Jesus’ Stunning Predictions!

I don’t remember specifically what his topic was, but when he came to the end of his topic, he opened it up for questions and answers. So I thought, do I dare? Forrest is the name, and I dare. So he acknowledged me, and I said, I’ve read the Torah.

I’ve read from Genesis to Malachi. I feel I’m familiar with what you recognize as the Scriptures. I said, we read the same Scriptures.

I said, in Isaiah 53, I said, there’s a very clear indication of a Messiah. He said, I believe it’s an individual, a Messiah, who paid the supreme price for the sins of the people, and it pleased the Lord, it says, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. I said, all through from Moses’ days until the time that Jesus came along, I said, you people were very acquainted with the sacrifices that took place in the temple.

I said, you had the Day of Atonement. I said that was a very bloody day. It was an annual day, but I said, there were sacrifices continuously, but I said, sir, I’ve not heard of any sacrifices going on since about 30 years, 30 AD years, just about the time that the one that we follow died on the cross for our sins.

So I said, now that we understand there’s no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood, how do the Jews manage? What’s their mentality? How do you people figure out how you’re going to face God? And he got kind of red in the face, and he got very stiff, and he said, we don’t worry about sin. It’s all been taken care of. So I was quite intrigued with that.

That’s my springboard today to just take you on a little journey that begins in Matthew, and we’ll conclude with a couple of verses in the book of Acts. In Matthew chapter 14, by the time you get to Matthew 14, Jesus has done many marvelous and wonderful miracles, but they were sort of individual stories. There were no stories of large crowds.

It was individual stories of people experiencing his wonderful power. And for sure the followers of Jesus, specifically the 12 that were close to him, must have been absolutely awestruck by everything that he did. For whoever came to Jesus for ministry, for help, he didn’t ask them about their pedigree.

He didn’t ask them anything. He ministered to people openly and freely. And the people of Israel started to get excited, the common people that is, because they were looking for a Messiah.

That was their key word. Because the glory of God had departed from Israel way back in time. For so long they have felt that God had deserted them.

But God’s complaint was, I didn’t leave you. You left me. And so it was the rabbi’s responsibility to teach the people about what the word of God declared with the hopes that the people would begin to follow through on the word and that the people would somehow create an environment where the Lord God would be pleased and there would be a visitation of God upon the people and Israel would be restored as a kingdom again.

And this thought ran through all of the people. It was among all of them. Now the Romans were there in charge because that was the time of the great Roman Empire.

They were keeping a very close watch on what these people were up to and what the emphasis was among them. And they were getting a little nervous by times when they started to see the people rising up and all this talk about, well, we need a Messiah, we need a king. And they were hoping it wouldn’t get too carried away.

There were many zealots at that time who formed little groups of disciples like a rabbi that maybe was kind of a popular one. They were raising a lot of attention. But Jesus is now getting a lot of attention because he’s not just talking, he’s acting. He would stop a funeral procession and bring somebody back to life right there. He would open blind eyes. He would cause the eyes to see and the ears to hear.

And wherever he went, there was a fair bit of excitement. But now we come to Matthew chapter 15 and there it says that Jesus sort of left the crowds and he went up into the hills that surround the Sea of Galilee. But the crowds were following him.

And as he ascended up those hills and began to minister to the people, people began to hear about what was happening and the crowd grew and grew and grew until it was in the thousands. And the people who were coming and knowing that this physician was there were bringing their sick people. And they would line up with them on stretchers, however, whatever means.

And they would bring them and they would lay them at his feet. And Jesus was healing them. Well it was an incredible scene. We know by the end of that day that there were at least 4,000 men plus maybe as many women and probably just as many children because they ended up all being fed. At the end of three days, Jesus said, we can’t send everybody home, they’re going to faint on the way. They have had nothing to eat.

They didn’t come planning on staying three days. They came out of intrigue but they couldn’t leave him. They’d never heard anybody talk like this. And it was so exciting because he just continuously was healing people and there was a sense of euphoria among all of them. So there was a rising sense that this Jesus could very well be the Messiah that we’re all looking for. And who knows what was going through the minds of his own disciples because they were hearing everything that he taught and they were observers of every miracle.

They had to be absolutely astounded with everything that they were seeing as the crowds grew and grew and grew. And we know what they were thinking. They were thinking, this is going to be it. The kingdom is about to explode. We’re about to see it. And we know what they were thinking because if you skip quickly ahead to the book of Acts chapter 1, when Jesus had risen from the dead and he gathered with the disciples the question they had in their minds, is this Jesus? You’ve been raised from the dead, I mean how much better can it get? Are you going to restore the kingdom? That was in their minds.

So here they are with thousands of people, so many people getting healed. And in the midst of all of that, Jesus then withdraws and he takes his disciples to the side and he says, I want to know something. Everybody’s talking about me, but I want to know what you think? And Peter was the one who spoke up and he said, I believe we know who you are.

You are the Christ. You’re the son of the living God. I want to pause right there and point something out to you. Jesus turns to Peter, having heard this, we know who you are. You’re the Christ. You’re the Messiah.

You’re the one we’ve been looking for. And Jesus said, you today are a blessed man because you did not come to that conclusion by deduction. In other words, everybody’s thinking it, but I can tell by the tone of your voice, you’re not thinking it, you are declaring it. We know you’re the Christ. And Jesus said, this is a revelation you’ve experienced. It’s not the result of deduction. You didn’t come to a conclusion. God the Father has shown it to you. That was quite a moment.

