Insiders Out

Transcript

Welcome to this week’s sermon from Trinity Church in Portland, Oregon. Following the scripture reading from Pastor Ryan Lister, Pastor Thomas Terry delivers his message entitled, Insiders Out. This message continues the series, Follow the Son, which is teaching through the gospel of Mark. Thanks for joining us. Here’s Ryan. Mark chapter 3, verses 20 to 35, Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, He is out of his mind. And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, He is possessed by Beelzebul. And by the prince of demons he cast out the demons. And he called them to him and said to them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man. Then, indeed, he may plunder his house. Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin. For they were saying, He, that is Jesus, has an unclean spirit. And his mother and brothers came, and standing outside they said to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him. And they said to him, Your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you. And he answered them, Who are my mother and my brothers?

And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, Here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother. This Trinity Church is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Good morning. I’d like to start first this morning by asking a question. Who do you say Jesus is? Some people consider Jesus to be simply a good teacher. Others consider him to be some sort of spiritual guide or guru. Some people consider him a mythological character created to control the moral fabric of society. Some say he’s just one of many ways to find your spiritual utopia. Regardless of who Jesus claims to be, everyone has differing opinions concerning this Jesus. Even if people say they’re indifferent to Jesus, they have by virtue of their indifference answered this question for themselves. Jesus is to them indifference.

The Greatest Question

And so low on their list of priorities that Jesus is relegated to a category not even worth entertaining or investigating. So again, my question for you this morning is, who do you say Jesus is? This is at its most basic level, the greatest and most important question humanity must answer. And this question is not unique to our time and culture. This question has been asked throughout the ages. Jesus himself testifies in the Gospel of John that he and the Father are one, which means that not only is he equal with God, but that he is also God. So despite what most people think about Jesus, regardless of their opinions or their perceptions concerning Jesus, Jesus himself claimed to be God. Which means that Jesus is either who he says he is, or he’s completely delusional, or he’s a deceiver. C.S. Lewis in his famous book, Mere Christianity, makes this profound argument concerning the

question about Jesus. His argument is essentially this, if Jesus is not Lord, he would be either a liar or a lunatic. Since Jesus was neither a liar nor a lunatic, it must be true that Jesus is who he says he is. He is Lord. About ten years before C.S. Lewis’ book, a man named Watchman Nee made a similar argument in his book entitled Normal Christian Faith. He says if a person claims to be God, he must belong to one of three categories. First, if he claims to be God and yet is in fact not, he must be a madman or a lunatic. Second, if he is neither God nor a lunatic, he must be a liar, deceiving others by his lie. Third, if he is neither of these, then he must be God. There is no need for us to prove if Jesus is God or not.

We have to simply find out, is he a lunatic or a liar? If he is neither, then he must be the son of God. And long before C.S. Lewis and Watchman Nee, the very first person to make this classic argument was none other than the creative and punchy storyteller, Mark. And he articulates this argument creatively in the form of a narrative, which is another reason why I love Mark’s gospel so much, because he takes this very intellectual argument and he puts it in story form. He puts it into a medium that is relevant for normal people like you and me, so that we’re not simply dealing with arguments or philosophical debates, but with a story. A living and breathing case study taken from Jesus’ own personal life experience. And this is exactly what we’ll see in our text this morning. As Jesus sat in the epicenter of culture, he became a household name.

Everyone in the culture knew things about Jesus. But most people in that culture didn’t really know who Jesus was. Among the crowds and among the religious experts and even among his family, this question was being asked, who is Jesus? Is he a lunatic? Is he a liar? Or is he Lord? Jesus had demonstrated over and over again through his miraculous signs and wonders that he is none other than the Son of God. And in our text this morning, what we’ll see is that Jesus’ own family and the religious experts have completely missed his identity. His family says he’s crazy, that he must be some kind of lunatic. These religious experts say he’s in collusion with Satan, so everything he’s talked about concerning the kingdom of God must be a lie. But what we’ll see is that he’s not crazy, and he’s not in collusion with Satan.

