“Jesus,
the Mighty God” By Kirk Orelup December
17th,
2017 Good morning,
church.
This morning's lecture is going to be on Isaiah nine and six, but,
before we
get started, have you seen that latest Wonder Woman movie? She was
nothing like
that Wonder Woman that I knew what I was growing up, that Lynda Carter
version that
couldn't fight her way out of a wet paper bag.
If you were
here for
Thanksgiving,
we hosted the recruits, and we actually showed the movie, so, you had a
chance
to see it then, if you hadn't seen it. I'm not recommending it; I'm
just asking
if you've seen it. She couldn't fight her way out of a wet paper bag;
the new
Wonder Woman, though, she is different. She's been redesigned,
reimagined, re-engineered,
if you will. This new Wonder Woman, She's Wonder Woman, Reborn. That
was the TV
series that came out when I was growing up. Now, I sometimes think how
difficult it must be to be a movie maker. It's a tough job, right? It's
a tough
job but somebody's got to do it, right? Because, every time they create
a
superhero, that superhero has to be better than the previous superhero.
And, if
they have a hero, it, of course, has to become a superhero, and then
that
superhero has to become a super duper hero, and whatever they do, they
have to
make it better than the previous. And, you really see this when they
take an
old story, and they remake the old story into the new story. Because
you remember
that character The Flash, you remember the Flash? Then He has to be
what? He
has to be flashier. You have the Hulk, He has to be Hulkier. You have
Mr.
Fantastic, He has to be fantasticker. And, you have Batman, He has to
be
Battier, of course, yes. So, when moviemakers try to create a hero that
is
greater than the previous hero, the more people have to be saved, and
the more
catastrophic the impending doom must be. It's no longer enough to save
the
Damsel in Distress from the speeding train; the hero, now, has to save
the
entire world from total annihilation. That's what has to happen, Okay?
That's
what has to happen. But, we see something here. The world is saying something in these movies. You may think that I'm exaggerating a little bit about these characters and so forth, but there is an Intrigue that we have, and it is made clear to us by the things that we are always fascinating about. I think that we can say that we all identify with these people who are overcoming their fears. Let’s say that there is a person who says that they know that somehow, someway, inside them is a higher person, a higher purpose, sorry, that were called for, and we see that portrayed in these movies. And, we're waiting to discover this true identity to access this power that we know has been kept up inside of us all this time. And, our Spirits are crying out, crying out for something, for some longing, longing that we have to be reborn. And, I believe that is that we want to be reborn, we know, into the image of the Mighty God. And, this is what's illustrated in the Wonder Woman movie, if you did see the Wonder Woman movie, she starts off as a little girl and this little girl, she's like any ordinary little girl, except she knows she wants to do something more in life. By the end of the movie she’s soaring up into the heavens, she's summoning the power of the universe, and, she's projecting them onto her nemesis and obliterating him. And, that's how Wonder Woman ends the movie, saves the day, saves the world from Ares. And, she was not just different, at that point, she was elevated, she was exalted, she was deified, really. She had become a demigod, which is unheard of, if you looked at the original TV series. She was God in the flesh. She was, really, told, if you watch the story-line, she was the daughter of the creator of Heaven and Earth, although the movie attributed that to Zeus. Okay?
Nevertheless, I
find
that there is a truth the further these heroes are developed, the more
it looks
like God. Where else can they go? There's nothing greater than God. The
more
these producers try to create something that has a greater power, a
greater
savior, a greater purpose, the more and more this person looks like
God. Even
in our foolish imaginations, we preach to ourselves, that what we
really want
is a savior, to save us. A Mighty God. Now, Jesus is
more than
an action figure. Superheroes are cool, and all, but our problem is, in
real
life, our enemies are not like the ones in the movies. They are not
villains,
or Invaders from outer space; our enemies are far greater. Our enemies
are sin
and death. And, who can defeat them? Even superheroes die. If you watch
them,
Wolverine died. If you know the history of him, I had to look some of
these things
up. If Parrish were here, he could tell it, he could testify for it,
okay?
Superman died. The Green Lantern died. For crying out loud, Captain
America
died. So, what kind of power does it take to conquer sin and death?
When Jesus
spoke of this power, He said two simple things: He said He had power to
lay
down his life, and He said He had power to take it up again. If you
read in
John, ten, eighteen, it says: John 10:18
No man taketh it from
me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I
have power
to take it again... And, it goes
on. The
power over death is a superpower, for sure. How many movies, how many
movies
have been made about somebody who sought to have the power over death?
Countless movies, I don't know how many there are, there are countless
movies.
And, in every case, the person who sought to have that power was always
the
villain because he sought to have something that did not belong to him.
