Jesus: Before time began.

Jesus: Before time began.

Reading: John 1:1, 14.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” John 1:1-2.

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

We sing “My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” I want to look at Jesus from the very beginning, though there was no beginning for Him! Jesus laid aside His glory, not His deity; He laid aside His glorious form and the rights of deity, to become the God-man for us “Jesus the Christ.”

The “Gospel” means “good news” and Jesus is the “good news!” The gospels are not about four men, but one man, the God-man, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote about Jesus the Christ! Our text today indicates it is all about Him.

1. THE GLORY OF CHRIST JESUS.

“And now, O Father, glorify me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” John 17:5.

Here at the beginning, before time existed, we find Jesus, and the word that comes to mind is glory. It is the answer to any questions we may have.

Who is Jesus? He is Glory.

Where was He? In Glory!

What was He like? Glorious!

What does glory look like? We would die if we saw “His Glory” unprotected. Yet, God gives us a glimpse, a portrait! John said he beheld His glory at the transfiguration. “Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person” Hebrews 1:3.

2. THE LOVE OF CHRIST JESUS.

“Father, I desire that they also, whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world” John 17:24.

Love existed before time began, for God is love, His nature, His character is of Love. John 3:16 shows how God loves us, even when we where sinners.

He sent His love our way! His Love is eternal, it has always been, and always will be. God does not fall “out of love” with us, or we with Him.

3. THE GRACE OF CHRIST JESUS.

“Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began” 2 Timothy 1:9.

Jesus has always been the embodiment of grace. Grace has always existed. All who are saved are saved by it. We may be honoured because we are in the Kingdom of God, but it is only by God’s grace that we are part of it! Only God could conceive of this wonderful plan to share His glory through love and grace.

4. THE PROMISE OF CHRIST JESUS.

“In hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before the time began” Titus 1:2.

Jesus is the promised One, and He keeps His promises! And as surely as God kept His promise about Jesus' coming to earth, He will keep His promise about His second coming and the end of the world. As surely as His promises about heaven are true are His promises about the place called hell is true. And He has promised to save you if you will let Him!

5. THE CHOICE OF CHRIST JESUS.

“Just as He hath chose us in Him before the foundation of the

World, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” Ephesians 1:4.

From our standpoint, our choices have not been made; we all have a free will and a clean slate ahead of us! “The Lord is…not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” 2 Peter 3:9.

“Whosoever will may come!”

“Whosoever believes!”

“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!”

It is awesome to think that God knew me and you before time began, and cares enough about all the details in our lives, including the choices we would make about Him.

CONCLUSION:

1. The baby in the manger (Christmas) was not the beginning, just the next chapter of Him who is eternal.

2. He was killed at the hands of sinful mankind (Easter), but that was not the end, just the next chapter.

3. Jesus the Christ is the Alpha and Omega, He Who is the beginning and the end, and yet even at the very close of God’s Word, it is not the end, but only the beginning!

A MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY.

THE WORDS OF JESUS.

Reading: JOHN 7:30-46

“Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him. Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come." On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet." Others said, "This is the Christ." Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him. Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?" The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"

When they came to arrest Jesus they returned empty handed, because of the deep impression that the teachings of Jesus had made upon them. No doubt they realized that Jesus’ teaching had won support, because it carried authority and truth. The purity and grace of Jesus held them spell-bound. They felt a divine power in the WORDS of Jesus. For no man spoke with Jesus’ wisdom and power, grace and love, with such conviction within the hearts of men and women.

1. THE WORD IS JESUS.

In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, God is presented as speaking the Creation into existence. God speaks the WORD and it happens: heaven and earth, ocean and stream, trees and grass, birds and fish, animals and mankind. Everything, seen and unseen, is called into being by God’s spoken WORD.

In planned matching words of Genesis, John presents God as speaking Salvation into existence. This time God’s WORD takes on human form and enters history in the Person of Jesus. Jesus speaks the WORD and it happens: forgiveness and judgment, healing and illumination, mercy and grace, joy and love, freedom and resurrection. Everything broken and fallen, sinful and diseased, called into salvation by God’s spoken WORD.

