Lie #3: Jesus Became The Christ Part 2

One reason for us.

Jesus phone number for some scholars want to strip anything supernatural the approach the Bible as its judges, not realizing that the book they scorn will one day judge them today. Lessons to take home from our look at one of the lies being told about Jesus stay with us from church in Chicago. This is with Sir where teaching helps us make it across the finish line after Luther. I'm reminded of the end time judgments were all humanity, small and great stands before God date. You're absolutely right.

It is indeed an awesome thought that we shall stand in God's judgment and one of the things I've always been interested in is to help people to understand why Jesus is not just one among many. You can't put them on the same shelf as Buddha or Mohammed or other religious teachers. He stands alone and he is the only one who can protect us from the wrath and judgment of God that you referred to every one of us should know that we should be able to defend it. That's why I've written the book entitled slandering Jesus six lies.

People tell about the man who claimed to be God's very important that we understand who the true Jesus is. This is a resource that I think you will find to be a tremendous blessing and a help. Here's what you do for a gift of any amount you can go to RTW offer.com that's RTW offer.com or you can call us at 1-888-218-9337 ask for slandering Jesus and now we continue our study showing that Jesus is the son of God. He did not become the son of God because of the adoration of his followers is who he is. Jesus healed him physically, but Jesus also healed him spiritually.

The man ended up worshiping Jesus. He ended up seeing Jesus for who he was, poor judgment, I came into this world and those who do not see may see something like this man. He was able to see physically but also spiritually and those who see may become blind Jesus.

A lot of these kinds of sayings which need to be pondered what he's doing is talking about those who think that they see you are convinced that they see and Jesus says people like that become even blind or they become blind. There's an interesting passage in the Gospel of John that reads thus and I'm looking at John chapter 3 actually need not turn to it but I would appreciate your continual attention to God's word.

This is Jesus speaking and this is the judgment, the light has come into the world and people love darkness.

It's a matter of what you love.

If you're comfortable with who you are.

If you love the way you are. If you're in love with yourself and if you're in love with your sin, you can't hear a word that Jesus is saying light is come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed to whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God, light light is terrifying terrifying to people because we all deny the dark side of ourselves because of our propensity to defend ourselves and our unwillingness to be able to to admit who we are, our unwillingness to expose our lives to God and say, God, whatever is in my life find it. Help me to deal with it. As human beings we find that the unbelievably difficult.

We would rather close our minds to the we would rather take Jesus and analyze him and dissected him and criticized him and dismissed him then be confronted by somebody who's telling the truth about us.

I think of the man who read the New Testament and said that all of his arguments were like puffs of smoke in the present Jesus if you're honest, that's our experience to so there's a commitment to blindness, a commitment to blindness. We don't want to admit who we are. There's also a commitment to what I call self deception, self-deception. It's a willingness for us to deceive ourselves. You'll notice that the Pharisees asked Jesus this question in verse 40 some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, are we also blind. Jesus said if you were blind, you would have no guilt. In other words, that there there different ways to interpret this if you are absolutely stone blind and unaware what is going on. I wouldn't hold you responsible for for myself and the miracles that I'm doing but because you say, we see your guilt remains. It's the self-deception. By the way, when the Pharisees asked Jesus this question. This isn't clear in this translation, but in the Greek text.

It's very clear they intended. Jesus to give a negative answer when they said, now are we blind. Also they expected Jesus to say will know, of course, are not blind because after all they were the teachers of the law.

But Jesus answers them differently and he says if you were blind, you would have no guilt but now you say we see just ask us your sin remains your guilt remain. Martin Luther says this about the natural man. And that's the person who's unconverted. The Bible speaks of it as being the natural man this is what Luther says in his very front in your face way. He says that the natural man is bound. The miserable captives sick and dead but who, by the operation of his Lord is Satan adds to this other Ms. Ray's, namely blindness so that he believes he is free, happy powerful hole and alive he is blind, but he tells himself he can see that's why you can look at the New Testament and hear messages on the gospel, and it does not phase you, Martin Buber wrote this about the human heart and isn't this true of all of us. The uncanny game of hide and seek in the obscurity of the soul is one in which the single human soul evades itself avoids itself and hides from self. You can be in the presence of Jesus and not believe what I say that there are some people who have genuine intellectual problems with Christianity there. People like that that exist. I remember a man who could not come to saving faith in Christ until he had an explanation for creationism. That was a barrier. And once that was taken away. He became a believer as far as I know he's a pastor today, but usually that's not the issue. Usually it is this. This lack of honesty in terms of willing nest to expose myself to God and admitting my sinfulness and therefore running from the light, and making sure that the light does not catch me. Let's look at some of the implications of what I have said. First of all this when you read the Gospels, Jesus is not on trial you are when you read the Gospels, Jesus is not on trial you are white as a man like Rudolph Bultmann tell us that we don't know anything about Jesus that so interesting. That is one of the most powerful affirmations of the truth of Christianity. You could possibly hear you say house that I didn't intend to explain this but I will. And just in just a very short moment see what happened is that scholars wanted to dissect the New Testament, cut it out at distinguish the Jesus the man from Jesus the Christ. And they've not been able to do it.

