Fifth Sunday of Lent - Delivered!

 

Today is the fifth Sunday of Lent. This entire Lenten season, as is true of each season within the Church’s calendar, was designed by the early Church to help people focus attention on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to that focus that we now turn to the primary text for today’s Lenten message. Look with me at this prayer in Psalm 86:11-13

 

“Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and will glorify Your name forever. For Your lovingkindness toward me is great, and You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.”

 

For our remaining time this afternoon, I hope to demonstrate how this prayer is applicable to our walk with our Savior – not only as we journey toward Easter Sunday, but also as it applies to our DAILY walk around the calendar with and toward our Lord.

 

When we pray with the psalmist, “Teach me, oh, Lord your way and I will walk in your truth” – our prayer presupposes an important point – that being  we WANT to know God’s truth – even if His truth is inconvenient or unpleasant. Scripture and even our personal histories give ample evidence that God’s truths can be inconvenient or unpleasant. For example, there’s the story in the 42^nd and 43^rd chapters of Jeremiah’s prophecy that illustrates that point.

 

The Babylonians had already ravaged their way through Jerusalem and Judah, and the small surviving remnant wanted to escape to Egypt for safety. They asked Jeremiah to seek guidance from God, saying, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole message with which the Lord your God will send you to us. Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will listen to the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us when we listen to the voice of the Lord our God.” Jeremiah 42:5-6

 

When Jeremiah received word from the Lord, he told the remnant that God wanted them to stay in Judah and NOT go to Egypt. He told them God would protect them from the Babylonians if they stayed where they were. But as soon as Jeremiah told them what the Lord had said, they responded: “You are telling a lie! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘You are not to enter Egypt to reside there’” (see Jeremiah 43:1-2).

 

The remnant then rushed off to Egypt like they’d wanted to do in the first place. But it didn’t end well for them – as it never does when we disobey God. They all died in Egypt when the Babylonians chased after them. What the remnant thought would be their haven became their graves.

 

The people of Isaiah’s day held similar attitudes, even though God rebuked them through the prophet: “This people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote.” (Isaiah 29:13)

 

And human nature didn’t change even to the first century. That’s why Paul wrote to Timothy whom he left to pastor the church at Ephesus: “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

 

In the late 1960s, Paul Simon of Simon and Garfunkel said it well in his song titled, ‘The Boxer’: A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest. I think that’s why so many people – even in churches – love to reinterpret Scripture. They want to make God say what He never said, so they can live in sin and justify to themselves their lifestyles.

 

“Teach me, oh, Lord your way and I will walk in your truth.”

 

Listen, please – We ought not to expect God to speak to us through His Scriptures or through His ministers if we choose to hear only what we want to hear.

 

Again, we each ought to pay very close attention. The Almighty God, the Holy God, the fiery pure God is not one to be trifled with. For good reason Jesus warns: “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

 

So, let’s return to the psalmist as he continued his prayer: Unite my heart to fear Your name.

 

If you’re like me, you find your heart often divided between what you want to do and what He wants you to do; Probably not in what we call ‘big things’ like living a morally pure life, but in a thousand little things such as what to watch on television, or whether to engage in a ‘little’ gossip, or holding on to the money you sensed the Lord directing you to send to some organization to feed the poor or the evangelize the lost.

 

What an important prayer this is: “Lord, unite my heart to YOUR heart.” Who doesn’t need to ask the Lord to make such a thing true increasingly so in their life?

 

Lord “Unite my heart to FEAR Your name.” And yes, it’s a good thing, a necessary thing, to have a healthy fear of God. As Scripture so often reminds us: “By the fear of the Lord one keeps away from evil.” (Proverbs 16:6b)

 

While growing up in my mother’s home, I loved her – but I also I feared her and her discipline, whether it was a swat on my bottom, or losing my television privilege, or whatever else it was, I feared her – and because of that fear I am in large measure the man I am today.

 

When we have a healthy fear of God, knowing that He will discipline us when we disobey Him – sometimes severely, if necessary – it is that healthy fear of God that protects us from ourselves.

