Before Abraham was I AM - Jesus' Most Outrageous Sayings - Part 1

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Episode Transcript

UNKNOWN (00:02):
Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 (00:05):
Well, you know it was the Feast of Tabernacles, or
Sukkot, if you know it inHebrew, somewhere around 32 AD,
as best we can figure.
And in John chapter 7, the LordJesus had come into Jerusalem
for the feast, and he waspreaching and teaching at the
temple.
The Jewish leaders decided toarrest him, and so they sent

(00:27):
some of the temple guard toseize him, and this is what
happened.
John chapter 7, verse 45, thenthe temple guards, without
Jesus, in their custody, by theway, returned to the chief
priest who asked them, whydidn't you bring him in?
And they said, verse 46, well,we'll tell you, never did a man

(00:48):
speak the way this man speaks.
You know, friends, in 1971, Iwas a dope-smoking,
acid-dropping, drug-pushing,spiritually lost college
student, and I was in ChapelHill, North Carolina where I met
a street preacher named BobEckhart.
And Bob challenged me to dosomething I'd never done before.

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He challenged me to read theBible.
And so I began to do that.
I began to read the Gospelaccording to Matthew.
And I have to tell you, my firstimpression of Jesus was exactly
the same as the impression thesetemple guards had.
Namely, I remember thinking,well, you know, I'm not sure
whether he's the Messiah ofIsrael or not, but I will say

(01:32):
that this man says definitelysome of of the most outrageous
things I have ever heard anybodysay in my life.
And that's what this new seriesthat we're starting is all
about.
I've gone through the gospelaccounts and picked out 12 of
the most outrageous things, themost radical things Jesus ever
said, and we're going to spend aweek on each one of them.

(01:55):
I hope this is going to be areally fun series and a really
valuable series for you becauseI'm having fun doing it.
Now, today we're going to startin John chapter 8 with Jesus
Jesus's most outrageous saying,number one.
Here in John chapter eight,Jesus is in the temple in
Jerusalem teaching.
And as the religious leaderslisten to what Jesus is saying,

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they become increasinglyirritated and they begin to
argue with him.
As John eight goes on, thisargument becomes more and more
heated until finally at the endof the chapter, it explodes with
the rabbis making a really uglyreference to Jesus's birth to
his virgin birth, to the facthis parents were not married

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when he was born, and that'swhere we're going to pick up the
story, John chapter 8, verse 41.
Then the rabbis said to Jesus,we were not born of fornication.
Or the NIV will say, we are notillegitimate children.
The only father we have is God.
Verse 42, and Jesus said tothem, if God really were your

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father, you would love me, for Icame from God and he sent me.
Verse 47, Jesus went on to say,he who belongs to God hears what
God says and the reason you donot hear is because you do not
belong to God.
Verse 48, the rabbis answered,see there, aren't we correct in

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saying that you're demonpossessed?
Verse 49, and Jesus said, I amnot possessed by a demon, but I
will tell you this, that ifanyone keeps my word, he will
never see death.
You see, say, wow, Lord, that isan outrageous thing to say.
I know, but that's not even themost outrageous thing he says
yet.

(03:41):
Hold on a second.
Verse 52.
At this, the rabbi said, okay,okay, now we know that you're
demon possessed.
Abraham died.
So did all the prophets.
And yet you say, if anybodykeeps your word, they will never
taste death.
Who do you make yourself out tobe?

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Well, that's familiar And soJesus replied, verse 56, Now

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let's stop for a moment andanalyze what Jesus really said
here.
What did he really claim forhimself here?
To do that, we have to go backto Exodus chapter 3 in the Old
Testament.
If you'll remember there, Moseswas living out on the backside
of the desert in exile fromEgypt.
He had been there for 40 yearsand he was walking along one day
and he sees this bush burningand all of a sudden the Bible

(04:57):
says Jehovah God speaks to himout of the bush and tells him
that he's going to be sent backto to Egypt to lead the Jewish
people to freedom.
Well, as part of theconversation, Moses says to God,
verse 13, suppose I go back tothe Israelites, Lord, like
you're telling me.
And suppose I say to them, theGod of your fathers has sent me