So in desperation what they said is since we can't do that. Let's just throw up our hands and say we don't know anything about Jesus at all.

That's why they say that it's because they Cut it up to anybody's satisfaction except their own. Try as they might let the words of Augustine, though he lived long before some of these Bible critics, Libby says if you believe what you like in the Gospels and reject what you don't like. It's not the gospel you believe but yourself. That's where the authority lies so you people coming to the Bible and they're going to decide what parts they want to accept and what parts they can't accept that's interesting tells us a lot about you, tells us nothing about Jesus tells us nothing about the New Testament when you read the Bible. Jesus is not on trial. You and I are the ones who are on trial. Second spiritual site is more important than physical sight, spiritual site is more important than physical sight.

Now let's look at this ninth chapter and we think of the miracle that Jesus did.

He does the physical miracle and the man born blind see. And then he does.

Another miracle, the man born blind comes and asks who are you and he discovers that Jesus is the one who healed him, who is the Son of Man, which is a phrase of the Old Testament that refers to deity in the book of Daniel, and he ends up worshiping Jesus and he becomes a believer in ask you this question of what miracle what miracle was the greatest miracle of the two you say well you know healing the blind man so that he could see physically.

I don't think so. Did you know that the same creative power that Jesus used to enable this man to see physically is the very same power that Jesus uses to birth with in us the light that we need to understand that he is the son of God, and the second miracle is much more important than the first because if you're physically blind. You will only be blind temporarily eternal blindness is for ever, but so much more important to be healed spiritually than physically. When I was in the church in Canada where I grew up there was a man who was blind stars I know he was born blind. He used to always stand up during testimony meetings and say I'm so glad that the first person I'm going to ever see in this world is Jesus.

He said that wonderful many of your Queen with Fanny Crosby. She lived in the 1800s in New York. You all know Johan's house of the N on the waltz King well Fanny Crosby was the Queen. We could say they gave the him Queen in New York she wrote 8000 songs.

We still sing many of them like blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Now she was not born blind, but at the age of six weeks something happened because of a disease and there seems to be a difference of opinion as to how it happened but she became blind and was blind over life, never complained, but used her awesome talent to write hymns and poetry at the age of nine she wrote these words.

Oh what a happy soul. I am although I cannot see I am resolved that in this world the contented I will be how many blessings I enjoy that other people don't to weep inside because I'm blind I cannot and I won't.

Fanny Crosby, the age of nine. There is something that is worse than physical blindness.

And that's to hear the gospel and to read the New Testament and not believe in Jesus because of spiritual blindness is 1/3 lesson and that is that there has to be an acknowledgment of spiritual blindness. There has to be an acknowledgment and honest acknowledgment of spiritual blindness in order for God to change our hearts so that we can begin to see and change our love's but why is it that people are unchanged. There was a man who did not like going to the Symphony Orchestra, but his wife persuaded him to because she loved music and one time she was looking at him during the concert. He really seemed to be in going to and she thought, you know, at last, at last, my husband's getting into it. Well, turns out that wasn't exactly right. Later on he confessed that he had a transistor radio in his pocket and a little earpiece and was listening to a Cubs game and other people who come to listen to a sermon, and they tune out. If you don't have ears to hear and eyes to see.

It'll be irrelevant. It will not be life changing.

As a boy when I would read the New Testament, I'd come across the phrase that Jesus used so often he that have ears to hear, let them hear and I thought well you know, of course, if somebody even heard that they'd have to have ears and try to figure this out by going too fast for you. Then I began to understand that Jesus is saying yeah you can hear the word but it may not affect you because you're not hearing spiritually you're not open to it. In fact, let me tell you that our dilemma of being spiritually deaf and spiritually blind is so pernicious.

