The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problem - The Infinite God Becomes Jewish Flesh, Part 2

[0:00] O magnum mysterium, O great mystery and wondrous sacrament that animals should see the newborn Lord lying in their manger.

[0:12] Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear the Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia. In connection with the series that we are engaging relating to issues of Jewishness, I'm reminded that at this season of the year, Christians probably get more Jewish than they do any other time of the year.

[0:38] Singing things like, O little town of Bethlehem, and away in the manger, and speaking of the babe being born in Bethlehem, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord, Son of David. All of these things are Jewish.

[0:55] Someone may say, well, the next thing we know, Marge, you're going to be telling us that Christmas is Jewish. Oh, it is. It is. In fact, you can't find hardly anything in Scripture that is more Jewish than Christmas.

[1:11] The biggest problem is that the Jewish people do not believe it. But it's true nonetheless. And if you cannot ascribe to a Savior of your own race, provided by God himself to die for the sins of the world, if you cannot ascribe to that, then as a good Jew, I suppose you will just have to settle for lights.

[1:38] And they do. It's called Hanukkah. Happy Hanukkah. And it's a celebration of the dedication of lights and the miraculous supply of oil that did not expire while the dedication ceremony for the temple was taking place after it had been defiled.

[2:00] And Antiochus Epiphanes defiled it, and they cleansed the temple and reconsecrated it. And they did so with these huge lamps, huge lights that were burning that could be seen from miles and miles away.

[2:15] And the story goes that the light, the oil that supplied those lamps, was miraculously sustained over a long period of time so that the lights did not go out.

[2:27] And the Jewish people to this day celebrate that. They call it Hanukkah, which refers to the lights or the lighting, and the celebration of the miracle of the lights. It coincides very closely to our Christmas each year, and it's just referred to as the Feast of Hanukkah.

[2:45] And if you have any Jewish friends, you know they will go around wishing each other Happy Hanukkah, just like you and I do with the Merry Christmas. And also in your bulletin, there was a repeat announcement regarding Irving Berlin because of his Jewishness and his contribution to the United States.

[3:08] His name was taken from a book that I recently obtained that relates to the contributions of 1,000 different Jewish people to the world during the 20th century.

[3:22] And there are some very remarkable accomplishments in there from musicians and entertainers and scientists and philosophers, etc. So we are going to publish a different one each week.

[3:36] And I just felt compelled to rerun the one by Irving Berlin, and we'll give him an exposure of two Sundays, whereas the others will get just one, because of the season of the year and because of the songs he wrote, chiefest of which, of course, is White Christmas that everybody knows.

[3:54] And I cannot resist repeating again that the reason he wrote these songs, what is a Jewish man writing about Christmas for? He wrote, he said, out of a deep sense of gratitude for the benefits and the opportunities that the United States of America gave to a young lad who was born in Siberia, Russia, came to the United States at the tender age of six, and was afforded wonderful freedom and opportunities here in this great land.

[4:25] And to express his appreciation for it, he wrote the song, White Christmas. And to further express his appreciation for it, he wrote, God bless America, land that I love, stand beside her and guide her, and so on.

[4:41] And some of you who have a little bit of maturity on you can remember hearing Kate Smith sing that song, and she sang it like nobody else ever did. So, not only in honor of our Jewish friends and their contribution, but more so in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are undertaking a rather extensive series that is predicated upon the idea of the Jewish final solution to the world's problems.

[5:13] And in connection with that, and in connection with this season of the year, we are considering the second part to a message we began last week on the infinite God becoming Jewish flesh.

[5:29] Yes, that's the kind of flesh he became. Born of a woman in Bethlehem, fathered by the Spirit of God, mothered and birthed by Mary, a peasant girl from Nazareth.

[5:42] And it was to this one that the angel Gabriel appeared and told her that she was going to be the mother of the one whom Israel had awaited for 4,000 years.

[5:59] Can you imagine that? And she was absolutely overjoyed and said, My soul doth magnify the Lord.

[6:09] My spirit rejoices and my soul doth magnify the Lord. And then she referred to herself there in Luke 1 as, Behold, the bondservant of the Lord.

