What did Jesus come to do?

[0:00] Good morning and welcome everybody to this pre-recorded service for the 21st March 2021 here at Calvary Church in Brighton.

[0:18] ! A church of about 70 to 80 people meeting together on a Sunday morning in what used to be normal. And we're based here on the south coast of England. We are an independent Baptist church.

[0:32] The notices are up on the screen there. And I draw to your attention these five Easter questions which have been pre-recorded and are available elsewhere on this channel.

[0:44] What is Christian faith? Easter fact. Is it believable? Easter hope. Is it good? Jesus and faith. Is it necessary? Jesus, faith and Easter. How does it all work?

[0:57] And I commend those to you if you're a regular and if you're a newcomer to Christian things. I commend those to you and maybe you'd like to recommend them to your friends too.

[1:10] Here is the plan for this morning. Our theme is what did Jesus come to do? My name is Philip Wells. I'm going to be leading and bringing a talk on this subject later.

[1:24] I work for the church here as a pastor elder and have done for quite a number of years. We're going to be thinking about what did Jesus come to do? We looked last time at who is Jesus and we're continuing on that theme in the evenings to gain a richer and fuller understanding of everything that went on at Easter.

[1:44] Who did it? What was involved? What the implications are? So as I say today we're looking at the work of Jesus Christ. What did he come to do? And he did come with a purpose and here's one of the statements of this purpose.

[2:00] This is Jesus talking to a tax collector and said today salvation has come to this house for the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.

[2:11] What did the Son of Man, that's Jesus, what did the Son of Man come to do? He came to seek and to save what was lost. And those of us who are Christian believers find that a very precious truth because that's what he's done for us.

[2:27] He came to seek and to save what was lost. Let me pray briefly as we begin. Lord, set our hearts and minds in the right place with the right attitude to draw near to you in this time.

[2:44] You have said that if we draw near to you, you will draw near to us. May we be found returning to you and that you will be found turning to us. Amen. So in thinking of the purpose for which Jesus came, I've chosen some songs to fit with that theme.

[3:05] And let's first of all sing what's usually sung at Christmas about the coming of the Christ. Once in Royal David's city stood a lowly cattle shed.

[3:18] There a mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed. Mary was that mother mild. Jesus Christ, her little child. He came down to earth from heaven, who is God and Lord of all.

[3:31] And that's who he was. That's what he came to do. And we'll sing this song together. Once in Royal David's city. Once in Royal David's city stood a lowly cattle shed.

[4:03] Where a mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed.

[4:14] Mary was that mother mild. Jesus Christ, her little child.

[4:25] He came down to earth from heaven, who is God and Lord of all.

[4:38] And his shelter was a stable, and his cradle was a store.

[4:48] With the poor and meek and lonely, lived on earth our Saviour holy.

[5:01] And through all his perfect childhood, day by day, by God's he grew.

[5:12] He was little, weak and helpless. Tears and smiles like us he knew.

[5:23] And he feels for all our sadness. And he shares in all our gladness.

[5:33] And our eyes at last shall see him, through his own redeeming love.

[5:46] For that child so dear and gentle is our Lord in heaven above.

[5:57] And he leads his children on, to the place where he is gone.

[6:09] Not in that poor lowly stable, with the ox and standing by.

[6:20] We shall see him, but in heaven set at cost, bright hand on high.

[6:31] There his children gather round, bright like stars with glory crowned.

[6:43] And having sung, let us come to pray. Let's pray.

[6:55] He came down to earth from heaven, who is God and Lord of all. And his shelter was a stable, and his cradle was a stall. With the poor and meek and lowly, lived on earth our Saviour holy.

[7:08] And our eyes at last shall see him, through his own redeeming love. For that child so dear and gentle is our Lord in heaven above. And he leads his children on, to the place where he is gone.

[7:23] Not in that poor lowly stable, with the oxen standing by, we shall see him. But in heaven, set at God's right hand on high. There his children gather round, bright like stars, with glory crowned.