Jesus went on to say, and I’m going to use you in what I’m about to do. I’m going to be giving you the keys to the kingdom. And I’m going to give you spiritual authority. So you can bind things, you can lose things. That’s another topic altogether. That was kind of an exciting thing. 

Now, if you read continuously then, stay in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 16, something changes. It says there, from that time, from that moment after Peter said, you’re the Christ, and after there was such a tsunami of so many wonderful things taking place, everybody would have thought, this is it, this is great. It says, from that time, Jesus began to show his disciples how he has to go to Jerusalem and there suffer many things through the instigation of the elders and the chief 

priests and the scribes.

And it would end with his killing, his death. And then he said, but I will rise again on the third day. This is my conclusion. Peter’s listening to what Jesus is saying. We know that you’re the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. God bless you. The Lord has shown you something wonderful. Now, Jesus goes on and says, but I’m going to go to Jerusalem where I am not welcome. You know I’m not welcome. You know they’re against me. And they’re going to come against me when I’m there, and they’re going to come against me physically. I’m going to suffer many things. So much so, they’re going to kill me, but I’ll rise again. Peter heard they’re going to kill me, and he never heard, but I’ll rise again. Because the next verse says, Peter says, far be it from you.

Would you conclude, he’d say, would you conclude that he meant, no, you’re not going to rise from the dead. No, he only heard you’re going to die. He only heard I’m going to die. Peter says, far be it from you. Such a thing could never happen. We don’t know exactly what Peter was thinking, but I want to suggest to you, he was thinking about, you can feed the thousands, you can raise the dead, heal the sick, the whole world’s ready to chase after you.

The Romans are outnumbered. This is the time. You’ve got power. You’ve got authority. You will not succumb to death. You must not suffer. So there he was, confessing with his mouth what he believed was going to be the positive thing. And the man that he just, a few verses beforehand said, the man to whom he said, you’re a blessed man. God has put some things in your mind. Now Jesus turns and says, you have offended me. You are now using your mouth to mimic what the world would say. You’re wrong, Peter. And you put him in his place. Confusion had to have come among all of them. We were looking for something glorious and great.

Now he talks about going to Jerusalem, whether it’s going to be upright. There could be mobs, there could be riots. We could all get killed. What’s this all about? I’m going to die. But of course, I’ll rise again. Confusion, total confusion. And Jesus says, you’ve got it all wrong. And then Jesus uses some terminology. This is so, so incredible.

He says, whoever wants to continue following me, he’s giving them an opportunity. Do you want to get off the bus now? Whoever is going to follow me, he has to take up his cross and follow me. That’s Jesus’ first mention of the cross. You want to follow me? Don’t tell me I’m not going to go to the cross. You want to follow me, you have to take up your cross. I want to pause here.

I’ve always heard that before. Take up your cross and follow. That’s a typical statement we’re all familiar with. I’ve never, I’m going to be honest with you, I never drilled down to try and get a handle of that. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. I’ve often thought that’s impossible.

Taking up my cross and following him to Golgotha, giving my back to the smiters, dying there, father forgive them, ain’t going to happen. So you spiritualize it or you symbolize it all and say, well, we don’t have to really do what he did. We don’t have to really follow after him like that.

Like, what do you mean take up my cross? I can’t take up Jesus’ cross. And the answer to that is, Jesus’ cross is a revelation. Jesus’ cross is a revelation about the depth of my sin, and the height of his love, and the glory of the redemptive story. I cannot adopt that cross. No, I have to accept my cross, my cross. I won’t go into any depth on this, but if you read the apostle Paul in the book of Philippians, I think it’s chapter three, he says, I’ve suffered the loss of all things.

He’s saying, I take up my cross every day. Paul took it seriously, not that he could wrap himself around Jesus’ cross, but he accepted his cross, and he suffered the loss of everything. And at the end, they cut his head off. What a departure from the things that the disciples were anticipating. We’re finally going to get rid of these Italians. We’re sick of this spaghetti anyhow.

We want to get on with life. And this Jesus, he’s going to deliver us all. No, this Jesus gave his back to the Roman guards.

They sat and gambled for his clothes. When he hung on the cross, there’s no reason for us to believe that he had a loincloth on him. No, they wanted to humiliate him. He’d suffer many things without dignity. In nakedness, he hung before the world. He was accused, and yet he did not accuse back.

The Bible says, he opened not his mouth, not to them. He did talk to the father. He didn’t say, get them for this. But he said, father, forgive them. They have no idea what’s going on here. So Jesus said, if you want to follow me, you’ll have to take your cross and follow.

I want to leap forward now to the book of Acts, because there’s something interesting there. The apostle Paul, along with Barnabas, and John were along for the ride at the time, they ended up in a place called Antioch. And they went to the temple, as was Paul’s rhythm.

He got to the temple, and somehow, maybe through some conversations, maybe in the outer court of the temple, we don’t know exactly what was going on, but somebody caught on to this man really knows the word. And it could have been that Paul’s notoriety had arrived before him. We don’t know.

It simply says that the local elders of the synagogue acknowledged him and said to him. Now, I’ve talked very much about how in the local synagogue, there would probably not be a pulpit, but some kind of a position where the pure word of God was read and never was it discussed. The one who was reading, their responsibility was only to read the word of God and not to add one word. It’s occurred to me that even when they were reading the word of God, they did not pull a face. They did not show some excitement at this verse and kind of turn up the nose of the next verse. No, no, no. They were not to communicate anything. This is God’s word. You listen.

