerusalem, crucified where the Romans executed criminals for show. And in that place, it was a rubbish heap where Jesus Christ, the perfect son of God, gave his innocent life for the sins of the entire world.

18:57 And it was a mess. He was born in a mess, and he died in a mess because that was the price God was willing to pay to forgive us of our sin. Titus says it this way, at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ, our Savior. So that having been justified by his grace, that means having our sins wiped away by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Paul wrote it this way, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this.

20:02 while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, by the mess of his death, by the shredding of his flesh, by the piercing of his brow, by the piercing of his hands and his feet and his side, by the mess of it all, of him giving his life, that's how we've been justified before a holy God. how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him? For if while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life? God's seeking you today.

20:51 He's already done the work of saving you. and he's seeking you today with the message of an already finished work of salvation and he'll he'll go as far as necessary to find you i was thinking about this talk and remembering about a story that our church in our earliest days had a part in i was traveling on a plane in 2010 and i was reading the usa today does anybody remember this yeah no uh monday july 12th, flying to speak somewhere, reading my USA Today. Spain had won the World Cup, big story there. But I looked down below and a few months back in 2010, a tragic earthquake had devastated Port-au-Prince, Haiti. And Shelley and I had been in Port-au-Prince and loved the people of that country. And I was captured by this title. The subheading in the title says, six months after quake, many barriers still to recovery, but I was really captured by this picture of this little girl. And the caption under the picture says, survivors, Ernst Leo manages to keep daughter Teresa, who lost an arm in the quake in school. I read the article, and as it turns out, their home collapsed. And when it collapsed, it crushed Teresa's mom and sister to death, but it trapped her in the rubble and it took them two days to reach and rescue her and by then it was too late to save her right arm.

22:29 And here they are six months later when these reporters catch up with them. They're living in a tent in a disaster relief camp and Ernst is trying desperately to keep his job and so during the days he's having to slip off to work and leaving Teresa by herself in this tent in this disaster relief camp. And at night, he's helping her with her schoolwork, trying to keep her caught up on any project that she can do while she's learning to write with her left hand as a seven-year-old girl. And I'm not kidding. Unlike hardly any other time in my life, God just spoke right into my heart holding this newspaper and said, I want you to help her. And I don't mean me personally, but I want you, the family of Passion City, I want you to help her. And I'm like, how are we going to help this girl?

23:21 So we called and started to get in touch with the writers of this article. Do you know anything about Ernst and Leo, Ernst Leo and his daughter? Do you know where they are, how we could get in touch with them? We're like, oh no, we don't have any forwarding information or any contact information. Maybe you could talk to so-and-so. And so we begin to triangulate and we finally found out that they're no longer at this particular disaster relief encampment. And so we tried other angles. And finally, we got word that we think we've got at least a quadrant where they might be. Enough information that we headed to Haiti. Brad and I and a few other people got on a little tiny prop cargo plane and flew to Haiti. We got detained in customs trying to get through Florida and ended up arriving in Haiti in the middle of the night. Some friends who run an incredible organization there helping people in a school came and met us and allowed us to stay with them. And we triangulated more once we got on the ground in Port-au-Prince. And finally, we thought we've got the neighborhood. And so we load up in this four by four vehicle and start driving. And we turned down into what was a neighborhood. We could barely drive on the street. It was like a war zone. And every house on both sides of the street was just marked with a huge big X saying, condemn, condemn, condemn, condemn, condemn, condemned, everything vacant and hollow until we got down at a little turn at the end of the street.

24:48 And there they were, Ernst and Teresa living in the bottom of a condemned home. Just a few crude things to cook on and to sleep on. He found Ernst with a real look of despair on his face. and I said to Ernst, you don't know us, but we know you, and God has sent us here to help you. We don't know what you need, but God does.

25:30 He loves you, and he loves Teresa, and we're here to help. Can you imagine being in a condemned concrete shell in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and having some dude walk through the door, some guys come through your door and say, we're here to help you.

25:55 I'll never forget meeting Teresa. and trying to imagine all that she'd been through and would go through, I remember putting my arm around her and just saying, it's going to be okay. I didn't know if I could fully back that up, but I know God is big.

26:20 In time, we helped them immigrate to Miami where Ernst had family, helped them settle in an apartment there. Ernst found a job. Teresa got in school. People at Passion City Church furnished their apartment. And we helped them financially in a lot of ways, got them connected to a really amazing team who work in prosthetics down in South Florida. Passion, a few months after that, we shared their story. And just like that, 18 to 25-year-olds gave over $20,000 towards an education fund for Teresa. we held that fund for her until it was time for her to be of age to go to college and I'm happy to tell you that Brad called Ernst yesterday just to check in and say hey Louie's talking about you guys at Christmas Eve we just want to get the most recent update of how you're doing and Ernst said we're doing great we're sitting at dinner actually right now Teresa's 22 years old She's a senior at UCF, University of Central Florida.

27:29 She's graduating in May with a degree in early childhood education because God is a God who comes to seek and to save the lost. And I'm telling you today, he'll go any distance to get to you. there's not a person in this gathering who has gone too far that Jesus can't call your name today and say, I want to come to your house today. I want to bring a revival to your life today. I want to see you in a turnaround story and becoming everything that God has created you to be. I want to come and be the savior of your world, not just of the world. I want to deliver you and set you free from an affair, from a broken marriage, from despair, from depression, from anxiety, from a purposeless life that's just stacking up dollar bills like Zacchaeus was. I'm coming to deliver you into the significant life, the meaningful life, the powerful life, the abundant life, the eternal life that I have created you for.

28:56 I'll close with this last quote. It's from an amazing person in history, unknown. Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40, and Jesus for only three. Yet those three years infinitely transcend and influence the combined 130 years of teaching of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, three of the greatest men in all antiquity. Jesus painted no pictures, yet the paintings of Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci received their inspiration from him. Jesus wrote no poetry, but Dante, Milton, and scores of the world's greatest poets were inspired by him.

29:58 Jesus composed no music Still Hayden, Handel, Beethoven, Bach and Mendelssohn reached their highest perfection of melody in the hymns, symphonies and oratorios written in his praise Thus every sphere of human greatness has been incomparably enriched by the humble carpenter of Nazareth But his unique contribution to the race of men is the salvation of the soul. Philosophy could not accomplish that, nor art, nor literature, nor music. Only Jesus Christ can break the power of sin. Only he can speak power into the strengthless soul and life into the dead. The world admires Christ afar off.

30:56 Some adopt him as their example and try to pattern their lives after him. A few open the door of their hearts and invite him to be their Savior. and we're praying today that many more on this eve will open the door of your heart and invite Salvatore Mundi to be your savior he's seeking you I'm telling you and you can sense it can't you he's seeking.

31:53 But you have to say yes. Come to my house. He's already done the saving. It is finished. But you have to say yes. I receive you and the saving work that you have done for me. Jesus I want you to be my Lord and my Savior and I want you to change my life from the inside out is that anybody in this gathering today you've heard of Jesus but you can't say for sure that he's your Savior today you know that he saves but you don't know for sure that he saved you you know some of the stories about him but there's never been a moment where you came to an acute awareness of your need of him and you said dear jesus i open the doors of my life i need deliverance from sin and hell and death yes