The True Martyr

with Pastor Micheal Oxentenko

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's pray, Father, we are so grateful today for Jesus,
and just thank you for these wonderful people who serve here,
and just grant us that holy communion. A picture of
Jesus and his name Amen. The title of the message

(00:20):
is the true Martyr. We often think of Stephen as
a deacon, and it's fitting describing thus in his relationship
to the magnificent Seven who served Jesus both boldly and
competently in that early church to relieve the burdens of
the holy apostles so they could pray and preach the

(00:41):
word of God unencumbered. Is that an important thing? Just
a hair down on that system, garabl just a little
bit down. But the one title we should remember Stephen
the most buy is the title given by the apostle Paul,
who is part of the murderous mob of religious leaders

(01:02):
that killed him. Stephen who was a witness for Jesus. Stephen,
his greatest claimed life is not that he was a deacon.
His greatest claim was that he was a witness, a
martyr for Jesus. He made his impact for the future
by being a light for Christ Acts twenty two, nineteen

(01:23):
and I said Paul is here speaking Lord. They themselves
know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those
who believed in thee. And when the blood of Stephen,
thy witness was shed, I was standing by and approving
and keeping the garments of those who killed him. So
the apostle Paul here was actively engaged in the death

(01:47):
of Stephen. The word translated excuse me. The word translated
witness in verse twenty is the Greek word martyr. Our
English word does not altogether convey that. We understand a
martyr as someone who bears witness to Jesus in our language,
by giving their life for Jesus. The Book of Hebrews

(02:08):
says in Hebrews twelve one that we are surrounded by
a great cloud of witnesses, and the Greek word means martyrs.
Many have come before us who lived and died for
Jesus Christ. We are not the first, We're not the
most important people on the timeline. There is a great
cloud of martyrs, and there are many who did not

(02:30):
count this world so precious that they weren't willing to
give it up because of Jesus who died for them.
And the book Revelation speaks of such a witness whose
name was Antipus, who lived in Pergamus. Now Pergamus represents
the medieval church on the beginning on the rising Tide
about fifth sixth century, and the Church of Pergamus has

(02:52):
the faithful Witness, whose name actually means Anti Pope, antiposs
Anti father, and so he symbolizes those who would die
opposing the misuse of papal authority in the fifth and
sixth century Relation two thirteen. I know where you dwell,
where Satan's throne is. You hold fast my name. Now
God's name, Christ's name, symbolically as Yahweh, means his law.

(03:17):
Because God is his law. I am who I am.
Yahweh is an expression of the holy covenant of his law.
You hold fast my name, and you did not deny
my faith even the days of Antipus, my witness, my
faithful one who was killed among you were Satan dwells.

(03:37):
Antipus was Jesus faithful witness, just like Stephen was Jesus
faithful witness. I've been to Pergamus. I've seen that summit
where the throne of Zeus was located now in the
East Berlin Museum, and you can see that there was
literally a throne of Satan at the summit of that mountain,
and he was sacrificed to Christ right there. In that

(03:59):
context of worship, no doubt, Antipus was encouraged to remain
faithful in that satanic environment of Pergamus, where the throne
of Zeus, which is the throne of Satan, was located
at the top of the mountain, where he died for Jesus,
just like Stephen did. It's hard to die for Jesus
when you won't live for Jesus. Am I right. It's

(04:21):
even harder to live for Christ when you need to
die to self. In the book Revelation, Jesus appealed to
the Church of Ladesea, symbolizing that end time group that
has a knowledge of prophecy but has lost its relationship
with Christ, unprepared for the second coming of Christ, and

(04:41):
Christ appeals to the latest Sean Church, which means in Greek,
the people of righteousness. The late Seans were the people
full of their own righteousness, but not Jesus righteousness. Friend,
It's possible to be so enamored with ourselves that we
forget that we are not the good news. In the
Gospel friends our church. As glorious as it is a

(05:04):
gift from God, it is not the good news of
the Gospel. Our doctrinal understandings, as biblical as they are
and beautifully so, they are not the good news of
the Gospel unless they are wrapped within the Gospel. Who
is Jesus. The truth we need in life is more
than us. It's not us at all. It's not just information.

