McLean Bible Church Lon Solomon

Transcription

1 McLean Bible Church Lon Solomon >> LON SOLOMON: Thank you. Well, we want to say a big good morning to all of our friends out at our Prince William campus, our Loudoun campus, downstairs in our edge community, around the world in our Internet campus. All of you out there when I say 3, you're going to yell good morning to us and we're going to yell to them. 1, 2, 3. >> ALL: Good morning. >> LON SOLOMON: It's great to be together as McLean Bible Church today. You know, when it comes to who Jesus Christ is, the world has never suffered from a lack of suggestions. According to modern Jewish leaders, Jesus was a man, a great teacher, maybe even a prophet. According to the Muslims, Jesus was one of Allah's many prophets among whom mow whom med was the greatest. According to the more mans, Jesus was a man who worked his way up to being a God just like you and I can do. According to Jehovah's witnesses, Jesus was the first created being in the universe. According to the unitarians, Jesus was a nice man who tried to help people get along in a tough world. According to eastern Mystics, Jesus was an enlightened soul, a guru, a man who attained Nirvana. According to secular humanists, Jesus was a great moral and ethical philosopher, and according to many atheists, Jesus Christ as a historical person, the way the Bible presents him, probably never existed at all. Now, the one thing we notice from this list is that all false religions have one thing in common, and that is they all deny the Bible's claim that Jesus is more than a man. That he is the supernatural, divine, messiah of Israel, and therefore they also deny the unique implications that this fact has for our lives. Now, this is what we're going to talk about today. Remember we're in a series entitled: People Jesus met. And today Jesus meets a man named Caiaphas. We're going to go back 2,000 years and see how that meeting went. And then we're going to bring all of that forward and talk about, well, what difference does that make to me today? So our passage is Matthew 26. And remember that Judas has just betrayed Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane as we pick up the story, verse 57. The Bible says, then those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas, the High Priest, where also the scribes and the elders of Israel had assembled. Now, from Josephus, the Jewish historian, we learn that this man's name was actually Joseph who was called Caiaphas. And that he served

2 as High Priest from the years 18 A. D. through 36 A. D. But here's something really cool. And that is in November 1990, the Israelis were constructing a water park in the southern park of Jerusalem when they accidentally discovered an ancient burial cave. And in that cave they found six ossuaries. You say Lon, I love you but what in the world is an ossuary? We'll show you a picture. An ossuary is a small box made out of limestone, a little bone box. And this is the way it worked. At the time of Jesus people, when they died, their body would be placed in a cave until all the flesh rotted off the bones. And then they would go into the cave, collect the bones, and reposit them into one of these ossuary, one of these bone boxes. Archeologists date all six of these ossuaries that were found to the time of Christ. And one of them, the most ornate one, is inscribed on the side with the words "Joseph whose name was Caiaphas." Experts all agree that this ossuary is that of the actual High Priest Caiaphas before whom Jesus stood right here in Matthew 26. Hey, does God have a sense of humor or what? Jesus rose from the grave, but now we've got the bones of the guy who sent him there. Does God have a sense of humor or what? (Applause.) >> LON SOLOMON: Well, I think so. So I'll laugh if you don't. Anyway, biblical archeologist reader, the magazine, said and I quote: Very few of the hundreds of people who walk through the pages of the Bible have their names attested in archeological finds. Now to that small list we may add the name of the High Priest who presided at Jesus' trial or, as I like to say all the time and I want you to say it with me, come on: The more - - come on - - they dig out of the ground, the more the Bible proves to be right. Well, let's get back to our passage. Verse 59. Now, the chief priest and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so they could put him to death. And what is this Sanhedrin that's mentioned here? What do we know about them? We know that it was Israel's supreme ruling body at the time of Christ. It consisted of 71 members. The chairman was the High Priest. It had its own police force. It could arrest people, but the Roman government for bid the Sanhedrin to execute anyone they could send a criminal to the Roman governor, recommending execution, but only the Roman governor could actually execute anyone. Verse 60: But they, that is, the Sanhedrin, could not find any evidence even though many false witnesses came forward. Finally, two men came forward and said about Jesus, this man stated "I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days." Now, actually what Jesus said, John 2:19, he said, destroy this

