What s In A Name? JESUS

Transcription

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2 Joshua in English. Joshua was a very common name, but Jesus wasn t the Joshua raised from the dead who had led Israel out of Egypt into the Promised Land. He wasn t that Joshua, so we need to distinguish who this Jesus is. He s not just any Jesus, just as I m not any Robert. In the ancient customs of the Old Testament, and in the day when Jesus came, people didn t have surnames or second names, as we have today. My name is Robert Hardy. I m not just a Robert, but I am a particular Robert Hardy. (Speaking to two brothers seated together): You are not just David, but you re a particular David. You are David Belt. Your brother next to you is not a David, but he is a Belt. He is Danny Belt. Likewise, in Jesus day, there was a Joseph who wanted to come and get Jesus body, and to distinguish this Joseph from all the other Josephs, he was called Joseph of Arimathaea (John 19: 38). This tells us that he wasn t Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus. Another common name was Judas, but the one who betrayed Jesus wasn t just a Judas, but he was Judas Iscariot. This means that he was from the city Iscariot. They had the same first names, and you had to add an adjective to distinguish their names from the others that had the same name. Thus, while Jesus was given the name of Jesus, there were many others named Jesus in that day. To the Hebrews it was Yeshua, or 2 What s In A Name? The time came for God to bring Jesus His Son into the world. Joseph the carpenter was supposed to marry Mary, but he found out that she was pregnant. According to the law, he could have had her stoned to death, but being a just man, he thought to put her away privately. But God, in a dream, sent the angel: But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David (Matthew 1:20). You see, this wasn t just any Joseph, but this was Joseph, the son of David. He had to be, because the Messiah had to be born from David s line. There were many Josephs in that time. Maybe there was a Joseph, the son of Aaron, or maybe Joseph, the son of Reuben, but this was Joseph, the son of David. The angel said, Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins (vs. 21). Therefore, the first what s in the name of Jesus was declared by the angel of the Lord to be Savior. He is Jehovah Savior, because Yeshua means Jehovah s salvation or Savior. That was the divine declaration of who Jesus is: Jesus the Savior. He was divine, because He came to save His people from their sins, and

3 only God can forgive and save from sins. His first declaration of who Jesus is, was God s Savior. Jesus, the Babe of Bethlehem Upon His birth, in Luke 2:15-16, the angels told the shepherds to go into Bethlehem, the city of David, and there they would find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Jesus was the babe of Bethlehem. The Messiah, according to Micah 5:2, had to come out of Bethlehem. He said, But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose going forth has been from old, from everlasting. Jesus was the babe from Bethlehem: Not just any Jesus, but this special one who would come, who is divine, and whose going forth has been from everlasting, which indicated that He is God s fellow and equal. Jesus the Boy and Man When Jesus was 12 years old, His mother and father lost Him in Jerusalem, but He was not really lost, because they found Him at the right place in the temple. (If you have lost Jesus because you are on a journey in the world, then come back to the temple, the house of God, and you will find Him!) After this episode, nothing is said about him for 18 years. But at age 30, (the age when all temple ministers started in ministry), He was called Jesus the Carpenter of Nazareth (Mark 6:3). If you had gone to Nazareth looking for Jesus, they would have said, Which one are you looking for? The carpenter? There might have been many Jesuses in that city, but He was a particular Jesus, the carpenter. During these 18 years of being the carpenter s son, to His manhood at 3 age 30, God was preparing Him for His ministry. He had to grow in grace and knowledge, just like you and I, because He was perfectly human. He didn t use His pre existent omniscience, knowing everything, but this divine attribute was suppressed. He lived as a perfect human, and as such, His body had to develop, and His wisdom had to develop. His spirit knew all things, but the natural man didn t. I mean, the baby could not tell you anything. You could have gone to the 2 year old Jesus and asked Him theological questions, but He wouldn t have be able to tell you anything. Jesus the Rabbi At this point, He was sent forth as Jesus the Rabbi, the Master, the Teacher. All three mean the same thing. Rabbi is Aramaic for teacher or master. In England, for instance, they still have what they call the headmaster, which is the head of the school much like our own principle. He is a head teacher, an educator with a master s degree. He really cannot teach until he has a master s degree, and he cannot get a seat in a college as a professor without it. Jesus the Rabbi was a master teacher. Remember what Mary called Him when she was at the tomb and thought someone had stolen His body? The Lord appeared to her, but she thought He was the gardener, and when she realized it was Jesus, she said, Rabboni Aramaic for my master, my teacher, or my Rabbi. The i on the end is the personal pronoun in the Hebrew meaning my. Just like Greek, the Hebrew has the pronoun on the end of the word. My teacher was used, because the Lord had told His disciples to call no one their master except Him. John 3:1-2 proves Jesus was a rabbi: There was a man of the Pharisees, named