 

I think our disintegrating culture is directly linked to the wishy-washy tripe too many pastors have been feeding their congregations for the last two or three generations, teaching, “God is love, God is love, God is love” – without hardly a mention that without JUSTICE, without DISCIPLINE, God’s love is nothing more than a sickeningly sappy and empty phrase.

 

Listen: God is serious when He says He expects from us holiness, obedience, and self-sanctification. Listen to these representative texts: (2 Corinthians 7:1) “Beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” And Hebrews 12:14 “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”

 

Let’s go back to today’s text: “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and will glorify Your name forever.”

 

When God teaches us His way, when we WALK in His way, when He unites our heart to fear Him, we will give thanks to Him with all our heart and glorify Him forever because our lives are rich with His presence.

 

But what might it mean to ‘glorify’ God? Surely it is more than simply singing worship songs or offering Him the words of our mouths. How can you and I, sinners as we are, give our awesome and mighty God glory? Well, Scripture tells us how we give glory to God.

 

For example: “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

 

Listen again to the Lord’s answer to that question in John’s gospel: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” John 15:7-8

 

How can we glorify the almighty God? Live in obedience to Him. And when we do as He tells us to do, we will not only bear fruit for Him, but also shine a light on His magnificence, a light directing everyone around us to look at Him.

 

He tells us through Isaiah: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;  So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”

 

Said another way, you don’t need a seminary degree to share with others what you know of God. You only need a heart desirous of bringing honor and glory to our Savior, and our sovereign God will use your words and your life to succeed in what He set it all out to succeed.

 

Let’s return to verse 13 of our text: “For Your lovingkindness toward me is great, and You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.”

 

Have you ever thought what your life would be like today – today, March 22, 2026 – have you ever thought what your life would be like today if Jesus hadn’t saved you? I hope you’ve thought about it – long and often. 

 

And if you haven’t, you should start. How can we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory if we don’t remember the horrible darkness that enfolded some of our lives. I don’t care if you were baptized as an infant, if you were raised on the front pew of the church, you and I are STILL sinners. We were all born in sin. And if Jesus hadn’t rescued us from the domain of darkness, it should be easy to extrapolate where we’d would be now. Today.

 

Just look at the culture all around us. Hateful. Angry. Jealous. Bitter. Selfish. Bigoted. Pugnacious. Not knowing the love of their Creator. Not knowing the life-changing change He could make in their life, even if they’ve ignored Him for decades.  

 

If Jesus hadn’t rescued us, we’d today be in danger of helplessly imitating the godless world around us. We would right now, today, be unredeemed sinners without hope and without God in the world.

 

Ah . . . ‘But God.’ If you’re His child through your obedient faith in the Lord Jesus Christ – if you’re a child of God, then your life now and your life after death all HINGE on that phrase: “But God.”

 

Listen to St Paul: “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins . . . and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.” (Ephesians 2:1,3-5)

 

Listen also to what he wrote to Titus: ^“But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-7)

 

Oh, how I need – how WE need – to remember where we were, where we could be, and where we are headed, because and only because of God’s mercy toward us through Jesus Christ. How we need to remember, with the psalmist: Your lovingkindness toward me is great, and You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.”

 

But not only did God in His righteousness and mercy saved us from a lifetime of self-destruction and the ruin of others, He ALSO saved us through Christ’s atonement from an eternity – a forever and ever – away from His very presence and in an inconceivably torturous place the Bible calls by a variety of names – Sheol, hades, and hell. But whatever the name, Scripture describes it as a place of suffering, fire, and unending anguish. (see for example, Matthew 13:42; Luke 16:23; Mark 9:48; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Revelation 20:14).

 

Contrary to the ideas of those who prefer to deny Biblical truth, Hell is not temporary. It is not metaphorical or symbolic. It’s a real place. And also contrary to the ideas of those who prefer to dilute Biblical truth, hell is inhabited by souls even today as we sit here. The place of eternal torment was originally prepared for Satan and his demons (Matthew 25:41), but it is now and forever will be inhabited also by every person who rejected the atoning sacrifice of God’s Son for their sins.