[6:20] Be it unto me according to your word. So, without a doubt, we are considering the one person who is the most talked about and controversial individual who has ever lived.

[6:37] We speak, of course, regarding the one called Jesus of Nazareth. Can you think of any other person about whom more books have been written, more songs composed, more poems written, or more lives dedicated in his name than this one?

[6:58] One who constitutes the core individual this one of all that God has been pleased to manifest and make known to us.

[7:10] Can you think of anyone else in whose name hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of schools and hospitals have been built to say nothing of tens of thousands of churches throughout the past 2,000 years have been established?

[7:29] Can you think of any other person, any other name, who even comes close, who could even be a competitor to the accomplishments and the fallout of this one?

[7:40] All of these matters are undeniably true and must be admitted by even the most vehement and staunchest of atheists. Like it or not, the severest of Christ rejecters and opposers must confess that these things are true.

[7:59] They are simply undeniable. And if then they are forced to affirm even begrudgingly that these things are all true, what can possibly justify their ongoing unbelief and even militant opposition to things Christian?

[8:21] Their only possible answer must be, can only be, that all these things to which they must concur are all based upon a huge, intricate, expanded fabrication.

[8:41] None of it's true. That's the only possible justification they can have for denying what we have expressed. They are all.

[8:53] Yes, the books, the songs, the hospitals, the schools, the churches, they are all together predicated upon one gigantic untruth.

[9:08] That's the position they have to take. That all these things mentioned are nothing more than the consequences of the world's greatest scam.

[9:21] They have to be thinking this. They have to be saying this. And many of them admit that that is precisely where they're coming from.

[9:33] That is precisely what they believe. The entire world, at least those who bought into it, have been hoodwinked. Christianity and Christians are then the most numerous dupes and misguided class of individuals ever to have walked the earth.

[9:58] Everyone, and I'm just giving you some propositions preparatory to our message, so I want you to get these things on the table and fixed in mind before we begin.

[10:09] Everyone who is aware of the person of Jesus Christ and what is claimed about him must place themselves on one side or the other about this one, this Jesus of Nazareth.

[10:24] There is no room for middle ground. There is no fence upon which one can sit. The implications of the person and work of Jesus Christ are absolutely stunning.

[10:39] In fact, they are staggering no matter which side one takes. If it is all a grand deception, it is stunning to consider the untold billions who have been deceived, many of whom gave their lives in support of a lie.

[11:01] That is stunning. And if it is all true and fully justified and vindicated, that is stunning to consider the untold billions who have and will perish in their rejection of this truth.

[11:18] Either way, the results are incalculable. And for those who have embraced it, such as yours truly, and I trust all of you who are here, you have found an inexplicable kind of satisfaction and contentment and peace and comfort and solace, and the fact that you have placed your faith in this one whom you believe to be worthy of your trust and of your honor.

[11:50] The fact that countless numbers of lives have been radically changed from lives of dissipation, drunkenness, waywardness, rebellion, etc., into productive citizens who have come to know and love the Lord and love each other in a way that they were not capable of doing before this Christ came into their heart.

[12:15] But, say they, it's all an imaginary Christ. There's really nothing to it. But, in our heart of hearts, we all know better, do we not? If ever there were an example of the logical and philosophical expression of the laws of the excluded middle, this is it.

[12:34] And what do I mean by that? Well, that's just some philosophical talk, but it's got real substance behind it. We mean that Jesus Christ and who he was and what he did and why he did it is an either-or proposition.

[12:52] There is no middle ground. This is referred to by philosophy and logicians as the law of the excluded middle. You may be on this side or you may be on this side, but you cannot be on neither.

[13:13] It's an impossibility. There is no middle ground. That's called the law of the excluded middle. This is precisely what Christ was referring to when he said, he who is not with me is against me.

[13:30] You're one or you're the other. Multitudes of people would say today, well, now, wait a minute, don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against Jesus. I just don't buy all that stuff about the miracles and whatnot.

[13:41] But I don't have anything. Oh, yes, you do. You deny his person and his character. There's no two ways about it. You're on this side or you're on the other side.