That
power only belongs to the creator of Life, The Giver of Life, and that
is the
Mighty God. But, this is not only what Jesus had to say. Not only that
He had
the power to raise his life up again, but that He had the power to lay
his life
down again. Now how many movies have been made about somebody who
sought their
power to lay down his life? Unless it was a movie about Jesus, I really
don't
know; nobody really seeks that kind of a power. It's not really a power
that we
look at as a power. We don't consider it in our minds. The power we
think of as
self-preservation, the power over death. After all, powerlifters,
they’re judged
by their ability to lift up weight, not their ability to drop it.
Boxers are
judged, or they win, by being able to stay on their feet, and not get
knocked
down. Architects are successful when they are able to build a building
that is
strong and sure, not one that will collapse. But, Jesus said that this
is a
power, the power to lay down his life. He isn't saying that it is just
a power
to be killed; of course, we know that's not the truth. The power that
He's
talking about is the power of the will. No one took His life from Him,
He gave
it up of Himself, by His own will, and He did it for us. It's a power
that so
powerful, it's beyond us. It's like no power that we know. If it
weren't for His
help, I don't think we'd ever even comprehend it. Yet, it is the
ultimate
demonstration of another power, that we know as love. So, in First
John, three,
sixteen, it tells us: 1 John 3:16
Hereby perceive we the
love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay
down our
lives for the brethren. Now, of all the stories that have been made up about people who gave up their lives for others, and there have been some, there is none that compare to the story of Jesus. First of all, there is no one who could give themselves for the benefit the entire world. Everybody who has been, everybody who is, everybody who will be; there’s nobody could give themselves up for all of that. And, secondly, although there are people who are noble, and we think it's a noble thing, when someone of a high status gives themselves for somebody of a low status, say, Tale of Two Cities, or something like that, when we see that happen, we know that's a noble thing, but Jesus is the Mighty God, all righteous King, who gave Himself for sinful man. There's no story that could ever compare to it. But, this is, this is how Jesus saved the world. So, people are
looking
for the hero in the wrong places. The reason that the Jews did not
accept Jesus
as their King, it's because they were looking for the wrong kind of
King, to
deliver them from the wrong kind of enemy, with the wrong kind of
weapon. Today,
although the world may not be looking for a king, I assert they are
looking for
a hero. But, they will not find that hero, as long as they're looking
for the
wrong kind of hero, to deliver them from the wrong kind of enemy, with
the
wrong kind of weapon. We talked about Wonder Woman defeated Ares, the
god of
war, and she did so by war. Can she really defeat war by war, or is she
just
propagating war. Okay? Jesus is different. Superheroes are essentially
humans,
humans who manifest superpowers like of Gods. Jesus on the other hand
is God,
who manifested Himself as a man. He came as a baby in a Manger, for
instance.
Superheroes use their powers to subdue the enemy by force. Jesus made
Himself
subject to His enemy and defeated them by love. Superheroes fight
battle by
battle, enemy by enemy, but Jesus conquered all enemies once and for
all.
Superheroes die, Jesus is the resurrection. Only the Mighty God has the
power
to raise the dead, because only the Mighty God is The Giver of Life,
and only
the Mighty God has the power to lay down life, because only the Mighty
God is
love itself. So, let's talk
about
this power. Because Jesus did lay down His life, and take it again.
Because He
conquered sin and death, He is able to give us power also. If we read
John, one,
twelve: John 1:12
But, as many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to
them
that believe on his name: So, He gave us
the power
to become sons of God. If you knew the one who had the power to lay
down His
life, and take it up again, and He was willing to offer that power to
you,
you'd want it. So, let's try a little positive affirmation. You've
heard of
positive affirmation? People will say something that they want to
affirm that
they know to be true. Say. “I have the power.” Now, say it like you
have the
power, “I have the power!” Yeah, one more time. All right, all right,
so, He-man
would be envious of you right now.
These things that we say, we're
saying to affirm
that we already know to be true, as I said. I am convinced that this
thought of
possessing this power of the Mighty God, it stirs up something inside
of each
of us. I believe that it resonates with something that we feel that we
are
created for something more, for a higher purpose, there is that spark,
that
Breath of God, that spirit inside of us that cries out, it has not been
lying
dormant, it has been actively seeking, desiring God, and there's only
one thing
that will satisfy it. There’s only one kind of a Savior that can come
and
deliver us, and give us the power to be reborn into His image of the
Mighty
God, to overcome sin and death, and to live eternally. And, that day
has come,
because, unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the
government
shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. Now,
some
people will ask, “How can one man be all these things? How can He be
Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of
Peace, all
at the same time?” And, some will tell you, that this is because He is
God in
three persons. Have you heard this before? But, if you ask them to
explain it, “How
can anything be three and one at the same time?” they will tell you it
is a
mystery. Which is another way of saying, they can't explain it either,
but they
still want you to believe it. Now, if they're really devout, they will
say, “If
you try to understand it, you will lose your mind, but if you don't
accept it,
you will lose your soul.” Have you ever heard that expression before?