 

If the eternality of hell is only allegorical, then it would be reasonable and logical to believe the eternality of heaven is also only allegorical. And if both heaven and hell are NOT eternal, then what else did Jesus and the apostles say that is not factual?

 

Christian!  Don’t go down that satanic-designed rabbit hole. As the Psalmist wrote: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.” (Psalm 118:8-9); And again, “I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope.” (Psalm 130:5)

 

I close today’s message with the text I opened with at the beginning of our time today. This short prayer is rich with application to everyone calls Jesus their Lord, Master, and Savior. That’s why I urge you to try to memorize those few verses during the last few weeks of Lent. Doing so will serve you well through the remaining years of your lives.

 

“Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and will glorify Your name forever. For Your lovingkindness toward me is great, and You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.”

 

 

 

Fourth Sunday of Lent: Failed Expectations

On this fourth Sunday of Lent, my text today is from the 11^th chapter of Matthew’s gospel: “Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” (Matthew 11:2-3)

The context of the passage in Matthew finds John the Baptist in a Roman prison, sharing a filthy cell with rats, vermin, and an overwhelming odor of feces and urine. And he had every reason to believe his life hung on a proverbial thread. It is no wonder he sent word to Jesus, asking Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?”

Now, please remember, Jesus and John were cousins. We learn of their familial relationship in the first chapter of Luke’s gospel. So, it would be reasonable for John to EXPECT his miracle-working relative – His Messiah – to come to his rescue.

And John’s expectation is a really important point with direct application to our lives today. Many people live lives filled with a heartrending mixture of sadness, loneliness, and unmet expectations. We hoped for comfort, but we suffered – and still suffer – adversity. We expected close relationships with family as we grew older but ended up emotionally distant – even when family lives nearby. We thought God would answer our prayers – and sometimes He did; But at other times He did not.

And so, the question before us this afternoon: What are our expectations of Jesus? And – more important – what will we do if He doesn’t meet those expectations, just as He did not meet the expectations of many in that first century.

Luke tells of the time the Lord visited His hometown of Nazareth. He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and read this text from the prophet, Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19) He then closed the book and said, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

 

Those in the synagogue had heard of the miraculous works He’d done in other cities and towns. Why should they not expect Him to do the same in Nazareth, His boyhood home? After all, they were all His neighbors. He’d been to their homes, and they’d been to His. He played boyhood games with their children. Why shouldn’t they expect Him to heal their sick and hurting as He’d done for others? But they were about to learn, as we’ve all learned in life – God doesn’t always do what we want Him to do or expect Him to do.

Listen to the Lord’s response: “There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian" (Luke 4:25-27).

 

In other words, God does what He chooses, when He chooses, and for whom He chooses. And no one – not even Jesus’ neighbors and childhood friends – has a right to expect or demand He do otherwise. As He said through the prophet Isaiah many centuries earlier: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

If you remember the story, Jesus’ remark infuriated them. In a flood of rage, they drove Him out of the town and tried to throw Him over a nearby cliff. And don’t think for a moment that people have changed over the centuries.

 

Many still nurse bitterness toward God over withered dreams and crushed hopes. They rail against Him because an accident took someone they love, or their marriage crumbled, or their child wasn’t healed, or no one visits or calls, or they are in chronic pain, or – add your own disappointments.

 

And so, some who once walked with the Lord became disillusioned with Him because He had not met some of their even most desperate expectations.  And since they are unable to physically throw the Lord over a cliff, they instead throw away their faith. I’ve known more than a few in the past who did that. I suspect many of you do, also.

Listen, it’s a danger we all face, and we face it quite often during our lives as we wonder why He says no when we want so much for Him to say yes. Why does He work miracles for others, but not for us?

In my fifty-three years of walking with Christ, I’ve come to recognize these questions are truly critical questions that impact our faith – and I don’t think God will let any of us gloss over them. Our ability to mature in Christ DEPENDS on how we answer those questions, because each time we don’t receive what we ask, each time we get knocked to the ground, each time Jesus doesn’t meet our expectations, we face a choice, like those in the Nazareth synagogue faced – will we throw our faith over the cliff, or will we will persevere in our faith that God will work grace into our circumstances – regardless of how things look or feel at the present.