[7:36] And we thank you together, Heavenly Father, Almighty God, for your Son Jesus. Thank you that he came down to earth from heaven, in his humility, in his generosity, in his kindness.

[7:53] We thank you that he lived a life on earth of contradiction and temptation. But yet a life of kindness and steadiness, faithfulness and wisdom and courage.

[8:10] And we thank you that this particular climax that we're coming to remember at the season of Easter, when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and ended up giving his life upon the cross.

[8:28] And we think of the hugeness of what took place there, of this man nailed to this cross, under these circumstances, the time when the sun refused to shine, the time when the earth quaked, the time when the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom.

[8:55] And that, in a sense, the end of the world happened there and then, as he took upon himself the wrath of God against our human sin.

[9:06] And we marvel and pray that our hearts would be big enough to marvel. We pray that we would be conscious of what this means. We might be conscious more of our sin and the awfulness of that and the sacrifice of Christ and the brilliance of that.

[9:29] And we pray that we might be again filled with awe and wonder and praise at what Christ has done for us. And we thank you for that empty tomb by which death was not able to keep hold of him.

[9:44] And he rose into deathlessness and ascended into heaven and promises that he shall take us to be with him, that we shall see his glory and be with him where he is.

[9:59] We thank you, Lord, for these great truths. We thank you for the truth that he will come in majesty and power and glory to take his full reign, to be recognised as to who he is and to set all things right and to make all things new.

[10:17] And we pray that we would not lose sight of this. Forgive us, Lord, for our sins. We get so worried about things. We get so anxious about things. We get the wrong perspective.

[10:30] And mentally and emotionally we just don't seem to be capable of trusting you as we should and staying calm as we should and walking with you as we should.

[10:46] So please forgive us. Particularly forgive us for our unbelief. And teach us to be believers, we pray. And teach us to be followers. And teach us to be lovers of yours and disciples of yours.

[10:58] So we pray that you would bless this time together. And we pray that at this particular time in our own lives and at this particular time in our church's life we may know the strength and comfort and the guidance and help of the living God through the Holy Spirit.

[11:18] And Jesus Christ, you who stand at the Father's right hand as the great High Priest please do not fail to send from heaven the almighty help we need the provision we need all the Christian graces that we need so that we may honour you at this particular juncture.

[11:39] And we also pray that we will see men and women and boys and girls coming to faith in Jesus Christ. We lament that we see this so little and we ask that there might be a definite impact on people these days by the Gospel by the power of your Spirit.

[12:00] Hear our prayers. Hear our prayers and advance your kingdom bless your people make Jesus Christ be seen to be glorious by many, many people and we pray this all in Jesus' name.

[12:15] Amen. Amen. We're now going to have a children's slot which I'll hand over to Mark. Thanks very much, Mark. Welcome, Calvary children.

[12:28] It's Mark here. Lovely to be here. Guess where I am? I'm in the Caribbean. I'm in Venezuela. It's really hot.

[12:39] The beaches are great. Lovely and sandy. Not like Brighton. All those pebbles. Really lovely tropical weather.

[12:50] The ocean. Oh, it's beautiful. Like a bath. Anyway, I hope you're enjoying yourself in Brighton during lockdown.

[13:02] Well, I've got friends. Do you know what this fish is called? It's quite fierce. Yeah.

[13:15] It's a piranha. Where would you find this in the world? Which continent? Africa? America? America?

[13:27] Europe? Asia? Antarctica? Piranhas live in the rivers and streams of South America.

[13:39] America? Today, children, we're fishing at the lakeside with Jesus as he calls his disciples. Don't worry.

[13:50] There are no piranhas. There are some lessons for us to learn. So I hope you have your listening ears on. Let's read our text.

[14:05] It's Mark chapter 1, 16 to 20. Jesus, passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net fishing.

[14:25] Fishing was their regular work. Jesus said to them, come with me. I'll make you fishermen, a new kind of fishermen.

[14:36] I'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass. They didn't ask any questions.

[14:47] They dropped their nets and they followed. Followed Jesus. A dozen yards or so down the beach.

[14:59] He saw the brothers. James and John. Zebedee's sons. They were in the boat. Mending their fishnets.