All right.
I've heard it, I've heard it, I heard a teacher who was teaching, and a
student
asked that very question, “How can these three be one at the same
time?” and
the teacher gave that response and he just completely shut the guy up.
So, it's
very effective, too effective, because if you're seeking God and
somebody says
that to you, you'll stop, you'll just stop. And, that's what happened
to the
guy; I was sad for him. But, the Bible says that Jesus has revealed the
mystery
to us. As, if you looked at, I'll get into this verse later, actually,
but it says
He revealed it to us. And, a simple explanation, I will explain to you
how
Jesus can be all of Isaiah nine and six at the same time, and we'll go
back to
the message. You know that Jesus is both The Lion and the Lamb? So, we
don't
think He's two Jesus's right? He's The Lion and the Lamb. Is He
Prophet, Priest,
and King? And, yet we don't think He's three Jesus’s in one Jesus,
right? But, He's
fulfilling all of these needs for us. We need to have a king, we need
to have a
prophet, we need to have a priest. We need to have a lamb, because we
need a
savior to die for us. We need a lion, because we need a king to reign
over us.
He's both; He's all these things at once, and, in the same sense, He's
Isaiah nine
and six. He's all these things at one time. Now, if you have questions,
because,
I know we were all ingrained in this, I know I was raised engrained in
this, if
any of you have questions about this, if you need help with this, I
will be
happy to talk to you afterwards. I'd love to talk to you afterwards. Now, when I
talk about
receiving the power to overcome sin, which is another point, I don't
mean that
God just ignores sin, and hopes it will go away. I want to be clear on
that,
because if I talk about having the power over sin, some people go, but
I can't
stop myself from sinning. There's two different things it's talking
about:
there's willful sin, and, there’s sins of ignorance, okay? So, what
kind of
Deliverance would that be if He just ignored it, and hoped it would go
away? We
really don't have that Deliverance, we know within ourselves that we
really
want, and need, the power to overcome sin to free us, so that we're not
subject
to it, we’re not enslaved by it, we are really delivered from it, and
that's
the enemy that we really want to have victory over, and that's what
Jesus comes
to give us. So, our soul longs for this, and this victory comes from
being born
again in Christ. Romans, six, nine to fourteen. This starts off, but it
just
introduces the topic, it says: Romans 6:9-14 knowing
that Christ being raised from the dead
dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
For in that he died, he died unto sin once:
but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. [So,
Jesus passed from death to life, and put away sin and death, once and
for all. And,
here's what it means to us:] Likewise
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto
God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. [So, we are dead, indeed, to sin,
but this
is where people may say it's metaphorical, because we still do sin. So,
to not sin
means that we really do not sin, because we have the power over it? Not
to
willfully sin. Is that what it's saying? Well, I would say, yes, it is.
Let's
look:] Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. [So,
it's
not metaphorical, it really says we have the power to not to willfully
sin. And,
it says:] Neither yield ye your members
as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto
God, as
those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness unto God. [Again, he is defining sin as what we do
in our bodies,
and telling us to be instruments of righteousness. Note the final
sentence:] For sin shall not have dominion over you:
for ye are not under the law, but under grace. That's what we
long for
we long for, that Deliverance that sin does not have dominion over us.
That's
the victory that Christ gives us so, according to what we have read, we
can see
that Grace is not just overlooking sin. Grace is actually the gift of
God given
to us to have power over sin. So, it is a gift, and, it is the gift to
have
power over sin. This is given to those who are born again. I was once
talking to
somebody who was telling me that he's been born again, and he knows it
because
he speaks in tongues all the time. He
said, “I speak in tongues all the time. In
fact, I could speak in tongues at any moment. I
might actually speak in tongues right now.” And,
before he said anything else, I
said, “You know, the real mark of conquering sin in our lives, of
having the
real mark of having the power to conquer sin in our lives—” Actually,
no, I'm
sorry, “…the real power, the real sign of being born again is having
the
ability to conquer sin in our lives.” That's what I told him. So, I
said to him,
“How are you doing at conquering sin in your life?” And, that was
pretty much
it, that was the end of the conversation right there. So, I really
can't tell
you much more. Notice that I'm
talking
about willful sin, not ignorant sin, as I mentioned. Now, let me
illustrate
this really fast: if I walked onto a bus—I know I'm teaching a little
bit, but
I think it's important—if I walked onto a bus, and I put my shoulder
bag over
my shoulder on my right side, and I went down the aisle—I’m just going
to do this
because you're all on the aisle—and I went down the aisle, and I went,
boom, boom,
boom, boom, and I got all the way to the back of the bus and I have a
seat, and
I looked, and everyone on this aisle is glaring at me, and I suddenly
realized
what I had done, because I didn't know it because I didn't feel it in
my bag,
and I apologize, I sincerely apologize to everybody I am really sorry,
I didn't
mean to do that. But, when we got to the destination, and I put my bag
on my
left shoulder, and I walked back down the aisle, and I went boom,
“Sorry,” boom,
“Sorry,” boom, “Sorry,” boom, “Sorry;” I couldn't really sincerely say
I was
sorry, because I willfully knew I was doing it, I was doing it
willfully, and
that would be the difference between ignorance and willful sin. Okay? So, let's
return to our point,
who are we looking for? There are many who say that you don't have to
be born
again but these people don't have the power to lay their life down. He
said He
had the power to lay it down, and He had the power to take it up.