(05:28):
The truth we need in life is the way, the truth,
and the life. Who is Jesus. We will not get
through the judgment day, will not get through in time
events on our own without our vital relationship with Jesus.
The Book of Hebrews calls Jesus the pioneer of our faith.
Why because Jesus was the first martyr, the true witness,

(05:50):
the author, the architect of the Christian faith. Jesus death
bears witness to the truth that we need to die
to live. He was the true martyr we need to
cross in our life before we can seize the crown
of life. We need to lose before we can win.
We need to be humbled before we can be exalted.
Dear Heart, we need Jesus, who gave his life for

(06:13):
us before we can give our lives in service for him.
If we don't have Christ and his Cross, we have nothing.
We have no launching pad to be a Christian. A
talented person who is unconverted, and the exists in the
church unconverted talented people. A talented person who's unconverted and
do great harm to the work of God with all

(06:35):
those talents that are unsanctified. But a talented person who
surrenders those talents as nothing in brokenness can be retooled
and taught by God, and God can use the humblest
of servants to make a difference for him and to
glorify his name. It is not in the seeking greatness

(06:57):
that we are saved or that we become great. Such
Jesus told his disciples that the sign of true greatness
is humility. Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem
to become the servant of the human race predicted in
the Book of Isaiah's Behold, my servant shall be exalted
and lifted up. And then you become the lamb who
was broken, and all our sins be placed on him.

(07:20):
He became the suffering servant. Jesus set his face to
go to Jerusalem become the servant of the human race,
the true martyr. Friends, when we come to Jesus, like Jesus,
we become servants of God for saving others. It's no
longer about ourselves. It's about others that we live. Our pain,

(07:42):
and every one of us has it is given up
for his pain, which is much more profound. Our honor
is surrendered for his high honor. Our life is taken
away so he can live in us, and we can
have a new life that's not ours. It's no longer
us who live, but Christ, who lives in us. Our
glory is snuffed out so he can shine. That is

(08:03):
what it means to be a witness for Jesus. In
Mark ten forty two, and Jesus called them to him
and said to them, you know that those who are
supposed to rule over the gentiles lorded over them. Now
Jesus is saying this, He set his eyes to go
to Jerusalem to suffer and die. They're expecting him to
set up the Roman Empire, and so he says, you

(08:25):
know that those who are supposed to rule over the
gentiles lorded over them. Have you ever had a boss
who tried to lord it over you like this, I'm
in charge, and then they can of you. Isn't that
kind of harsh? You know? I hate him when somebody
uses a finger to make a point at me. You know,
stop that, You know well at lording over people is

(08:48):
in our dna. It's easy to do, he says. You
know that those who are supposed to rule over the
gentiles lorded over them, and their great men exercise authority
over them. But it shall not be so among you.
Whoever would be great among you must be your What
does the Bible say? It must be your servant, And
whoever would be first among you must be a slave

(09:10):
of all. For the son of man also came not
to be served. But what does it say but to
serve and to give his life as a ransom for
many friends. If you're coming to church because you just
want the church to meet all your needs, you don't
have it right. You need to come to church so
that you can meet Jesus, who is the servant. His

(09:32):
salvation can be applied to your sins. You can have
a sense of God's grace, and then your life purpose
is mapped out and defined so that you can live
for others. And serve God no matter what. Jesus spoke
to the latest seeing Church through John the Apostle, with
the truth that he is the true Witness, the true Martyr,

(09:54):
the truth we need in our need for truth, the
truth who is personal, the truth who is able to
save us from our lives, our self deception that we nurture.
In our religious context, that says that we are righteous. Friends,
Righteousness by faith is taking the glory of man, throwing
it into dust, so that in our humility and brokenness,

(10:17):
the glory of Christ and his righteousness can be applied
to our lives as a gift of grace. We are
dead in the water without God's grace. With it, we
are alive. We are transported to the Kingdom. We are
children of God. Revelation three fourteen, Jesus said to the
Angel the Church and lad Us, see youre right. The

(10:37):
words of the Amen, say that with me, the Amen.
This next phrase, the faithful and true witness. Say it
with me, the faithful and true Witness. And then the
next phrase, the beginning of God's creation. Let's take it apart, friends,
Jesus is the amen, not just the amen. At the

(10:58):
end of our prayers. This is a direct reference to
Proverbs eight thirty, where we find in the very center
of the Bible, and this is the exact center of
our canon, the word amone, which is a derivative the
word amen. It means master, workman, architect, builder, kind of
like a carpenter king. That's the idea of the Hebrew

(11:21):
And he is defined as the wisdom of God, that
created the universe, that danced with God, that twirled with
the Father at the dawn of time, who was the
outpouring of God's love to create all things, it says,
rejoicing always before him in the sons of men. Christ
lives for us, He always has lived for us. There

(11:45):
is no life without Jesus. In Jesus there is joy.
And we find it right there in that creation chapter
of Proverbs eight, of which the councils and I see
the whole struggle of the Trinity really zeroed in on
Proverbs eight. Christ is the Amone, the Amen, the wisdom
of God, God who came from God to reveal God

