TELL ME THE STORY OF JESUS

Sermon of the Week #200751-December 30, 2007

Tell the story of Jesus. Ladies and Gentlemen, you cannot tell the story of Jesus without telling the story of His Godhood days.

GODHOOD DAYS

In telling the story of Jesus it must be told how He lived before He was born. In the first chapter of John, the apostle informs us, “In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him and without Him was not anything made that hath been made.”

In John 6 Jesus said, “I AM come down out of heaven.” Also Jesus said in John 8, “Before Abraham was born I AM.” The crowd said, “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said, “Before Abraham was born I AM.” Someone has written:

He made the world and it had no room for Him.

He made the rocks and they became a tomb for Him.

He made the steel that pierced the heart of Him,

The embedded thorns that became a part of Him.

He molded the faces of the ones who sneered at Him.

He gave the sight to the ones who leered at Him.

Yet never a tear did the multitudes shed for Him.

Though the sins of us all lay heavy as lead on Him.

He turned to God; God turned His face from Him.

He suffered alone, marvelous grace of Him.

Tell me the story of Jesus. Again we note that you cannot tell the story of Jesus without telling the story of His Babyhood Days.

BABYHOOD DAYS

Tell me how Mary brought forth her first-born Son and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

When the Lord of glory came into the world there was not only no room for Him in the inn, there was no rooms for Him anywhere else, except the room they gave Him on the cross. And there is not much room for Him today. When I started on the radio over forty years ago many of the high-powered radio stations had religious programs twelve hours on Sunday. Today many have cut off religious programs altogether, and some just a few hours. It is a matter of economics. God has been crowded out of Sunday; there is no room for Jesus.

While we can’t tell the story of Jesus without telling the story of His Godhood Days and His Babyhood Days neither can we tell the story of Jesus without telling the story of His Boyhood Days.

BOYHOOD DAYS

Tell us of how as a boy of twelve He went to Jerusalem with Mary and Joseph for the Fast of the Passover. Tell us how they lost Him on the return home to Nazareth. This is a twist on the usual message of scripture. Jesus came to seek and to save that, which was lost, but here is Mary and Joseph seeking Jesus who was lost and they were trying to find Him.

They sought for Him the way so many try to find Him today; they supposed Him to be in the company. Many suppose He is in a large religious gathering. The bigger the denomination the more likely you will find Him in the crowd. In this case He was not there.

Then they sought for Him among their kinfolk and He was not there. Many today think they can find Jesus in the religion of their parents. In this case they supposed, but He was not there. Jesus has been lost to millions today, because they have supposed He could be found in the religion of their parents. It is always a mistake to base your salvation on a supposition.

Then wonders of wonders when they found Him not, they returned to Jerusalem seeking for Him, and guess what, they found him in the most logical place of all, in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors both hearing them and asking them questions. Jesus always needs to be in the midst. He said, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.”

Jesus should always be in the midst. In John 19 when Jesus was crucified, they also crucified two robbers with Jesus in the midst. Then in John 20, the very day of the resurrection the Apostles were gathered together, the doors being shut and Jesus appeared standing in the midst. One week later the scene was duplicated, and He appeared again suddenly standing in the midst.

In Revelation one John saw a vision of seven golden candlesticks and was told the candlesticks were seven churches and Jesus was walking in the midst. He wants to be in the midst of His church today. In Revelation five John saw a vision of Almighty God on His throne and a Lamb standing before the throne in the midst as though it had been slain. The Lamb was standing between the throne and the people. We cannot approach the throne of God without Jesus standing in the midst. Even in prayer it must be remembered as Paul said in 1st Timothy two, “There is one God and One mediator between God and man, Himself man Christ Jesus.” That is why we must always pray in the name of Jesus, because He is standing in the midst between us and the Father.

While we cannot tell the story of Jesus without telling the story of His Godhood Days, His Babyhood Days and His Boyhood Days, neither can we tell the story of Jesus without telling the story His Manhood Days.

MANHOOD DAYS

Tell me the story of Jesus. Tell me what Luke said about His activities from the age of twelve until He was about thirty. Tell me the story of Jesus. In Mark 6, Jesus came to Nazareth and they were offended in Him. They said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom and how does He do these mighty works?” They could not deny what He did, but sneeringly called Him the Carpenter. “Is not this the Carpenter, the Son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses and Simon and Judas, and are not His sisters here with us? And they were offended at Him.” Mark calls Him the Carpenter. These were half-brothers and half-sisters. Mary did not remain a perpetual virgin; remember it says that when Jesus was born that He was her first-born Son. The unbelievers in Nazareth were right about one thing, Jesus was the Carpenter.

Jesus is still the Carpenter. He said, “I will build my church.” He also said, “Destroy this Temple and I will raise it up in three days.” He was speaking of the Temple of His body. The resurrected body will be the work of the Master Carpenter. He is building a mansion for the redeemed. I go to prepare a place for you. In my Father’s house are many mansions.

The mansions are in the Father’s house. Evidently the mansions are rooms in the Father’s house. Some Christians will receive a front room in the Father’s house overlooking Glory Hallelujah Avenue, and will be able to see all the way down to the River of Life. Since I have had such an easy time of it, I will be satisfied for a back room in the Father’s house, where I can look out and see my backyard with the solid gold garbage can and the diamond-studded sterling silver lid. What a view I will have as I see all the way to the end of Ebenezer Alley. As Christians we have the assurance that when we come to the sunset of life and the shadows lengthen, and we look up and see the lights of glory in the Father’s house, there will not be a no vacancy sign hanging out, because the Master Carpenter has gone to prepare us a mansion.