But following that, there was in every synagogue a chair, and it was called the Chair of Moses. Forgive me for those of you who have heard me talk about this 50 times. We have some guests here.

This is for the visitors. In the synagogue, there was a place where the word of God was read, and then there was a chair called the Chair of Moses. Usually, it was the one who did the reading who took the Chair of Moses, and there, the one who had done the reading, being a scholar, being theologically tuned in, and having been trained and taught by other disciples, having sat under rabbis of great renown, this person would give their thoughts.

They would take from the word that they just read, and now they would give their conclusions. So this is a unique thing. Somebody did the reading, but the elders said to the Apostle Paul, why don’t you take the chair? Maybe there’s a special word. I think that’s intriguing. Maybe you have a word that you would like to bring to us. In other words, they were sort of intimating what Peter had experienced, right? The world didn’t give it to you. You didn’t deduce this. God the Father has revealed it to you. You just got a word.

They were saying to the Apostle Paul, have you got a word for us? Well, he very happily accepted that opportunity, and he shared with them, probably for hours. We don’t know, but a synopsis of his message is unfolded for us right in that Acts chapter 13, and he goes back in the history of the Jewish people, back to the bondage of Egypt, and the Passover, the release, and how they ended up in the wilderness. They went on into the Promised Land, and what God had done, what God had done, what God had done, and then he went further, and he talked about how Jesus came among us, and how clearly it was obvious that Jesus was the Messiah, and he was here to do some marvelous things, but he said that he was rejected by the synagogue leaders, and by the theologians of the time, and he says they turned him over to the Romans, and they hung him on a cross. Let me read for you verse 29 going on.

Now when they, his accusers, the Romans were there to assist whatever the Jews wanted to happen to him, the elders wanted him dead. When they had fulfilled all that was written concerning him, gotta pause, when they had completed all the things that had been said of him, that means all of the prophecies to do with the suffering savior, the Isaiah 53 portion. Psalm one, Psalm two, Psalm the 22nd.

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? When all the things that were prophesied, that Jesus would suffer at the hands of men, when it was all said and done, they took him down from the tree, and they laid him in a tomb, but God raised him up from the dead. He was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. Those who had followed him, how many followed him? Just a moment ago I talked about 4,000 men, probably 4,000 women and all their little kids.

There were a lot of people who knew him from Galilee. And knowing he was going up to Jerusalem, some would have gone. Some would have been there for no reason to pursue him, but they were there for some kind of commercial reason. Whatever it was, they were there. And they saw Jesus after his resurrection. And Paul’s telling these Jewish people in this synagogue, we should, he didn’t mean himself, Paul wasn’t there.

You know that story. He’s saying people that knew him, Peter, James, John, all the disciples, his little mother Mary, the whole works. They saw him.

He was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are witnesses to the people. And we declare to you this good news. And here’s a word. Here’s the good news, Paul said. That promise which was made to the fathers, God has fulfilled this for us, their children, in that he raised up Jesus. Did you get the gravity? That promise, what was that promise? The father made a promise about Jesus, about the Messiah.

And his being raised from the dead is the fulfillment of that promise. Where do you find that promise? Well, I’m glad you want to know. It’s found in the second Psalm. It’s found everywhere. Let me read it for you, Psalm 2. You’ve read it so many times. Why do the nations conspire? And the people plot in vain.

The kings of the earth are rising up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let’s break their chains and throw off their shackles. The one enthroned in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them.

He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath. That has not taken place yet. It’s about to take place. Then the father goes on to say, I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain. And then Jesus speaks in Psalm 2. I will proclaim the Lord’s decree. He said to me, you are my son. Today I have become your father. I submit to you. I love stuff like this. I love that chapter just after the 23rd Psalm. You know this. You know this one.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, you everlasting doors, as the king of glory is arriving right now. Lift up your heads, O ye gates. Lift up the doors, ye everlasting. The king is arriving. And he just goes on and repeats it. And so my question is, lift up your heads, O ye gates. That is a specific proclamation. The Lord God the Father said it. Open the doors of the heavenly Jerusalem. Open the doors of heaven. My son is arriving now. When did that take place? Jesus said, don’t leave Jerusalem until you receive the power of the Holy Spirit.

He said, I’ve gotta go to my father. In my father’s house are many mansions that I’m gonna build an extra little room just for you. And the Bible says that as they stood there, and he rose up off the Mount of Olives, some angels came and said, you men of Galilee, why stand you gazing? This same Jesus is coming back.

Beloved, here’s what I believe from that Psalm. Lift up your heads, O ye gates. Be lifted up, you everlasting doors. The king of glory is coming in. That happened as they were watching. And Jesus was rising into the sky. Heaven came unglued. The angels began to dance and began to shout. That’s Pentecostal. They were dancing there. Heaven’s Pentecostal, sorry. It’s gonna be a loud place. I’m sorry it’s not gonna be soft. It’s not gonna be like a funeral. It’s a time to sing and dance and rejoice. Lift up your heads, O ye gates. Be you lifted up, you everlasting doors. The king is coming home.

I love it. To be thoroughly Pentecostal, by the way, I could count how many people got excited and said amen. Sorry for the rest of ya. I have another piece for you. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. If you love me, keep my commandments.

And I will talk to the Father on your behalf. And he will send you another comforter. He will send you somebody that knows him and knows me. He was talking about the Holy Spirit. So Jesus arrives in heaven. Lift up your gates, open the doors. The king of glory’s coming in. I have a picture in my head that the angels are shouting. The noise had to be absolutely incredible.

