Mr. Ken Martin

Sermon Transcript
July 20, 2002

The Jesus Many Never See

Good afternoon, everyone; a very pleasant good afternoon to you all. This afternoon, what I'd like to do is to address a topic that is certainly very timely in our day and age as never before. Jesus makes a very clear statement to his disciples when He had called them and trained them. He told them, He said, "Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, because you hear and understand." But He said that the vast majority of individuals, they would not at that particular time be in a position to receive what Jesus himself told His own disciples, how that they were blessed in a very special way. If you'll turn with me, please, to Matthew 13:11. His disciples had just come to Him about the question of why He talked in parables to individuals. And there are many ideas about why Christ spoke with parables. But Jesus answered it very plainly in verse 11 -

Matthew 13:11 - He answered and said unto them, "Because it has been given unto you to know," meaning that they at that time they had been singled out by God's decree to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But notice, please, "But to them it is not given." It was not given to those at that particular time. And then later on, He goes on to say how, that, verse 13 -

Verse 13 - Seeing they see not, and hearing, they hear not. But those who are called by the grace of God as the first contingent of humankind, which God is working which the Bible addresses as first fruits unto salvation. This is made more clear in the understanding of the annual Holy Days that the Bible addresses, festivals of God that tell us in a step by step manner how God is working out a very great plan of salvation for the human race and mankind overall.

But what is interesting, at this point, and why I begin with this is, is because you know, there are many people today that believe they see Jesus, and yet, the truth of the matter is, they don't see Him. They have never seen the real Jesus of the Bible. They have heard about a Jesus, and they believe in many things that they believe Jesus has said, but there's an aspect of it that they have never seen, and that's what we want to talk about today. "The Jesus Many Never See," "The Jesus Many Never See."

In 1995, there was a Southern Baptist author who wrote a book, a very interesting book. His name was Philip Yancey, and Philip Yancey, writing this book, entitled it "The Jesus I Never Knew". Now this is a man who very much believed himself to be a Christian, was very dedicated to his Baptist faith, and yet, in his book, he points out on how the understanding he received about Jesus was quite different from what he discovered in the Bible in terms of the total picture of who and what Jesus was. He had basically had been taught that Jesus was a mild mannered individual, which Jesus certainly was, and he was very inoffensive and basically, He was a god that taught love, compassion, understanding, many of those elements. That is correct, but remember, like the old saying: "a coin has two sides," and it was the other side that he discovered when he read the Bible more thoroughly, in a way that he had never seen before, and that's what he addresses in his book.

He doesn't cover all the ramifications of it, but what he began to realize is that the Christ that he discovered in the Bible put forth some very uncompromising demands upon his followers, and that's what quite shocked him, and his book created quite a stir in the Protestant community and especially for those again who had this concept of Jesus, and then as he pointed out, this was a Jesus many had never seen.

Well, we're going to look at that and investigate that a little bit more today in the message that we're going to be talking about here, about the "Jesus Many Never See." We're going to look at the unseen qualities of Christ. These unseen qualities that many people just do not have any concept whatsoever regarding Jesus, because they see Him in one particular mode, but they can't see him in any other particular mode of operandi, modus operandi.

The very first one that I would like to address and take a look at here, and what Mr. Yancey discovered, was that Jesus insists on repentance. Jesus insists on repentance, and you don't hear a whole lot of that today. Repentance is almost like, like it's something that's disappeared, like sin. People don't talk about sin anymore, but God talks about sin, and He talks about the need for repentance. If you'd join me please, let's go to Luke 24:45 - Jesus is talking here to his disciples, and He had to do something for them in order for them to grasp and comprehend what the scriptures were actually saying. Notice in verse 45 -

Luke 24:45 - Then He opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures. Well that ties in back with what we read there earlier in the fact that Jesus said not everyone comprehends the things of God; it has to be given to them. It was given to the disciples, and so here He gives to His disciples understanding about certain events that had transpired, and then in verse 46 he says -

Verse 46 - …Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day, and notice verse 47 -

Verse 47 - And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name (and this should be) among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. So here He is beginning to address the subject of the gospel message, the very thing, the work of God, we call it, where Jesus sent his disciples out, and He says preach this gospel to the whole world. It began in Jerusalem, but notice; it is a very important thing that is spoken here, and that is that it involves repentance and remission of sins should be preached, and today people don't know too much about this thing of repentance. Repent of what? What am I supposed to repent of? Well, the job of the ministry is to "cry aloud" and to "spare not" and to show people their sins, according to the scriptures in Isaiah 58.