 

Several years ago, I talked with a woman who told me of her deep longing for a family of her own. It was something she’d always wanted, even from the time she was a little girl. But she never married and never had children. And now, because of her age, she thinks those blessings are things she will never enjoy. Then she asked, “Why am I denied something that others get as a matter of course? I think my life has been completely wasted.”

 

Who hasn’t faced a similar grief, a similar circumstance of unrealized expectation and hope? It’s true that when we’re drowning in depression it’s difficult to think rationally about our circumstances. But if we DID think clearly, we’d realize God works all things for the good of those who love Him. He works all things to draw us close and closer to Himself.

 

The Father sent His beloved Son to die that excruciating death for each of us for the express purpose of DRAWING us to Himself. There is nothing that God desires more than that we come closer to Him. The apostle Paul speaks of this very thing in Romans 8, but before we look at that text, it will be helpful to get a glimpse of the severe struggles he himself had to face – and that repeatedly.

 

Listen to what he wrote to the Christians at Corinth: (2 Corinthians 4:8-10) “[W]e are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”

 

Earlier in that same letter he also wrote: (2 Corinthians 1:8b-9) “We were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.”

 

It’s against this backdrop, this reminder of Paul’s suffering, that makes his words in Romans 8 more powerful: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things . . . . For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Paul didn’t say what I am about to say, but he could just as easily added another paragraph:  “Shall loneliness, or broken hearts, shattered dreams, destroyed hopes, unreconciled families, debilitating illness, or the death of those we love – NONE of these thing will be able to separate us from the God who loves us so much that He sacrificed His Son to die in our place so that we might share our eternity with Him.”

Hear it again – what can separate us from God’s love? What could ever happen to us that God designed to push us AWAY from Him? In all the circumstances of life –the good, the bad, the ugly – in all the circumstance of life, God’s design and desire is for us to draw close to Him, even to become conformed to the image of His Son. (See Romans 8:28-39)

 

Let’s circle back to John the Baptist for a moment. John had his own set of expectations and was disappointed when his Messiah didn’t fulfill those expectations. And the message the Lord sent back to him is a message Christ also sends to you and to me: “Yes, John – I AM the Expected One. I AM the resurrection and the life. I Am the Messiah. And I love you, even though I do not meet your expectations.”

 

Listen! Please. Life isn’t like some feel-good Hollywood movie. That’s because sin has infected and infested every facet of life. And as a result of that hard reality, we can either carry our cross, or we can fling it to the ground and go our own way. We can take the chalice of suffering God has given us, or we can spill the contents on the dirt and mix our own drink instead. May God help us to not do something we will terribly regret later.

 

So now let’s look at this theme of failed expectations from another angle. What can we do when our trust in God is just not up to some of the desperate challenges we face? What ought we do when we believe God has given us too much to bear?

 

I know what it’s like to have feeble faith that’s not up to the challenges when life’s storms thrash our little boat up and down and side to side until we feel like we are going to throw up. What can we do when our faith falters? What SHOULD we do when our faith falters?

 

It’s this: If we can’t trust Him like we want to and like we should, if our emotions overrule our faith – there is still yet one thing we can do: We can still OBEY Him. We can still obey what we know are His commandments.

 

Anyone can trust God when life floats along on warm, gentle waters. But what about when God is deafeningly silent and it seems heaven is ignoring you? Obedience is an act of the Will. It’s about what we CHOOSE to do when heaven seems brass, and we think God has turned His back on us?

 

In one hour, Job lost his ten children and his vast wealth. A short time later he lost his health to excruciating boils all over his body. But I am glad his story is in Scripture because it can encourage each of us. Listen to what he said in the midst of his agonies: “It is still my consolation, and I rejoice in unsparing pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.” And in the thirteenth chapter he cried out: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” Job 6:10 and 13:15a

 

If Job could obey God despite his multiple tragedies – then so can we.

 

 Nancy and I know a woman living a nightmare from which she cannot seem to awaken. She recently suffered a double-mastectomy for breast cancer – and afterward learned all the cancer cells had not been removed, so she not only faced more painful and invasive procedures but also rounds of nauseating treatments. Compounding her horrible situation are the mounting financial pressures and her stark loneliness as she fights this battle nearly all alone.