And if he is not a lunatic nor a liar, then he must be who he says he is. He must be Lord. Well, our text this morning is the first of what commentaries call a Markian sandwich. I know this sounds ridiculous, it’s a ridiculous name, and we made this ridiculous graphic to help. The reason it’s called a Markian sandwich is because a sandwich has two pieces of bread with meat in the middle. Or if you’re super Portland and you’re a vegan, then it’s two pieces of bread with hummus in the middle. Okay, so this Markian story is basically one story with another story that splits that first story in half, making a sandwich with the meat in the middle. Mark does this a lot throughout his gospel, and we’ll see more of that later, but this is the first time we see it in his gospel.

The Markian Sandwich

So in verses 20 and 21, you get the first part of the first story, which is the top piece of bread. In verses 22 through 30, you get the insertion of the story, which is the meat of the story. And then in verses 31 through 35, you get the second part of the first story, which is the bottom part of the bread, making this delicious sandwich, okay? So now that we’re all hungry, let me get to the work of setting some context for us as we begin. If you could please turn with me in your Bibles to verse 20. Verse 20, then he went home, and the crowd gathered again so that they could not even eat. It seems like every week we begin our sermon with a crowd gathering. This is characteristic of Jesus’s ministry. Wherever he goes and wherever he does ministry, crowds chase after him.

Last week, if you remember, we spoke about the pressure that Jesus endured from ministry. He was being pressured by the Pharisees, who were plotting to kill him. So he retreats from that pressure, and he goes to the Sea of Galilee, where he is again bombarded with this massive crowd, creating more pressure. Then Jesus experiences more pressure as he engages these spiritual forces of darkness, where he’s rebuking these demons and casting them out. And so again, he retreats from the pressure, and he goes to the mountain to find relief from the pressure and rest. And here is where he finds out, where he begins to delegate his ministry responsibilities, where he appoints the 12 apostles. And so here in our text this morning, we see that Jesus has now left the mountain with his apostles and makes his way back to the city of Capernaum. It’s likely that this home being referenced to here is the home of Simon Peter.

So again, Jesus is ping-ponging back and forth from the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum. So he goes out to do ministry, then he comes back home, and he begins to do ministry. And this is a good example for us. We go out, we do ministry, and when we go home, we do ministry. So you go to your workplaces or to school, you work unto the Lord. If the Lord opens up an opportunity, you speak about the Lord. You talk to your friends about Jesus, and when you go home, you don’t chill. You continue doing ministry. You minister to your children or to your spouse or to your housemates. This is a good example for us. So Jesus is now at his home base in Capernaum. My kids would call this probably HQ. And again, what we see is this crowd begins to move around Jesus.

The crowd begins to congregate around the house because they all have needs that Jesus can meet. And Jesus, as always is the case, is moved with compassion. So he begins to minister in his typical fashion. The crowd is growing again. The demands of ministry become so hectic and so crazy that Jesus and his disciples can’t even have a chance to eat. What is it with Jesus and his disciples and eating? He never gets to enjoy a meal on his own without some kind of interruption. What we see over and over again with Jesus is that the work of ministry is never ending. No matter how many people Jesus heals, people still come to him with more needs. Everywhere he goes, things get crazy. Flash mobs show up out of nowhere. Mobs almost trample him to death. Highly contagious lepers approach him at random. People rip holes in roofs to get access to him.

Family Intervention

He teaches in a synagogue and demons attack him. He heals people on the Sabbath and Pharisees plot to kill him. His family has become a bit concerned. And so in verse 21, we see the beginning stages of what I call the family intervention. Look with me at verse 21. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him for they were saying he is out of his mind. So the family, after hearing all these stories about Jesus, decide to leave the city of Nazareth and travel about nine hours to the city of Capernaum to go and get Jesus. This is how serious they’re concerned about Jesus. They want to snatch Jesus up because they believe he’s lost his mind. Now, who in the family is planning to go and get Jesus? Well, the verse here doesn’t tell us, but later we find out that it’s his half-brothers

and it’s his mother, Mary. Now it’s understandable that his half-brothers would think Jesus has gone mad. Because at this point in the storyline, Jesus’ half-brothers are not followers of Jesus or his message. There’s no record indicating that they were believers of Jesus or his ministry. But what’s unusual here is that Mary’s involved in the accusation of Jesus being crazy. I mean, Mary should know who Jesus was, probably more than anybody. She was visited by an angel who told her who Jesus was. And if that wasn’t enough, remember, Jesus was born of a virgin birth. Mary experienced a virgin birth. She should have known. Out of all people, she should have known who Jesus was. Maybe she knew some things about Jesus, but it’s certainly clear in our text this morning that she didn’t know all things about Jesus. Because the moment she finds out that things are getting crazy, that things are a bit dangerous,

