2014-12-06 (BIG 10 Open Air 1)

Good afternoon Buckeyes and Badgers fans and security that's just here to help. We appreciate you. now I realize that many of you are not going to go to church tomorrow and so even though this does not excuse you from church I am going to deliver for you the word of God as here we are in early December I'm going to read to you from the book of Matthew this is the account of the birth of Christ which we're getting ready to celebrate when we celebrate Christmas in just a few weeks it is a well known historical event and so this is from the book of Matthew in the New Testament now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together she was found to be with child. Jesus Christ conceived of the Holy Spirit fully God became a man.

Reading in Matthew and her husband Joseph being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which means God with us when Joseph woke from sleep he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him he took his wife but knew her not until she had given birth to a son and he called his name Jesus so this Jesus who we come here to proclaim to you today the most important historical figure that's ever existed God himself in the flesh came as a baby lived a perfect life so when you imagine what it would be like to be God in heaven and to leave heaven in order to come into your creation and subject yourself to the very people who you should rule over.

That's what Jesus did. Now, why did Jesus come? As we just read in the passage, He came to save His people from their sins. Are you one of His people? Are your sins forgiven? I want you to look at your life honestly, and I want you to consider your life when compared to God's holy standard, when compared to God's standard for righteousness in order to get into heaven, in order to be considered righteous by God, what standard do you have to meet?

And when we look at understanding God's standard, we look to the Ten Commandments, the Ten Commandments given by God in the Old Testament thousands of years ago, which is a basis for morality. We look at the first commandment, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, to have no other gods before Him, to not have any idolatry in the second commandment. The third commandment says not to use God's name in vain.

You should never use God's name as a cuss word. God's name is to be used for worship and praise because He's holy and He's worth it. And just like you'd be offended if people took your name when they stubbed their toe or they got in a car accident and they used your name or your mother's name, God's offended when we use His name wrongly. His name is holy and it should be exalted.

Is there anyone here who's ever dishonored their parents? Were you a disobedient son or a disobedient daughter? When you've disobeyed God just by disobeying your parents, you're guilty of sin. And I know we don't talk about sin in our country anymore, but sin is an important aspect to understanding who God is because sin defines humanity. we are sinful by nature and we rebel against the God who's given us life the God who's given you the money to come watch a game tonight the God who's given you the jacket that's keeping you warm right now or the cup of coffee that keeps you warm the God who gave you life, who provides for you every moment the God who allows you to continue to exist even though you live in open rebellion to Him that is the same God who sent His Son into the world so that all those who believe in Him might not perish but have eternal life.

That's Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, born of a virgin. So He was born without any sin nature and He never once violated God's laws. He never disobeyed God once. And when He died a bloody and cruel death on a cross, He died a criminal's death, and that was a death He did not deserve because He'd never sinned. He'd never broken God's law. But He died that death in the place of others, people like you and people like me, who could never pay for our own sins, who could never wash away our own unrighteousness in God's eyes.

God Himself came in the flesh in order to pay the penalty for sin that you and I deserved What God commands of you now that you have that knowledge is that you repent of your sin That is, you turn from sin. You change your mind about sin. And you turn to Him and you trust Jesus Christ, the righteous Son of God, for your salvation. that you believe in the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, that you trust that He really and truly died for your sins on that cross and He really actually rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures and that He ascended into heaven and He's seated at the right hand of the Father now.

And He intercedes on behalf of all those who are His. So are you hearing me today? Are you one of His sheep? Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. Do you hear Jesus? Do you listen to his voice?

Do you listen to his words? He's revealed his words in the Bible. And the Bible commands us to do certain things. The Bible gives us a standard for righteousness, not only one that we can see how we fall short so we know our need for Christ, but it gives us a standard to strive for as a Christian. Are you a Christian today struggling with sin? Do you think that sinning is okay because you said a prayer and you asked Jesus to come into your heart and forgive you?

The Bible says unless you're born again, you will not see the kingdom of heaven. There's a story in the book of Luke where Jesus compares a man who thinks himself righteous before God This is Jesus Christ speaking, the Son of God. He says, He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.

Two men went up into the temple to pray. One, a Pharisee, and the other, a tax collector. the Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus God I thank you that I'm not like other men extortioners, unjust, adulterers or even this tax collector but the tax collector standing far off would not even lift his eyes to heaven but he beat his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner and Jesus' response is I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who humbles himself will be exalted and everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.

Folks, we're here today to exalt the name of Jesus Christ before you. We want you to see Jesus Christ as the only righteous man who ever lived and the reason he could be the only righteous man who ever lived is because he was also fully God. We want you to be able to evaluate yourself against God's standard and not do what this Pharisee did and compare yourself to only other people around you who may be worse than you.