4 Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know thou art a teacher (This now explains what Rabbi means.) a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Matthew 19:16 says, And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? So now we see Jesus the Rabbi, Jesus the Master, and Jesus the Teacher. The Christ, the Son of God The controversy over who Jesus was continued to follow Jesus everywhere He went. There was great speculation among both the religious leaders and the people. On one occasion, Jesus asked His disciples who people were claiming Him to be. It was Peter who answered with surprising divine revelation as recorded in Matthew 16:13 16: When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus response to this was that Peter had not received this secret revelation from flesh and blood, but from my Father in heaven (vs. 17). Jesus the Sinner As Jesus began to preach and validate His message, that He was from God, by doing miracles, some called Him Jesus the Sinner. John 9:16 says, Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath day. Others said, 4 How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them. Some contended, He s just a sinner. We must decide which of these Jesuses we re going to claim. The Babe? The Babe of Bethlehem cannot help you. The Man, the Carpenter? The man of Galilee cannot help you. Jesus the Sinner cannot help you. Even Jesus the Rabbi, the Master, the Teacher cannot help you. We must find the one who can help us. Jesus the False Teacher When the religious leaders had finally arrested Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, they first took Him to Annas and Caiaphas, the high priest, and before the Sanhedrin, the religious Jewish counsel that judged religious matters, to try Him religiously to see if He was a blasphemer. Mark 14:57-58 tells us, And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him This was the trial of Jesus, and they had to have something to legally condemn Jesus, and they sought to do so Faith Is Action (USPS ) The official voice of R.G. Hardy Ministries. Published monthly by Faith Tabernacle, Inc W. Patapsco Ave., Baltimore, MD (410) Periodicals: Postage Paid at Baltimore, MD. No Paid Advertising Accepted. Subscription $5.00 per year. Postmaster: Please send address changes to Faith Is Action, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, MD

5 by bringing false witnesses in to witness falsely against Him. Yet none of these satisfied the high priest, because their accusations would not have sounded right to Pilate, and Pilate had to okay the crucifying of Jesus. And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands. He was considered a false teacher here, but this witness was not good enough to get Him crucified. So the high priest asked Him pointly: Art thou the Christ, (the Messiah), the son of the Blessed? The Jews believed that the Messiah is divine and the son of God. What did Jesus answer? And Jesus said, I am. Then the high priest rent his garment, threw his hands up and said, What need we any further witnesses, ye heard the blasphemy! Under the law, all blasphemers were to be stoned to death. If they could have stoned Him they would have, but they had to get the okay from Pilate, the Roman ruler, to put Jesus to death. Jesus the Condemned They had condemned Him to die, but they could not do it until they had brought Him before Pilate. Pilate didn t want to, but when he looked out and heard all the people screaming that if he did not put Jesus to death, he was no friend to Caesar, he became alarmed and so bowed to their pressure, and he upheld the sentence of condemnation and ordered Jesus to be crucified, which was the Roman execution of choice. Jesus the Crucified One To add more shame to Him, Pilate wrote the title over His cross in mockery King of the Jews. Ha! That s what He wanted put on it. Ha, Ha, Ha! He has 5 become Jesus the Crucified. Mark 15:25-26 says, And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. The Messiah of God was the official King of the Jews. The 31st verse says, Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him. There were more than two who were crucified with Jesus. Two were sent out with Him, and two came later, and the one didn t revile Him, because he rebuked the other one for reviling Him. He said, This man is just, and he turned to Jesus and said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom (Luke 23:42). Jesus the Dead A dead Jesus on the cross can t help you. If you only know Him as Jesus the Dead in the tomb, or if you only see Him hanging on the cross, you are in trouble. A Christ who is hanging on the cross can t help Himself much less you and your family. He can t fulfill what the angel said, He shall save his people from their sins, hanging on the cross, because He was delivered for our offences, but He was raised for our justification (Rom. 4: 25). He had to be raised up. The babe of Bethlehem can t help you, the boy in the temple can t help you, the carpenter can t help you, the Rabbi can t help you, the sinner can t help you, the false teacher can t help you, the blasphemer can t help you, the condemned can t help you, and the dead can t help you. Jesus the Buried The buried Jesus can t help you