she and her family begin to think that Jesus has lost his mind. She couldn’t possibly know all the intricate details and all the incredible danger that Jesus would face in his ministry, so she aligns herself with the siblings that are saying Jesus is insane. So they begin their trek all the way to Capernaum to snatch Jesus from the chaos. And what is it exactly that Jesus is doing to make them think that he’s crazy? What is it that he is doing that would necessitate this family intervention? Well, from the family’s perspective, they continue to see Jesus putting himself in harm’s way. He’s obviously not well. And they continue to see that he keeps causing problems and issues in the synagogue. Yeah, they’ve probably heard from the local rabbi about Jesus having these constant verbal confrontations with the Pharisees of all people. And they’re probably a bit concerned about their family reputation.

What are you doing, Jesus? Oh, you think you’re better than the religious leaders? Oh, you think you’re smarter than the Pharisees? You think you can challenge the scribes? They’re the experts. You don’t even have an education. Remember, you’re just a carpenter. You talk and act like you have all this authority. Who do you think you are? You act like you’re God or something. Why are you acting like that, Jesus? Of course, their only logical reason for Jesus’s behavior is that they think he’s crazy. Now, I’m not convinced that his family actually thought he was crazy. They might have just said that he was crazy to say face publicly, to preserve the family’s reputation. We don’t know for sure. But one thing we do know for sure is that they’re talking out loud about his sanity. And then they make their way to Capernaum to get him.

And just when the scene gets intense, right when we get to the point where the family intervention is about to occur, Mark interrupts the scene with this introduction of a new story in verse 22. This is where we get the meat of the story. And I call this the accusation of the experts, verse 22. And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, he is possessed by Beelzebul. And by the prince of demons, he casts out demons. So not only does his family make accusations against Jesus saying that he’s crazy, the scribes are now making accusations about Jesus. If you remember a few months back, we talked a bit about the scribes. The scribes were the experts of the Old Testament. These experts were likely commissioned by the Pharisees or some other rabbis to come and discredit Jesus and his ministry. Jesus and his influence has gotten way out of control.

And so these experts in God’s word, the experts in the Jewish oral tradition, these hired professionals were called all the way down from Jerusalem to discredit Jesus. But what’s interesting here about these experts is that they don’t do what most experts would do. There’s no research. They don’t investigate. They don’t ask questions. They don’t interrogate and then give their assessment of the situation. These scribes immediately go to the accusation. See these scribes, they really don’t care to investigate Jesus. They’ve come all the way from Jerusalem with orders. You find fault with Jesus. I don’t care what you see, how many miracles he performs, how much power he demonstrates, how compassionate he is towards people, how much scripture he quotes. You come back having found fault with Jesus. You discredit this man and his ministry. The thing is they can’t really discredit the miracles. They can’t discredit the authoritative teaching.

They can’t discredit his profound knowledge of the scripture. They can’t discredit the fact that he’s exercising supernatural power. So they got to find some other way to discredit Jesus. And so with not much to work with, they make this stupid accusation that Jesus is somehow in collusion with Satan. Because they cannot deny the power of Jesus, it’s evident to all people, they have to discredit the source of Jesus’s power. Forget the fact that Jesus has over and over again preached about the kingdom of God. Forget the fact that he’s calling people to repent of their sins. They don’t care. They’re saying Jesus is a liar, working with Satan, deceiving people, making them believe that he’s doing the will of God when he’s actually doing the work of Satan. So these scribes make two accusations to discredit Jesus. First they say he’s possessed by Beelzebul, which was just culturally at the time of Jesus

understood to mean Satan. And then they say that he is by the power of the prince of demons casting out demons. The prince of demons is just another way of saying Satan. So they’re saying not only is he possessed by Satan, but he’s casting out Satan’s demons using the power of Satan. That’s how low they must stoop to discredit Jesus. They’re using some fallacious argument, some completely illogical accusation to publicly damage the reputation of Jesus. And in verses 23 through 26, we get Jesus’s amazing response to their ridiculous accusations. We see here Jesus begin to expose the folly of the experts. Verse 23, and he called them to him and he said to them in parables, how can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