[15:12] Right off. He made the same offer. Come, follow me. I'll make you fishers of men. Immediately. They left their father Zebedee.

[15:23] Goodbye, daddy. Goodbye. And the hired hands. Goodbye, guys. And they followed Jesus. What do we learn from this story, boys and girls?

[15:45] Well, firstly, Jesus gives his disciples a new calling. They were fishermen catching fish, selling fish. And now they're called to catch men and women.

[16:05] Secondly. Jesus calls his disciples to love him more than their jobs. They put down their nets and they follow Jesus.

[16:21] Jesus is more important than their jobs. And lastly. Jesus calls them to love him more than their family.

[16:36] Did you notice that James and John. Zebedee's sons. They left their dad. Jesus is more important than our family.

[16:51] Jesus is more important than their family. Wow. Today, boys and girls, Jesus is still calling people to follow him.

[17:06] Perhaps he's calling you. Let's praise God that Jesus is worth following above anyone and anything.

[17:16] Let's ask God to help you love him as he deserves. Well. To remember this story, boys and girls, I'd like you to use some craft today.

[17:43] So I would like you to make a fish. So you'll need some cardboard, perhaps a old cereal box.

[17:54] And on the cereal box, I want you to draw a template of a fish. Here, mine one's quite small. You make it bigger. And after that, go to the kitchen and get some kitchen foil.

[18:08] Here's one I made earlier. And wrap it around the fifth, like so. And if you would like, you can mark it, score it with a pen or something else to make the scales.

[18:21] Rachel helped me with this one. Or you can use a pen, but pens don't really work. So there we go. You can make your fish and remember the story of the disciples following Jesus.

[18:35] Let's pray. Let's put our hands together. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for this story from your word.

[18:45] Thank you for your authority to call your disciples. Thank you that they obeyed and they left their nets and followed you. Lord Jesus, thank you that you're worth following more than anybody and anything in the whole world.

[19:04] And we pray that you'd help us to follow you and love you as you deserve. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thanks, children.

[19:17] God bless you. Bye-bye. Jesus, you died upon the cross And rose again to save us Oh, give me now, oh, I say Come be my Savior, Lord and friend Change my life and make it new Let love me, Lord, I live for you Change my life and make it new Let love me, Lord, I live for you Jesus, you died upon the cross

[20:24] And rose again to save us Forgive me now for all my sins God be my Savior, Lord and friend Change my life and make it new Let love me, Lord, I live for you Change my life and make it new And happy, Lord, I live for you Change my life and make it new And happy, Lord, to live for you Change my life and make it new And happy, Lord, to live for you

[21:31] So still thinking about the reason for Jesus' coming What did he come to do?

[21:50] There's a couple of readings, both of which state Jesus' intention in coming And the latter one says For even the Son of Man did not come to be served But to serve and give his life a ransom for many Why did he come?

[22:08] Not to be served But to serve and to give his life a ransom for many So thank you, Rosemary, for reading these two passages Mark 1, 35-39, a few verses there And Mark 10, 35-45 Mark 1, 35-35 So he travelled throughout Galilee And now chapter 10, verse 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee

[23:13] Came to him Teacher, they said We want you to do for us whatever we ask What do you want me to do for you? He asked They replied Let one of us sit at your right And the other at your left In your glory You don't know what you're asking Jesus said Can you drink the cup I drink Or be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with?

[23:41] We can, they answered Jesus said to them You will drink the cup I drink And be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with But to sit at my right or left Is not for me to grant These places belong to those For whom they have been prepared When the ten heard about this They became indignant with James and John Jesus called them together and said You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles Lord it over them And their high officials exercise authority over them Not so with you Instead, whoever wants to become great among you Must be your servant And whoever wants to be first Must be slave of all For even the Son of Man Did not come to be served But to serve And to give his life As a ransom for many