Sin is in desperate need of fixing. The fixing is all accomplished by speaking, God speaking salvation into being, in the Person of Jesus the Son of God. Jesus, not only speaks the WORD of God; He is the WORD of God.

Keeping the same thought with these words, we begin to realize that our words are more important than we can ever suppose. Saying “I believe,” for instance, makes the difference between life and death. Our words build us up or bring us down, our words of acceptance of Jesus as Saviour will take us into His presence, or our rejection of Christ will take us to hell.

2. THE WORDS OF JESUS.

The Temple guards, who were sent to arrest Jesus in (verse 32), returned without Him. Responding to the question “Why?” the guards answered, “No one ever spoke the way this Man does.” Which implies that the guards sensed that Jesus was unusual or perhaps more than a man. The Gospels often reveal Jesus as a most impressive Teacher and Speaker (Matt. 7:29; 22:46). Though Jesus was opposed, many of those who heard Him were moved by Him (John 7:15; 12:19)

“No man ever spoke like this Man!”

A. Not Moses, the spokesman of the people of Israel.

B. Nor David, the anointed Psalmist of Israel;

C. Nor Solomon, the wisest of men;

D. Nor that inspiring prophet Isaiah;

E. Nor any of the other prophets;

F. Nor John the Baptist, Jesus’ forerunner, the voice of one crying in the wilderness:

Never man spoke WORDS of truth and substance like Jesus.

Such WORDS, which so fully express the grace of God, and are so thankful to men; such as:

a. Justification by His righteousness.

b. Full pardon by His blood.

c. Peace and reconciliation by His sacrifice.

d. The liberty of captives from the bondage of sin and Satan, by His power.

e. And spiritual and eternal salvation by Christ Jesus.

Never man spoke such words of truth, as He who is full of truth, and TRUTH itself: or such words of wisdom, which is the WISDOM of God, which passes all wisdom.

Nor did anyone speak such words of love, as Jesus did; words so needed and important:

a. With such gracefulness.

b. With such majesty and authority.

c. With such power and effectiveness.

Which at once charmed the ear of the hearer, affected their hearts; carrying conviction upon them, enlightened the understanding of His hearers, as to fasten their attention to the Person of Jesus!

Which was the case with these men, so that they had not the power to execute their commission? He delivered such excellent things, and in such a manner, they could not find in their hearts to use any violence towards Him; or be the means of bringing Him into any trouble or danger. They had fallen under the power of Jesus see verse 28. It was the WORDS of Jesus that had so gripped these officers, not His works.

CONCLUSION:

No man spoke with such wisdom, and power, and grace, with conviction as Christ spoke. Yet, many, who are for a time held, and who speak highly of the word of Jesus, quickly lose their convictions, and go on in their sins!

Yet, others, those that believe hold on to every WORD spoken.

CHRIST CRUCIFIED.

Reading: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5.

2:1. “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.”
2:2. “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
2:3. “I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.”
2:4. “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”
2:5. “That your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Paul did not preach with vain discussions that caused strife.
1. He simply stayed with the preaching of the Cross of Christ.
2. He preached a Crucified Saviour, One who had died for the sins of the world.
3. That is the type of ministry which is so desperately needed today!
Paul’s faith was in God, and not in himself.
He wanted sinners to trust in Christ’s power!
You may think you lack ability to serve God, but God can turn your weakness into His strength!
For the gospel still works today!
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” Romans 1:16.

1. A Crucified Christ, verses 1-2.
2:1. “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.”
2:2. “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

The apostle Paul reminds the saints of his ministry among them and how he sought to glorify God and not himself. He came to them proclaiming the testimony of God, not with excellence of speech or of wisdom. He was not at all interested in showing himself off as a speaker or philosopher.
This shows that the Apostle Paul recognized the difference between ministry that is of the flesh, and that which is of the Spirit.
A. By fleshly ministry, I mean that which amuses, entertains, or generally appeals to man’s emotions, a happy, clappy gospel.
B. Spiritual ministry, on the other hand, presents the truth of God’s word in such a way as to glorify Christ and to reach the heart and conscience of the hearers, bringing them to Christ.