 

But listen to what she told us several weeks ago: “I know better than to ask why I'm going through all of this, because as Job the Righteous learned when he questioned God, I simply don't have the standing or credentials to question. It's not up to me to understand why; It's up to me to trust him and to keep stepping forward one foot at a time with the light from his lantern that only gives me enough [light] to see the next step. It's not about understanding Him, it's about trusting Him. No matter what.”

 

In 1970 Simon and Garfunkel wrote Bridge Over Troubled Water. Here are some of the lyrics: When you're weary, feeling small, when tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all. I'm on your side, oh, when times get rough and friends just can't be found - Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down; Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down.

Who is a bridge over troubled waters like Jesus? Who but He ever laid down His life to span the tumultuous gulf between where we were, where we are, and where we can be? To paraphrase what Jesus told us: “In this world you will have troubled waters. But be of good cheer – I have overcome the storms.”  (paraphrased John 16:33)

 

During the Last Supper, the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “You are those who have stood by Me in My trials.” (Luke 22:28) He knew what was about to happen to Him in just a few short hours. I’m certain His voice was rich with the emotions of gratefulness, even of thanksgiving for their faithfulness.

 

But one day when I read that passage, my mind shifted direction. I imagined Jesus looking at His 21st century disciples – you and me and all who still follow Him – I imagined Him looking at us and saying with equal emotion: “You are those who have stood by Me in your trials.”

 

Please don’t miss the subtle – but important – change: “You are those who have stood by me in YOUR trials.”

I don't think it harms that Scripture if we for a moment alter that one word. Think for a moment of the emotional and physical traumas you’ve faced in life – and through which you have persevered. Those trials aren’t anything to be glossed over, are they? They represent your life, your blood, your sweat, and your tears.

 

At any time, you could have given up. You could have walked away. But you didn’t – and even if you did at one time walk away – you’ve returned. Thanks be to God – you’ve returned.

Our journeys are almost over. And here’s the thing: When we come at last to that celestial City, we know we have God’s unchanging promise – a promise which can never fail for the true child of God – we have God’s promise, the promise that rightly fuels our biblically-based expectation of being received into His eternal Home.

The season of Lent should be more than just a time of preparation for Easter Sunday. It should be a reminder that life is not about us and OUR expectations of Him; Life – around the calendar – must be about Christ, and HIS expectations of us. It’s about serving Him, living for Him, obeying His commandments. As the psalmist wrote: “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to Thy name give glory.” (Psalm 115:1)

 

 

 

Third Sunday of Lent -- Make-Believe Jesus

 

I am about to preach something that I’m sure everyone in this sanctuary has heard before. But I preach it again today on this third Sunday of Lent because there are so many voices that every day contradict God and His Truth (with a capital T) – Truth that many of you have known since childhood.

 

So, I stand today, doing what the apostle Peter did when he wrote to his readers: 2 Peter 1:12-13 “Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you.”

 

The contrary voices I refer to come from neighbors, friends, family, the media – even some pulpits. The contrary voices spew from mouths and the pens of many who have doctorate degrees and have written books on theology. Understandably, then, it is easy for many faithful Christians to be seduced by their smooth words, even though those words are laced with poison. It’s easy to be seduced if we aren’t reminded again and again of God’s truth as it’s been delivered to us in His infallible, inspired, and inerrant Word.

 

Rightly did the Psalmist say it: (Psalm 11:3) “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

 

I will say it right at the beginning of this message: Anyone – regardless of their academic degrees or popularity – anyone who tells you anything about God, about Jesus, about the Holy Spirit that is not supported by Scripture in context with the historic teaching of the Christian Church from the first centuries – then know for certain such men and women are liars, frauds, and deceivers who wittingly or unwittingly work with Satan for our destruction.

 

In those early centuries, as the Christian Church struggled against such false teachers in their day, genuine and trustworthy biblical scholars convened several ‘councils’ to differentiate truth from heresy. The 4^th century formulation of the Nicene Creed was developed to address some of those lies – specifically the Arian heresy which taught huge swaths of Christians that Jesus was a created being and not the incarnate Son of God. If that sounds like modern Jehovah’s Witnesses and original Mormonism, you’d be correct.

