Sermon Tone Analysis

We are a culture of competition.

We are known for our football, basketball, baseball, even our children play soccer, t-ball, basketball and many other sports.

There is something about the “competition”.

Throughout all times, there has been “competition” of some sort, but probably the greatest “competition”, or lets say, “battle”, has been waged right before our eyes in the lives of men.

Why would this be such a “conflict”?

You may be asking, “What’s the big deal”?

We experience “competition” because there are opponents!

For every contest, there is an opponent!

Each side is longing for the prize!

The big deal is the “soul of mankind”!

Yes, the soul of mankind is the PRIZE!

Lives have been destroyed, tribes, cities, groups and individuals all for the sake of the soul of men.

Today, we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Lion of Judah, the First and the Last, our Savior—He has won the battle!

Our Victory is in the finished work of Jesus Christ our Lord—

What is the significance of the Stone in the “Battle for the soul of mankind”?

Stones—Stones were commonly used for buildings, also as memorials of important events.

-The stone Jacob used as a pillow, which he anointed after his vision-Gen.

28:11–18—“the land whereon thou liest, I will give to thee”; “Behold, I am with thee”; “In they seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed”-Bethel—House of God

-The stone Jacob moved from the well at Haran——Provision of God

-The 12 memorial stones taken from the River Jordan——Power of God

-The five smooth stones picked by David before he met Goliath-1 Sam.

17:40—Grace of God

-The 12 stones used by Elijah in building an altar on Mount Carmel-1 Kings 18:31—Presence of God—

In , we read a discourse between Jesus and his disciples—

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-Caesarea Philippi—it was a wicked place, a pagan area—Las Vegas is kindergarten compared to Caesarea Philippi.

It was known as “sin city of the world”.

After showing them the wickedness of the city, Jesus asked them, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? (Do you see the tension here—two sides/ battle)

-Next, he got personal with them—“But whom say ye that I am? Simon Peter answered, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”.

For Jesus to own the titles of “Son of the living God” and “Son of Man”—He is upending all the pagan notions associated with this location.

This is a significant place and critical time for this to take place.

Caesarea Philippi was located at the base of the majestic Mount Hermon, a massive block of hard stone.-

“Thou art Peter”-(Petros)- STONE

-“upon this rock”- (Petra)-LARGE ROCK—Peter’s confession that Jesus Christ is Lord

-“I will build my church”- Peter you are the beginning of the new Israel, the new people of the Lord, fellowship of all believers.

-“gates of hell shall not prevail”- CAVE—(powers of hell) -the dark entrance to the cave of Pan- place of shadowy, unpredictable gods.

Mt Hermon was called both Baal Hermon and Senir.

Add on the veneer of Hellenistic worship of Pan, Zeus and Nemisis.

Note—the name “Hermon” relates to the word “herem” which means some thing or place that was sacred.

This mountain was traditionally considered holy ground.

Jesus was telling them that He would upend all the pagan nations associated with the location.

He would build His church against this rock face with all its etchings and niches devoted to god and goddesses—

the gates of hell, death, would collapse as the Church and the Son of the Living God moved forward with power.

-Divinity of God

Jesus is not backing down—once again we see the battle, and once again God REIGNS!!

The disciples were on the winning side!

We now “fast forward” —Jesus enters Jerusalem—He is questioned by Chief Priests, Scribes and Elders, Pharisees and Sadducees.

He partakes of the Lord’s Supper with His disciples, then goes to the Garden of Gethsemane --

“Gethsemane”- “Olive Press”—the pressure started here.

NOTE vs 39—the presence of “TWO” wills—COMPETITION!—

We ALL have a Gethsemane—“take up your cross and follow me”

Jesus was led to Caiaphas’ house where Jesus was believed to have been imprisoned on the night before His crucifixion.

Beneath the house is a series of cisterns in which Jesus is thought to have been imprisoned during the dark hours of the night——“he descended to the pit” and vs7 “experienced the wrath of God”.

Jesus had been denied, forsaken and abandoned— He had walked up the Vio Delorosa—“Way of Suffering”.

He was hung on a cross in a place called “Calvary”, “The Skull”, “Golgatha”(Aramaic)—the place where the “forehead” of the skull was located in a mountain, possibly in a place where major road entered Jerusalem—a very public place.

Remember, capital punishment was the deterrence of further rebellion.

It was on that cross Jesus died.

A moment of COMPETITION!!

According to , “the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; the earth quaked and rocks rent, graves were opened; and may bodies of the saints which slept arose”—those watching siad, “Truly this was the Son of God”

The Battle was still taking place!

The Enemy thought he had been the victor.

A man named Joseph, asked for His body, and he laid Him “in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher and departed” ().

The final answer was still in the balance—who would win the battle?

-The Tomb Stone of Jesus- Jesus-

Matt.

28:1ff-—On the 3rd day, when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the sepulchre, an angel rolled back the STONE from the door and sat on it.

He told them, fear not: 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”.

-—On the 3rd day, when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the sepulchre, an angel rolled back the STONE from the door and sat on it.

He told them, fear not: 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”.

An EMPTY Rock, stone removed —Battle Field!!!

Victory of God

COMPETITION-

What has happened?

The Psalmist in 118:22 spoke about the “stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.

In , we read, “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, A tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation:”-speaking of the surety His place in Jerusalem, the Temple Mount.

In ,

Paul looked around and he saw those who were Christians, and he said, “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men…written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart” (vs2-3).

Paul is giving a “description” of the New heart of believers—believers are a letter from Christ—Not written with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God.

Not carved on tablets of stone, but on “human hearts”.

ARE YOU IN COMPETITION WITH GOD?