The content of Paul’s message was “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
A. “Jesus Christ” refers to His Person.
B. While “Him crucified” refers to His work.
The Person and work of the Lord Jesus forms the substance of the Christian gospel message!

2. PAUL’S OWN WEAKNESS, Verse 3.
2:3. “I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.”

The treasure of the gospel was contained in an earthen vessel that the brilliance of the power might be of God and not of Paul. He himself was an example of how God uses weak things to confound the mighty.
“Weakness … fear … trembling.”
Paul opens his heart and lets us see his inmost thoughts. He makes it very clear that while he was among them he was greatly troubled. He was “in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.” Little wonder that he could say that God had chosen the weak things of this world.
Paul had no exalted thoughts of himself; yet he was a great intellect and a great man in many ways. Clearly, he never thought of himself as great.

3. MAN’S WISDOM OR GOD’S POWER, verses 4-5.
2:4. “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”
2:5. “That your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Some suggest that his “speech” refers to the material he presented and his “preaching” to the manner of its presentation.
According to the standards of this world, the apostle Paul might never have won a theatrical speech contest. In spite of this, “the Spirit of God” used the message to produce conviction of sin and conversion to God.
Paul carried a ministry characterized by modesty and humility. Paul was determined, as John the Baptist that “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Instead, his ministry demonstrated the Spirit and power. Clearly the power was not in respect to any human agency, but the power of divine wisdom.
In our day we have a great many words of man’s wisdom. There is a great deal of preaching, but very little of it is done “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” The feeling is that:
1. We only need the right method.
2. We only need the right topic.
3. We only need the right style.
4. Oh, how we need the power of the Holy Spirit in our preaching!
“That your faith should … stand … in the power of God.”
Paul has a motive. Paul knows that clever speech and polished public speaking can save no one. Furthermore, he knows that if they are merely drawn by arguments, their faith will be at the mercy of the next man that comes with a more clever presentation.
Paul’s motive is that their faith should “stand,” and that it should stand in the “power of God.”
In other words:
1. If human wisdom is used to win a man, then his faith stands on human wisdom.
2. If a man is brought to faith through the power of God, then his faith rests upon God.
The question is: What does your faith rest upon? Repentant preaching will call our attention to the Word of God, but our faith must rest on the power of God.

CONCLUSION:

Paul determined to know nothing among them but Jesus Christ and Him crucified:
1. To make a show of no other knowledge than this.
2. To preach nothing else.
3. To discover the knowledge of nothing, but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified!
The gospel was so preached that God might appear and be glorified in all. Note, Christ, is the sum and substance of the gospel, and ought to be the great subject of a gospel preacher’s preaching. His business is to reveal Christ and the cross, and invite people to it.

THE WORDS OF JESUS.

Reading: JOHN 12:47-48.
“The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!”

It was C.H. Spurgeon that said, “They had been spellbound both by His manner and His matter.” If we have ever heard the Lord Jesus speak in our hearts, we shall fully agree with this verdict. No man ever spoke like Jesus! Speak to us now, O Lord, and we shall rejoice with joy unspeakable.
The words spoken by the Lord Jesus were God's words. For He received them from the Father God. Therefore they were: “Gracious words” Luke 4:22 and spoken “With Authority” Matthew 7:29, and such as never spoken by man before. No doubt it was of God that they felt, in the teaching of Jesus with divine power.

1. SOME THINGS JESUS SAID ABOUT HIS WORDS.

1. THEY ARE SPIRIT AND LIFE John 6:63.
“The words that I speak to you are spirit, and life.” They are the means He used to feed us from above. They are the Heavenly manna, the bread of life.

2. THEY ARE LIKE SEED Mark 4:14.
In the parable of the Sower the Son of man sows the Word of Life. So the Word of the Lord brings life to the hearer. God has chosen the preaching of the Gospel as the means of saving men.

