the Plan, the way
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He revealed Himself
He revealed Himself
we make plans a lot.
plans to work, build, visit, rest, and even sleep. we plan our lives. some people plan more than others, some a lot less than others, but we all make plans. for instance, you must have a few plans for the summer?
We all have ways. Ways we do things. The way we do life. Our plans need our ways to fulfill the goal of the plan.
yesterday we got cleaning, organizing and wood taken care of. we had a plan, we had a way to do it, and it worked.
The plan of God was to save people. the way in which He did it was through revealing His Son.
would that have been the way we would have done it? probably not. Scripture says things like
God has His own ways.
The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
God has His own ways, doesn’t He.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
What it is speaking of in this text includes an abundant pardon for the wicked!
Something people in this world don’t like to do unless it’s a pardon for their sin....
God has a way with plans. He has thought it out completely and entirely. that is some forethought!
God has a way with plans. He has thought it out completely and entirely.
He says in verse 9 of Isaiah 55
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
When I think about the plans of God and what He chose to do for the people on earth, I am humbled and overwhelmed. And this was a plan that was spoken long before it came to pass, in such great detail that when we look at it now, hindsight is 20/20 we might tend to wonder how so many missed what was happening.
God’s plan to send His Son is seen throughout the Old Testament in numerous passages.
strikes me as one of those portions of text that clearly show what will happen to Jesus. we read texts like this. v. 16
For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—
a song written by David but also a prophecy about Jesus.
when Christ came to earth, the Romans were performing the death penalty using the Crucifixion, which would pierce the hands and feet. The coming of Jesus was the right time for Him to experience this verse.
what about v. 7 & 8
All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
“He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
Remember what the Jewish leaders spoke at the crucifixion.... telling Jesus to come down and we will believe, saying things like, He saved others but can’t save Himself.
Do you ever have people kicking you when your down? Ouch! it hurts!
one of the question that comes from the death of Jesus, especially from people who don’t believe, is why did He have to die? Why couldn’t He save the world without suffering?
We know, He died in our place, taking the punishment for our sin, that’s why He could say in verse 1
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
this statement is big. it is huge. Why?
What Jesus had with the Father for all eternity was perfect oneness...... But for us,
Jesus experienced a separateness from the Father that He had never experienced before.
was God still there? of course God was still there but Jesus couldn’t connect with Him. that is what our sin does. disconnects us from God. Jesus became disconnected with the Father! Jesus became sin. our sin.
I think this should just floor every Christian that hears this, especially when we look at our realness, and see that we still sin. that sin is on Jesus. this knowledge, this revelation of what Jesus did for us wrecks us and transforms us. we learn grace.
and as for those who haven’t known or believed what Jesus has done....well, if they think church is about do’s and don’t for a reward to heaven, they are sadly mistaken. it is about Jesus, isn’t it church, and the work that He did for you and I.
another question that arises while thinking about God’s plan is how did Jesus get to the place where the Pharisees wanted Him dead?
Jesus could have lived under the radar, an undercover God man, but He stood out in who He was. He didn’t shy down or back off, He was who He was and lived it.
this is what we will dig into a little bit today.
Jesus
Jesus challenged the Jewish leadership in many ways. He challenged their leadership and authority. He challenged who they were in light of who HE was. Jesus lived who He was, always.
Let’s look at how He did this.
if your taking notes today, jot down 4 words
Forgiveness, Sabbath, King, Temple.
-Forgiveness.... How did Jesus show His power
In
sometimes, well, all the time, what people do really plays out and speaks to people differently, depending on the perspective or position that each person is in.
Jesus heals someone. but let’s catch what He really did to the Pharisees.
backstory,
Jesus was preaching in a house and this crippled man on a mat is being lowered down through the roof. Jesus, instead of just healing the mans obvious issue, forgives the man’s sin. I am sure everyone was surprised, especially the crippled man. but the Pharisees had the hardest time with it.
and we jump into verse 6.
Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”
and the man was healed..... what a question Jesus asks! which is easier! forgive or heal?
but look back to verse 6, we see the Pharisees questioning, blaming, they are thinking that only God can forgive sin so this man is taking the place of God. Well, you and I know Jesus is God, but we must remember, they don’t know that. They think He is just a man!
how many of us know that when we look at someone a certain way, that is what they are to us. We judge someone as stupid, then everything they do seems to fit that. the stuff that doesn’t fit it, we don’t see. it’s not really about them so much, but more about how we see them. it’s about our perspective on people. and the Pharisees aren’t seeing Jesus for who He really is, so they think He is trouble.