I was in a football  game in BC some years ago. I had a whole year’s tickets, I bought tickets for the whole year to watch the BC Lions. My last game that was there, I just thought, I’m not gonna go anymore. Some guy from the BC Lions ran across the goal line, scored the goal, everybody went crazy. It hurt my ears. And the guy behind me had just bought a great big, had to be a gallon of beer. He was so excited. He dumped it down the back of my neck. There was excitement, there was shouting.

They were shouting in heaven when Jesus arrived. It wasn’t a sports event. The king of glory had come home. And Jesus, I believe, lifted his hands and turned to the father, said, Father, I made a promise. If you love me, keep my commandments. And I wanna add something. If you love me, keep my commandments. And the moment I arrive, in the midst of the tumult, I won’t get so caught up in what’s happening in heaven because you, my disciples, you, my followers, I live for you, I died for you, I rise again for you. And when I get to heaven, it’s all about you.

I hope he doesn’t have to wear a microphone. Must be driving you crazy. I’m not so happy myself. I had somebody do my lipstick and my makeup and my hair, but they didn’t do the microphone. So, Paul the apostle is saying to these Jewish men who have not yet crossed the line over, they have not embraced Jesus yet, but Paul more than adequately was trying to let them know this is the plan of God. The Lord promised Moses, I will choose one.

He will be like you and he will be like me. He’ll be a man, but he’ll be the eternal one. I’m gonna do something. I’m gonna do something that your ears would tinger if you knew it all about. And Paul the apostle’s saying that promise is actually taking place. It’s even happening right now. And the proof that Jesus is the Messiah and the proof that the kingdom that God’s interested in is at the doorstep right now. And the proof of it is he’s alive. What’s the value of the resurrection? Why is the resurrection so important? There are preachers now, preachers and pulpits, they will skirt around this topic today. They won’t even mention it. They’re not so sure he did rise from the dead. There’s whole huge religions in this country.

They don’t believe he even died. The Muslims believe that some want to kill him, but the man that they killed wasn’t really Jesus, that God took the real Jesus and raised him into heaven and they killed a fake. That is Muslim, that’s their talk. Where does that leave you? Where does that leave anybody? Are my sins forgiven? What Jesus paid at the cross? Was it sufficient for my sin? You say, pastor, is that important? Yes, in the Old Testament tabernacle, the priest who went in on the day of atonement, do you know that they tied a rope around his ankle? And do you know that on the skirt of his garments there were little pomegranates? That’s a little nut. And as he walked, it jingled like a bell. And as long as those who were outside, who were waiting to find out, will God be pleased with the sacrifice of this day of atonement? Will he accept the blood of bulls and of goats? Will God find it acceptable? 

And they would be listening for the sound of the man’s skirt as he was ministering before the Lord. And if it ever went silent, the people would run for their lives and there would be some men who would be appointed, get the man’s body out of there. You dare not go into the holy of holies. He’s a holy God and heaven’s a holy place.

You just can’t say, well, I’m gonna go. That’s how holy God is. And that’s how powerful the moment is. That God deals harshly with sin. And he’s gonna deal harshly with these kings of the world who’ve said, we’ll break his chains. And we gotta get rid of these Christians.

The prime minister of Canada just stepped down recently, the guy with the nice hairdo. He declared this and I heard him. I heard him as he was doing one of these things they called a scrum. He was talking to the reporters and he said, there’s a greater threat in this country than these terrorists. The greatest threat in this country right now are the Christians and the conservatives together. They are a problem in this country. And when you have that kind of mindset, it sounds like Psalm chapter two. They’re raging. They’re carrying on and saying we’ll break their chains and we’ll not have it.

And the Lord mocks them and says, go ahead, make my day. It’s so interesting that Jesus declares that the father had said to him, you are my son. Today, what day? Today, I have become your father. Now, you’re just gonna have to take this with all of it, what you think is the inconsistencies. Did the father say that when Jesus was born in Bethlehem? That was the beginning, honey. The culmination of Jesus, 33 years. The father wasn’t saying that when the baby was being born. The father was saying it when he rose again from the dead. This day, son, this is the day we all plan.

Father, son, Holy Spirit, this is the day I call you with great pride, my son. This is the day I have begotten you. And because Jesus proclaims that back in the Psalms, Paul rehearses that in the ears of these Jewish men as he says, the son, whoever the son is, back there in the Psalms said, this day, the father declared this day. And the apostle Paul says, we’ve seen this day. This is it. How important is the resurrection? It’s the proof that Jesus is the king of kings and the Lord of lords.

Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly. This is the proof of his divinity. This is the proof of his glory. This is the proof of his majesty. We were excited to watch him feed the 5,000. We were excited, the disciples would say, he walked in the water.

When we saw him walk in the water, we said, how did he do that? Somebody says, I think he knows where the stones are. We were excited when he raised the dead and opened the blind eyes and opened the deaf ears, but that was no promise of heaven. But the fact he rose again from the dead, greater miracle than any divine healing, greater miracle than any other funeral.

He rose again from the dead. And you know what the father calls him? The first begotten from the dead. The first. You and I are the second, the third, the fourth. He was the first. He was the first.

And where is this Jesus now? He’s sitting in heaven at the right hand of the father. I have a couple of minutes left, and I want to, I just want to go on for another minute. The father made a promise. It’s in the Psalms as well. And it’s recorded for us by Peter on the day that he preached about Jesus is alive. You will not allow your Holy One to see corruption.