 

Listen to how the Nicene Council wrote of Jesus who is: “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial [one essence] with the Father; Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man.”

 

Unlike the damnable lies about Christ circulating today in so many churches and spewing from so many pens, each point and subpoint within the Creed was supported by God’s infallible, inerrant, and fully inspired Scripture and not by traditions, opinions, or what was then current religious philosophies. We don’t have time today to look at each of those supportive texts, but they can easily be researched and would make a good homework assignment.

 

As I’ve said before, Lent was designed by the same 4^th century scholars to draw us closer to Christ. But the question facing EVERY Christian throughout Church history, to this present moment is this: Which Christ are we being drawn to? Is it to the Christ of Scripture, or is it to the make-believe Christ proposed by atheists, humanists, and wolves in clerical clothing who received training in some seminaries and churches?

 

The warning Jude gave to his first century readers is just as appropriate and necessary in 2026: “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” (Jude 1:4)

 

Make no mistake, every heresy that has ever gotten off the ground and inserted its serpentine seduction through the Church in every era – including ours today – every heresy got its strength by rejecting the doctrine of biblical inerrancy, infallibility, and divine inspiration of the entire Bible.

 

What do we mean by biblical inerrancy, infallibility, and divine inspiration? Briefly, it is this: Biblical inerrancy states that the Bible, in its original manuscripts, is without error in anything it teaches. This includes history, doctrine, moral dictates, and anything else found in the Scripture.

 

Biblical infallibility means the Bible is incapable of error. It is never wrong about history, doctrine, morality, or anything else the Bible affirms.

 

Divine inspiration means the Scriptures, in their original manuscripts, are “God-breathed.” In other words, God supernaturally guided (not ‘dictated’) the authors of the Bible to write exactly what He wanted to communicate. Every WORD of the original texts is God-breathed. Every word. Every ‘jot and tittle’ is God’s intended message.

 

That’s why every heresy got and gets its strength by rejecting the doctrine of biblical inerrancy, infallibility, and divine inspiration. No wonder the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians at Galatia: “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!” (Galatians 1:8-9)

 

So, which Jesus? That’s an extraordinarily serious question on this the third Sunday of Lent because how we answer that question determines the health, the soundness, and the genuineness of our relationship with Christ.

 

To answer that question, we now look once again to the Bible where God answers that question with such clarity that even a child can come to true faith if he will believe the message. For the sake of time, we will look briefly at only a scant few Biblical texts.

 

Which Jesus? Scripture tells us Jesus is Almighty God in the Flesh (called the ‘incarnation’). (John 1:1) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:14) “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”  (Philippians 2:6–7) “Although He existed in the form of God . . . [He] emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men.”

 

It is necessary to now remind ourselves that after the Lord told the lame man his sins were forgiven, the Doctors of the Law correctly said to themselves, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7) They were correct because all sins are ultimately sins against God – and therefore only God can forgive sins. The reason Jesus was and can now forgive sins – yours and mine – is because He IS God.

 

That point then leads us to the next. Scripture tells us Jesus is the promised Messiah (Christ), fulfilling the Old Testament promises God made to Israel and to humanity, promises to save anyone who WANTS to be saved from the eternal penalty their sins deserve. Isaiah 9, Isaiah 53, Jeremiah 31, Micah 5 are only a few of the HUNDREDS of Old Testament promises fulfilled in Jesus.

 

That’s why – and this is point number three in answer to the question, ‘Who is Jesus?’ – That’s why He is the only and unique Savior. Only the incarnate God can save sinners from the Father’s wrath against sin committed against Him – as is every sin we commit.