3. THEY HAVE A CLEANSING POWER John 15:3.
“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.”

4. THEY BRING US INTO LIBERTY John 8:31-32.
“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

5. THEY BRING US INTO ETERNAL LIFE John 5:24.
“He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life.”

6. THEY JUDGE THE SINNER John 12:48.
“The Word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day.”

7. THEY SHALL NEVER PASS AWAY Matthew 24:35.
“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.”

2. THE WONDER OF HIS WORDS.

1. THEIR BRIEFNESS.
It is said that all the recorded words of Jesus could be printed in a 16 page booklet. His longest speech takes but 15 minutes to read aloud. Yet those words have wrought wonders in the world and have changed the lives of millions giving new life, hope, peace and rest to mankind. So few, yet so mighty are they once spoken.

2. THEIR BEAUTY.
The words of Jesus are the greatest of all literature, the most beautiful words ever spoken by man. None of the world's great writers can compare with Jesus. One may search the world's libraries and have to say, “Never man spoke like this man.”

3. THEIR PURITY.
The world today has a changing code of morals, as men strive to reform men. But where is the purity and wisdom of the Sermon on the Mount seen in the words of men? The words of Jesus are “pure words” full of morality, nobility and power.

4. THEIR COMPASSION.
Whoever spoke so tenderly to the heart of sinful man as did Jesus the Lord? Sinners drew near to hear Him, for He said He had not come to condemn but to save, not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. “Come unto Me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” Matthew 11:28.

5. THEIR WONDERMENT.
The strangest fact about the words of the Lord Jesus is that they centred on Himself, yet no one ever accused Him of pride. For He was and is still the only way to salvation. Those who would find rest must come to Him. The thirsty must come to Him. The needy must come to Him. For Jesus said of Himself, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one can come to the Father but by Me.”

6. THEIR WARNING.
Whole chapters are devoted to His power and great glory when He shall reign, and execute judgement. He is the Great Judge that all men must stand before, to give account of themselves.

7. THEIR UPRIGHTNESS.
In the words of Jesus our Lord there is no confusion, no uncertainty, no hesitation, no compromise, and no mistake. “No man ever spoke like this man.”

CONCLUSION:

The words of Jesus held these spellbound, and they returned empty handed, because of the deep impression of Jesus words had made upon them. Let it be said by us today, “No man spoke like this man to me.” Let us learn from Jesus by accepting and following His words.

WHEN YOUR HEART BURNS

WHEN YOUR HEART BURNS (THIS IS THE FULL TEXT OF THE POWERPOINT SLIDES)

“Now behold, two of them were travelling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened” Luke 24:13-14.

Do you like to go for a walk? Well this was a walk to remember for the two on the road to Emmaus, but they had forgotten Jesus’ promise of His resurrection, and even on the 3rd day since His crucifixion, with reports that the tomb was empty, they still held no hope, it would be too good to be true that Jesus was alive again.
This story shows how quick we are to give up hope. Let us put ourselves in their shoes as they set out on the seven-mile walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus. It was a: A HEART-BREAKING
EXPERIENCE.

Have you ever noticed that some of the saddest words in our language begin with the letter D? For example, discouragement, disappointment, doubt, disillusionment, defeat, despair and DEATH. All of these are summed up in the words of these two men to the stranger who joined them on the Emmaus road. They had left the discouraged and confused band of disciples with the events of the first Good Friday fresh in their minds.
The Lord Jesus they had worshipped, loved and followed had been horribly put to death, a cruel death of the most shameful kind, on a Roman CROSS. Only a week before on Palm Sunday, the disciples’ hopes had risen to excitement, when the eager crowds had hailed their Lord and Master as the longed for deliverer. Now He lay dead in a sealed tomb! Their hopes were dashed; their dreams were over!
The band of disciples of Jesus’ was leaderless and falling apart, with two of them already on their way home. Their entire world had come apart. The two despondent disciples summed up the situation very neatly saying, “We had hoped that He was the one who was going to redeem Israel.”
Human hope is an easily broken, and when it dies it is difficult to restore. Hopelessness is a disease of the human spirit and it is desperately hard to cure. When you see someone you love and care for overtaken by illness, which goes on, and on, despair sets in. It almost becomes impossible to hope for recovery, to be even afraid to hope because of not being able to cope with another letdown.
The two had a wall of hopelessness around them. As the travellers made their weary way to Emmaus a stranger came alongside them. It was going to turn into one of the most wonderful walks in history! We know, of course, that it was the Risen Jesus, but somehow they did not recognize Him. They were not allowed to recognize Jesus for a purpose. I believe it was so that they might be in the same position as we are some 2,000 years later.
The stranger saw they were downtrodden and asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” And so they poured out their sad story to someone who seemed so willing to listen. The way that Jesus dealt with the situation is a lesson to all that are in a position to help those who have lost hope. They need companionship. They need a listening ear!
It is then that the heart-breaking experience changes to a:

A HEART-SEARCHING EXPERIENCE.

Their expressed surprise at even being asked what was worrying them “Are you the only one living in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” They told the stranger that this Jesus “was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people” verse 19.
“He was” - notice the use of the past tense, their experience of Jesus was in the past, and they thought they were alone. The CROSS had taken Him from them, and their minds had not made sense of the changed situation, or adjusted to it. The Cross was just a great negative to them.
We have all heard exciting testimonies of what Jesus has done in the past, but what about the present? The question must be: is Jesus “a present reality” to you and me? Do we always recognize Him beside us? Life has many distractions, routine, hard work and tiredness, or ill health, which can grind us down.
When life loses its meaning and leaves us washed out, this story gives us hope. Jesus is still there. He is the unseen “stranger,” walking with us, listening to us and, if we are willing to hear His voice, He will reveal Himself to us. As the two disciples spoke of the Cross Jesus gave them a heart-warming experience.
How did he do it? Luke tells us, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” Jesus must have given the Emmaus travellers the greatest Old Testament sermon in history, to a congregation of two! He told them of the types, shadows and symbols of the Old Testament revealed in the person of Christ. Revelation opening up before them!
Jesus would surely have taken the now speechless disciples through the Suffering Servant of passages in Isaiah. Here was proof that Jesus had fulfilled that had been prophesied over the centuries; of His passion and triumph of life over death, proved that He was indeed the Messiah.
But there was more to it than that. Christ was not there beside them simply to help them to find solutions; He was in the problem itself. Jesus told His two listeners, “Did not the Christ have to suffer these things.” In other words, did He die in vain? Was there no purpose to His life?

A HEART-BURNING EXPERIENCE.

Their two-hour journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus must have seemed like five minutes, being so wrapped up in this fascinating conversation with the Lord they had not yet recognized. Luke informs us that as they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if He was going further. You see, Jesus is a gentleman; He will not force Himself if He is not really wanted. He awaited their invitation to come in.
God gave to the world the greatest and the most perilous gift in the world, the gift of free will; and we can use it to invite Christ into our hearts or allow Him to pass on and knock on someone else’s door. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” Revelation 3:20.
This door, there is no outer knob or handle to it. I expect there is a handle, it is on the inside! This is very much the situation in the Emmaus story. It was a test to see if the disciples had more appetite for the things of God. They did. We are told that they urged Jesus strongly, ‘Stay with us ...’ that is the sort of invitation that Jesus cannot resist!
A basic meal was quickly got ready. The bread is on the table and the moment for Jesus’ disclosure has come. How does He do it? “He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.” It was the action of the breaking of bread. They saw His hands; they were different from when He had broken bread at the Feeding of the Five Thousand, and at the Last Supper. They were the nail-pierced hands of Jesus. In an instant they knew Him. And in an instant, He is gone...vanished out of their sight!
But He is with us still by His Holy Spirit; He is with us as we fellowship with Him in worship and, in obedience to His command, as we remember Him in the “breaking of bread” service. I can imagine the two standing in amazement; perhaps embracing in great joy, asking each other “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

CONCLUSION:

God deeply longs for each one of us to walk with Him in close fellowship so He can fulfil His plans for our lives.

This message will soon be at "slide share" with powerpoint and live sermon. follow link to:
http://www.slideshare.net/Gospelman?type=mypage

If we can help you in pray, e-mail this site at Internetpreachersforchrist@gmail.com

David = Admin.