[24:41] Before we come to think of God's word Let's sing again Lifting high the name of the Lord And remembering that he came down From heaven to earth He went to the cross And from the cross to the grave And from the grave to the sky The career, if you like Of the things that Jesus did What did he come to do These are the things that he did So we'll sing Lord I lift your name on high Number 314 If you're interested in the number Let's sing it Lord I lift your name on high Lord I love to sing your praises I'm so glad you're in my life

[25:47] I'm so glad you came to save us You came from heaven to earth To show the way From the earth to the cross I dare to pay From the cross to the grave From the grave to the sky Lord I lift your name on high Lord I lift your name on high Lord I lift your name on high Lord I love to sing your praises I'm so glad you're in my life I'm so glad you came to save us

[26:48] You came from heaven to earth To show the way From the earth to the cross My debt to pay From the cross to the grave From the grave to the sky Lord I lift your name on high Now let's come to our talk and let's pray before we do so O Lord you have said that you do mighty things by your word You bring life from the dead through your word You feed your people through your word You convince people and convict people through your word You show us the motives and intentions of our hearts So that we can repent And we pray that you will Work powerfully through your word

[27:51] Help speaker and hearers alike As we pray in Christ's name Amen Well we pray so let's look at this matter of what Jesus came to do As we approach Easter The pandemic is here for a purpose And God has sent it And it's meant to prompt us to turn to him It's meant to raise issues like the issues of our mortality The issue of our fragility The issues of life and death Because death has come that much closer to many of us If not all of us And this touches upon our relationship to our creator So as we approach Easter Which is a particular time to look back and remember Jesus' death and resurrection We can do so with a particular relevance Maybe for the first time To think about the death and resurrection of Jesus

[28:54] In connection with our own mortality And maybe this makes us look up to the realities of God and eternity God wants us to do that Maybe this has a new relevance for us As in this particular period of history Particular period of our nation's consciousness And Easter is a time to look forward to the resurrection To life after death And maybe for you who are tuning in today To do so with a renewed interest Of course this hits home to all of us, doesn't it?

[29:32] So just a reminder of our online services leading up to Easter And of course you can look at them after Easter as well We're looking at five Easter questions In five little ten minute videos Amed at newcomers, people with questions And our main series in the morning and evening Understanding Easter Who is Jesus?

[29:52] What did he come to do? We'll look at the entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday And then we'll think about Easter Day And likewise the evening series Match up with that as well So last time we looked at who is Jesus And I said why is this a thing to bother with?

[30:08] And let's just take this single point That God says each of our lives here and hereafter Is pinned exactly on the relationship we have with Jesus If we are ashamed of him He'll be ashamed of us If we're not ashamed of him He'll not be ashamed of us On the last day It pins exactly on our relationship to him And I'm bringing this as a believer in Jesus Christ I'm not going to be neutral about this I am persuaded of the importance of Jesus Christ And I want to bring good reasoning To persuade you, my listeners and viewers Also to believe in Jesus Christ I don't assume I can do that With my own cleverness I'm depending on the help of the Holy Spirit So last time we looked at who is Jesus We said he's a real person Not like Robin Hood He's an obscure person There's something rather humble about him And the song says humility divine And he has that humility

[31:10] Which is such an attractive quality about him We said he was a superb teacher Of course the way to respond to a superb teacher Is to listen to what he says And take notice of it And learn from it And listen to him above all other things Above the circumstances around us Above our own hearts and intuitions And to say he's the one who gets it all right I'm going to listen to him He was a miracle worker This reminds us that we need His miraculous touch upon our lives It signifies his relationship to us And ours to him That we are in need of miracles In order to live And yeah To relate to God day by day He was a Jew Which reminds us that the purposes of God For us Whatever nationality we are Stem from The The experience of Israel That God chose Abraham

[32:10] And that's where salvation comes from Salvation is from the Jews As Jesus said And we looked at his colossal authority That he is Lord In the biggest sense of that word And therefore our part Is gladly To bow at his feet So we looked at Who Jesus was And this time we're looking at What did he come To do So I'm going to say He came And he came for a purpose I'm going to say Number one He came to reveal I'm going to say Number two He came to redeem And number three He came to reign So Three little symbols there First of all We'll look at the fact That he came With a purpose Second Well that's the zero point The first major point is He came to reveal He came to redeem And he came to reign So let's start off This idea of coming So To come Somewhere