There’s
people who say you don't have to be born again, they're trying to stop
you from
being able to take it up again, and the reason why is because they
don't have
the power to lay it down again. That's what it takes; if you want to be
born
again, you have to first lay it down, and then you can to take it up.
Okay? So,
they don't have it, and, maybe, they're afraid of what that new man
will be.
Maybe they don't want to acknowledge their own unrighteousness, and to
follow
the righteousness of God. Who knows? Maybe they want the power to be of
themselves, to be their own savior, their own mighty king, their own
mighty
God. Perhaps they want to be men who exhibit the power of God,
themselves. But,
if we want our life to be raised up, we must first be willing to lay it
down,
for our enemy is our own self will. And, this is also what Jesus meant
when He
said He had power to lay it down, He’s talking about power over His own
self
will. His flesh, the will of His flesh, was made subject to the will of
the Spirit.
Otherwise, He would not be able to say, to be without sin, and to
endure the cross,
and to be obedient unto the cross. So, one other
point
then, about being born again: baptism is essential to being born again.
Did you
know that obedience is faith in action? Obedience is faith in action.
The Bible
actually uses the terms obedience and faith in Romans sixteen,
twenty-five to twenty-six
which we don't need to put that up, but if you want to write it down.
When I
talked about the mystery being revealed, that's Romans sixteen,
twenty-five to
twenty-six. What I talk about Obedience of Faith, that's also Romans
sixteen, twenty-five
to twenty-six. So, in this reference of the Gospel, He is referring to
the Gospel
of Christ being made known to the nation's, to the end that they should
believe
to the obedience of faith. So, obedience of faith. Obedience is faith
in
action. Sin is the transgression of the Law, as the Bible says. Or, it
may be
more specific to say, sin is lawlessness. Living without any law. When
we live
for God, we have a law that God gives us, if we're pagans, if we're
lost, if
we're Gentiles, whatever, we have no law, that's sin. That would be no
law at
all. But, having no law at all is, it's not just disobeying the Law,
but not
having one, really, it's what it comes down to. Obedience to God,
however, is,
then, faith in action. So, obedience is faith in action. To look at it
another
way, obedience is the opposite of self will. If you want to have
victory over
your own will, you must obey the commandment to be baptized in the
rebirth of
Christ, so baptism is faith in action. It is obedience, but it's faith
in
action. So, look at the following verses on baptism, and their
connection to
the new life, by the resurrection of Christ: Romans, six, four. For
those who
don't know it, and I think there's some that here who need to hear it,
it says: Romans 6:4 Therefore we
are buried with him by baptism into
death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of
the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. So, being born
with
Christ, by baptism, leads to a new life in Christ. Colossians, two,
twelve,
says something very similar: Colossians 2:12
buried with him in
baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the
operation
of God, who hath raised him from the dead. Baptism is the
means by
which we are buried with Christ and risen with Him through faith. And,
First
Peter, three, twenty-one, although there are many more, you could
learn, or
read: 1 Peter 3:21
The like figure whereunto
even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth
of the
flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the
resurrection of
Jesus Christ: So, baptism
cleans us,
new, by the baptism of Jesus Christ. All these things are important,
we're
talking about we are going to find this Savior that we really want to
deliver
us. To understand what His power really is, and what He gives, and that
He does
give it to us, and then how to obtain it. All these things are
essential to us,
all these things are important to us, and all these things are going to
answer
to us all our longing and our desire to have that hero, that superhero,
that
Mighty God, over our lives. Church, one day, we all will lay down our
life, and
if we don't have a plan on how to take it up again we are ill-prepared.
We need
more than a superhero, we need a Mighty God. Call on Him to save you,
today,
because when you hear, “Look, up in the sky!” it will be too late.
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