Who rose again from the dead? That was Peter’s sermon. Who do you know that rose from the dead? Who do you know that rose on the third day? He said, Lazarus rose. Think about it, think about it, think about it. Jesus, your best friend, your friend Lazarus, he’s sick, he’s dying. The sisters have called. You’ve got to come.

What do you read? Jesus said, that’s fine, let’s order a pizza. It looks harsh. When you read that, has it ever occurred? That’s cold, that’s, oh, Jesus, you didn’t go? And by the time Jesus got there in that little town of Bethany, his sisters, the sisters of Lazarus said, dear Jesus, if you’d been here, why did you, we sent word to you, what was it, something almost like a week ago.

We send you word, you shoulda come. And it says even those who were there mourning and caring about the sisters’ heavy heartedness, were whispering among themselves and said, he raises the dead all the time. We knew that he loved Lazarus. How come he, if only, why did Jesus take the time? Why did Jesus take the time? Because he was gonna rise on the third day. Jesus’ resurrection was unmatched. When Lazarus rose again from the dead, he rose a healthy man.

Good Lazarus, congratulations. But when you get to heaven, I shall know him, I shall know him. As redeemed by his side, I shall stand. I shall know him, I shall know him. By the prince of the nails in his hand. Book of Revelation, Paul is not there, but it’s John. And John suddenly sees Jesus. And he fell like a dead man at his feet. His description of Jesus at that moment is nothing short of incredible. Then you move on a couple of later chapters, and John is caught up into the umpteenth heaven. And you know what he saw? He saw a lamb as it had been slain. The marks of the death of the lamb will always be there.

You say, but God is spirit, he’s not flesh. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, tighten up your seatbelt. Jesus took on the form of humanity when he came among us, because God was expanding his love circle. Jesus came, and in the flesh he identified with us. He suffered every inhumanity that anybody has. He suffered rejection, he suffered all kinds of things, and physically he suffered in so many ways. He became the God-man among us. Isn’t it interesting that when Jesus rose again from the dead, he could pass through a wall without the door having to be opened? He appeared to the two men on the road to Emmaus. It doesn’t say how he suddenly appeared.

I believe that he just suddenly was three steps behind him, and he said, good evening, gentlemen. They probably, whoa, didn’t know somebody was there. He appeared. When they got to the town of the two gentlemen, Jesus acted as though he was gonna keep on going. He wants an invitation, honey. He was gonna keep on passing by.

But the two disciples invited him in. They’re so intrigued. And they sat there, and they still didn’t know who he was until he broke bread. When he breaks bread, your eyes are open. 

And suddenly they realized who he was, and he was gone. Instant show up, instant gone.

Who can do that? But then he met with them on the shore of Galilee, his disciples, and he prepared fish upon a fire, and he ate with them. And he said to one of the disciples who was troubled with a lack of receiving and a lack of faith, he said, I know, Thomas, you’ve got a problem. Go ahead, touch me. I’m real. He wasn’t pure spirit. He was still, he was still, he was still the God man.

And when they stood, and I put this on in drama form in Montreal, and Pastor Kuke sitting at the back there with his beautiful wife, your son and I came up with this plan where we’re gonna show Jesus and the cross, I think you might have shown up. We had a geyser 15 feet high of water. When Jesus rose again from the dead, you haven’t noticed it in here, but there was a water geyser. We had to prove that. 15 foot of water, and I had mine. I had a special license at that time where I could light dynamite, and I had gunpowder. And so the water went racing up as Jesus came out of the tomb, and I lit the gunpowder, kaboom! And the crowd went, they went stir crazy.

And then he spent some time with the disciples in our drama. Their son is a genius, he pulled all of this stuff together. And then it was my heart, it was my heart to say, I said to Dean, their son, I said, when Jesus was gonna say goodbye to his disciples, what was that like? And we tried to show what it would be like. As each one, Jesus, is he gonna leave them? He’s gonna go, I have to go to my father. And each one would be hanging on to him. One more day, one more half hour.

Don’t go yet, they were hanging on to him. Can you imagine, can you imagine? And the part that I insisted would be, that he spoke to Peter, took him off to the side, and spoke into his ear, and said, Peter, I always believed in you, and I’m counting on you. You’re not gonna let me down. No, Lord, I’ll never let you down again. That’s good, counting on you. And then I believe he turned, and we played it out.

And there’s beautiful little Mary, his mama. I believe that he reached out his hand, and she went to his arms. She’d been brokenhearted when she saw him on the cross. Her heart was rejuvenated with his rising from the dead. But now she’ll never see him again on this side of heaven. I believe she hung on to him. And I can say, Mom, I really have to go. My father’s calling. And we had little Mary following him to the foot.

We built this mountain at the front of the, it was huge, we built this mountain. Look, the Gazette of Montreal said, Hollywood has come to Montreal. Like, we hit the big time. And as Jesus is climbing up this mountain, we had the audit, the whole auditorium went very, very dark. But we had what’s called black light, and it suddenly came on. Now you can see Jesus, garment, white garment, glowing in the dark.

And all of a sudden, angels started appearing all over the place, going up on this mountain. And the last thing you saw, we did it with hydraulics, hello? It was so dark, people couldn’t see it. But Dean and I worked it out.

And all of a sudden, you saw Jesus rising up, rising up. And when he got up to the roof of the church, he was gone. My own daughter, Sherry, said, Daddy, where did he go? She’s in the auditorium, and she’s looking for a hole in the roof. She said, where did he go, where did he go? I said, my secret, honey. Listen to Pastor Dave, I’m gonna finish now. Maybe, I’m having too much fun today. But as Jesus was going up, he was flesh. And I won’t say blood. He was flesh, he was humanity.