[33:11] Sort of implies That you were somewhere Else beforehand You know I came To University In Brighton Having lived beforehand On the Isle of Wight And that is A true Understanding Of coming In case of Jesus Now you can think Of counter examples In Mark 1 verse 4 It says John the Baptist Came Didn't mean that he'd been That he was preexistent That he lived in heaven Before that But actually The word is more like Happened He Sort of Popped up If you like And if we stick With Mark's gospel Which is where We've been referring It would be true To say There are No Well No That I could find Specific Indications That Jesus Came from heaven To earth Not said in so many words But of course It is said in so many words In many other places So in John's gospel Jesus himself Says Glorify me

[34:12] In your presence With the glory I had with you Before the world was Implying that Jesus Came From A residence In heaven Before he came to earth So he came From heaven To earth And just thinking About coming There's a number Of statements Which say He came for Or he came to Or he came In order to And these are all Statements of motive And intention You know I go To the shop To buy Ice cream Or I go To the seaside To avoid The pollen On the downs Or something like that Or I go To the market To buy Some flowers For my wife's birthday These all got motive And intention So his coming As we shall see

[35:12] Has motive And intention So even just to say that Is to say that The very presence And existence Of Jesus Here on this earth Carries this strong Implication Of a purpose A mind A thinking A desiring Which causes His presence To be here His presence Indicates A larger story Than simply A Middle Eastern Prophet Who just lived And died And that was it This big story Precedes his birth There's a back story To his coming And This story Includes And is not Thwarted By his death It goes on Past his resurrection His ascension And Onwards from there And therefore This is A purpose Which goes Before And beyond This created world And actually Goes into the heart Of the eternal trinity

[36:13] Here is a plan A purpose A desire Outside This created world Into the uncreated God And to understand This purpose Is really The key To everything It really is The key To everything Life The universe And everything So let's Get into it What Did Jesus Come To do So Point number one He came To reveal And you get this In Mark Chapter 1 Verse 38 Which we have Read to us Which says Jesus says I want to go To the nearby Villages So I can Preach there That is why I have come I have come Not primarily To do Healings So much As To preach And To preach Is to Make God

[37:13] Known You have a Similar Similar idea Not quite exactly The same But a similar idea In the beginning Of John's Gospel Where it said No one has Ever seen God But God The one and Only Who is at The Father's Side Has made Him known It has Told us The full Story of God We were In darkness And ignorance Without somebody Telling us Who God is What he's Like What his Intentions are And Jesus Comes Exactly to Reveal The Father You get the Same sort of Thing in Hebrews 1 Verse 3 The son Is the Exact Representation Of God's Being So there's A revealing And we Learn that God is Exactly the Way Jesus Portrays Him If we've Seen him We've seen The father That's what Jesus said To Philip Isn't it Philip said Show us The father And Jesus Said Have I Been with you So long And you Don't Realize That if

[38:13] You've Seen me You've Seen The father And as The apostle Paul says We have The light Of the Knowledge Of the Glory of God In the Face of Jesus Christ And to See that Face Is to See Everything Wonderful Beautiful Glorious Majestic Marvelous But let's Focus a little Bit more on What was Specifically Said I have Come To Preach Now that Word Preach It might Give us The idea Of somebody Standing up In a pulpit In a church That's not Really the Idea Of Preach The underlying Word To preach Here is To herald It's Somebody Who brings The news Like a Herald For example A herald Would bring Good news Of a distant Battle Involving The king And after The battle Was won The king

[39:14] Would send Out messengers And say Run off And tell The inhabitants Back home My citizens Back home I've won A great Victory You can Blow a Trumpet You can Shout it Out The king Has won The king Is not Defeated He's Victorious And Jesus Is saying That's the Sort of Thing I'm Doing I'm Heralding And It says Here that The sort Of thing He preached Is that The Kingdom Of God Has Come Mark 1 Verse 15 The kingdom Of God Is near Repent And believe The good News So there's A sense In which A massive Change Is coming Is on The doorstep The king Is near The kingdom Is near This is good News And you need To turn And accept It You need To turn And accept This good News There's a