The job of the ministry is to be like a trumpet, to help people understand, not brow beat them, not hit them over the head and make them feel terrible in the sense that they lose their self worth. No, God wants them to understand they've been going in a wrong direction and they need to change. Because many of them are sincere, but they're sincerely wrong. They just don't know what they don't know. And because they don't understand that until it is given, it's like Paul says in Romans 2:4 -. The goodness of God,

Romans 2:4 - Know you not the goodness of God that leads you to repentance, to show you the need for these changes that are so vital, so that it might be well with us? So that we might receive the good blessing from God?

This is part and parcel of why Jesus insists on repentance. Turn with me, if you will to Romans 12:1-2. Now here the apostle Paul, and remember Paul was driven with a tremendous drive of the Spirit of God. He had received a very, very special treatment in terms of the fact; he uses the term "he was born as one out of due season." He did not feel that he was worthy to be called an apostle because he said, "I persecuted the Church of God. I didn't know what I was doing, but God has had mercy on me, He has forgiven me this, and He has appointed me to be a servant of His to preach this wonderful message." And he begins here in Romans 12:1 -

Romans 12:1 - He says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God," and what are we supposed to understand? "That you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service," or some translations refer "your spiritual service. "

This is what you are walking on the earth for. This is why you were made in God's image. Nothing else has been made in God's image, male and female. Man and woman are unique as a creation from God, and we are told in this understanding to (Rom. 12:2) "be not conformed to this world." We're not to be going along with the flow. We have to be very similar to, like if you go up to Alaska in the spawning season, there are I guess the actual reproduction period of the last element of the life of the coho salmon. These are the salmon that go out to the ocean, spend their adult life out there and then all of a sudden, the switch is thrown and they decide that they've gotta come back. Now this is a marvelous thing to watch and behold. They come and they do what? They go upstream and they fight everything; all kinds of obstacles; waterfalls, they fight the bears, and eagles, and everything else trying to get them, and they're trying to get back up to their basic area where they originated. Their home base, those fresh water where they can produce the next generation of the coho salmon, and they have to fight upstream.

And that's the way the God-fearing man and woman is pictured in the Bible, that we are fighting an upstream battle to get back to where we must be. To that faith once delivered, because this world around us is transforming people into terrible things. It's turning them into absolute monsters out there, people doing hideous things, like the news we've heard recently of a man taking a little five year old girl and doing a horrific thing to that young lady and then taking her life, at five years of age. Never had a life, just taken from her. These are the terrible things that why you pray "thy kingdom come" when God's kingdom will reign supreme and this kind of evil will not reign upon the earth at that time like it does this time.

Verse 2 - And we are not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed, it says, by the renewing of your mind. Now transformation, what does that mean? Well, it would be, just the same way, like you take a particular insect and you've seen the so-called stages of the transformation of an insect, where it comes from larva, then it goes into the pupae stage, then it comes out of that chrysalis stage like a butterfly, the wings span out and so a new creation comes forth. Well, transformation is what God wants in the renewing, it says, of your mind. Our minds have to be renewed.

Now transformation is something that young children can understand. There was a thing some years ago, a thing called transformers that came out. These were like toys that you can get at Toys 'R Us and they, all the young kids new all about transformers. The older generation didn't know anything about transformers, and they could not transform these little things. They could take these little people, and they were supposed to be "good guys and good gals" and these children could take and they could transform them and suddenly they were these "super hero transformers." And they did that, just like a Rubik's cube, you know, we would have trouble trying to put this thing together and get it … but the young generation, they could do it. They transformed. Well, God is telling us as His people, "Hey, you are to transform. You are to have your hands on this and to understand that God is transforming you into something that is absolutely great, beyond words to describe." We are to find this understanding in the scriptures and it says, and part of this transformation does what,

Verse 2 - That you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now the will of God is something that people today have trouble with. They don't understand the will of God. If they understood it, they wouldn't say some of the things that they say, such as when a terrible thing happens, they say, "Well, that was the will of God." You mean it was the will of God that a building should fall and smash all those people to pieces? Jesus didn't agree with that. That wasn't the will, it says, "God is not willing any should perish." That's his will, but we see, things do happen, and there's things that must be understood and learned in the study of the scriptures to be able to rightly divide the word of God, and as it says "that you might prove what is the good and acceptable, pleasing, and the perfect will of God."