It is such a barrier that unless God comes and gives us light and doesn't work in our ears will never hear, and will never see. That's how serious it is. That's why Jesus is no man can come to the father except the no man can come to me rather accept the father drag him, drag him. That's what the Greek word says because were not given to want to hear were given to be committed to the idea that we can see.

Thank you very much like a man on a plane to whom I was witnessing some time ago who says I'm okay thank you I'm okay you're okay God says I'm okay, you're not okay. Sorry. Now what should you do if you have been listening to this. If you have ears to hear and maybe have not come to saving faith in Christ.

Yet, what should you do well, the answer is this, throw yourself in God's mercy with an attitude of openness and honesty and say I'm going to rethink this business of Jesus Christ in Christianity. Again, I'm going to read now with a willingness and an openness and God may indeed grant the light and grant me the ability to hear because without it the Bible itself will not do you any good. Just look at the seminar the Jesus seminar. Think of Rudolph Bultmann and think of yourself.

I think one of the best illustrations of what it means to come to the light is Nicodemus there in the third chapter of John. He comes to Jesus at night because he's afraid he's a Pharisee he's a teacher of the Jews and and he comes at night because there's some things about Jesus that he has seen that are so wonderful and so beautiful and so compelling and he still not convinced. So I says Rabbi you are a teacher come from God because nobody can do what you doing except God is with and then Jesus begins to explain Nicodemus couldn't understand the new birth in Jesus explained that he couldn't understand salvation. Jesus explained that the context in which Jesus gave the famous verse for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. That's right there in the middle of this dialogue with Nicodemus and in the end Nicodemus becomes a believer on validly because he comes into the light and publicly affirms his faith in Jesus and actually helps with the body of Jesus. As you well know, so Nicodemus came from the midnight of confusion into the sunlight of confession and maybe there's someone here who is listening, maybe many people the Internet radio is sanctuary.

You are right now in the midnight of confusion.

You don't know whether you belong to Jesus or whether you don't.

But there is something within you that tells you had better could I ask you to open your life to Jesus to believe on him to know that you two can be saved as the Holy Spirit of God works in your heart and grant you light and hearing so that you are changed by God's holy word.

In fact, I can happen even right now the Bible says that when Jesus was preaching, many believed on him. You can believe in the balcony. You can believe down here in Belize. In Jesus the son of God. When you join me as we pray our father, we do want to thank you for this marvelous story of a man who was healed physically and spiritually, and we think of all those around him who missed the clues and we think of those who may have been listening to this message and they to have missed the clues and maybe they heard the gospel many times and never opened their life to Christ content with who they are, Lord, the miracle has to be yours. I've said what I've said, but my words cannot do it. Your word can help all of us, Lord Jesus in openness and honesty to open our lives to you before I close this can we just have a moment of prayer for God's talk to you, especially those of you have never believed in Jesus. Those of you come with doubts and questions. That's fine.

Those of you who are ready to say Jesus. I do believe in you. Would you tell him that hear us and our need.

We pray Lord. Amen.

And my friend even as I emphasize the fact that people can believe right here in the Moody church you can believe where you are. You might be driving a car, maybe you should stop Park pray receive the gift of eternal life. You may be in a home or an office where ever you are, I urge you to believe on Jesus who is the only Savior you realize that Christianity is the only supernatural religion. There is no other religion that says that they have a teacher or a Savior who can changes from the inside out. That's why want you to be able to know about Jesus, to be able to defend them in free discussion. I've written a book entitled slandering Jesus six lies.

People believe about the man who claimed to be God to be a great resource for you and your family for a gift of any amount.

It can be yours. You go to RTW offer.com it's RTW offer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Remember it is because of people like you that running to win can continue. We depend upon your prayers and your gifts RTW offer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337 you can write to us run into when 1635 N. LaSalle Boulevard Chicago, IL 60614 son who study the life of Jesus cannot accept any supernatural factors. Thus the virgin birth of Christ is dismissed as a myth for these people. Jesus has a dark suit was his real father to see why there is no dark secret tune in for our next running will be exploring line number four Jesus has a dark secret. Thanks for listening. This is Dave McAllister running to win is sponsored by the Moody church