There's always going to be somebody who's committed more crimes than you, who's done something worse than you, who maybe has done something terrible to you. But you need to look at your own life before God and consider whether you've been forgiven of your sins. If you think you need no forgiveness, then you make God a liar. Because according to the Bible, according to God's Word, every man is a sinner. there is no one good, there's no one who's just, there's no one who's righteous, no, not one.

But God is full of love and mercy and kindness. And instead of punishing sinners the moment they sin, instead of striking us and sending us straight to hell and giving us the right punishment for our rebellion against Him and His worthiness and His righteousness, God has instead sent His Son into the world, Jesus Christ. and Jesus Christ walked this earth and he suffered the same temptations that we suffer and even though he was God and he was perfect and he had never done anything wrong he was accused, he was accused of wrongdoing he was accused of breaking the law and he was sent to a trial where he was punished for crimes he didn't commit he was punished for proclaiming himself to be God when that's in fact the truth but he willingly died on that cross for sinners like you and sinners like me because there was nothing we could do to save ourselves because there's nothing we can do to please God in our flesh but we can be pleasing the God of your hidden in Christ so turn to Christ today, trust him repent of your sin, ask for his forgiveness and trust his death, burial and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins we're here to tell you this wonderful good news that Jesus saves. According to John chapter 14, Jesus himself says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man comes to the Father but by me. Jesus declared every other religious system to be wrong in that statement. He declared that if you are trusting yourself, your own works, your own religious system, if you're trusting the Pope or a priest or whatever other things that you have your faith in other than Jesus Christ, He condemns you for that belief.

But He still offers His love to you. He offers His kindness to say, Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You can dump your load of sin. You can dump your load of guilt on Him. He took it on the cross, and He is ready to forgive. And you must repent.

You must be born again and turn to Jesus Christ and live. It is a command in Scripture to believe the gospel. And if you reject this wonderful gospel, if you reject God's word, if you reject God's offer of salvation that He freely gives, you like a guilty prisoner standing in a courtroom and the judge has offered to cancel your sentence Somebody else has offered to pay the price for your crimes and you said, no, I'll pay for them myself.

The punishment for sin in God's eyes is eternal judgment. Because God is eternal, and because God is perfect and holy and righteous, even a single act of sin against Him, is worthy of an eternal punishment. And I don't want you to suffer eternal punishment. That's why I'm here. That's why my friends are here. That's why we've brought cards and we've brought Bibles.

And I'm standing here speaking to you. And trust me, I don't get anything for this. This isn't for our health. We're here for you. We're here so you can hear the message that saved us. The message that Jesus Christ died for sinners.

The message that I needed to hear. the message that you need to hear. And whether you've already heard it and believed it, whether it's the first time or whether it's the hundredth time, this is the truth of God's Word. This is what you need. And God has chosen what is considered the foolishness of preaching to save some. And He has brought to you someone willing to proclaim the Word of God to you, someone who will tell you that 2,000 years ago a man was born of a virgin, never once sinned, suffered a cruel and bloody death after a difficult life being mocked and scoffed at.

And then he died and three days later he rose from the dead. Do you know anyone who rose from the dead? Everybody's biggest fear in life ought to be death. And if it's not, then I'd be interested in knowing what you fear more. But now wouldn't you want to know from somebody who's conquered death? Wouldn't you want to trust the only person who's conquered death with your life?

Jesus Christ has full power over your life. He has power over your death. He has power over your sin. He can forgive sin. Jesus Christ saves to the uttermost. When Jesus Christ saves a soul, He doesn't partially save them.

He doesn't save you a little bit and then ask you to do the rest. Jesus Christ is fully capable and fully sufficient to forgive all your sins and He's willing to do that. Turn to Him today and trust Him. Jesus Christ is full of kindness and mercy and grace, but he's also a God of great wrath. He's a God of great hatred for sin and unrighteousness. And we don't like to use that word.

But I'll tell you what, if somebody came up to you and stole your stuff, if somebody came up and hit your mom or your friend or stole your Buckeyes tickets or your Badgers tickets, if somebody took your coat on a cold day like this, you would be angry with their unrighteousness. You would expect judgment. If somebody committed a crime here, you would expect a police officer to enforce the law.

You would expect the law to protect you and for people to enforce it. And you would want justice because we're all born with an innate sense of justice because we're made in the image of God. Yet when it comes to our sin before God, when it comes to us confessing that we are also guilty of violating God's law, we don't like justice all of a sudden. All of a sudden we think the law's wrong and we're right.