Jesus is still the Carpenter. He made a yoke that must have a patent on it. No one has ever been able to duplicate it even in these days of mechanization. He said, “Take My toke upon you and learn of Me and ye shall find rest unto your souls, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” The rest is for the soul, not the body; and the burden is the heavy burden of sin.

The people of Nazareth were right, Jesus is the Carpenter. He also made a plough. No one has ever been able to duplicate a plough like that; a plough that can furrow the fields of human hearts. Jesus said, “He that puts his hand to the plough and looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”

They were right, Jesus is the Carpenter. He made a beautiful Table. Paul, in 1^st Corinthians 10 referred to the Lord’s Supper as the Table of the Lord. In Luke 22 there is a sobering statement when Jesus said before the institution of the Lord’s Supper, “The hand that betrayeth Me is with Me on the Table.”

As we observe the Lord’s Supper, our hand is with Him on the table. Sunday night as we fall asleep it is good to remember, on this the Lord’s Day my hand was with Him on the Table. Then during every day of the week in all of our activities as a precaution to what we might say or do, it is well to recall, last Sunday, my hand was with Him on the Table. Those people at Nazareth were right; Jesus is the Carpenter.

If I could hold within my hand the hammer Jesus swung

Not all the gold in all the land, nor jewels countless as the sand,

All in the balance flung could weigh the value of that thing

Round which His fingers used to cling.

If I could have the table, He once made at Nazareth

Not all the pearls in the sea nor all the crowns, of kings or kings to be

As long as men have breath could buy that thing of wood He made.

The Lord of Lords who learned a trade.

Yes, but His hammer still is shown by honest hands that toil.

And round His table men sit down, and all are equal with a Crown

No gold or pearls can soil that shop at Nazareth was bare,

But brotherhood was builded there.

Tell me the story of Jesus. You cannot tell the story of Jesus without telling the story of His Godhood Days, His Babyhood Days, Boyhood Days, His Manhood Days, His Saviourhood Days.

SAVIOURHOOD DAYS

Matthew 20 sums up the Saviourhood Days when he records one prediction of Jesus about His death, “From that time Jesus began to show unto His disciples, that He must go and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed, and be raised again the third day.”

Then again in Matthew 27, Pilate’s soldiers took Jesus into the praetorium and stripped Him, and platted a crown of thorns and put it on His head and a reed in His right hand, and arrayed Him in a purple garment and kneeled down before Him saying, “Hail King of the Jews,” then led Him away to crucify Him.

When they nailed Jesus to the cross there were more than hands nailed to the cross that day. In Colossians 2 Paul says, “Having been buried with Him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you being dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, I say, did He make alive together with Him, having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us: and He hath taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross: having despoiled the principalities and the powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”

When the hands of Jesus were nailed to the cross, my sins were also nailed to that cross. There is a gospel song that tells us:

“There was One who was willing to die in my stead

That a soul so unworthy might live.

And the path to the cross He was willing to tread;

All the sins of my life to forgive.

They are nailed to the cross, they are nailed to the cross

Oh how much He was willing to bear;

With what anguish and loss, Jesus went to the cross

But He carried my sins with Him there.”

In John 19, he says a soldier with a spear pierced His side, and straightway there ran out blood and water. Then that statement that was both a report of what was done, and a prophecy yet to come: “They shall look upon Him whom they pierced.”

The soldiers pierced Him with thorns before they crucified Him. This was a most ironic, yet a necessary event. They pierced Him with thorns. Thorns were a part of the curse in the Garden of Eden. God told Adam, “Cursed is the ground for thy sake. Thorns and thistles shall it bring to thee; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread all the days of thy life until thou returnest unto the ground, for out of it thou wast taken, Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return.”

Then Paul reminds us, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, ‘Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. They shall look upon Him whom they pierced.’”

Then John reveals to us the future when he says in Revelation 19, “And I saw the heaven opened; and behold a white horse, and he that sat thereon is called faithful and true, and in righteousness doth he judge and make war. And his eyes are as a flame of fire, and upon his head are many crowns.” We can be sure there will be no crown of thorns among the many crowns.

King David at the battle of Rabbah, took the crown of the king and put it on his own head. The crown weighed a talent. One of the modern versions translates a talent at 75 pounds. I do not know how many tons the many crowns of Jesus will have, but be assured they all will rest easy on the head of omnipotence.

Jesus wore the crown of thorns so that we might wear the crown of righteousness Paul referred to in 2^nd Timothy four. However, there is a caution the Lord gave to the church at Smyrna, and the church at Philadelphia. To Smyrna He said, “Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee the crown of life,” and to Philadelphia he cautions, “Let no one take thy crown.” Taking the crown away from the Christian is very easy. It can be done by a false teacher preaching false doctrine.

A good defense is suggested in Revelation four when the four and twenty elders fell before the throne and cast their crowns before the throne of Him who liveth forever and ever. Until that day may we take the crown of our lives, whatever it is that defines us, the very essence of who we are; whatever we call it, a talent, or money, ability or, whatever we do best, take it and cast it at the foot of the cross.

The crown that once was on His head

Now glows like rubies dark and red.

The hands that once were pierced by nails

Now holds the scepter that prevails.

The feet once fastened to the tree are marching on to victory.

The wound within His riven side

Is now a fountain open wide;

Where cleansing waters freely flow to wash away our guilt and woe.

The cross from whence the curse has flown

Has now become a mighty throne

An emblem, a conquering sign

Where grace and glory intertwine.

You cannot tell the story of Jesus without telling His Godhood Days, His Babyhood Days, His Boyhood Days, His Manhood Days, and His Saviourhood Days.