3 temple and in three days I will raise it up. But he was speaking of the temple of his body. He was talking about the resurrection. Then the High Priest, upon hearing this, stood up and said to Jesus, do you make no answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you? But Jesus remained silent. So the High Priest said to him: I charge you under oath by the living God, tell us if you are the messiah, the Son of God. Now, you know in our American system of jurisprudence, a person cannot be forced to incriminate himself or herself. We call it of course taking the 5th. The 5th Amendment. But in ancient Israel there were times when the law required a person to give a straight answer, even to a self incriminating question. And one of those times was right here when the High Priest placed a person under oath by the living God. This meant that person was bound by law to answer the High Priest's question and to answer it truthfully for Jesus to have lied here or for Jesus to have refused to answer here would have been sin. Verse 64: So Jesus replied to Caiaphas, yes, it is as you say. Hey, you know all those friends of yours who tell you that there was never a place in the Bible where Jesus ever claimed to be divine in God? Well, they obviously missed this verse. But Jesus went on to say: But I say to you all in the future, you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the High Priest tore his robes and said, he has spoken blasphemy. Why do we need any more witnesses, behold you have heard the blaspheme, what do you think? And they all answered in sin, he is worthy of death. Then they spit in his face and beat him with their fists, and others slapped him and - - who hit you? And early in the morning, all the chief priests and elders came to the decision to put Jesus to death. So they bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate, the governor. Why did they decide that they were going to put Jesus to death? Well, because the penalty in the Old Testament for blasphemy was to put a man to death. And for a man to claim that he was God in the flesh the way Jesus had just done was an act of utter blaspheme in the eyes of these rabbis. But you know, this claim that Jesus is Jehovah God in human flesh, this claim is the single- most important claim in all the Bible. Think about it, now. If Jesus is not God, then he's a liar and an imposter. If Jesus is not God, then the Bible is a fraudulent book. If Jesus is not God, then his shed blood on the cross is worthless.

4 To pay for your sin and for myosin, and if Jesus is not God, then we as his followers have no more real assurance about going to heaven when we die and the stone age people in Indonesia. Friends, the point is that the entire Christian faith rises or falls on Jesus' claim that he is the divine messiah of Israel and that he is God wrapped in human flesh. You say, all right, Lon, I hear what you're saying. But you know, it's one thing to claim that you're God in had the flesh, it's another thing to prove it. So did Jesus proof it? Can Jesus prove it? Well, my friends when Jesus was here on earth, he did prove it by demonstrating all the powers that go along with being God. For example, No. 1, Jesus when he was here on earth demonstrated a power over disease and sickness that only God could have. He healed pair lytics, he healed epileptics, mute people. In John 9. He healed a man who had been blind from birth and the man said since the world began it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. How in the world could Jesus do all this if he wasn't God? Second of all, Jesus demonstrated when he was here on earth a power over the forces of nature. That only God could have. In Matthew 8, Jesus hushed gale- forced winds and a huge storm on the sea of Galilee with just a word. He just said, be quiet. So it astounded the disciples in the boat so much that they said Matthew 8:27, what kind of man is this? That even the winds and the waves obey him? In Matthew 14, Jesus walked on water. In Matthew 21, Jesus cursed a fig tree and it died. You know, in a house I used to live in, we had English ivy on one side of the house. And it would climb all up the bricks, you know? And I knew that English ivy was bad, it would destroy the bricks. So I would gut on cut it at the roots and rip it off the bricks. And it still kept growing. I'd spray it with everything I could think of. And it didn't just go up the bricks. It started going out into the yard and invading the yard. And I couldn't stop it. And I remember one day I went out there and I pointed at it, and I said: I curse you, die. Die! Die! >> LON SOLOMON: Guess what? It didn't die. >> LON SOLOMON: It kept right on growing. And you know why it didn't die? It didn't die because I'm not God. But when Jesus cursed that fig tree, it died. Why?