[13:52] There is no middle ground. There's no fence to sit upon. And for those who say, well, I have not made a decision for Christ, but I want you to know that I'm thinking about it and I'm interested and I may do that on down the road, but in the meanwhile, I'm kind of neutral.

[14:08] No, you aren't. No, you aren't. Because to not make a decision for him means you've already made a decision. And it's not for him.

[14:21] And what else can it be? It's only against him. That's all that's left. You don't have any other alternatives. That's it. Oh, you say, I'm kind of neutral. No, you aren't.

[14:32] There is no neutrality. It's an impossibility. Logical impossibility. Josh McDowell encapsulated the very concept that we're talking about when he titled his best-selling book over 30 years ago, Evidence That Demands a Verdict.

[14:52] And I have one of the earlier publications here. And I'm waxing a little bit nostalgic because this was published in 1972. And shortly after it came out, I took a class of our teenagers.

[15:07] And by the way, two of my children were in that class. They were teenagers. I guess that really dates me, doesn't it? I mean, Tim is what now? I think he just, yes, he just hit the big double nickel.

[15:20] He's 55. But he was a teenager once upon a time, and he, with about 20 or 25 other kids, were in this class, and we went through this book by Josh McDowell.

[15:33] It's been reprinted and republished, revised a couple of times over the last 30, 35 years. Well, 40, 45 years, whatever. And it's still one of the finest things that's available along the subject of popular apologetics.

[15:50] And it's just a compendium of excellent articles and arguments for the person of Christ being who he claimed to be.

[16:01] And I want to share just some of it with you, and we'll not labor over entire paragraphs, but I just want to take some of the headings and briefly expound on them, because so much is at stake.

[16:15] The book is appropriately titled Evidence That Demands a Verdict, because when one examines the evidence, you must come out on one side or the other, because there is no middle position.

[16:30] Jesus of Nazareth is the real deal, or he isn't. Jesus died on that cross for the sins of the world, or he didn't.

[16:46] Jesus was raised from the dead, or he was not. Jesus is really coming again, or he is not.

[16:57] You who have placed your faith and trust in the belief that Christ died for your sins, or you did not. You have not.

[17:10] Jesus is not a Savior, kind of. He was not raised from the dead, kind of.

[17:20] He either was, or he wasn't. And some of the salient points that he makes here, I'll just run by you and briefly comment upon them, and I think they'll be very enlightening, and help you to kind of put the cohesion of it all together.

[17:36] The first one is listed. If God became man, and we're talking about the infinite God becoming Jewish flesh, if God became man, then we would expect him to have an unusual entrance into this life.

[17:59] Now think about the logic of that. God, every one of us here was born the same way. Well, there may be a slight difference.

[18:11] You may have been a usual or ordinary delivery, or you may have been a C-section. But at any rate, you were carried in the womb of your mother by seed that was implanted by your father.

[18:27] And that's how you got here. God was born the God. That's how we all got here. But if God were to become flesh, if deity, the infinite, incomparable, eternal God, is going to become one of us, you would expect something different about it, wouldn't you?

[18:48] I should think so. It would not be just an ordinary birth. And from the very get-go, he had such an extraordinary beginning in what we refer to as a virgin birth, or some say, well, to be technically correct, it wasn't a virgin birth that was a miracle at all.

[19:06] It was a virgin conception where the miracle lay, conceived of the Spirit of God in the womb of the Virgin Mary. And then, secondly, if God became man, then we would expect him to be without sin.

[19:31] Because if he were to be born and come into this earth as we did, through the channels that we did, he would be born under the same kind of moral contamination that we were.

[19:46] And we are all morally contaminated. Every one of us. We were born that way. We were, I guess you could say, born wrong. We were all born with a terminal disease.

[19:57] It's called sin. As it is appointed unto man once to die. After this, the judgment. So, this one, we would expect to be without sin.

[20:09] Especially from the standpoint that if he came to redeem the world, then he by paying for the world and its sin debt, he can't start out with any of his own.

[20:22] Because if he were made of the same moral fabric that we are, he would be disqualified to be our savior. Because I can't save you from your sin, and you can't save me from mine.

[20:36] Nor can either of us save ourselves. That's why we need a savior. And that's the principal part of Jesus' job description.