[40:14] Response! Involved The time Has come The kingdom Of God Is near Turn And believe The good News And when Jesus Comes The kingdom Starts To be Revealed And even Saying it Causes it To happen You know Some Speeches Actually make Things happen Don't they In a wedding When you say Will you take This man Will you take This woman I do You've actually Changed the Situation Because in Saying I Do You've Become Married This court Is now In session And by Saying it It makes It happen And as Jesus says The kingdom Has come The kingdom Comes He announces The kingdom Because when He comes He brings The kingdom So there's A revelation A revelatory Act Taking place Here For us To Believe And To turn And To marvel At So number One

[41:14] To reveal He comes To reveal Number two He comes To redeem So this Time We're Looking At Mark Chapter 10 Verse 45 A statement About the Intention Of coming Even The son Of man Did not Come To be Served But to Serve And to Give his Life A ransom For many It's a Plain Statement Of the Reason Why he Came Now To ransom It's The word In English Linked With redeem In the Underlying Languages Just the Same word To ransom To redeem Means Something like This To set Slaves Free To remove A burden By payment Of a Price Or expenditure Of large Efforts I put there A payment Of a Price Little bag Of gold Or something Like that Pack of Dollars And Jesus Says The son Of man Meaning

[42:14] Himself And we'll Come to That in A moment Did not Come to Be served So he Could have Come to Be served Of course He deserves To be Served And have Servants Around him But in This case It's reversed He has Come to Serve And although This is a Strange thing He deserves To be Served But he Has come To serve And to Render Service To Many To serve And to Give his Life as A ransom For many To pay A huge Price For many To set Them free To set The slaves Free To break The chains To open The bars Of the Doors Of the Prison To say You're Free Many And to Do so By the Payment Of a Huge Price And what Is that Price It's To give His Life And just See what Is said Here The enormity

[43:15] Of this That the Son of Man Gives His Life To set Free To pay The price To ransom Many Many And the Many Is actually A quote From Isaiah 53 You notice He doesn't Say all He doesn't Say that Everybody Will be Set free But there Is a Response!

[43:37] Involved Repent And believe And this Ransom Well Is it For you Is it Are you Included In this Many You see This puts A huge Huge Emphasis On the Death Of Jesus I know His life Is admirable And we Have much To learn From his Life But Jesus Here puts The emphasis On he Came To Give his Life As a Ransom For many A huge Emphasis Then upon His death And it Points up The many He came To die For the Many And that's A legitimate Question Am I to Be numbered Among the Many It's the same Question as Have I Repented Am I Putting my Trust Wholly In the Death The person Of Jesus The death Of Jesus The promises Of Jesus Is that Where my Life is Leaning

[44:37] Totally That's the Question isn't It He came To Redeem And number Three He came To reign Now the Statements Aren't In exactly The same Grammatical Form As the Came To Preach Came To Serve But there Are statements About his Coming You You get In Mark 13 26 Where it Says Mark 13 26 Where it Says At that Time You will See The son Of man Coming In clouds With great Power And glory And there Is a Coming Here Spoken Of And you Get it Again In Mark 14 62 At the

[45:37] Trial Of Jesus The high Priest Says Are you The Christ The son Of The Blessed One And Jesus Says I Am You Will See The Son Of Man Sitting At The Right Hand Of The Mighty One And Coming On The Clouds Of Heaven So Again You've Got That Idea Of Coming On The Clouds And Here It's Sitting To Say They're Statements Of A Reign In The Sense Of A Kingly Reign And To Say The Son Of Man Is Not Just Saying I'm Human You know The Same As Joe Bloggs Is Human It's Actually A Different Sort Of Statement Here What Jesus Is Doing Is Referencing A Prophecy Which I Think Mark Referred To The Other Week In Daniel Chapter 7 And

[46:38] This Person In A Vision In My Vision At Night I Looked And There Before Me Was One Like A Son Of Man Coming With The Clouds Of Heaven He Approached The Ancient Of Days And Was Led Into His Presence He Was Given Authority Glory And Sovereign Power All Peoples Nations And Men Of Every Language Worshipped Him His Dominion Is An Everlasting Dominion That Will Not Pass Away And His Kingdom Is One That Will Never Be Destroyed That's Daniel 7 Verse 13 So He's Referencing!