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to you.
And what if they say to me,well, what's his name?
Lord, what am I going to tellthem?
Verse 14, then God said toMoses, I am who I am.
Tell the Israelites that I am...
has sent me to you.
Friends, here in John chapter 8,what Jesus is claiming to be is

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he is claiming to be the great IAm of the Old Testament.
He is claiming to be Jehovah Godhimself, wrapped in human flesh,
the same Jehovah God that spoketo Moses out of the burning
bush.
You say, Lon, are you sure thatyou're not reading too much into
this?
I mean, maybe Jesus just got thetense of his verb wrong or

(06:03):
something.
You know, it's that simple.
No, No, I know I'm not readingtoo much into it because look at
what happens in the next verse.
John 8, verse 59.
And at this, the rabbis pickedup stones to stone him.
Friends, the rabbis knew exactlywhat Jesus meant.
They knew exactly who Jesus wasclaiming to be.

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The penalty in ancient Israelfor blasphemy was stoning.
And that's why they all pickedup rocks to throw at him because
they knew what he was claiming.
He was claiming to be JehovahGod himself.
Now, in fact, all through Johnchapter 8, Jesus has been
claiming this.
Back in verse 24, Jesus said,unless you believe I am, you

(06:46):
will die in your sins.
In verse 28, Jesus said, whenyou have lifted up the Son of
Man, clearly a reference to thecross and the crucifixion, then
you will know that I am.
And finally, in verse 58, hesays, before Abraham was, I am,
there was no doubt whatsoeverwhat Jesus was claiming to be

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here.
He was claiming to be JehovahGod himself.
I don't know about you, but Ithink that's a pretty outrageous
claim for anybody to make.
You know, a few years ago, wewere living in McLean on a
little cul-de-sac, and I got upone Saturday morning.
It was my day off.
We didn't have a Saturday nightservice then.
But anyway, and so I looked outmy window.

(07:30):
I had my cup of coffee.
I looked out my window, and Isaw them.
There they were.
the two Jehovah's Witnessesworking their way around the
cul-de-sac coming towards ourhouse and I thought Lord not on
Saturday no so I gotta tell youI went to the front door saying
I'm not this is gonna be a shortconversation I'm not talking to
these people I just want to getrid of them and go back to my

(07:52):
paper and back to my coffee so Iopened the door and there were
there were two there was anolder man who was clearly the
trainer and then there was ayoung lady who was clearly the
trainee and so they talked forjust a minute and I'm brushing
them off and Finally, I said,no, I'm not interested.
I'm not interested.
And so as they were gettingready to leave, the young lady
said, well, could we offer youone of our Bibles?
You know, the green Jehovah'sWitness Bible.

(08:13):
And I thought, well, it might benice to have a copy of this on
my shelf for reference.
So I said, sure.
So I took it.
She said, but sir, I have to askyou for a 10 cent donation to
the Jehovah's Witnesses for theBible.
I gave it back to her.
I said, I'm sorry, I can't dothat.
She said, what do you mean youcan't do that?
She said, you're living inMcLean.
She said, you've got to be ableto afford 10 cents.

(08:34):
I said, ma'am, I can't afford 10cents.
I said, but I'm a Christian andI'm not going to take the money
that God has entrusted to me andgive it to a bunch of heretics
like you.
So she said to me, heretics?
She said, what are you talkingabout, heretics?
And I said, all right, allright, all right.
And I was like, ugh.
All right.

(08:54):
I said, all right.
I said, let me just ask you onequestion.
Here's my question.
Is Jesus Christ Jehovah God inthe flesh?
And she said, no, and he neverclaimed to be.
I said, all right, give me thatgreen Bible.
Give it to me.
Now, you can't go to John 1.1.
They changed that.
You can't go a bunch of otherplaces.
They changed it.
But they had not changed Johnchapter 8 at that point.

(09:17):
So I took her to John 8 and Ishowed her before Abraham was, I
am.
I flipped over to Exodus 3 and Ishowed her, tell them, I am sent
me to you.
And I showed her the two andsaid, so who do you think Jesus
is claiming to be?
The interesting thing is intheir Bible, back in Exodus 3,
their Bible says Jehovah Godspoke to Moses from the bush.