5 Because he was God. Hey, No. 3, Jesus demonstrated when he was here on earth a power over demons that only God could have. I mean, he cast demons out of people, he cast demons into pigs. The demons cowered in front of him. When the rabbis asked him how do you do this? Jesus said it's very simple, I'm stronger than they are. Who in the world could say that they're stronger than the demons of hell and prove it except someone who was God? And hey, in John 4, how could Jesus tell the woman at the well everything she'd ever done if he wasn't God? And in John 11, how could Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead if he want God? And finally, after Caiaphas and the whole Sanhedrin succeeded in having Jesus crucified and killed, how could he personally rise from the dead if he wasn't God? In fact, this is the crowning proof of all, no other religion claims an empty tomb for its leader, because no other religion claims that its leader was Jehovah God himself in human flesh. You say, well, Lon, listen. Here's the problem with all of that. The problem with all of that is that it all comes out of the Bible. The Bible's the only source of information for every bit of that. Do we have any evidence outside of the Bible that any of this is true? Oh, yes, we do. Josephus who was a Jewish secular historian, a nonbeliever, who wrote the antiquities of the Jews, which was published in 93 A.D., here's what he said, and I quote. He said, now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man. For he was a doer of wonderful works. He was the messiah. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the chief men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at first did not forsake him. For he appeared to them alive again on the third day as the divine prophets had had foretold. And the tribe of Christians so named for him are not extinct at this day, 93 A.D." Here we have Josephus, a completely independent, contemporary witness, a secular Jewish nonbelieving writer, confirming the Bible's claims, not just about the miracles of Jesus, but also about his rising from the dead on the third day. Pretty amazing. Huh? Now, let's summarize. Standing before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, Jesus claimed to be the divine messiah of Israel. He claimed to be God in the flesh. The miracles he performed in the Bible attest to it. His resurrection proves it beyond all doubt. And we even have independent testimony from the unbelieving Jewish

6 historian Josephus confirming that in all of this the Bible is giving us historically accurate information. Now, that's as far as we're going to go in our passage for today because it's time now to ask our most important question. So at Loudoun, at Prince William, down in the edge, on the Internet, here at Tysons, are we ready? >> ALL: Ready. >> LON SOLOMON: All right. Here we go. Come on, now, one, two, three: >> ALL: So what? >> LON SOLOMON: You say, Lon, God bless you, preaching your heart out. But what difference does this make to us when we walk out to go to school, to go to work? Let's talk about that. Friends, understanding the true identity of Jesus Christ, namely, number one, that he is the divine messiah of Israel; number two, that he is God in the flesh; and number three, that he is the risen Christ of glory, this has some enormous implications for you and me. It means, number one, that Jesus Christ is the Lord and the owner of the entire cosmos. It means, number two, that Jesus deserves every bit of worship and devotion and loyalty and allegiance that our lives can possibly produce. It means, number three, that Jesus is the center of the universe, not you, not me, and not any other human being. It means, number four, that Jesus' death on the cross is different from any death that has ever happened in the history of the world. And finally, number five, it means that the plan of salvation that Jesus offers us by his death on the cross is the one true exclusive, authentic way for people to get to heaven: But you know, there's also a personal side to all of this that I want to make sure we don't miss: See, because of who Jesus is, this also means that we as his followers have the most powerful being in the entire universe as our ally. As our advocate. As our friend, and as our defender to help us with the struggles and the problems of our life. Hebrews 4:14, says we have a great High Priest, Jesus, the Son of God, who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, for he was tempted in every way as we are. Yet, without sin. Now, in light of this, look at Jesus' invitation to us as his followers, Hebrews 4:16, therefore - - therefore what? - - therefore, since we have Jesus, who is the Son of God, who is risen from the dead, who can sympathize with our weaknesses because he's been through every

7 one of them, therefore let us come boldly to the thrown of grace, that we may receive mercy from the Lord Jesus and may find grace to help us in our time of need. This explains why Peter says, 1 Peter 5, verse 7, cast all your cares upon him because he cares for you. You know, in my 62 years of living, the Lord's let me experience some things that I will never get over. For example, I will never get over being in the room when all four of my children were born. I will never get over the privilege the Lord's given me of going to the Holy Land 35 times. I will never get over the privilege that God has given me of leading this church for 30 years. It has been an unbelievable privilege that I can't even put into words. But above all of this without a doubt, the single most amazing thing that I will never get over in my life is the fact that the almighty resurrected, eternal, all- powerful, divine messiah of the universe cares about my problems. And friends, if you're a follower of Christ, he cares about your problems too. And here's the best part of all. When we take our problems to Christ, not only does he really care about them, but because of who he is, he is also powerful enough to intervene and to do something about our problems. (Applause.) >> LON SOLOMON: Amen. You know, I loved coaching my boys in baseball. I coached my youngest son John beginning when he was young. I coached him in single A, in double A, Triple A thoroughfare fax little league. And actually, we had our Triple A team was quite a team. We went undefeated. Show you a picture of that team. I'm the guy holding the Brownies with 15-0 written on it. John my son is circle the in red there. Our team was - - we were an amazing team. But you know, little league politics are worse than national politics. I don't know if you've learned that. And so that season - - because some people thought that on the field I had an overly aggressive personality - - >> LON SOLOMON: I don't understand why - - I made some enemies. In high places. One of them was the president of the league. So at the end of the season when it was time for John to move up to the majors level of little league, I threw my name in the hat to be able to manage a majors team. And the president of the league called me, and she told me that all the majors teams had been already assigned and I was out of the running. By the way she said it, I could tell that she was determined I was never getting a majors team, Moe, Larry, or curly might get one, but not me. Well, I began praying. I said, Lord, you know that Jill's health has been so bad, and you know that there are so many things that Brenda and I have not been able to do with the boys because of taking care of