Do you think his humanity was lost when they lost sight of him? No. You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing? This same Jesus shall come again, the God-man Christ Jesus. When you get to heaven, there’s the Father, he’s spirit. There’s the Spirit of God, he’s spirit. But sitting at the right hand of the Father is the Son, whose name is Jesus. There’s a God-man in heaven, sitting on a throne. When he came into the world, were you okay with me shouting? No, when he came to the world, he became what he had never been. He became a God-man, 100%, 100-man, 100%. When he went back to heaven, he was still God-man.

Pastor Dave, that sounds kind of weird. He’s been spirit for eternity. And now, are you serious? The eternal one is identifiable? That we’ll know him? He’s aptly described in Revelation 1. His hair, his eyes, his tongue, everything about him. He’s the God-man, and the whole world is gonna try and kill him. The kings of the earth are gonna plan and say, we can kill him, we can kill him. We’ve got bombs, we’ve got lasers now. We can knock him out. He’s probably just a Martian. Why is he the God-man? Because it’s the greatest story ever told.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit, in perfect union, one in every way, especially in love. They love one another. And in eternity past, they conspired and said, let us include these. When you get to heaven, the spotlight is gonna be on you. You are who he died for. It’s all about you. And when you get to heaven, that doesn’t change. Well done, good and faithful. Enter into the joy of the Lord.

Absent from the body, present with the Lord. When you get there, you’ll see him. His name is, he’s alive, he’s risen. Oh, oh, oh, I’m sorry. You didn’t have enough fruit this morning. You didn’t have enough wheat germ. You didn’t have enough caffeine. I didn’t have any caffeine this morning. Can you imagine what I’d be like if I’d caffeined out? Let’s stand together.

He’s risen, he’s risen, he’s alive. Hallelujah. Some golden daybreak, Jesus will come. Some golden daybreak battles are won. He’ll shout the victory, then he’ll break through the blue. I tell you, some golden daybreak for me and for you, amen. Amen. This isn’t any way to make you feel bad or whatever. I was in a church service on Friday night, and I didn’t even preach this hard. And when I came to certain moments, they were shouting during their worship time, and half of them were gray hairs, and a few bald guys too. They were so alive, it was so exciting. I was riveted, I was so riveted. I thought, it’s gonna happen right here in Vineland. Amen. Hello? Amen.

One, two, three, four, okay. I don’t want you to jump, I don’t want you to carry on. I don’t want you to do anything. I want you, when you come to this house, I want you to have an opportunity to connect with Jesus. We come here to connect with Jesus. And if you leave here without connecting with him, I failed, and maybe some others, but I take the onus.

It’s my responsibility to see that there’s some kind of an environment here with the singing, with the preaching, with my spitting, that you have an opportunity to connect with Jesus. He’s watching you, he cares. Let’s bow.

Heavenly Father, I feel so unworthy, I really do. I feel so unworthy to have the responsibility to stand before this podium and present the greatest, greatest story ever told. Lord, I feel so humble, I feel so humble.

How to say it right, how to say it in a way that it doesn’t draw attention away from Jesus. I don’t want the attention. I want you to have all the attention.

Lord Jesus, we’ve come to this house today to honor you in every which way we know how. And I ask you, Lord God, as we’re about to leave this room, that people will greet one another joyously and without hesitation, not one little bit, with a firm handshake and eye-to-eye contact, we will say to one another, he’s risen, God bless you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

No, because apparently they think I’m doing absolutely nothing, all day. And I’m supposed to be fully ready for them when they come in. And I share that with you because I find that sometimes, I don’t know about you, I’m speaking for myself, but I hope some people can relate. Sometimes we read scripture and we read about the life of Jesus and we read and we’re like, oh, yeah, I totally know it because we know what is going to happen.

Just like as we’re anticipating Good Friday and Easter Sunday, we know that the cross is coming and we know that the resurrection is coming and that’s all good news. But because we know, we miss things, right? And the reality is this, and I was just reminded of that as I dove into Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, is that even those who wrote the scriptures, each one of them were writing about their limited but true experiences of Jesus himself. But this is why having four and having different perspectives offers a fuller picture.

But yet, in the midst of it all, only one person knew everything. And as we read the text it started with, it was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew. He knew from the beginning that he was going to be here at this moment.

He knew that the time was getting close. He knew what he had to do. And so I invite us as we reflect today and with the things I’m going to bring up, is that from the posture and perspective of only Jesus knew. And so what is it that he knows that we need right now, 20 Church, for us in this place as a gathered people, but also for you individually as you serve and live your kingdom life outside of these walls.

And while we know that the work of washing the disciples feet was really a metaphor and a symbol for something greater. This text has been taught to talk about servant leadership, about humility and all of that is true. But for today, I believe that the Lord is bringing us to a specific posture and it culminates to one word. In a few passages ahead of John, which we will read later today, John 17, Jesus prays this and he says, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us that the world may believe that you have sent me.

He says, Father, as I am in you and you are in me, may they also be in you. May they also be in us. That was Jesus praying for all people amongst his disciples. There’s something about the heart of God that sometimes we might forget or miss.

But here we’re reminded that the whole point of all this is to be with God and with each other. There is a holy union that existed before the creation of the world as we read in Genesis, as we read and know in Genesis. There is the Father, Son and Spirit, the Trinity that existed before time existed, before the creation of all things that we know and see and that existed was God himself in perfect union, in perfect unity. And when Jesus is praying this, he’s tapping into that and saying, please let these people experience the fullness of what you have for them.