So what we have here is God is showing that transformation means there has to be a radical change in our thinking. Now today people don't like to use words like radical. I don't want to be radical about anything, you know, I want to be nice and reasonable about everything. Well Jesus, when it came to the truth of God, Jesus would have been defined in this world as a radical, simply because he would not compromise with the truth of God, His Father. He came on a mission to teach and preach that wonderful truth, and He lived it every day of His life. He taught the disciples that very understanding; that these were things that needed to be understood, and so,

Jesus points out very clearly then, the mind has got to change. It's like going in this direction, and then all of a sudden you see, uh oh, that's not right, and it's not a slow, gradual change. God is saying, "No, you need to turn around and go the other way. You need to get with it and move in a fast, rapid action, because there's no time for slow, delayed change." We have to make the change that God has shown us as soon as possible.

Another aspect of what Jesus is, in insisting on our repentance, not only is it a radical change of mind that is necessary, but the heart has to be right. A person's heart has to be right for them to be right. There are a lot of people who like to appear like they are right, but their heart is not right. Remember, God looks on the heart. He doesn't look on the outward appearance. He doesn't get taken in by the razzle-dazzle that can fool human beings. God sees, as only God can, right to the heart and the core and in Matthew 15:1 - Jesus was contending with the Pharisees, and it seems like he always was contending with them to one degree or another over something because, again, they were not teaching the truth of God. They had left the truth of God and they had gone to teaching the traditions of men, and other scriptures we'll come across will show this very well. They had the gall to come to Him and say in verse 2 -

Verse 2 - Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? As if that was so important. And Jesus came right back, and He says, "well, Why do you also transgress the commandment of God? Forget the tradition of your elders. Why do you take the commandments of God," and He says, "and you do what? You transgress it by your tradition." Oh, He nailed them right to the wall on that. And of course, they don't like hearing this kind of stuff, and it keeps showing up later on as Jesus kept insisting on the truth of God. What happened is they kept getting slapped verbally with the truth, and the truth cuts like a two-edged sword, and after awhile they plotted his demise because they said, "We can't take this guy anymore. If people start listening to Him, everybody's going to do it and the Romans are going to come take us away and they won't let us be what we want to be, in power." And so the truth again becomes a very powerful weapon. But Jesus goes on to say how in verse 7 -

Verse 7 - You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you saying, and then He says -

Verse 8 - His people draw nigh to me with their mouth, honor me with their lips; but their hearts are far from me. The heart is far from me. And that's why God looks for the heart, to see do we have that in the correct alignment first before we do everything else. Jesus always went to the heart of the issue. He didn't deal with the cosmetic outside, He was concerned about "let's get this straight, and then we can work from that point on." Later on, He commented, He says in verse 9 -

Verse 9 - How that in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Well here again we see, verse 14 -

Verse 14 - Jesus said they were "blind leaders of the blind." He said the things that they were all concerned about, He says, "The things which defile a man," he says, "aren't things that come without washing of the hands," he says, "It's what comes out of the heart that can defile a person." So that heart has to be right. Also in conjunction with this, Jesus made something very clear in Luke 13:3 & 5. He had just gotten finished discussing this matter of what the Galileans had done, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices, so here were a bunch of Galileans worshipping, and Pilate went in there with his soldiers and chopped them to pieces. And Jesus threw out this question. He says, "Suppose you that these Galileans were sinners above all, that they suffered these things?"