8 Jill. But this is the one thing that I get to do just with John. And so, Lord, I'm asking you, Lord Jesus, to please intervene here in a special way. And Lord, with all the teams assigned, and with this woman disliking me as much as she does, I said, Lord, I don't even have a suggestion to give you about how in the world you could turn all of this around. But you said come boldly to the thrown of grace. And so, Lord, here I am. Amen. Well, the fall went by. The winter went by. The spring began to go by. And I just kept praying. I just kept praying. Then at that next spring, about a week before the draft was scheduled to happen for the major league little league team, I got a phone call one night at home from the president of the league. And this lady said, hello, Lon. She said, I'd like to ask you for a favor. And I said, well, it depends what it is. And she said, well, as you know, my husband was going to manage one of the major teams this year in little league. And of course my son was on that team. But she said, my son just came to us and informed us that he doesn't want to play baseball this spring, he wants to play la cross. So he quit the baseball team. And my husband doesn't want to manage the team if my son's not on it. So she said, I'm desperate, Lon, for a manager. And I'm calling to ask you if you would please, please - - she said I know its alate notice, would you please take the team? And I said, well, it is late notice, you know. >> LON SOLOMON: Oh, yes. I enjoyed this. >> LON SOLOMON: And I said, could I have the evening to think about it? I'll call you tomorrow. >> LON SOLOMON: And I did. And so when I hung up the phone, Brenda said, what was that about? And I said, Brenda, just call me coach, dear. Just call me coach. Now, listen, I want to tell you - - that's a true story. And God taught me two very important lessons through that experience. Number one, he taught me that God cares about the smallest problems of our lives. No matter how trivial they may seem to others. And he wants us to bring them to him. And the second lesson he taught me is that there is no problem we will ever bring to God, no matter how hopeless or impossible it may look that is too tough for God to handle. So, let's conclude by saying this. That as followers of Christ, one of the biggest mistakes we make is that so often we fail to bring our

9 problems and our struggles to God's thrown of grace. And usually it's for one of three reasons. Number one, sometimes it's because we think our problems are too small to bother God with. Sometimes, number two, we're not really sure that God will even care about them if we do bring them to him. And finally, sometimes it's because in unbelief, we doubt God's ability to redeem and reverse and flip- flop even impossible- looking situations for us. Friends I am here to urge you not to think like this. Because God says none of these three things are true. Hey, I'm here to urge you to let God show you how deeply he cares for you. I'm here to urge you to let God in his time, and in his way, intervene in the affairs of this world for you. And I'm here to urge you to never doubt God's power to reverse even the most impossible- looking situations. Hey, bringing our problems to God, to the thrown of grace, and expecting that God will act in a mighty way on our behalf; friends this is our birth right. As adopted children of the divine resurrected, almighty, messiah, this is our birth right. So don't rob yourself of this. (Applause.) >> LON SOLOMON: Don't rob yourself of this. Don't rob yourself of this. In unbelief, don't rob yourself of it. And let me leave you with a question to think about. And here it is. What things in my life am I trying to handle on my own instead of bringing them to God's thrown of grace? If you can identify any, I urge you to put yourself sufficiency in the closet and go to the thrown of grace. Let's pray together. Dear Lord Jesus, thank you so much for reminding us today that we have a great risen savior. Who invites us to come boldly to him with every problem, big ones, little ones, in between ones; and to expect you, Lord, to act mightily on our behalf, even when things look impossible. Dear Jesus, help us not rob ourselves of this birth right that you've given us as your adopted children. Lord, change the way we look at our problems and change the way we handle them. Because we were here today and we sat under the teaching of the eternal word of God. Make us men and women who spend lots and lots and lots of time at the thrown of grace. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. What do God's people say? >> ALL: Amen.

10 >> LON SOLOMON: Amen. Have a great day. Bless you. (Music.) ***This transcript is being provided in a rough- draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) or captioning are provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. ****