(12:08):
to us. The son of Man is the Amone, the Amen,
the architect, the master builder, the carpenter king. We need
to rebuild our lives when you can't design your future,
you have an architect who can the Amen. When you
can't build your life back. We have the Amen who

(12:28):
is the master workman, the architect. When your joy fails,
he does not fail you. Hear me, Jesus is the
Amen with all the divine crevidentials much needed in your
life and mind, so we can have life and purpose.
And that's why Jesus said I have come that they
might have life and have it more abundantly. Jesus says

(12:50):
to the latest seans that he is the faithful and
true witness, faithful and true for you because Jesus loves
you as your creator and your savior and healer. Jesus
can rescue you. You know, I don't know about you,
but I'm gonna pause and I'm gonna say amen to
that thing. Jesus can rescue and heal you and me.

(13:17):
That's the gospel. He shall heal or save his people
from their sins and Revelation nineteen eleven. Jesus has the
name of faithful and True. He's riding on a white
horse as the general of God's army and the captain
of the Lord's host. Why because he can defeat the
enemies in your life that would try to destroy you.
He has a righteousness that's a military kind of righteousness.

(13:39):
Satan cannot stand against you. If you have Christ in
your heart and life as your righteousness. It is his
righteousness that wins the war for you, and he is
the one who can save you and the whole world
that surrenders to him. Revelation nineteen eleven. Then I saw
heaven opens, this is the second Coming, and behold a
white horse, and he was that upon it is called

(14:01):
what faithful and true. That's a name for Christ. And
in righteousness he judges and makes war. Christ our righteousness.
We don't make it to heaven because we are good people.
How many of you came to church feeling you're just
a good person. Keep those hands down, okay? Ah you
said you ever look in the mirror and you say, oh,

(14:21):
you know, thank the Lord that he is a believer
like me and the church. I know people who think
that way. When I look in the mirror and we
have a mirror in our mind and we look back
into our memories and we think of how we've let
the Lord down, I have to say I'm in that group.

(14:41):
What about you? Have you let the Lord down in
your life, Okay? And then I look into the mirror
and I think of Jesus, who is the image of
the invisible God. The Bible calls of the icon, the
only being in the universe that has physical form, Who

(15:04):
is God that we can worship and know God through Jesus.
And if God gave Jesus from me, how much does
God love me? He loves me as much as he
loves his son, Jesus. He has extended his love for
his eternal son to me, and he has forgiven me
of my trespasses. He has covered me with a white

(15:25):
robe that I don't deserve, so I can learn to
worship and live and serve him. Not because I'm a
good person, but because he's a good person. My savior.
Jesus didn't die for good people. He died for his people.
Big difference. We make it to heaven because we are
his people. And the Lord's Supper that Jesus instituted for

(15:47):
the early Church, not the Mass. The Mass is an abomination.
It is the corruption of the Lord's suppers. People said,
why do you say that, Pastor Mike, Because the Catholic
match teaches that Jesus has re crucified. Every time we
take the bread and the grape juice. It denies the
cross as a once and for all event in history,

(16:08):
and it puts Jesus into a place where love did
not get it done. It is finished at the cross
didn't mean anything, And so a human priest administers God's
grace and re sacrifices Christ. And the medieval Church was
stuck at the cross and unable to move to the
resurrection and the acceptance of Sunday morning. This is the Reformation.
When the Bible came online, the reformers realized that the

(16:32):
Lord's Supper was to celebrate as a memorial of what
Jesus has finished and done for us at the cross.
And Jesus said, as often as you do this, you
remember my death till I come. So he wants us
to do this, but not like the medieval Church did it.
And so there was a renaissance, a revolution, and the

(16:53):
Reformation back to the Bible, and we are in the
stream of that glorious revelation. In fact, the Moravian movement,
Count bun Zenzendorf and others rediscovered the biblical teaching of
the ordinance of humility that will be celebrating, and we,
like many of godly Christians and the pietrust Awakening, follow

(17:17):
the scriptures to have that before the Lord's Supper. Friends,
we make it to heaven because we are Jesus people.
The faith of Jesus has merit when your faith is
frail and falters. You ever had faith that failed in
your life? Come on, anybody here, Well, guess what the
Bible says. It's the faith of Jesus that has merit.