Luke 13:3 - "I tell you, Nay: but, except you again (emphasis) repent," you've got to know what to change, something has got to change. In this particular case they were involved in traditions. Well, believe it or not, today modern religions have an awful lot of traditions going on, and people think they are secure spiritually because they have these traditions that they can hang on to just like the people back in the days of Jesus. He says, "Look, the only thing that will make you secure is if you're standing on that rock," which is Jesus Christ, and that is where truth is found, because He is the truth; He is the way; He is the light; He is the resurrection. On and on and on it goes and it is driven home. Verse 5 - He talks about the tower of Siloam falling and He said, "Do you think they were bad sinners?"

Verse 5 - "I say, no: except you repent, you all likewise perish." Question: Terrible things happen. If they're not because of sin, being the worst sinners, then why did it happen? People don't ask the question; they just assume certain things. Well, they must have been bad sinners. Jesus said, "If that's what you think, I'm telling you, except you all likewise repent, you're all going to perish like those people." Well, boy, that brings home the question. Repent of what? 'Cause I don't want to perish. Nobody wants to perish, not in their right mind they don't. And so what we see here is that Jesus is riding home a point. That repentance is a critical key for us today as it was in the days when He walked on the earth, and people need to understand that there is a need for repentance in their life.

A second unseen quality of Christ that becomes manifest is that Jesus finds hypocrisy, hypocrisy completely unacceptable, and we live in a hypocritical world. We live in a play-acting world. We've got all these people that want to mesmerize the masses as if they're such good people, and they might want to try to be good, but it doesn't last because Jesus made it clear: "Why do you call me good? There is none good but God." Human beings are not good. They want to be good, appear good, but they aren't good because we're all tainted with sin, and God is showing us that until this "tainting" of sin is removed from our lives by the precious blood of Jesus Christ we're all in jeopardy is what He's saying. All mankind is in jeopardy. It doesn't matter who you are, or what you are, what you think you are, what you're hanging onto. He's telling us plain and simple; it is the truth of God that brings salvation through Jesus Christ, and that's what most people have never seen. That's why this is "The Jesus Many Never See," because they are so busy praising Jesus, which is wonderful and good. Praise the Lord, "praise him in the congregation, praise him with a psaltery, praise him with the dance." All those things are right and good, but there's a time and a place for all things, and there's also a time for repentance, and people have forgotten some of these critical things, the other side of the coin in Jesus character.

Jesus didn't walk around just preaching love to people all the time. He says, "By this I'll know that you're my disciples, if you have love one for another." But that love can't be perfected until a person comes to repentance, because they don't know what they don't know. And all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And so this is why this becomes a critical part of the character analysis of Jesus and why many, it shocked Mr. Yancey when he wrote his book. Because he said, "Wow this is a Jesus I never saw before, I never heard this Jesus in sermons, I'd go to church every Sunday and never hear about Jesus like this." That He died for me and He loved for me and He's saving me, you know, all that's fine and good, but there's something we've got to do. We've got to repent; we've got to change; we've got to grow in grace and knowledge; we've got to be overcomers. All these things Jesus addresses in many different ways.

All right, in Matthew 23, Jesus hits this area of hypocrisy pretty hard. Now, needless to say, I don't believe the Pharisees thought this was a demonstration of love by their definition, because their definition of love would mean you obey the tradition of the elders, when you're following, like we have sent. We have piped to you, and you have piped back, and now we pipe to you, and we don't pipe back, and what do you do? Well let's take a look at what Jesus said. First of all He tells His disciples that the scribes and the Pharisees, they sit in Moses seat, they have maneuvered into that position, yes, verse 3 -

Verse 3 - Whatsoever they bid you to observe, [that] observe and do; but do not after their works: for they say, and do not. They issue all the kind of rules and regulations, but they don't live by them themselves.