(09:38):
I said, so who do you thinkJesus was claiming to be?
She looked at that.
She said, I've never seen thatin here before.
She learned to the trainer andshe said, you never showed me
that that that was in here.
And she turned back to me andsaid, who are you anyway?
Friends, listen to me.
Jesus Christ personally claimedto be Jehovah God wrapped in

(10:00):
human flesh.
And don't you ever let anybodytell you differently.
Look at John chapter 10, verse30.
Jesus said, I and the Father areone.
Therefore, the rabbis once againpicked up stones to stone him.
So Jesus said to them, I'veshown you many good works from
the Father.
For which of them are youstoning me?

(10:21):
And they said, Jesus, we are notstoning you for a good work.
We are stoning you for blasphemybecause you, being a man, claim
to be God.
They knew what he was claiming.
John chapter 5, verse 18.
For this reason, therefore, therabbis were seeking to kill
Jesus because not only was hebreaking the Sabbath, but he was

(10:43):
also calling God his own father,making himself equal with God.
It is amazing to me thatso-called scholars today, living
2,000 years after the eventshappened that they're willing to
say they knew more about whatJesus was claiming for himself
than the religious experts whowere standing right there

(11:04):
listening to him come on nowthose people knew exactly what
Jesus was claiming and that'swhy every conversation they had
ended with them picking up rocksto throw at him because they
knew what he was claiming to beand you know the entire Bible
testifies over and over to thisfact that Jesus is Jehovah God
Isaiah Isaiah 9, verse 6 saysthe Messiah will be the mighty

(11:27):
God.
John chapter 1, in the beginningwas the Word, and the Word was
with God, and He was God.
Titus chapter 2, verse 13 callsJesus Christ our great God and
Savior.
Revelation chapter 1, verse 8calls Jesus Christ the Almighty,
which is a term reserved in theBible exclusively for Jehovah

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God.
Colossians chapter 1, verse 15calls Jesus the visible image of
the invisible God.
Colossians 2 verse 9 says, allthe fullness of deity dwells in
Jesus in bodily form.
And finally, John chapter 14,Philip came to Jesus and he
said, Lord, show us God theFather.

(12:11):
Show us Jehovah God and we'll behappy.
And Jesus said to him, Philip,what's wrong with you?
Have I been with you this longand you still don't know who I
am?
He who has seen me has seenJehovah God.
I mean, how much clearer can yousay it than that?
You say, all right, Lon, okay,okay, okay.

(12:33):
All right, so Jesus claimed tobe Jehovah God.
I'll give you that.
But that's not the real issue,is it, Lon?
The real issue is, what proof isthere?
What evidence is there tosupport this kind of a claim?
Well, let's talk about it,because friends, in the Bible,
Jesus demonstrated all theprerogatives and all the powers

(12:53):
that go with being JehovahJehovah God let me tell you
about some of them number oneJesus had a power over disease
and sickness that only God couldhave in John chapter 9 he healed
a man who'd been born blind andthe man says John 9 32 since the
world began no one has everopened the eyes of a man born
blind who could do this but Godnumber two Jesus had a power

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over nature that only God couldhave he walked on water in
Matthew 14 he cursed a fig treeand it died up in Matthew 21 In
Matthew chapter 8, he stood upand told a gale force went on
the Sea of Galilee to hush up.
And there was an immediate calm.
And the disciples in the boateven say, Matthew 8, 27, what
kind of man is this?

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That even the winds and thewaves obey him.
Who could do that but God?
Number three, Jesus had a powerover demons that only God could
have.
That he cast demons out ofpeople.
He cast demons into pigs.
The demons cowered in fear everytime he came around.
As a matter of fact, in Lukechapter 11, the rabbis come to
him and say, how do you do this?
And here was Jesus' answer.

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Verse 22, Luke 11.
He says, when a strong manguards his house, his
possessions are saved.
But when a stronger person comesalong, he overpowers that man
and takes all that he has.
How do I overcome demons?
Jesus says to these rabbis, it'sreal simple, fellas.
I'm stronger than they are.
Now, who could be stronger thandemons but Almighty God himself?