[47:13] That Colossal Amazing Figure There In Daniel Chapter 7 And Talking About Coming In The Sense Of Coming To Power And This Coming To Power I'm Not Going To Give You All The Detail Of It But It Has The Sense Of A Coming Which Happens Gradually In The Sense That We Say Your Kingdom Come Your Will Be Done The Coming Advancing Gradually And Climactically A Sort Of Instant Of The Coming Of The Saviour Which Changes Everything In A Moment And Brings This Rain To Its Full!

[47:54] Consum So Let's Just Take That Apart A Little Bit We Have The Idea Of Clouds Of Heaven Coming On The Clouds Of Heaven And The Idea Of Coming At The Right Hand Just Taking The Clouds Of Heaven Part Of It In The Bible Clouds Indicate The Presence And The Glory Of God So You Get In Exodus That The Lord Went Before Them In A Pillar Of Cloud So Where The Pillar Of Cloud Is There God Is Present Sort Of Envelops Him And Expresses Him And In The Temple On A Number Of Occasions Also In The Precursor To The Temple The Tabernacle The Cloud The Glory Of The Lord Filled The Temple Of The Lord And I Haven't Put The Reference There But It Was Two Kings Something Correction It's 1 Kings 8 11 The

[48:55] The Glory Of The Lord Filled The Temple Of The Lord So This Son Of Man Has The Aura And Accompaniment Of Divinity And This Strong Suggestion That As Clouds Envelop Him So He Has Divinity There Is Something Divine About This Son Of Man It's You Know The People Reading The Old Testament Could Hardly Believe Such A Statement And Would Probably Try And Minimize It But Let's Not Minimize It Let's Maximize It The Son Of Man In His Humanity Is Also The Son Of God In The Fullness Of His Divinity So The Clouds Of Heaven He Comes To Rain And The Matter Of The Right Hand The Right Hand Of God Is The Place Of Executive Power It's The Place Of Rule It's The Place From Which

[49:55] A Person Has The Ability To Conduct Lethal Warfare The Right Hand In Psalm 110 That We've Been Looking At Those Of Us Who Were Following The Series On Hebrews We Get Psalm 10 Again And Again And Again And Again And Again And This Tells Us That Jesus Is Most Certainly The Most Kind And Forgiving Person And There Is This Really Heartfelt Invitation Come To Jesus Christ Unburden Yourself Of Your Sins Unburden Yourself Of Trying To Live Life Under Your Own Power Let Him Into Your Life And Come To Him In His Kindness And In His Forgiving Wash My Sins Away Touch My Life With Your Miraculous Touch Take My Life All Of It I Give It Into Your Hands There's This Place Where Jesus Is The Most Kind And Forgiving Person But There's Also This True Description Of Jesus He's The Person That

[50:55] You Really Really Don't Want To Rebelling Against Kiss The Son Lest He Be Angry And The Rule Of The Son Of Man His Reign Is A Reign In Which He Puts Down His Enemies Those Who Have Said We Will Not Have This Man To Rule Over Us They Might Have Said It In A Very Aggressive Way Or They Might Have Said It In A Most Polite And Sophisticated Way But They Said It Nevertheless And To Say That Is To Rebel Against Him And To Reject Him And He Says I Will Not!