6 either. You have to get Jesus off the cross, out of the tomb, and where He belongs on the throne at the Father s right hand. Matthew 27:59-60: And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. (If there s a great stone separating you and Jesus, you can t get help. You have to get the stone rolled away.) 6 Jesus the Risen Lord Matthew 28:5-7: And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. Now we are getting to the good part: Jesus the Risen One! This is the secret revelation of the real Jesus. Will the real Jesus stand up? He stood up and walked out of the tomb! When He was crucified, all of His disciples ran in fear and hid, and on resurrection morning, they were hiding in the upper room. They were afraid that the Jews would come for them to kill them. All of a sudden, the risen, glorified Lord, who had His glorified attributes back, with a body that doesn t know any limitations of physical laws, appeared in the midst of them. He didn t need to walk through a door! He didn t even need to have the door automatically open. He just walked right through the wall into the building and said, Here I am! I am no more dead. I am no more in the tomb. I am alive forevermore! He said in Revelation, I am the Alpha, and I am the Omega. I am the first and the last. I am He that was dead but behold, look at me, I am alive forevermore! (Rev. 1:8, 11 & 18). But Thomas wasn t there. O Doubting Thomases! Like many Christians, unless they see something, they can t believe. Let me ask you a question: Have you ever really seen the risen Lord in person? But you still believe, don t you? You don t have to see anything to believe, and everything you do see, you shouldn t always believe, because the hand is quicker than the eye. Thomas said, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger in the print of the nail, and thrust my hand into His side, I am not going to believe (John 20:25). Suddenly, Jesus did an appearing act, and there He was in the room, and He said, Thomas, come here. He had heard Thomas, because He is the Lord, and He knows everything now. He is omniscient. He has had His divine attributes loosed. They were imprisoned during His earth walk, but they are loose now. And He said, Reach forth your hand and put it in my hand, and reach forth your hand and put it in my side, and see that it s Me, not a spirit, not a ghost, not a phantom, that doesn t have a body of flesh and bone like I do (Luke 24:39). And what did Thomas say? My Lord and my God. And all the disciples who were there agreed with Him, because nobody rebuked him for saying that. And Jesus said, Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed, blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed (vs. 28). We are blessed if we believe Jesus is the risen Lord and God. This is the secret revelation of who He is! He opened up their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, which were written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms

7 concerning Him, that He was the Christ, who had to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day And ye are to be witnesses of these things (Luke 24:44-48). Then for 40 days post resurrection, He appeared to them from time to time and separated them from their doubt and unbelief. They believed, but if they went out witnessing without power, the world would not believe them! So Jesus said, Wait here in Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high (vs. 49). Luke continued the account in Acts 1:8 where Jesus said to them: But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses. What He meant was, You are to witness that I am raised from the dead, and I am the Risen Lord. Ten days after Jesus said this, His 40 days of teaching them were over, which equals 50 days total, and Pentecost means fifty. The fiftieth day from the resurrection of Jesus was the day of Pentecost. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven (Acts 2:1-5). The day of Pentecost was one of three holy days when every Jewish male had to travel to Jerusalem to appear before God. This meant that the city was overflowing with visitors from other countries. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were 7 confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? (vv. 6-8). (Then he listed all the nations which were represented there.) And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? (vs. 12) What is this? They wanted to know, and this was an opportunity for Peter to tell them! And Peter, the one who had denied Jesus, now full of the Holy Ghost, stood up to answer them. Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. (It was only nine o clock in the morning.) But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel (vv ). From this point Peter quoted from Joel 2:28-32: And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh Then he defined what he meant by all flesh : and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be saved (vv ).