(17:38):
It's out of his faith. We are justified. When we
exercise our mustard seed of faith that lays hold of
the mountain of his faithfulness, we are saved. The faith
of Jesus has provided as are right now, righteousness, good
enough for the judgment day, and good enough for every
day of your life until Jesus comes in forever. Christ
is faithful and true for you. Christ told the Church

(18:01):
of Ladycia that he is the beginning of the creation
of God. The Greek can be translated ruler. It's the
word archae. Jesus has creative authority in your life to
recreate your life, to give you a new beginning, even
if you've messed up, and we all have, and to
be the authority of God in your life, for all

(18:24):
of your life. When you feel like failing, when you falter,
he is there to save you like he did Peter.
He is the archae friend. Friends. There have never been
a Plan B to save the universe or you. God
has only had had Plan A. And who is Plan A?
Could you help me with this? Jesus is Plan A.

(18:47):
There will never be a people, There will never be
a person who will outdo what Jesus did on the
cross and in the resurrection for you. Why because we
cannot add to the righteousness of Jesus Christ. No final
generation will arise at the end and add to what

(19:08):
Jesus did for us at the cross. So that Jesus
could sit down at the right hand of God where
a get it done everlasting kind of righteousness predicted in
the seventy Weeks of Day on nine twenty four, he
would bring in everlasting righteousness in our poor latesty in condition.
We must remember to surrender to the only one, the

(19:29):
Holy One who can recreate us, who has authority, the
wisdom of God, the very heart and mind of God,
and he can take our lives and wrap us in
him so that we are fit for the judgment. Day friends,
we need Jesus. Your pastor needs Jesus. You need Jesus,
not our righteousness, but Jesus, who is righteousness. And we

(19:53):
will be saved and we will be ready for the
second Coming in Christ, dear friend, Jesusesus is the everlasting
righteousness promised in the seventy weeks of day On nine
twenty four. He is the Holy of Holies promised in
the seventy weeks of dane On nine twenty four. He

(20:14):
is the end of sin promised in the seventy Weeks
of Daniel nine twenty four. Jesus is the new mile
Kassidakh implied with righteousness, which means king of righteousness. Jesus
is the only way to God with no shame and
with glory and acceptance because of His righteousness christ in Us,

(20:35):
the hope of glory turned with me to Romans ten
to one, Paul says, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel, the Jewish nation, is that they
might be saved. For I bear witness that they have
a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge verse three,
for they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to

(20:59):
establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness
of God. Horrors b Look at verse four. For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
who believes. Now. But he's not saying Christ is the
end of the laws a moral standard. That's not the case.

(21:21):
James two says, the ten Commandment law of God is
the standard in the judgment. But Christ is the end
of the ten Commandment law for righteousness. You see, you
can't stand before God and prove that you're righteous because
you suddenly became perfect. You can't argue you've never sinned.
You have, and so the law can't save you. But

(21:42):
Jesus can. Christ didn't set aside his law, and he died,
He atoned for it. He died for every broken piece
of it that we broke throughout the centuries, and he
absorbed it into himself so that he can be just
without setting aside his law as a moral standard. And
say you, so that the law is no longer a

(22:03):
means of righteousness, which means Christ is our righteousness. So
we live for him. We learn to obey because the
lawgiver is hanging on the cross broken for us, and
who wants to break the law. That is the lawgiver anymore.
You can try all you like all your life, and
the only righteousness that matters one lick to God in

(22:24):
the judgment day is Jesus righteousness. That's how we that's
why we're baptized. We're baptized into Christ and His righteousness,
and we come out of the water justified. That's what
it means, not guilty anymore, a right now, righteousness every
day of our life good enough for the judgment day.

(22:46):
So how about giving your life to Jesus in this
service that we have, and let Jesus take care of
your deep need for righteousness. One Corinthians one twenty eight
to thirty one. God chose what is low and despised
in the world, even things that are not to bring

(23:06):
to nothing, things that are so that no human being
might boast in the presence of God. He is the
source of your life in Christ, Jesus, whom God made
our wisdom, our righteousness, and sanctification and redemption. That word
implies perfection. Therefore, as it is written, let him who boasts.

(23:28):
What does the Bible say, What does it say boast
in the Lord? Now I'd like to practice that with you?
Could you practice it with me? Praise the Lord. Praise
the Lord for God's righteousness. Praise the Lord for Jesus.
Why why do we praise? Why do we do this?
Because Jesus is the true witness, the true righteousness, the

(23:52):
truth and wisdom of God, the true martyr we need
every day of our broken, sinful, struggling lives so we
can be saints, so we can live, so we can
have joy in the journey. Because of Christ our righteousness. Friends,
Jesus is the true Martyr. Thank God for Jesus. The Amen.

(24:14):
Thank God for Jesus. Amen.