[20:49] You shall call his name Jesus. Why? For he shall save his people from their sins. How's he going to do that?

[21:00] He dies as a substitute for people and their sins. He took our place. He died in our place. He went through what we deserve to go through so we wouldn't have to go through it.

[21:16] That's the meaning of redemption. Christ died for our sins. He didn't die for his. He didn't have any. And that's what made him eligible. How could one person atone for the sins of billions of people?

[21:32] Well, if he were merely a human person, there's no way he could. But he was able to do what he did because he was who he was.

[21:45] It was his personhood that made him eligible and ultimately successful in doing what he did. And for those who can't understand how one person's value and worth and payment could possibly atone for the sins of billions of people.

[22:06] All you need to do is compare the distinction and the difference between what we would call normal versus infinite because he is the infinite God.

[22:17] He was able to make that payment. I guess what we're saying is the life the life and payment made of one God is greater than the value of all of the human beings who ever lived.

[22:37] And if you have difficulty understanding that let's put it in simpler terms. Can you not understand how the value of one human being is greater than all of the ants who ever lived on all of the ant hills anywhere in the world?

[23:00] How would you compare the lives of all of those ants with the life of one human being? Do you not see there is an incalculable difference between the two?

[23:11] Well, when you're talking about the difference between a human being and deity, the difference is even greater. Jesus Christ could successfully pay the sin debt for the entire world because of who he was.

[23:26] And I'll tell you what that does. It places an incomparable value and worth on what Jesus Christ did on that cross.

[23:37] When he said it is finished, wow, we have no idea of the scope of that. And if God became man, then we would expect him to have an acute sense of difference from other men.

[24:00] man. And he was in so many ways. And those who encountered him testified to him. Roman soldiers would come away after questioning him and talking to him and say things like, no man ever spoke like this man.

[24:14] Never heard anybody say these things that he's saying. Jesus exhibited time after time after time a kind of perspective and wisdom that just blew everybody away.

[24:27] They just could not get over. the gracious words that proceeded from his mouth. Where did he get this stuff? He's never been in any of our rabbinical schools. He's not trained in any of the Jewish seminaries or by any of the sages of the past.

[24:41] Where does he get this wisdom? Well, it was all built in because he was who he was. If God became man, then certainly his words would be the greatest ever spoken.

[24:55] Now, you can take any personage in history, and I care not who it is, whether it's Shakespeare or Milton or a more modern writer, and you can accumulate all of the quotes that all of the writers have ever made of all of those people, and Shakespeare would probably be the largest, and they do not begin to compare with the words of wisdom that have been offered by Jesus Christ and preserved for posterity down through the ages and are available to us today.

[25:23] nobody ever spoke the kind of words that he spoke with the power and authority and the consistency and the insight, which he demonstrated time and time again.

[25:38] If God became man, then we would expect him to have a lasting and universal influence. And isn't it obvious for those of us who even live today, to see certain individuals appear on the scene and everybody's talking about them, and they're a household name, and everybody knows who you're talking about.

[26:01] Whatever venue you go in, they've heard of that person. But give it time, three years, five years, and you'll get responses like, who? Oh yeah, there was somebody by that name.

[26:13] Let's see, what was it that they did? I can't remember, but the name is a little bit familiar. And you give it ten or twenty years, and they're into oblivion. Nobody can hardly remember them at all, except those with the best of memories.

[26:26] Why is that? It's because they're a mere human being, just like us. But you know, the name of Jesus has never come close to going out of style.

[26:39] People never say, Jesus of now, let me see now, wasn't there somebody, I'd have to look that, no, no, no, know. Even the most ignorant know that there was this person, Jesus of Nazareth, and he did change the world in so many ways.

[26:57] A lasting and universal influence. And, if God became man, then we would expect him to satisfy the spiritual hunger in man.

[27:08] And, I am confident that that has been true for many of you. Remember, as a young man, 21 years old, looking for some answers, but I didn't want anybody to know it because I wanted everybody to think that I had all the answers.

[27:26] It's amazing how much dumber you get as you live longer. You know that? Someone has said, I used to know a whole lot of things, and I don't know anymore.