 

Listen again to only a sample of such Scriptures:  “Jesus said . . .“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” John 14:6. Peter proclaimed: “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12); Paul told the Thessalonians: (1 Thessalonians 5:9) “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

It is because of who Jesus is that this next point about Him must also be true: Jesus is the ONLY mediator between us and God. There can be no other. (1 Timothy 2:5) “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

 

A mediator. That was Job’s complaint: “How can a man be in the right before God? If one wished to dispute with Him, He could not answer Him once in a thousand times. . . . For He is not a man as I am, that I should answer Him and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any mediator between us who might lay his hand upon us both.” (Job 9:2-3, 32-33)

 

That was Job’s cry. He didn’t have a mediator. It would not be until many more centuries passed that God-incarnate would enter humanity as our one and only Mediator between us and the Farther. I am grateful Job’s complaint does not need to be ours.

 

What else does Scripture tell us about Jesus? It tells us He died on Calvary’s cross as a substitutionary atonement for our sins. Listen to Isaiah: Isaiah 53:5-6 “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.”

 

And Scripture again: “[Christ] bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24).

 

And what else does Scripture tell us of Jesus? That He physically rose from the grave on the third day. When the grieving women came to His tomb, Matthew records: “The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead.” (Matthew 28:5-7b)

 

After Mary and the others reported to the disciples the empty tomb, John tells us that he and Peter raced to the tomb. When they stepped inside they “saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the facecloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself . . . For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.” (John 20:5-7, 9)

 

And finally, for our purposes today, Scripture reveals the genuine Jesus to be humanity’s final Judge: “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father . . . . “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:22ff)

 

The full acceptance of the Biblical record of Jesus’ unique role as humanity’s ONLY door to eternal life, the record of His virgin birth, sinless life, full deity and simultaneous humanity, of His atoning sacrifice for our sins, His resurrection, ascension to heaven, and His promised return for His faithful followers – belief in these biblical doctrines are essential for salvation. Jesus said to the theologians of His day: “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” (John 8:23-24)

 

But as I said earlier in this message and many times in the past, not every person who stands in the pulpit or in front of a seminary classroom believes or teaches God’s truths. It is about those whom Jude warned in his short letter – and his warning carries equal weight today: “Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are the men who are hidden reefs . . . caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. (Jude 1:11-13)

 

If we succumb to Satan’s lies about the Scriptures, then we can end up following men like popular spiritual author Richard Rohr, who teaches a New Age heretical Christ. We stand with heretical pastors, theologians, and authors like the recently deceased Episcopal priest, John Shelby Spong, who rejected the historical truth of the Virgin Birth, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, as well as Scripture’s commandments regarding human sexuality.

 

If we let ourselves be seduced by Satan’s evangelists, we will blindly follow wolves in clerical garb, even like those I’ve heard here in churches in this and nearby towns where some pastors preach a form of pantheism and Hinduism, or who tell their congregations that homosexuality is a legitimate sexual expression, or who won’t speak about the demonic evils of abortion so as to not offend their congregation.

 

When the apostle Paul stood before King Agrippa at his trial, he asked the king: “Why is it considered incredible among you people if God does raise the dead?” Acts 26:8)

 

Likewise, the question can equally be asked, “Why is it considered incredible if God ensured that the Bible we hold in our hands today is essentially identical to the original manuscripts penned thousands of years ago? Think of the irrational and deranged hubris of people who claim that the omnipotent and omniscient Creator is unable to communicate with humanity inerrantly and infallibly! Think of how insane it is to believe that God, who spoke everything in existence INTO existence  and SUSTAINS everything in existence – why is it so unreasonable to believe this same Almighty God couldn’t ensure an accurate copying and transmission of His words across the millennia to us in 2026?

 

Satan’s most often used strategy to lead people into moral and theological error has always been to convince them that the Bible, from Genesis through Revelation, is not God’s very word to us in printed form. Through his witting and unwitting servants, Satan seduces humanity into believing the Scriptures are full of error, myths, archaic philosophies, and culturally assigned attitudes.

 

Please! Pay attention. To imbibe such lies from his workers is to find ourselves outside the Body of Christ.

 

The season of Lent is another opportunity for the Christian – and I’d also say for the unbeliever in Christ – Lent is another opportunity to open our Bibles with humble hearts, to seek God’s truth, and to be drawn by Him closer to His wounded side.

 

As Matthew records in God’s inerrant, infallible, and divinely inspired word – Jesus appeals to us: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30