A divine unity that cannot be apart from kingdom life, apart from life with the Lord himself. That’s what he was praying. And then when we go back to washing the disciples feet, and you see Peter going, I can imagine him sitting here. Sandals, make your feet dirty. And back then, they were only walking in sandals all day long, days on end. And it was dusty. And so this was a job that no one wanted to do for anybody, let alone for your friends. But yet sitting here, people probably lined up around a table or in a row.

One by one, Jesus prepared himself and washed his friends’ feet, one by one. And Peter, when it was his, he’s like, no. No, you can’t do this. You are my Lord. it was hard for him because this idea of God, this idea of someone that has authority over him, to do something that was beneath him, that was beneath his, his authority, that was, that was underneath. That’s not for you to do. But yet, what was Jesus’ response? He says, unless, unless I wash you, you have no part with me.

Church, that is the one verse in chapter 13, verse 8, that just stood out as I sat with it this whole week. And paired with Jesus’ prayer in chapter 17 that says, like, as I am in you, Father, and you are in me, let them also be in us. The word that came out is found in the New Testament, Testament, and it’s the word fellowship. And when you read it, it actually starts existing after the first church established in the Church of Acts.

And the word fellowship, also known in Greek, like it’s called koinonia, that’s where the word comes from, it’s actually defined as shared participation in community. Shared participation. And I want to bring out two critical things for us to walk away with when it comes to fellowship. And why Jesus was focusing on this through demonstrating the Lord’s Supper and through washing his disciples’ feet when he had days, less than days, before the cross and his resurrection.

Unless I wash you, you have no part in me. Fellowship can only happen through the necessity of service. And I know, I think we know this, but I think there’s something deeper that gets drawn out when we really sit with this truth, because it made me realize that as a follower of Jesus, sometimes I think service is optional. Does that make sense?

Sometimes I think service is based on when I can, when I want, or it could be limited to this outside optical, okay, if I do this, check, check, I serve people, I did the good thing. But the thing about what Jesus says is a lot more than just do something and therefore you are with me. He’s saying unless I do this, unless I actually serve you this way, you have no part in me. There’s no participation in the type of fellowship that God has ordained for his people.

So there is a, this essence of, there’s like a critical nature that I think even for myself, I’ve overlooked. It’s not optional, but then is it legalistic? Is it like, oh man, like I just have to go and serve everybody and even if I don’t have time for myself, I’ve got to do everything for everyone else. No. It’s not. Jesus was foreshadowing the cross, for sure. But it narrows down to this difficulty of Peter sitting and having a hard time allowing Jesus to wash his feet. Underneath the difficulty was a wrestling, a very human struggle of not being able to receive.

Peter found it hard to receive this act of service from his Lord. Totally understandable, right? Because it’s easy when things are not embarrassing or when things are not in the nitty-gritty, when things are just like, I’m doing, you ask someone how they’re doing, I’m doing all right. But when you go into the toe cracks of life, when you go into the dirt underneath your feet of where you’ve stepped and walked, when someone gets to see the calluses on your foot, you hide those.

Man, I get pedicures and I’m embarrassed and I don’t want people to see my feet. I want them to look nice so that it’s not embarrassing. So imagine, it’s like, because that is the way of the world. Our world subtly teaches us that we are to handle things on our own and that we do things on ourselves, by ourselves.

And when people were praying and saying and proclaiming Hosanna when Jesus was walking through, they were called, if they were Jewish, they knew, man, he’s like, he must be the Savior that we’ve been waiting for. Praise his name. It was a declaration of praise, but also a declaration of a need for a Savior. But the amazing thing is that no, no one there actually knew the fullness of what they needed to be saved from.

Does that make sense? They knew that they wanted saving and rescue from their oppression and circumstances and valid, 100% they needed that. But Jesus came for so much more and that moment where Peter was sitting there and struggling, going, no, you can’t do this. It was yet another picture of the limited scope as humans we have on the heart of the kingdom.

The things that are woven and deep, the things that Jesus came to save us, are not just the things that are circumstantial and situational, but it’s for the freedom in the heart. It’s to realize that in that fellowship, in the unity that is experienced in Father, Son, and Spirit, there is no shame. There is no guilt. There’s no piece of you that cannot be exposed.

There’s not a part that is too ugly that cannot be seen and loved and known. That’s an image I have of just being willing to show people the toe cracks, my toe cracks and dirt of life, my calluses. And he’s saying, unless you let me do this and unless I serve you this way, the fellowship is not there. You have no part in me and I have no part in you, unless you know how to receive in full. It’s not, it’s not based on all, like, our circumstances. It’s not based on how much we want to receive. It’s saying, if you allow me fully, you will learn to receive fully. And we’re on this sanctifying journey in our whole lives to release more and more to Jesus, but he says here, he’s like, unless this happens, we’re playing a part.

Unless this happens, there is no part. And I sense this, this critical nature of this time and moment for us because I started with telling you how wonderful it’s been to get to know some of you. And as you let me into your life, I let you into my life. Even the way we pray for each other is no longer general. The way he washes disciples’ feet, every single foot, every single toe. He didn’t just take them, tell them to jump in a pool and wait around and say, clean yourselves and say, job done. He made them sit and watch each other and witness it. Then he went person by person and he cleansed them one by one because that matters.