[51:29] Have That I Am Lord And Politely Or Violently! Is A Just Anger There's Nothing Unfair About That That Is Absolutely Just It Is Absolutely Justifiable And There's No Sense In Which Anybody Will Say Oh Well He's Just Being He's Just Being You know Behaving Like a Spoiled Child As It Were No Absolutely Not The Wrath Of Jesus Is An Awful Thing And To Be Avoided At All Costs Awful To Be On The Wrong Side Of Him At The Climax Of His Reign And So To Come To Him Now And This Reign Of His Is Already Started As I've Said It Has Process Involved With It And We'll Have A

[52:29] Climax Involved To It But He Is Now On The Throne Of Heaven And We're To Have Confidence In His Current Reign Brothers And Sisters We're Not To Be Thinking That Everything's Out Of Control We're Not To Be Thinking That Prayer Doesn't Get Heard We're Not To Be Thinking That God's Forgotten About Us And We've Got To Find Our Own Solutions Because God's Solutions Won't Work We Absolutely Need To Have Confidence In His Current Reign And We Are To Long For His Final And Complete Reign And It Is To Be In The Heart Of Every Christian To Say Come Lord Jesus Come And Take Up That Final Reign Have The Glory That You Deserve Subdue All Things To Yourself Be All In All Because That's What You Deserve And That's What You've Put In My Heart To Long For Longing For His Complete And Final Rain Well Those Were The Three Things Just To Summarize Them

[53:29] He Came And This Is Purpose There Is A Purpose Of God That We Can Be Caught Up In He Came To Reveal So We're To Listen And Learn Above All Things Listen To What He Says About Our Lives And Subject Ourselves To What He Says To Listen And Learn In Awe And Wonder And Worship He Came To Reveal He Came To Redeem There's The Money Bag Let's Receive That In Faith He Redeems His People We Don't Redeem Ourselves He Justifies His People We Don't Justify Ourselves He Saves His People We Don't Save Ourselves We Submit To And Gladly Receive His Salvation To Receive In Faith With Thanks And Gladness And Gratitude Let's Be Thankful And Glad And Grateful For His Redemption And He Comes To

[54:30] Reign And We Bow Before The Reigning Lord In Reverence Because He Is The Lord We Submit Our Lives To Him In Obedience Because We To Do His Will Why Do We Call Him Lord Lord And Not Do The Things That He Says He Our Great Hope Is The Fulfillment Of His

[55:30] Reign When The King Comes To Take Visibly And Completely The Throne The Acclaim The Place And The Situation That He Deserves And That Will Be A Great Day Of Glory He Comes For Us To Reveal And To Ransom And To Reign Isn't Jesus Great Amen So Jesus Comes To Reveal And To Redeem And To Reign And Let's Think Of Jesus In His Reigning Glory As We Sing This Last Song At Your Feet We Fall Mighty Risen Lord As We Come Before Your Throne To Worship You There We See You Stand Mighty Risen Lord Clothed In Garments Pure And Holy

[56:30] Shining Bright So To The Praise Of Jesus Christ We Sing 479 At Your Feet We Fall!

[56:53] At Your Feet We Fall Mighty Risen Lord As We Come Before Your Throne To Worship You By Your Spirit's Power You Now Draw For Our Hearts And We Hear Your Voice And Triumph Ringing Clear I Am He Who Lives Who Lives And Was There Behold I Am Alive Forever More There We See You Stand Mighty Risen

[57:53] Lord Loan In Garments Pure And Holy Shining Bright Eyes Of Flesh And Fire Feet Of Burn Orange Bronze And The Sound Of Many Waters Is Your Voice I Am He Who Lives Who Lives And Was There Behold I Am Alive Forever More!

[58:36] Like the shining sun In its Noonday Strength Now we See The Glory Of Your Wondrous Face Once That Face Was On Now You Glorified And Your Words Like a Two-Ear Sword At Mighty Power I Am He Who Lives Who Lives And Was There Behold I Am Alive Forever More I Am He Who Lives Who Lives And Was

[59:37] Dead Behold I Alive Forever More I Am He Who Lives Who Lives And Was Dead Behold I Am Alive Forever!

[60:19] More He is indeed mighty and glorious and let's close with this prayer taken from the book of Revelation to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father to him be glory and power forever and ever Amen to him be glory and power forever and ever Amen Amen that's it for this morning thanks for joining hope to see you soon and bye bye just now bye bye!