Jesus Responds

And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. Jesus here gives them two illustrations concerning their illogical fallacies. He talks about the kingdom divided and a family divided. He says, if a kingdom is at war with another kingdom, and in the middle of that war, one of these kingdoms begins to have this internal conflict. Maybe there’s a, maybe conflicting forces in this one kingdom, and that kingdom begins to fight against itself, that kingdom will ultimately destroy itself. A kingdom at war with itself will inevitably self-destruct. This is what happens in civil war. No kingdom or no country would want that because it’s self-destructive. And then Jesus references a family, if a husband and wife are pitted against each other, if they’re constantly fighting each other, constantly disrespecting each other, that family structure will not survive.

It will ultimately implode and be destroyed. We see this all the time with families who eventually get divorced because they’re always fighting against each other. Jesus is basically asking them, why would Satan cast out his own demons? That doesn’t make any sense. In fact, that would be stupid. It would ultimately end in destruction, in his own destruction. If Satan was at war with his own demons, then Satan’s kingdom would have already been destroyed. The very fact that there’s still some demonic activity happening is only proof that Satan is not divided against himself because it’s not destroyed. And because Jesus knows, given their logical fallacies, that these experts are not that sharp, he now gives them clarification as to what’s really going on when he casts out demons by using this illustration of the home invasion. Verse 27, but no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods unless he first

binds the strong man. Then indeed, he may plunder his house. At first glance, it appears that Jesus has taken somewhat of a left-hand turn here. When dealing with these scribes, it seems kind of awkward, like this is out of nowhere. He just starts talking about a home invasion, but this is not a left-hand turn. It’s actually a brilliant illustration. Just so you don’t get the wrong idea, I don’t know much about home invasion. Praise be to God. I don’t know much about that, but I do know one thing. If you intend to break into someone’s house and steal his possessions, but the owner of that house is a seven-foot tall man that weighs about 450 pounds, if you intend to be successful stealing this man’s property, the first thing you gotta do is catch this man off guard and tie him up. Again, I’m not speaking from experience, this is just common knowledge.

If there’s a strong man in the house and you want his property, you gotta tie him up or things will go all bad for you. So what does Jesus mean by this illustration? The strong man is Satan, who is holding people in his possession. In order for Jesus to snatch them from the grip of Satan, Jesus must steal these people from Satan’s grip. In order for him to do that, he must overpower Satan. He must bind up the strong man. Here’s the clarification. When Jesus is casting out demons, he is stealing Satan’s property. He’s stealing the very people being possessed by demons. Jesus is not in collusion with Satan, casting out Satan’s demons by the power of Satan. Jesus is at war with Satan, stealing from him, casting out demons by the power of God. Jesus is the stronger man, casting out demons. Then Jesus, after giving this illustration, speaks directly to the scribes with this severe

warning. Verses 28 and 30, truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man and whatever blasphemies they utter. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin, for they were saying he has an unclean spirit. These two verses here give us something profoundly encouraging and something profoundly discouraging. What is encouraging here and what should make our hearts sing this morning is that all sins can be forgiven. All sins can be forgiven. For those who come to trust in Jesus, for those who turn to Jesus in faith, all your sins will be forgiven. All of them. Sex outside of marriage, idolatry, infidelity, homosexuality, stealing, greed, drunkenness, even murder, all of it, all sins will be forgiven. First Corinthians 6, 9 through 11 says, or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor the idolaters, nor the adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. Such were some of you, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. All our sins are washed away. And when Jesus says, truly, I say to you, it means my word is bond. It’s a guarantee. It’s a promise. Jesus was saying, all sins can be forgiven, except one, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. That one, that sin will never be forgiven. And this is profoundly discouraging. That sin will not be forgiven, not in this life or in the life to come. That sin carries with it an eternal consequence.

