Christian Quotes

Read Isaiah 53

On December 7, 1941 a Japanese squadron of 360 planes launched an all-out attack on Pearl Harbor, an act of aggression that launched the Pacific War. The commander of that Japanese Squadron was a man by the name of Mitsuo Fuchida. He was considered to be Japan’s most skilled combat pilot. As the commander of the squadron, he was the one who gave the command to attack Pearl Harbor. Fuchida continued in the war for the next four years, and miraculously escaped death four times.

Fuchida was not a religious man, but after the war his thoughts turned to God. One day at a railway station in Tokyo he was handed a Christian pamphlet. The pamphlet was entitled “I Was a War Prisoner of Japan.” It was the testimony of Jacob DeShazer, an American, telling how during his imprisonment in Japan he started to read the New Testament and was converted and his whole life transformed. Immediately Fuchida’s interest was sparked, and he, too, started to read the New Testament.

Soon he came to the story of the crucifixion. He read of how Jesus forgave His enemies from the cross when He prayed, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Fuchida says that his heart broke when he read this account. He couldn’t understand how someone could pray for their enemies and ask for their forgiveness. At that moment, Fuchida opened his heart to Christ and eventually became a Christian evangelist. What a powerful testimony of the wonderful grace of God! Captain Fuchida later came to America and traveled around apologizing for the war and preaching forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

I want to talk for a few minutes tonight on the glorious truth that there is a Man in Heaven who is both our Saviour and our Sympathizer.

The New Testament as a whole teaches us very plainly that God’s Son became a man and gave His life as a ransom for the whole human race; the book of Hebrews, which I want to look at tonight, contains that same teaching; but it also adds something that the other New Testament books don’t talk about: the book of Hebrews calls Him a High Priest, and it goes into great detail about Christ’s High Priestly work in our behalf.

With that in mind I want to read two short passages from the book of Hebrews.

Heb. 2:14-18 and Heb. 4:14-16.

The writer is showing in chapter 2 that in order to save mankind, Jesus had to enter the human race. Redemption for the sin of man could only come through a man. But that man would have to be sinless. There was no way that one sinful man could redeem another sinful man. And so Christ entered the human race by being born of a virgin, and because He was sinless, God accepted his death as satisfaction for the sins of the human race.

Read Ephesians 1:1-3

Our reading is from the book of Ephesians, which deals with the subject of LIFE IN THE HEAVENLIES. It’s the New Testament counterpart to the book of Joshua in the Old Testament. The book of Joshua, you will remember, describes the entrance of the Children of Israel into the promised land, the land of plenty, the land flowing with milk and honey. It describes a life of triumph and victory through the power of God. It describes a life of conquest and overcoming. And so likewise Ephesians describes a life lived in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That doesn’t mean of course that the book is impractical and removed from everyday circumstances. Paul was writing from a dungeon, in all probability chained between two soldiers 24 hours a day. The epistle was written to Ephesian believers, most of whom were probably slaves of some sort or another. So although it talks about life in the heavenlies, it is also very down to earth. Someone has said that the book of Ephesians begins in the heavenlies and ends in the kitchen. In other words, it begins by pointing out the rich inheritance that we have in Christ as believers, and describes us as seated with Christ in heavenly places; and then it applies that to everyday life–for example the life of a household slave working in the kitchen.

1 John 2:15* Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16* For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17* And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

INTRODUCTION—WHAT IS “THE WORLD”?
What does the Bible mean when it uses the term, “world”?
For example, when John the apostle says in the passage we just read, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world…” what does he mean?
Or in 5:4, “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.” What does He mean?
Or what does Jesus mean in John 15:19 when he says, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”
Or what does Paul mean in Romans 12:2 when he says, “Be not conformed to this world”?

Let me give you a definition of the world as the Bible, and particularly the NT, views it:

The world is an organized, harmonious system of rebellion against God, with Satan at its head.

Why did I use the words organized and harmonious?