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Number four, Jesus had a powerover sin.
that only God could have.
In Mark chapter 2, there was acrippled man lying on the ground
in front of Jesus, and Jesussays to him, son, your sins are
forgiven.
And the rabbis who heard thisstrenuously objected and said,
he's blaspheming.
Who can forgive sins but Godalone?

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Well, for once, they gotsomething right.
That's true.
Who can forgive sins but Godalone?
And Jesus said, okay, fellas, toshow you I have that power, and
therefore that I am God watchwhat I do now and he said to the
crippled man okay get up takeyour bed and walk and the guy
did it on the spot who could dothat but God hey how could Jesus

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tell the woman at the well Johnchapter 4 everything she'd ever
done if he wasn't God how couldhe have raised Lazarus from the
dead John chapter 11 if hewasn't God and the crowning
proof of all of course is theresurrection how in the world
could Jesus rise from the deadif he wasn't Jehovah God himself
In fact, Romans chapter 1 says,verse 4, Jesus was declared with

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power to be the Son of God, tobe deity.
How?
By his resurrection from thedead.
One of the main purposes of theresurrection, folks, was to
validate to you and me, to proveto you and me and the rest of
the world that Jesus is who weclaim to be, the great I Am of
the Old Testament, Jehovah Godin the flesh.

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Folks, no other religioussystem, no other philosophical
system claims an empty for itsfounder, its leader, not Buddha,
not Confucius, not Muhammad, notJoseph Smith, not Rabbi
Schneerson, not Karl Marx, notL.
Ron Hubbard, not George BernardShaw and all of his humanist
buddies, and that's because noneof them ever claimed to be

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Jehovah God.
But Jesus did claim to beJehovah God, and folks, he rose
from the dead and offers that tous as proof positive that he's
telling us the truth.
You say, Lon, how can you be sosure Jesus rose from the dead?
Well, I'll tell you how.
Because in the first century,when the events of the New

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Testament were still recenthistory, all anybody had to do
to stop the Christian faith inits tracks, dead in its tracks,
was find the body of Jesus orcome up with a reasonable
explanation as to what happenedto it other than the
resurrection.
And friends, there were lots ofpeople in the first century
living right there in Jerusalemwho wanted to stop the Christian
faith in its tracks.

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But even though they opposed thepreaching and even though they
killed the preachers the onething they were never able to do
is discredit the resurrectionand the reason is because it
really happened and if that'strue then Jesus Christ is
almighty God the way he claimedand he is the one true way to
God just like he said he was nowlet me stop for a minute and say

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if you're here today and you'venever trusted Jesus as your real
and personal savior that friendsthere is an enormous message
here that applies to your life.
You know what I love to say?
I love to say, follow a deadsavior and you'll end up just
like him.
But in all these people I justnamed a few moments ago, they're
all dead.

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They didn't rise from the grave.
They're still in the grave.
They're dead saviors.
You follow them.
You're going to end up just likethey did.
But the great news of the Bibleis that we don't have a dead
savior.
We have a living savior, a risensavior.
Follow a living savior andyou'll end up just like him.
like him alive forevermore.
Friends, this is what we wantfor you.

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We want you to be aliveforevermore.
We want you to connect to aliving Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and I sure hope you'llthink about doing that.
Now that's as far as we want togo in the passage today, because
it's time for us to ask our mostimportant question.
And we haven't done this for afew weeks, so I didn't want to
spring it on you.

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I want to give you a minute toget ready.
Okay, so are we ready?
Okay.
Alright, here we go now.
Nice and loud.
Ready?
One, two, three.
So what?
It's good to be home again,isn't it?
That's sweet.
You say, Lon, so what?

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I mean, all right, so Jesus isJehovah God in the flesh.
When I walk out of my house onMonday morning to go to work, to
go to school, to run thecarpool, what difference does
that make to the way I live on aMonday morning?
Well, let's talk about that.
Remember what started theargument here in John chapter 8.
The rabbis say to Jesus, who doyou make yourself out to be?

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And in saying, Before Abrahamwas, I am.
In claiming to be Jehovah Godwrapped in human flesh, all
Jesus did, folks, is answer thequestion.
He answered it definitively.
He answered it precisely.
He answered it unambiguously.
And he answered it with nowiggle room.