But Jesus is challenging their thinking about God and displaying His authority over sin by forgiving the man,
and then Jesus goes all the way to prove the authority He had to forgive sin in the physical by healing the paralytic. Listen to His very words.....”But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”
Jesus has authority to forgive and to heal because He is God. His plan was to show the world that He is.
what was this saying to the Pharisees? they must have been asking who does this Man think He is? this man is making Himself equal with God. He is calling Himself God! the Pharisees seeing Jesus as just a man are getting angry at Him for what He is doing.
another experience that challenged the Pharisees.
-the Sabbath.
it was a special day for the Israelites. a day of rest. a day to contemplate God. but the Jewish leaders made it so much more. a struggle to obey. 39 rules to follow. maybe the rules came about with good intentions, but
shows us how Jesus dealt with the Sabbath.
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”
What an attack! the rule was no threshing so by the disciples taking the grains, getting the morsel out, that would be considered threshing.
don’t the Pharisees seem to be always looking for something wrong. always trying to discredit. that is quite an attitude to have. can you and I slide into this attitude if we aren’t careful. Don’t we need to keep a close watch over our own hearts and minds to stay away from judgementalness and condemnation. we can allow the Holy Spirit to take our thoughts captive to Him, for God to judge.
Jesus then gives a few examples of when the sabbath was broken..... but then points to Himself in verse 8 and declares Himself as the Lord of the Sabbath.
in the text, Jesus then gives a few examples of when the sabbath was broken..... but then points to Himself in verse 8 and declares Himself as the Lord of the Sabbath. He says...
For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
Jesus knew who He was. He wasn’t shy about declaring it. He knew the plan. He was going to do things His Fathers way. His ways are always perfect.
imagine if Jesus backed down here. what if Jesus said, sorry guys, we broke your rules, we were wrong...... when the Pharisees were just trying to condemn, there was no grace from the Pharisees here. But Jesus did not come under their condemnation, He showed them who He was.
You and I, if we allow it, can be affected, even controlled by others and their judgement on us. Jesus shows us how to deal with that. Know who you are and be that.
Jesus is making a claim here that He has authority over the Sabbath. Only God has the authority over the Sabbath. So clearly, Jesus was claiming to be God directly to the Jewish leaders. He was, but they didn’t see it.
-as King and Messiah
Also, when Jesus entered the city on the colt at the beginning of the passion week, it was a picture of of the prophecy in Zech. of the One that was to come, the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, not a picture of a warrior king coming to take over the physical world. Jesus knew the plan and followed the plan.
-His Temple
but the final one that we will look at today is the cleansing of the temple. this really sealed the death for Jesus. the Pharisees had no other choice after this event.
as we look at this, we must realize that the temple was the place. it was the place that the Pharisees had authority over.
And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.
And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.
And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.
And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”
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And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.
Do we see what Jesus was saying? the Temple was His house!
Jesus takes the authority over the temple because He had the right to. It was His Fathers house!
this brings the Jewish leaders to the place of resolve. they must act and get rid of Jesus because He has challenged their authority everywhere. they want their place of power. they don’t want anyone to mess with it or to take it away.
and this was the plan and the way that Jesus, being Himself completely, got put in a place to be crucified.
A bold or crazy man to live this way? Or the God man that the Jewish leaders could not accept?
Scripture confirms and reaffirms who the Lord is. What He has done for us, and that we can stand on the Word as a solid foundation.
His Plan, His way.....that’s our Jesus.
it overwhelms me.....how about you?
what about us?
our place? our ways, our authority?
who are we? we are the people of God! we are His! We can live in His authority.
what does that look like? Grace! Love! Forgiveness!
NOT A LIST OF DO’S AND DON’TS
But walking in the light. Bringing the message to a dying world that is so desperate to hear that there is someone there that cares, that loves, that forgives. there is hope. that is what is looks like for us to be who we are church. we are a family, His family. We are called to love, each other and the community.
Jesus was Himself, Let’s be who we are called to be.
I know we have stuff in the way. I know it is not easy to get through our messy lives.
But who is our Father? can we go to Him whenever we need Him? Doesn’t He want to do in us and through us what is His plan and work in His ways to bring about His purpose?
Let’s be that Church! Let’s be who He has made us!