We think the judge is wrong and we're right, or the thing we did shouldn't be considered so bad. or we see somebody else who got off free and we want to get off free too even though we're guilty. Hey, free, it's good to see you guys again. But when we want justice for other people but we don't want justice for us, that's hypocrisy. But Jesus Christ, He fulfilled justice by going to the cross and dying.

When He died for the sins of others because He was innocent, He fulfilled God's need for justice by showing God's mercy on sinners. And what we ask you to do today, what we're here to tell you to do is repent of your sin and trust Jesus Christ. We're here to tell you that God is good. And because God is good, that should strike amazing fear into the life of a sinner.

It should strike amazing fear into the life of somebody who is not hidden in Christ. But because Jesus Christ is merciful and kind, He came into the world and He suffered the punishment sinners deserve. Jesus Christ paid the penalty for sin so that people like you and people like me could be forgiven. Turn to Him today and trust Him. When Jesus Christ was on the earth, His Father said, This is my Son in whom I am well pleased.

And if you are not hidden in Jesus Christ, He is not pleased with you. But if you are hidden in Jesus Christ, God is perfectly pleased with you. And there is nothing that can take you from His hand. there's nothing that can pluck you out of His Father's hand because Jesus Christ is perfectly aligned with His Father's will. So if He's hidden you and He's paid for your sins, then His Father sees you as washed clean.

And that's what we want you to know. We want you to know this isn't a message of condemnation. It's a message of grace and mercy and peace with God. And it includes the declaration that if you are alive today, it means you're a sinner. It means that you've sinned and you are condemned if you've not repented and trusted Christ. we're not here to judge people I'm a horrible sinner my friend Joe I don't even want to tell you what this guy's done but we stand here forgiven of our sins not because of our righteousness but because of the righteousness of God because of the kindness and mercy of God and the washing of God in our life we've been forgiven because of Jesus Christ and we want you to be forgiven because of Jesus Christ We want you to know that He is fully worthy of praise, and He's fully capable to forgive sins, and He's fully capable to forgive you.

I want you to taste and see that the Lord is good. And this is a psalm Psalm 34 from the Old Testament This is God Word a psalm of David I will bless the Lord at all times His praise shall continually be in my mouth My soul makes its boast in the Lord. Let the humble hear and be glad. Are you glad to hear people boast of the Lord? Does it please you to hear the name of God exalted?

Oh magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together let's exalt the name of Jesus Christ and you cannot do that if you've not placed your faith in Jesus Christ that's what we want for you today David writes I sought the Lord and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears those who look to Him are radiant and their faces shall never be ashamed this poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. That is what we are here to declare to you today, the great salvation of the Lord from your greatest trouble, which is your sin and God's judgment on sinners. Because God is full of love and goodness and righteousness and holiness, He has a holy anger and wrath and even a hatred for sin.

But we are here to proclaim to you that He forgives sin because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Place your faith in Him today. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them. He offers protection and care. Verse 8, O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him, who hides in Him.

You must hide in Christ to be blessed and forgiven of your sins. O fear the Lord, you His saints for those who fear Him have no lack the young lions suffer want and hunger but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing this is what we want for you today seek the Lord come O children, listen to me I will teach you the fear of the Lord where's the fear of the Lord in your life today? Do you believe that God is all-powerful and capable of striking you?

Do you believe that God can and will punish you for your sins, for your evil? Stop thinking of the person in your life you know who's done something worse than you. Stop thinking of the people that have hurt you or the people that are in jail for horrendous crimes and think about the things you've done where your guilty conscience has shown you and convicted you that you have violated God.

You know you were wrong. And you know if your wife found out you did it, you'd be in a whole heap of trouble. And yet you justify yourself because you didn't get caught. And you think you got away with it, but God sees everything. Stop trying to hide from the God who sees everything and instead fear Him and then turn to Him in faith and trust. Jesus Christ, the risen Son of God, who died and came to life and He holds the key. and He can free you from the captivity you're in to sin.

He can free you from your guilt, free you from the judgment that you are rightly under from God. What man is there who desires life and loves many days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. How many lies have you told today only? How many blasphemies? Asphemies, how much profanity and vulgarity.

The very lips that we use that should be praising God are often used to do evil things. They're used to hurt people. Don't do it. Turn from it. Back to the psalm. Turn from evil and do good.

Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears toward their cry. He hears your cry, but you must turn to Him. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil to cut off the memory of them from the earth. God, although He is patient and He is forbearing and He allows people to exist and offend Him repeatedly, will make things right and He will take away evil from the face of the earth.