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He answered their question.
Now, I believe today in the 21stcentury that Jesus' claim to be
Jehovah God is just as true andjust as compelling as it was in
the first century.
And I believe that as followersof Christ, we must take our
stand on this point, the deityof Christ, the identity of

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Christ, and we must refuse toyield.
Listen, when you present JesusChrist to somebody, it's okay if
they want to resist him.
I mean, it's sad, but if theywant to resist him, they can if
they want to.
If a person wants to refuseJesus, that's their effect.
If a person wants to renounceJesus, well, that's their

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business.
But the one thing you and Icannot allow people in this
world to do is to redefineJesus.
That is not acceptable.
Listen, in the early church,when the Roman Empire insisted
that all of its subjects confessthat the emperor was God, that
the emperor was deity, tens ofthousands of Christians went to

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their death rather than do sobecause they understood
something.
They understood that they had aresponsibility not to let
anybody redefine Jesus Christ.
They understood that they had aresponsibility to defend the
identity of Jesus Christ withtheir very own lives, if that's

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what it took.
And I submit to you that today,we as followers of Christ in the
modern world have that very sameresponsibility.
There are places in our worldtoday where to stand up and
defend the identity of JesusChrist just might cost you your
life.
But here in America that'sprobably not true.
It's probably not going to costyou your life to do that.

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But it may very well cost youyour job.
It may very well cost you someof your friends.
It may very well cost you yourpopularity.
It may cost you your career oryour inheritance.
But it doesn't matter what itcosts, friends.
We have the duty and theresponsibility to see to it that
people, if they want to, theycan reject Jesus.
They can resist Jesus.

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They can renounce Jesus, but theone thing we will not let them
do is redefine Jesus.
And I'll tell you, we've got aworld full of people who want to
redefine him.
They want to redefine Jesus downto a person that they can live
with, that they can coexist withwithout having to change their
lifestyle, a person they cancoexist with without having to

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come to grip with the lordshipof Jesus Christ over every part
of their life.
They want to reframe Jesus intoa great humanitarian or a
philosopher or a moralizer or ora teacher, or just another nice,
calm, religious figure.
But folks, the identity of JesusChrist is non-negotiable.
He is Jehovah God, wrapped inhuman flesh, and when you come

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into contact with Him, and whenyou let Him into your life, He
is going to change yourlifestyle.
He is going to be Lord of yourlife.
You're not going to be able tocoexist with Him on any other
basis.
You know, in 1992, August of1992, 1992, my mom died of
cancer.
And I was out in California atthe time.

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I was speaking at Hume LakeChristian Camps.
And so I called home to find outabout the funeral arrangements.
And my stepfather, my dad hadalready gone to be with the Lord
a number of years before.
My stepfather said, well, Lon, Igot some bad news and I don't
know exactly how to tell youthis.
He said, your aunt called andshe's handling all the funeral
arrangements, your mom's sister.
And she told me to tell you thatyou're not well at her home for

(23:04):
the funeral now you got tounderstand when I first came to
Christ I went right away one ofthe very first people I shared
the Lord Jesus with was my auntand my uncle and I told them
Jesus Christ is the Messiah ofIsrael I told them Jesus Christ
is Jehovah God wrapped in humanflesh I told them Jesus Christ
death on the cross is the onlypayment for sin and I told them

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that even though you are Jewishthe only way you get eternal
life and get to go to heaven isby accepting Jesus Christ Christ
as your personal Messiah.
That had been 20 years beforeand we had not had much to say
to each other in the last 20years because of that.
Well, I called my aunt updirectly and I said, listen, I

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heard something.
I'm not sure it's true, but Iheard you said that I'm not
welcome to come to your home forthe funeral of my mother.
I said, I'm sure I got thatwrong.
And she said, you didn't get itwrong.
You got it exactly right.
Now y'all got to understand howJewish people do funerals
because we do them differentthan y'all Gentiles do what we
do is we go to the to thegraveside first and we have a

(24:09):
little ceremony at the gravesidein Hebrew and then everybody
goes back to a relative's housewhere you all you know stand
around and you console thefamily and whatever and she said
you can come to the cemetery ifyou want because that's public
property I can't stop you butyou're not coming back to my
house don't show up I'm notletting you in I said now look I
know you don't agree with me onthis Jesus stuff but I said this

(24:32):
is my mother mother.
This is my mother.
And you know, there's a time inlife where you put that stuff
aside.
You know, this is my motherwe're talking about here.
She said, I don't care who itis.
Don't come to my house.
You're not coming in.
Friends, you know, on thetelephone, I knew exactly what I
could say to fix this.
I knew exactly what I could doto rectify the whole situation.