8 Peter proceeded to give the revelation and the interpretation of what this means: Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. (Because He was not a sinner, death could not claim Him.) For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the LORD always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (Greek Hades, not Gehenna fire), neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One (Jesus) to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. (In other words, this cannot refer to King David, because he is still in his tomb, and you go there every day and look at his tomb.) Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell (Hades), neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he 8 hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD (Jehovah) said unto my Lord (Adonai), (There are two Lords here), Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool (vv ). Now for the greatest thing that Peter spoke that day: Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly (Let all the house of Faith Tabernacle know assuredly. Let all the house of America, and all the nations, and all the world assuredly know this!) that God hath made that same Jesus Who was the babe, the boy, the man, the carpenter, the rabbi, master, teacher, the false prophet, the blasphemer, the man of Nazareth, the mock King of the Jews know this assuredly, that God has made this same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ (vs. 36). The Lord Jesus Christ! What is His name? The Lord Jesus Christ! The name above every name! Christ was His divine name; that s why Peter said He raised up the Christ. Christ means the anointed Son of God. And when he declared Him Lord, from that day on, none of God s people ever addressed anybody else as Lord. 1 Corinthians 8:5-6 says, (as there be gods many, and lords many), But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. Then in Ephesians 4:4-6 Paul said: There is one Sprit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism; One God and Father of all, who is above all I don t worship any other lords, but the Lord! I don t call anybody else Lord. From that moment, they never again addressed anybody else as Lord

9 but the Lord Jesus, not even the early church fathers. They burnt Polycarp, who was a disciple of Apostle John, at the stake, because he wouldn t say Caesar is Lord. The Romans believed in synchretism, that is, to believe in all kind of gods, as did the Greeks, such as Zeus, Apollo, Mercury. They told Polycarp, Just say Lord, and you are just adding him to the others. But Polycarp said, There are no other lords! There is only one Lord Jesus Christ! So they put him at the stake and prepared the wood for the fire. They gave him one last chance to say Caesar is lord, but he said, Jesus is Lord! They set the fire, and tradition says that the blood gushed out of him and put the flames out! The crowning verse for what s in the name is in Philippians 2:5-11, written by the apostle to all of the nations and to the Gentiles, Paul. What did he name Him? This Jew who was killing the Christians, because they were saying that Jesus was the Christ. Remember, Paul was knocked down on the road to Damascus, and a voice said out of heaven, Saul, Saul, Why are you persecuting me? Now Paul knew this had to be God this person speaking to him and claiming that he is persecuting Him, and Paul was amazed, bewildered. He said, Who are you, Lord, that I m persecuting? And the Lord, the Risen Jesus, the Christ said, Jesus (Acts 9:3-5). Oh my God, Paul thought: I am in trouble now! But later Paul said that God knew that he did it in ignorance. God had saved him to be a chosen vessel, to use his zeal to preach to the Gentiles. Although God didn t deliver Jesus from the people, He did deliver Paul until the time when he had finished His mission. Paul immediately went and preached Christ. What do you think 9 he preached? The babe of Bethlehem? No. The man of Galilee? No. The lowly Nazarene? The Rabbi? Or even just Christ Jesus? Let s see what he said in Philippians 2:5-11: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God (This does not mean shape, but His essential essence, His nature: Who was in the nature of God.) thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (Because He had the same nature.) But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant (The essence and the nature of a servant. Jesus came not to serve Himself, but He came to serve mankind. When He washed the disciples feet at the last supper, He said, You call me Lord and Master, and I wash your feet and you are to do the same thing you are to serve (Ref. John 13:13-14). It was considered to be the job of a slave to wash feet. The word in Greek is doulos, a bond slave. There are several words for servant and slave, but this denotes the lowest. We are to have the same mind: To empty ourselves of self and pride. Jesus said that the Son of Man has not come to be ministered to, but to minister unto, and to give his life as a ransom for many.) and was made in the likeness of men: He was just like man, except that He was not sinful. And being found in fashion (The Greek word for fashion is the English word scheme. He was in the scheme of humanity.) And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Jesus was the servant of perfect obedience. His master said, You are going to have to die. He humbled Himself and said, I will die. Not only must you die, but you must even die the death of the cross and