Verse 4 - They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne. Then He goes on to say what I have defined here as the seven woes of hypocrisy. Notice how Jesus, I'm just hitting the highlights here. Beginning in verse 13 -

Verse 13 - Jesus says, "Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites!" Playactors, you see, one's religious or spiritual devotion and conviction should not be predicated on play-acting. We weren't called to be play-actors. We were called to be the men and women of God, from the heart. And Jesus puts it very plainly. These individuals were not. He says, "you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men." Then He goes on and hits them again in verse 14 -

Verse 14 - He says, "Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites!" Well, you've got to know their ears must have been burning at the time. Keep hearing these words ringing in their ear. Why does He keep calling us hypocrites all the time? That's because what He sees, that's what He calls it. Exactly, it was the hypocrisy of the day. He says, "You devour widows' houses, and you make pretense with long prayers:" (trying to impress people by these things.) Then -

Verse 15 - "Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites!" Then he tells how they try to make proselytes out of people, trying to force the issue. Then down to verse 23 -

Verse 23 - "Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites! you pay tithe"; this shows again, they're trying to impress by what they do. Oh, we're real righteous here; we don't miss anything here. And then he goes on in verse 25 -

Verse 25 - "Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites" again! He says, other commentaries there to…how the blind Pharisee claimed first that which is in the cup and then the platter, and then verse 27 - he says,

Verse 27 - "Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites!" He says, "You whitened sepulchres"…Well, all these things, I mean, He just, - as we would have to use the term today, Jesus was reading them the riot act. He was telling them right off right to their faces. And this is a side of Jesus many never see, because they are raptured by this loving Jesus; because they think the God of the Old Testament was harsh and cruel, and they love the God of the New; who's all love and very nice and very calm and never gets angry. And yet the Bible shows in the New Testament that when Jesus encountered these guys; that there was occasion Jesus healed on the Sabbath, and He healed the individual with anger. He was so upset with these guys because He says "You have enough sense to take an animal out of the ditch on the Sabbath, and here's somebody else who's in need and it's wrong to heal this person? To make them well? To give them a shot at life again? Powerful statements that Jesus made. So again, an unseen quality is that Jesus finds hypocrisy completely unacceptable.

The third key area that we discover about Jesus is that He dearly loves people of faith. He dearly loves people of faith, because the whole Bible is a revelation of faith from God to you. It says in Hebrews 11:6 -

Hebrews 11:6 - Without faith it is impossible to please God. If we want understanding, faith is the key in the door that unlocks and opens the Bible and gives us the revelation of God. That's why in Hebrews 11:1 - we know by faith that God created the heavens and the earth. We understand that. "Well, how did He do that?" We don't have to worry about that, that's His business, that's His ballgame. He knows how to do it, and we accept that in faith. But scientists cannot understand that equation, so they keep shooting out rockets with different types of probes, and they're trying to find out, "How did this universe get started?" It's right here in the Book. It was created by God. "Oh, that's too simplistic; I can't believe that!" They can't believe that; I'm sorry, that's the answer. It's simple, so simple a child can understand, just as Jesus said, who speaks the truth and lies not. So this is the fundamental understanding that Jesus makes very clear, that He himself will go to the 'nth degree of help and assistance to those who demonstrate faith.

Notice Matthew 8 if you will. And this is a living faith, this is not a dead faith, it's a living, everyday faith that calls upon God for guidance and help and direction. Matthew 8:5 - We begin by saying -

Matthew 8:5 - It says, He entered Capernaum and there was a centurion who came to Him, and he had a real fond relationship for this servant of his, and he was home sick with a palsy, grievously tormented. If you've ever seen a person with palsy, you know what He's talking about. It's a terrible condition in which a person is just shaking all the time, and they can't control that nervous reaction, and this Roman centurion had come, and he had asked Jesus to heal his servant. Verse 7-

Verse 7 - And Jesus said, "I will come and heal him." Then notice the centurion's comment.

Verse 8 - He said, "Lord, I am not worthy." He could tell from his military service; you know, when you do military service you get your hands dirty. He was a Roman centurion; he had dirty hands; he knew the seedy side of life. He could tell by looking at Christ; you're different, you're wonderfully different, and "I'm not worthy that You should come under my roof: but speak the word only," just say it Lord, "and my servant shall be healed."

Verse 9 - He says, "for I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I tell this one to go and he goes; I tell this one to come, he comes." Now notice verse 10 -

Verse 10 - And Jesus heard it, and He marveled at the manner of which this man spoke. He said unto them, "Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel." You are saying something I am looking for. You are expressing a quality that is priceless.