[27:41] I guess as we get older, somebody put it this way, I think it was one of my old history teachers, it says, as we mature in years, we come to the place of where we learn more and more, but about less and less.

[27:59] And that's right, because as you go through life, your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, you have lots of areas of interest that are really important to you, and you give time and attention and detail to them and everything, but when you get up into the 3 score and 10 and heading for the big 8-0, all of a sudden, a whole lot of things just don't mean very much anymore.

[28:27] But what does mean much means more and more to you than it ever did before. There are many who can attest to those same kind of feelings.

[28:39] memories. When I was, I remember, I was six years old when Pearl Harbor happened, living in Chillicothe, Ohio.

[28:53] And I didn't understand what was taking place, but I knew that all the adults were talking about it, and everybody was upset. And I can remember my mom and dad and grandparents and uncles all getting together and talking about how terrible it was and Pearl Harbor.

[29:13] And I remember asking my mom, I said, well, what happened? What's taking place here? What's going on? Here I was, a little six-year-old first grader, and she told me about this bombing attack and all of these explosions and all of these soldiers and sailors that were killed at Pearl Harbor.

[29:36] and I had real difficulty processing that. And I said, what do you mean? What do you mean? They were killed. And she said, well, they're dead. They're not alive anymore.

[29:47] We know we are alive and they're dead and they're gone. And I said, well, where are they now? And she said, they're dead. And you know, as a six-year-old, I couldn't be satisfied until I knew where they were.

[29:59] And even though she told me they were dead, that did not register with me that they didn't exist anymore. And I don't know where I got that kind of thinking, but I said, okay, so they're dead and they're not alive anymore, but where are they?

[30:13] And I guess finally she caught on and she said, well, they're in heaven with God. And I said, oh, okay. And that satisfied me as a six-year-old.

[30:27] And then I remember later coming back to her, and I said, how, how, how do we know that they are in heaven with God? And she said, well, because everyone who dies for their country goes to heaven to be with God.

[30:46] Okay. This is just the naivete of a six-year-old, but it's satisfied. And then later the question became, what about people who don't die for their country and they just die?

[31:01] Where do they go? What, what happens to them? And she gave me the same line that so many parents give their kids, and that is, well, there's good people and there are bad people, and good people go to heaven, and bad people don't.

[31:16] And that satisfied me for some time. And you know, that's a typical standard, pat answer that we give everybody. Good people go to heaven, bad people go to hell.

[31:27] Moral of the story is, be good, so you'll go to heaven. And if you're good enough, God will reward you, and you'll go to heaven. It's one of the greatest lies my mother ever told me. Bless her heart, she knows better now because later in life, she came to faith in Christ shortly after I did.

[31:46] But she gave me some wrong information, and you know, parents, as much as we love them and trust them, they're not perfect, they don't have all the answers, and sometimes they give us wrong answers, and my mother gave me wrong answers.

[32:03] So, lastly, I want you to consider this, and we'll have a couple of minutes for Q&A. If God became man, if the infinite God really did become Jewish flesh, lived among us, died on the cross, then we would expect him to exercise power over death.

[32:32] And he did. And all of the evidence examined by an unbiased mind will point to that, that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead after three days.

[32:44] And not only that, but we are told that he was alive on the earth for forty days and forty nights after almost six weeks, making numerous appearances, not only to his apostles, but also to more than five hundred witnesses who were together at one time.

[33:07] They saw him. Now, the evidence is so overwhelming as to be able to more than convince anyone with an ounce of objectivity. But I can tell you this, if someone is bent, on not believing, they can satisfy themselves that they are justified in not believing because all of their questions have not been answered.

[33:33] Well, all my questions haven't been answered either. But you know, when someone goes to trial, whether they're on trial for their life or for a crime or whatever, the jury has to convict them beyond any reasonable doubt.

[33:51] It isn't beyond a shadow of doubt, but it is beyond any reasonable doubt. In other words, if the evidence that is presented is the kind of evidence in abundance and in depth that would satisfy a normal, average, everyday person, then they have the evidence on their side.