10 become a curse. He was Jesus the accursed, hanging on the cross. That s what the Jews stumbled over: How could anybody be accursed and be the Messiah and Lord? (Ref. 1 Cor. 1:23). And Paul answered this in Galatians 3:13: He had to hang on the tree to become a curse, so that He could deliver them who were under a curse. In other words, He was reckoned as sin that He might save the sinful. He had to be reckoned a curse that He might deliver those that were under the curse. Wherefore Because He did all of these things: humbled Himself, and made Himself a bond-slave, and became obedient even to the death of the cross, this is what His Father done for Him: Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him The word highly means super abundantly! He didn t stick Him on a throne in the corner! and given him a name which is above every name: Remember, He already had many names from the babe of Bethlehem to the King of the Jews on the cross. After He had been man for 33 1/2 years, after He had died, and was buried, and then raised, and is now sitting on the right hand of the Father, God gave Him a name! That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And every time you and I say, Lord Jesus Christ, we are glorifying the Father and recognizing the name. God doesn t want us to just go around saying, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. He wants us to say, Lord or Lord Jesus or His whole title, Lord Jesus Christ. Because when you go to a devil and say, Come out, in 10 the name of the Lord, he doesn t know which lord. In Hebrew, Lord is Adonai. It is the name that the Jews substituted for Jehovah, which is God s holy name. When they spoke, they would not say Jehovah, and instead, they would say Adonai. The greatest Scripture to the Jew is Duet. 6:4: Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD. So the name He gave Him is not just any Jesus: He is the Lord Jesus, Son of the Living God, the Christ! From then on, whenever they addressed Him, they addressed Him as Lord or the Lord Jesus Christ. Confessing the Name Paul declared in Romans 10:8-11: But what saith it? The word is nigh thee (talking about salvation), even in thy mouth (Salvation must be confessed with your mouth.) and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. In Acts 16:27-28, Paul and Silas had gone to Philippi to preach Jesus the Lord. The people revolted, and the leaders of the city locked them up, beat them, and put them in stocks. Then at midnight, they were singing, having a praise service, and God sent a miracle earthquake, because it didn t kill one of them. All it did was open up the doors of the prison and shake Paul and Silas loose from their shackles. I imagine they were singing, Blessed be the name of the Lord. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. And the keeper of the prison awak-

11 ing out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled (vs. 27). They were not going to flee They were having a revival, and were in the presence of the Lord! But the jailer was going to kill himself, because if you were a keeper of the prison, you were responsible for your prisoners, and if they escaped, you forfeited your life. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Paul was saying, We re waiting on you; we re ready to bring the message. We ve been singing, and now we re ready for the sermon. Then he called for light, speaking to the jailer, and he came in trembling. Now he probably already knew why Paul was there, for he had heard him preach about another Lord. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? What must we do to be saved? We are not supposed to confess our sins, but we are to confess that Jesus is Lord, according to Romans 10:10. The jailer had asked, What must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. What saves you? Your believing and confessing that this Jesus is the Lord, the one whom the angel called Savior, who will save you from all your sins. You believe that He is the Messiah, the anointed Son of God. You believe that He rose from the dead, and He is now the supreme living Lord whom God has highly exalted, and seated at His own right hand, and that at the name of Jesus, all principalities and powers, thrones and dominions, and every other name, not only named in this age, but in 11 the world to come, is under his feet, and He shall reign until He puts all enemies under His feet, and the last one is death (Ref. Ephesians 1:20-23). Paul described Christ before His incarnation as possessing the nature of God and as His equal. The true nature of God is not based on selfish motives or to gain personal advantage, but is selfless and seeks the betterment of all. This was demonstrated in Christ Jesus, who although shared the status and nature of God, set aside His high position that was His by right, and deliberately humbled Himself to the lowest of all positions that of a mere man, and not only that, but of a slave. Jesus became man in order to serve and promote the welfare of all. To obey was His pleasure, so much so that even faced with death the most cruel and abhorrent death of the cross He declared: Not my will, but Thine be done. Because Christ sacrificed Himself for the good of others, God has highly exalted Him. We should continue to let this mind be in us that was also in Christ Jesus that by giving, a man receives; by losing one s life, it is gained, and by humiliation, he is exalted. Self-sacrifice must come first, and only then will the self be exalted by God. In this letter to the Philippians, Paul confirmed what was preached by Peter on the day of Pentecost, that God made this man Jesus, whom men crucified, both Lord and Christ. God appointed Him sovereign over all of creation, the Servant to be served by all. By confessing Jesus Christ is the Lord, the Father is glorified; for His purpose is fulfilled, and His hopes for this world are realized. Please Note: This complete sermon, Parts 1 & 2, are available on Audio Cassettes & CD.