And he’s saying to the scribes, you better be careful. You better be careful because you’re coming really close. You’re coming way too close to committing this eternal, unforgivable, damnable sin. And here’s what’s interesting. Here Jesus is rebuking the scribes, but if you think about it, it’s a compassionate rebuke. He’s concerned about them eternally damning themselves. So he gives these scribes a very sober reality check. You’re walking on thin ice. Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Now what is this blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? Well, it’s essentially what the scribes were about to do. Perhaps unknowingly, these scribes were saying that the source of Jesus’s power to cast out demons was coming from Satan. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is this, attributing the work and the power of the Holy Spirit to the work and power of Satan. And this is how serious Jesus considers the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is saying, you can say whatever you want about me. Say what you want about me, but don’t you dare blaspheme the Holy Spirit. You do that, there is no hope for you. Don’t do it. And this truly, I say to you, this guarantee is also for the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Now, I don’t want to just move to the next verse without addressing those here this morning who might be asking this question. Have I unknowingly or knowingly committed the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? When I first became a Christian, it was maybe three or four months after embracing the gospel when I came across this verse here of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. I didn’t know what this was. I wasn’t sharp enough with my Bible to resolve it theologically. And I wasn’t quite sure as to whether I committed this sin or not.

I mean, to tell you the truth, I said all kinds of things about God before I was a Christian, horrible things. And this verse haunted me for a very long time, scared me for a long time. I wanted desperately to be a child of God. I wanted to be saved from my sin. But if I unknowingly committed this sin and there was no hope for me, no matter how much I wanted to be saved. Dear Christian, if this verse scares you, let me offer some encouraging words to you that I wish someone would have offered me when I first heard this verse. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not so much a sinful act where you said something or thought something this one time that was so horrible concerning the Holy Spirit, knowingly or even unknowingly. It’s much more of a disposition. It’s an ongoing posture of the heart.

It’s an active, continual mindset that says the work of the Holy Spirit is actually the work of the devil. It’s saying that the power underneath the work of the Holy Spirit is satanic. And you see, the reason this is an unforgivable sin is because it requires the power of the Holy Spirit to convict you of all the sin that you need to be forgiven from. You deny that power of the Holy Spirit and you attribute it to Satan. You deny the very power to save you. Listen, child of God, if you are concerned that you have blasphemed the Holy Spirit and this scares you and you desperately want to be a child of God, then you can know for sure that you’ve not committed the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Because people who commit this sin don’t want to be children of God.

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Insiders Out

They don’t want Jesus. They just don’t. Listen, the scribes, as evil as they were with their accusation about Jesus, as evil as they were, Jesus was saying to these men, you better be careful. He didn’t say that they committed the sin of blasphemy yet. He said, you guys better watch out because you’re coming dangerously close. And then following this confrontation with the scribes, Mark picks back up where he left off with the family intervention. So now we get the bottom part of the bread. Verses 31 through 34. And here we see the insiders out. And his mother and his brothers came. And standing outside, they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him. And they said to him, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you. And he answered them, who are my mother and my brothers? And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, here are my mother and my brothers.

For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother. So Jesus’ family finally arrives from Nazareth. They’re just outside of the home. But because the crowd is so big, Jesus’ family can’t seem to get in the house. They’re forced to stay outside. And this image here perfectly sums up the central theme of this whole text here. Those who you would consider to be insiders are kept out, while those who are considered outsiders are on the inside. Jesus’ family, those biologically related to Jesus, should have been the insiders. They knew Jesus. They grew up with him. They should have had a special in with Jesus, a pass. Remember, they’re half brothers, but they’re still blood related. Blood is thicker than water, right? We should have access to Jesus. We should be on the inside. They should have been the ones most supportive of his ministry.

Instead, they call him crazy. They’re insiders biologically, but they’re outsiders spiritually. Even his mother joined in with her children in declaring that Jesus was crazy. She’s on the outside. And this is important. This means that proximity to Jesus doesn’t make you an insider. Knowing Christians doesn’t make you an insider. Having Christian friends or growing up in a Christian home doesn’t make you an insider. The insiders here are pushed out. And it’s the same thing with these scribes. These were experts of God’s word. They knew more about God than anyone. These were theological giants. These scribes should have seen how all of God’s word points to Jesus. They should have known that Jesus was the son of God. I mean, they knew all the prophecies. They knew Isaiah. They should have known. But knowing things about God doesn’t make you an insider. Having a theological framework or even a seminary degree doesn’t make you an insider.