If God removed evil from the face of the earth right now, would you be able to stand? turn to him and be forgiven and have your righteousness be in Christ only where am I? verse 17 of Psalm 34 when the righteous cry for help the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles the Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves the crushed in spirit many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all he keeps all his bones not one of them is broken affliction will slay the wicked and those who hate the righteous will be condemned it isn't enough to just walk by and ignore if you hate the righteous if you don't acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord you in effect hate him if you reject his word You hate the person bringing His Word to you. You must turn to Christ and live. Trust Him.

He's a good Savior. The Lord redeems the life of His servants. None of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned. That is the message of salvation. Turn to Christ and live. Jesus Christ, when He came into this world, we celebrate Christmas, the baby in the manger.

Jesus Christ lived a sinless life that none of you could live that I couldn't live and when he went to that cross and he was punished unjustly for sins that he never committed He took on the penalty for sinners like you and me, and the Father in heaven crushed His only Son, and He bruised His only Son, and the chastisement of His peace is upon us. And if you will turn to Christ, you may live. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.

Confess Jesus Christ as your Lord, and believe that God has raised Him from the dead, and you shall be saved. It is your command today to trust Jesus Christ alone for your righteousness, to not rely on your own righteousness, to not rely on the good things that you think you do to be pleasing to God in heaven, a reason why God should overlook the bad things you've done, the sins you've committed, the evil deeds, the wickedness, the wretchedness, or just the mistakes you've made. The word you want to use, it doesn't matter. if you fall short of God's standard the punishment is eternal hellfire and I don't want that for you it's why we're here we want you to have a healthy fear of that concept but we want you to know the goodness of Christ of the resurrection of the dead according to the book of Genesis the reason we have death in the world today is because of sin not necessarily your own personal sin causes your death or someone else's but sin in general covers us and it causes death It why people die It why we get sick It why we suffer we live in this fallen cursed world that covered in sin Yet Jesus Christ took on death which is the result of sin which is the wage of sin and He conquered death showing that He has power over death, He has power over sin, so He has power over your death, and He has power over your sin.

He can raise you up after your death to righteousness, and He can seat you in heaven with Him in the holy place, because Jesus Christ is all-powerful and He has access. Jesus Christ fully fulfilled all aspects of the law on your behalf. If you will turn to Him and repent of your sin, trust Jesus Christ as your Savior. According to God's Word, He's called the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Bright and Morning Star, the Bread of Life, the Resurrection and the Life, the Light of the World.

Jesus Christ the first and the last He's the door of the sheepfold He's the good shepherd He's the King of kings and Lord of lords He's the great high priest He's able to fully empathize with our weaknesses and our needs because of humanity He's able to fully forgive those because of His godliness and if you turn to Him today and trust Jesus Christ as your Savior. He will wash away all of your sins past present and future And you can spend the rest of your life knowing that you have eternal salvation because of God because He is good because of His regeneration because the Holy Spirit comes to live with Christians in their heart, that believers have Him indwelling them, and they have access to God through Jesus Christ, the only intercessor between God and man. Do you have a religious person telling you that you need to come to them in order to know God?

That's not true. If you are going to anybody but Jesus Christ to get to God, then you are an idolater. And God will condemn you for that, even if you didn't know. Ignorance of the law does not excuse you from the penalty of breaking the law. And so we're here today to tell you that you, just like us, are a guilty sinner before God, but God is full of mercy, and He is a judge that's ready to take your sentence and cast it upon His only son, Jesus, on that cross.

Consider the resurrection of Jesus Christ. A man really died, was buried, was gone for three days, and then he was gone out of that grave, rose again seen by hundreds of people documented and passed down to us for centuries and if you read the account you will see that it is that resurrection is the fulfillment of all the scriptures from the beginning to talk about the messiah who would come to save His people from their sins An anointed person A Savior who came to save sinners from their sins And when He was born in the manger, it was prophesied about Him that He would do these things. There is no book like the Bible.

There is no anthology group of books put together that all tell the same story so well. And that's because the Bible is the only book of its type that has the same author. And the Bible is the only book that could be written over a period of 1,600 years and still have the same author because the Holy Spirit, God, is the author. And He has preserved His Word in such a way that it is clear, it is understandable, it is inerrant, it is infallible, it is sufficient, and it is your job to trust it.

The Bible is the authority. and I implore you today to trust what the Bible says about you that you are a sinner and what the Bible says about Jesus Christ that He is not and that Jesus Christ fully God and fully man paid the penalty for sinners and His death, burial and resurrection and your belief in that and your repentance from sin can bring you forgiveness and salvation Take a break. One guy came over and tried to stop.