[34:13] And the evidence for Jesus Christ lining up with all that the prophets predicted regarding him, everything from his birth to where he was going to be born to how he was going to die and all the rest of it, you just cannot dismiss that as coincidental.

[34:29] There is no way that we can excuse that and say, well, what an interesting coincidence, what a fluke. No. The mathematical probability of Jesus Christ being able to fulfill all that was prophesied and predicted of him, mathematical probability of his not being that one is of such a staggering number that you can't pronounce it.

[34:50] It has too many zeros after it. So it all brings us down to this one issue, the evidence that demands a verdict. What are you going to do about it?

[35:03] Nobody can just leave it in neutral. You have to embrace it and go with it because logic compels you to do so and you do want to think of yourself as a logical person or you have to deny it in the face of overwhelming evidence.

[35:20] We would almost call that irrationality, unreasonableness. The evidence is there. And what I have given you this morning is not even scratching the surface.

[35:32] It's just a scratch on the scratch of the surface. There is so much more. And I'd be happy to make this book and others available to anybody who wants them. And by the way, as a follow-up, we will be treating these subjects and others like them at the 9 o'clock hour starting the first Sunday of the year.

[35:50] I'm going to have a word of prayer and then I'm going to have the last seven or eight minutes for Q&A. So if you've got a question, be prepared to ask it. We'll appreciate it.

[36:01] Pray with me, please. Loving Father, we are so grateful for the evidence that you have been willing to extend to us through your word and through the annals of history, even secular history, that men have compiled, attest to the person and the work of Jesus Christ.

[36:25] And we believe that each of us is here this morning by divine appointment. Nobody is here by accident. This is the kind of truth that you've made available that it may bless and sustain and encourage and comfort and convict every human heart.

[36:43] Because your love for us is so great that you want as many of us as will come to you to be by your side for all eternity.

[36:56] And we don't begin to understand what is involved in that. We can't fathom heaven. We can't fathom eternity. We can't imagine what it would be like as a redeemed throng to be in your presence.

[37:09] But you've assured us that this is so. And you've also assured us that the way to you is through your son whom you provided for that very purpose. There is so much about our faith that we don't understand.

[37:24] We just don't comprehend it. We recognize the limitation of our minds but we also recognize that we have a responsibility ability to apply what we do know and what we do understand.

[37:39] And we pray that in the heart and mind of each and every person here they may know that peace and that joy, that liberation that comes from knowing that your sins are forgiven and that they enjoy a position of rest and blessing with you that the world cannot take away.

[38:03] And Father, for anyone here this morning, young or old, struggling with these real issues of life and of death and of the hereafter, that you may be pleased to graciously speak to them, woo them, bring them to yourself even in this closing moment.

[38:20] And dear friend, as we remain here with our heads bowed, eyes closed, I would ask you to do business with the God of the universe this morning. We are talking about the infinite God who became Jewish flesh, and he did so with you in mind.

[38:42] God loves you in the very same way that he loved the whole world and you are a member of it. He loved you in such a way that he gave his only begotten son to redeem you.

[39:01] to bring you to himself. That's why Jesus came. That's why there was a Christmas, and that's why there was an Easter.

[39:15] This is your moment of decision. You have heard evidence. You need to deal with it. No, no, you can't hang out in the middle. You've got to make a decision.

[39:26] God has blessed you with a will, with a volition, whereby you don't have to come to him, but you may.

[39:39] And if you want to express your appreciation for Christ dying in your place, you may with your will, even right now, say, Lord Jesus, there's a lot about this that I don't understand, but I know enough to know, I'm a sinner, and you're a savior, and I would really like your salvation.

[40:02] I want you to come into this life of mine, and take over. I want you to be my savior.

[40:14] I want to trust you. I want to express my appreciation for what you did for me, by giving myself to you. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for doing for me what I could never do for myself.

[40:31] I want this to be my spiritual birthday. Thank you. Thank you. In your name. Amen. If you've made that decision, we rejoice with you.

[40:47] We would certainly appreciate knowing about it, so let us know, or tell someone else that you have made such a decision, and we've got some literature items that would be very helpful to you.

[40:58] All right, we'll take a couple moments now for questions and answers. I hope there will be answers. I'm sure you got questions. Anybody? My, my.