Because you can’t rush and blanket the community. You can’t do that and we can’t do that. And so friends, there’s an invitation for us as 20 Church and as a people of God to be in real fellowship. To be in a union where we are partaking in each other in a way where God has taught us to receive from him and in that way we give and receive from each other. Amen. Like beyond the comforts of just the day, but in the foot washing kind of way. You don’t have to let everyone see your toe cracks. I’m not saying just go everywhere, but I’m saying who are those people in our life at this moment?

Who are the people in this church that it’s easy to come in on a Sunday and say you’ve had a good week. See you later. Who are the people? And I’m gonna tell you from my perspective as someone in her 40s in a community that has so much wisdom and experience with the Lord. I said this probably in my first sermon last year. I said pour into me. Do it and I’m gonna speak on behalf of a generation who needs you. That’s why we’re here. We need each other. We need to partake in the living and breathing unity of Christ and in through Christ because every season comes with amazing blessings and gifts, but also trials and tribulations. And a week ago we were praying in the back with a couple people and when I was asked, hey, do you have anything? Do you need prayer for?

I’m like, oh, and I said, oh, yeah a few things and as I spoke it kept coming out. There was like, oh this health issue and this and this and this and this and I was like, oh, okay. There was actually a lot. Can you please pray for me? And then people sitting around those men and women were saying, oh, I remember distinctly might have been you Alfred or a few other people saying, I remember what it was like to be where you are. Partaking. It doesn’t mean you, sometimes it doesn’t mean that you’re doing anything super tangible. It just means allowing each other in each other’s lives intimately.

Shaving away the external things that keep us apart because really when we come down to what all of us have dirty feet, that’s the only thing that we have in common. We need cleansing. Amen. We need our feet washed. So why is it that sometimes we operate like some of our feet are cleaner than others and we don’t or my feet are pretty clean right now. We don’t need you. The invitation to fellowship is a deep need for Jesus and a deep need for Savior and a deep need for cleansing and what the way we receive that from the Lord is the way we’re called to live in community and fellowship. Amen.

And so the other part from the text I want to draw some insight to today is that fellowship is the blessing from doing what we know. Jesus finishes this text and says to his disciples after he says there’s no servant greater than his master. There’s no messenger greater than the one who sent him. He goes now that you know these things you will be blessed if you do them.

So notice that both statements have a if you do this then this happens or unless you do this, this won’t happen. There’s action that creates or causes a circumstance of some sort and in this case you will be blessed if you do what you know. We started off by saying how Jesus knew right in the beginning 13 he went. Jesus knew that the hour had come to leave this world and to go to the Father and having loved his own who were in this world he loved them to the end. So because he loved he chose to be faithful and obedient to the end.

Because he knew he committed and took action. Then it says Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God and because he knew that it says so he got up from his meal. He took out his outer clothing and he began to wash his disciples feet. Because he knew these things because he knew the will of God he did what he knew.

And then he calls for his disciples and us to do the same thing. But also notice that twice in this exact text he goes to Peter he goes you won’t understand now but you will later. And then after he does his foot washing he goes do you understand what I have done for you? Church to move from knowledge to understanding truly involves doing what we know.

Because if we understand it becomes who we are and what we do. That is the call of Jesus for his disciples. Because as we know in the New Testament, we see religious leaders the entire time of Jesus’ ministry fighting him asking him manipulative questions to set him up for failure because why? Because it contradicted their knowledge of what a Savior was supposed to look like and do and be.

We can get trapped in a deception that what we know is enough. But as Pastor Dave always preaches if it doesn’t if you know in your knower, right? You got to know in your knower and your knower is not in here. It comes in as knowledge but it must turn into understanding and when it becomes understanding it gets lived out because it’s written on your heart. It is not the letter of the law, the spirit of the law is written on the tablets of our hearts Church. And he’s saying now that you know these things you will be blessed if you do them. So it’s just pointing back to the same thing saying Church we got to do and be the fellowship that he has called in Korea to live. And I don’t know your stories and your circumstances.

I don’t know your dirty toe cracks and your calluses, but I’m sure that you got them. And that’s a good thing because again, we might not look alike, but we all got toe cracks and calluses, right? And so the invitation is who are we going to invite to see and clean the dirt on this journey that we’re on? Who are we going to let in our life to do that here and also out there?

How do we do that as a community? How to become that fellowship of believers in Acts 2 where it says God will add to their numbers though for those are being saved as we are in fellowship breaking bread gathering in prayer and eating together. God says Jesus says here that if we do these things we will be blessed because the blessing is in experiencing the fullness of the union that he has and he’s bringing us in as we have a life in Jesus. Church, I’m just gonna ask you to take a minute and seek the Lord.

Just seek the Lord for a moment and I’d like to end today with Jesus’s prayer over us. His words to be poured over to us as we ask the Lord, how are you inviting me into a place of fellowship with you and with others, God? What does it mean for me, God, to become a person whose heart is like yours because you did not come to be served but to serve. How do I need to learn to receive from others and from you? So that I have more to give to those that you’ve brought in my midst. Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me that they may be the one as we are one. I in them and you in me so that they may be brought to complete unity.

Then the world will know that you sent me and you have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory. The glory you have given me because you love me before the creation of the world.

Church, can you rise if you are able to and just sing one more time together.

Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest. Lord, Lord, we lift up your name with hearts full of praise.

Be exalted, O Lord, my God. Hosanna in the highest. Lord, we lift you up.

Lord, we lift up your name with our hearts full of praise.

Be exalted, O Lord, my God. Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the highest.

Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you now and always and forevermore. Amen.

Be well church and make sure you have some coffee up front and stay for a few minutes.