Matthew 1:18-25

I want to speak to you for a few moments from the latter part of verse 23: “And they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”

Emmanuel is one of the names given to Jesus. Nowadays when we give names to our children, the names don’t necessarily mean anything. Often we call our children by the names of a near relative or someone we specially admire. Sometimes we call them by a name that just sounds good—we like the sound of it. This was not the case in Bible times. Names had meanings and contained teaching, and this was never more true than in the case of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has many names, and those names are all full of meaning and instruction. The name Jesus, for instance, means “God saves,” or simply “Saviour” as we saw in verse 21 of this passage: “for He shall save His people from their sins.” Isaiah tells us that “His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” And here in our text He is called Emmanuel, which means “God with us.”

It’s interesting that there’s no record of anyone actually calling Jesus Emmanuel in the New Testament writings. In fact, this verse is the only place that the name is used. But the meaning, or teaching, or doctrine that is behind the name—Emmanuel, God with us—is everywhere in the New Testament. For example, 1 Tim. 3:16 says that “God was manifest in the flesh”—in other words came to dwell with us. John 1:14 says, “The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us.” And so, although they don’t use the actual name “Emmanuel,” the New Testament writers continually refer to the fact that when Jesus came, it was God coming amongst us—God with us.

I want to speak to you tonight from a verse in the Old Testament book of Isaiah. It reads like this: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.”

This is God speaking—Jehovah, the One True God, the Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Living God. And He is saying, “Look unto me, and be ye saved.” Or another way we could put it is, “Look and live!”

What does God mean when He tells us to Look and be saved, or Look and Live?

I think it would help us to understand what God means if we look at an illustration from further back in the Old Testament, so I’m going to read you a short portion from the book of Numbers, chapter 21. This story occurred during the time that God’s chosen people, the nation of Israel, were wandering through the wilderness. They had left Egypt, you remember, and were on their way to Canaan—the promised land. I’ll begin reading at Numbers 21:4 through verse 9.

John 17:1-10

I want to speak to you for a few minutes tonight about ETERNAL LIFE.  My text is found in verses 2 & 3 of the passage I just read: “…that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

These words are part of what is sometimes called the High Priestly Prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. The prayer forms the concluding part of what we call the upper room chapters of John’s Gospel—chapters 13 through 17. Here we find Jesus at the end of His earthly ministry, on the eve of His crucifixion. He is giving some parting instructions and words of encouragement to His disciples.

To begin with, He washes the disciples feet and then inaugurates the Lord’s supper. Then He goes on to talk about the many mansions in Heaven, the vine and the branches, the persecution that they can expect from the world, and He also talks to them about the Comforter—the Holy Spirit—whom He will send once He has gone.

Psalm 51:1-13

This is one of David’s penitential Psalms—a Psalm of repentance or godly sorrow. You recall that he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then ordered the destruction of her husband, Uriah. Some time later, Nathan the prophet confronted David about his sin, and this Psalm was the result.

I want to talk for a few moments tonight on this subject of repentance or godly sorrow.

What is godly sorrow?

Godly sorrow is sorrow for sin combined with a deep concern for God’s glory.

Godly sorrow results when the Holy Spirit sends conviction to our hearts, and the realization dawns upon us, as it did upon David, that our sin is an affront to God’s holiness and His holy law.

This is one of my favorite passages in the entire Bible. The Apostle Paul is talking here about reconciliation. Reconciliation of course has to do with RELATIONSHIPS. If two people have a falling out and don’t talk to each other and don’t see each other, then the relationship is ENDED. There is hostility. There is estrangement. And so in order for these two to come together again, and for peace to be restored and hostilities to cease, there has to be a RECONCILIATION.

Now the Bible teaches us that there is hostility between God and man. There is a severed relationship. Why? Because SIN has come in and separated man from God. Sin is disobedience to God’s commands; and the Bible teaches us that man has rebelled, he has disobeyed, he has sinned. And so there is hostility between God and man. The relationship that once existed between God and man has been broken by man’s sin and disobedience. On man’s side there is unbelief and sin and fear; on God’s side there is wrath. God is holy, and because He is holy, His wrath is extended to mankind. In Romans 1:18 Paul says that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.”