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All I had to do is say on thetelephone, you know, I just want
to tell you I've changed my mindabout Jesus Christ.
I don't believe he's the MessiahIsrael anymore.
I don't believe he's Jehovah Godin the flesh anymore.
I don't believe that he made theonly way to get to heaven
available.
And I don't believe that Jewishpeople like you and my uncle
must know him or you have nochance of getting to heaven.

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I've changed my position on allof that.
And guess what?
I would have been welcome at thefuneral.
But Jesus said, Matthew 10,verse 37, he who loves father or
mother more than me is notworthy of me.
And friends, I knew I couldn'tsay that.
And so I never went to thefuneral of my own mother.

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Now, the good news is my momaccepted Jesus Christ into her
life a week before she died, andshe's in heaven today.
And when I see my mom, when Iarrive on the shores of heaven,
I know what she's going to sayto me.
She's going to say, Lon, you didthe right thing.
Funerals are negotiable, but theidentity of Jesus Christ is not.

(26:02):
You did the right thing.
And friends, that's the so whatof what I'm trying to say to you
today.
That's everything we've talkedabout points to this, that as
followers of Christ, the LordJesus is asking us to stand firm
on the issue of his uniqueidentity, to stand firm on the
issue that he therefore offersus the unique pathway to heaven

(26:25):
and to God, and to do this atour office, to do it at our
school, to do it on our ballteams, to do it with our
relatives and our friends andour neighbors, And if there is a
personal cost to pay, then guesswhat?
Jesus said, I want you to payit.
I want you to pay it.
You say, well, Lon, why shouldI?

(26:45):
Why should I pay that kind ofcost down here on earth?
Friends, the answer is realsimple.
Because of the payoff we'regoing to get in heaven.
Jesus said, Matthew 10, 32,everyone who confesses me before
men, I will also confess thembefore my Father who's in
heaven.
Now, I don't know exactly whatJesus said, means by that I got

(27:05):
to be honest with you butwhatever he means by it I want
it you understand when I get toheaven I want him confessing me
before the father whatever thatmeans so I've got a job to do
down here on earth if that'swhat I want and so do you I hope
you want that too friends let'ssummarize Jesus claimed to be

(27:27):
Jehovah God in the flesh anddon't you ever let anybody tell
you different moreover Jesusdemonstrated all the
prerogatives of Jehovah God inthe flesh and all the power of
it.
Third, Jesus moreover rose fromthe dead to prove to you that he
was Jehovah God in the flesh andnow Jesus calls you as a

(27:48):
follower of Christ and me totake our stand on this truth and
never compromise it regardlessof the cost.
This is the mantle that tensupon tens of thousands of
Christians gave their lives tohand to you and me.
And this is the mantle that youand I need to carry well and

(28:08):
that we need to deliver safelyto the next generation so they
can carry it well.
Before Abraham was, I am, Jesussaid.
And so may it ever be.
Let's pray together.

(28:28):
Lord Jesus, we're reminded inthe Old Testament that you said,
I am God and there is noneother.
And indeed, you are Jehovah Godwrapped in human flesh and there
is none other like you.
That's what makes your death onthe cross meaningful and
effective in creating a way forus to get to heaven.

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And so, Lord Jesus, I pray thatyou would empower and strengthen
and infuse into us a sense ofcourage as a result of being
here today and that we would goout tomorrow morning and even
the rest of today knowing whatour job is that our job is to
politely and courteously andkindly but boldly and without

(29:16):
equivocation stand for the deityof Christ the person of Christ
and whatever the cost is well wejust pay it Lord change the way
we live and change the way werepresent you because we were
here today and we werechallenged by the Holy Spirit
from the Word of God.

(29:37):
We ask these things in Jesus'name and God's people said,
Amen.