Listen, following Jesus makes you an insider. Trusting in him, making him Lord of your life makes you an insider. What’s interesting here, who are the people on the inside of this house? Tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves, the list goes on. All these outsiders brought in through Jesus Christ. Jesus through his life, death, and resurrection has purchased a new family, a spiritual family. We who were once outsiders have been brought in by the blood of Jesus. Ephesians 2.13 says, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. We are part of a family with far deeper roots than biological blood because bought blood is thicker than biological blood. Here Jesus defines true family and it’s not through genetics. It’s not through ethnicity or nationality, but through faith, repentance, and obedience. He crushes the notion that just because you’re raised in a Christian home, that somehow makes

you a Christian. If you’re a child here and your parents are Christian, listen to me. You need to follow Jesus to be a Christian. You need to follow Jesus if you want to be a Christian. You’re not a Christian just because your parents are Christians. You need to trust in Jesus to save you from all those bad things that you do. You need to follow him. You want to be a brother or a sister in Jesus’s family? You want to be a part of God’s family? You need to orient your life around the will of God. And what is this will of God? To follow the son, to be a follower of Jesus, to take him by faith, to listen and to obey his word and to live in dependence upon the Holy Spirit who gives you the power to do all those things. That’s what it means to do the will of God.

Are you a part of God’s family? Do you want to be a part of God’s family? Do the will of God. Doing the will of God gives you the certainty that you are in the family of God. You can be brought into that family this morning if you want him. Take him by faith this morning. Believe in who he says he is, Lord. Remember Jesus said this, all sins can be forgiven. There’s not a sin that you committed that is too far beyond the grip of his saving. There is no sin that is unforgivable if you want Jesus, if you want to be a child of God, if you want to be in his family. And if that’s what you want, you can come to him and he will save you. He gave his life to pay for all the sins you’ve committed. Ask him to help you believe and he will meet you.

He will save you. He alone has the power to save you because he is Lord. He is Lord. Listen, this text reveals that Jesus was not crazy, that he was not some lunatic. He was far too intelligent and far too articulate to be a lunatic. The things he said to these scribes were too comprehensive, too complicated, too sensible and too radical to be considered crazy. Think of all the ways he logically boxed in these religious experts. He said all the right things at all the right time in a very sober and reasonable way. Crazy people don’t do that. And our text this morning reveals that Jesus was not in collusion with Satan. He was not a liar. He backed up every claim he made. Jesus could not be a liar because his life was marked by perfection. He was without sin in every way. And the people that follow Jesus, some of these people in the massive crowds who got

an up-close-and-personal look at Jesus’s life, his character, they testified about it, that he was perfect. He never lied because he never sinned. So if Jesus isn’t a lunatic and he isn’t a liar, then he can only be who he says he is, the Lord, the Son of God. And if he is Lord, if he is Lord of everything, then we are all accountable to him. We owe him our very breath. You are by virtue of being created by this Lord accountable to him. You need to submit yourself under his lordship. And this is not a nice request. Would you please come follow Jesus and submit your life under him? This is a command. You must surrender your life to him. He must be Lord of all because he is Lord of all. Trinity Church, is Jesus the Lord of your life? Is he the Lord of your life?

He Is Lord

If he is not, then you need to make him Lord of your life. Every aspect of your life must be surrendered to Jesus. And if you are here this morning and you are not a follower of Jesus, you also must submit your life under the lordship of Christ. And you can do that this morning, right where you are. You can ask him to help you make him the Lord of your life. And he will do it because he is Lord. He has the power to do it. Face him by faith this morning and he can be yours. Let’s pray. Father, thank you for this text this morning. This text that sobers us to the reality of who you are. Because we live in a culture with conflicting ideas of who you are. It’s important that we are informed by your divinely inspired word as to who you are and

who you claim to be. And we need to be reminded of it because we are so prone to forget. We are so prone to drift and begin to align ourselves to the culture’s interpretation of who you are. But father, I pray that you would help us to align our thoughts and our hearts around your word which testifies to the truth of who you are. Lord, I pray God that you would help us by the power of the Holy Spirit to align us and to submit us under your lordship. Because we’re accountable to you. Because you demand it from us. And because you are worthy of it. And we pray all these things in Jesus’ name. Amen. Thanks for joining us for this week’s sermon from Trinity Church in Portland, Oregon. If you’d like to learn more about us, you can visit our website at www.trinityportland.com.

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