[41:21] I feel like my old history teacher who used to say, when there are no questions, I feel like I did such a poor job, I still completely confused you. you can't ask an intelligent question, or I so thoroughly briefed you that I've answered all of your questions and you don't have any.

[41:38] And I can't buy that last one. Anyone? All right, Ron Gannon, and then I think I saw another hand somewhere.

[41:52] Did I? here comes Mike with our roving Mike. Mike with the mic.

[42:02] Okay. This is not a question but comment. We can't be on the fence, but there's so many of us, and I know from my own experience, I didn't think I was on the fence.

[42:12] I grew up knowing the Lord Jesus Christ from Sunday school, from church, but I still did not have that knowledge that it takes a message like this morning to make me understand that I really wasn't on his side.

[42:31] Okay. Well, there are a lot of people who aren't where they think they are. And a lot of people have churchianity rather than Christianity.

[42:43] There are a lot of people suffering from that. And I can identify with that. You know, I actually had the audacity to think. I went to, when I was a teenager, I went to a Lutheran church.

[42:56] Every year, I went to a Lutheran church three times, three Sundays in a row, for Sunday school. You had to go three Sundays in a row to play on the church softball team.

[43:09] So, all my little ragamuffin buddies and I, in the neighborhood, we'd all get together and we'd pick these three Sundays and we'd go to the local Lutheran church three Sundays in a row, play on the softball team, and of course we dropped out.

[43:21] And nobody, I can't remember to this day what I ever learned in those three Sundays, but next summer we'd do the same thing. We'd go three. I don't know if the pastor ever did catch on, but that was, and you know, I had the audacity to think that God is keeping score and those three Sundays in Sunday school, he's going to put to my credit in heaven.

[43:40] And I guess I had a Muslim way of looking at heaven and eternal life, because this is precisely what their theology is, if you look into it, official Islamic theology, is that when you die, you go before God the judge, and there's this big pair of balance scales.

[44:05] You've seen the balance scales, liberty or justice, Lady Justice holds them, she's got a blindfold over her, and she holds these scales out like that, and everybody is weighed in God's scales, and all of the good things you ever did, you know, the little ladies you helped across the street as a boy scout, and all of the good things you ever did, they're on this side of the scales, all the bad things you ever did, and all of the language and everything, you know, the barracks language, they're put on this side of the scales, and you are weighed, and whichever way the scale goes, that's the way you go, and if you did more bad things than good things, you're hell bound, if you did more good things than bad things, you got it made, that's the way most people look at it, that's the way most people value eternal life, because they equate it with their present experience, and in our present experience, when you do good things, you're rewarded, when you do bad things, you're punished, so we think that it works that way with God, but it doesn't, because it doesn't work on the basis of that kind of judgment at all, it works on the basis of grace, and justice, because as I've often said, justice is the least that God can do for anybody, and that means you get exactly what you deserve, so God cannot do less than that for anyone, but he can do more, and more is called grace, he does for you what you do not deserve, and he's able to do it because

[45:54] Jesus balanced the scales of justice for you, and when you as an individual put your personal faith and trust in Christ, then he puts the righteousness of Christ to your account, and that's what makes you accepted in him, that is amazing, that's called amazing grace, it's called justification by faith, not by works, not by deeds, not by good intentions, justification by faith, so what we are doing when we are preaching the gospel is we are attempting to rescue people from the justice of God, and expose them to the grace of God, boy, that is something, that is really something, any other questions before we dismiss, anyone?

[46:49] would you stand please? Father, we marvel at the profundity and at the simplicity of this incredible gospel, it has a logic and a reason to it that no mere mortal would have or could have ever devised, and yet it is a reflection of the infinite God with that infinite mind, and we are so grateful for the love that drew salvation's plan and for the grace that brought it down to man, how thankful we are, and when we see you face to face, this will be our first expression, thank you, thank you, thank you for your unspeakable gift, thank you for the privilege of being saved by and blessed by this very one whom you gave to a

[48:03] Jewish maiden to be made into Jewish flesh to be our redeemer, we bless you in his wonderful name, amen.