Verse 11 - And so He says, "I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and the west" and so forth …You can read on that for yourself. But the bottom line being this - the man put his faith and confidence in Jesus. He said, "Just say the word, and I know it'll be there." Boy, if we could exercise that kind of faith, can you realize what would happen, and the transformation? You see why it is a struggle in faith, why Jesus loves children of faith; because we can't exercise that kind of faith constantly. Some days we might, and other days we struggle too; and we have these problems. But this is why God requires faith, trust and confidence in him, that God will provide. The greater the faith, the closer to the heart of Christ we are as individuals. Let's notice Mark 5:25 -

Mark 5:25 - Here we have the account of the woman with some kind of a leukemia condition as best we understand. It says an issue of blood. She had it for twelve years. She suffered many things at the hands of the physicians because they didn't really know, just like doctors today. They don't really know; you'd better do your homework before you go to a doctor. There are good ones out there, but there are a lot of bad ones, a lot of shoemakers that can really mess you up. So you better be sure that you know the man, you've done your homework, he's qualified. But this lady, everyone she ran into, as we say, a terrible experience. And what happened here, when she heard that Jesus came in the press behind, she said within herself- verse 28 -

Verse 28 - "If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole." She was demonstrating her faith in her heart.

Verse 29 - And straightway, it said, the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body, that she was healed from that plague.

Verse 30 - Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of Him, in other words, what it is saying is that God's Spirit working in Christ's very life as a conduit, as a vehicle. He felt the Spirit of God surge right through Him coming to help that woman. He knew something had happened. He didn't exactly know how, because He just felt it happen. That's why it says He knew. He says, "Who touched my clothes?" Somebody has bumped into me and touched me, but it was what was in the heart in faith that brought the results, and so again in verse 34 -

Verse 34 - He finally sees the young lady, and He says, "Daughter, thy faith has made you whole; go in peace, and be whole of the plague." So here we have a wonderful blessing again because faith was exercised. Jesus has problems when faith is not being exercised. He has problems with individuals when they are not exercising faith, and he talks about that in Matthew 6:30. There were incidences that took place, and Jesus talks about this. He talks about the individuals on the Sermon on the Mount, and He says:

Matthew 6:30 - "Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven," He says, "Shall He not much more clothe you," (notice) "O you of little faith?" He addresses where people's problems come from. It is a lack of faith and trust in God, plain and simple. And He says, "Look, if God goes to such meticulous ends for a flower that is here today and gone tomorrow, how much more will He do for you who are made in the image of God, male and female for the great fulfillment of the purpose and plan of God to expand the family of God, to become the children of God for all eternity? A phenomenal thing! Matthew 8:24 -

Matthew 8:24 - They were out on the waters and "a tempest arose on the sea, and it says: "the waves covered the ship,"

Verse 25 - And His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, and "Lord, save us: we perish!" And notice His first comment, "Oh, we're perishing; we'd better so something." That's not what He said. The first thing he addressed was this:

Verse 26 - "He said, Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" In other words, you've been with me; you've seen miracles take place. I'm the Master. You've called me the Master; you've seen loaves and fishes be transformed and everything else. Why are you panicking? I'm here with you. You think I'm going to let you die? And then He stands up and He rebukes the winds and He rebukes the sea.

Verse 27 - they marveled and say, "what kind of a man is this?" Well, He was a God-man, the Son of God and the Son of Man, a phenomenal demonstration of the power of God.

All right, moving on from that factor, there are many other scriptures that declare again the importance of faith. And without faith, again, "it is impossible to please God." That's why that is an area we've got to guard very carefully. Remember, when Jesus comes back to the Earth and sets up the Kingdom of God, what is the admonition? "When the Son of Man returns, shall He find faith on the Earth?" Satan is going to hammer away at faith and confidence. What do you see in the world today? Faith and confidence in the stock market? Going down. You know, employment problems, going down. People's confidence in things are going down, and they don't know where to turn, and they should have been told a long time ago. It's not a matter of loving Jesus, it's a matter of: turn to Jesus, with all your soul, with all your might.

Call on God, and God can heal our land. He can turn things around, He can make the drought go away. He can bring rain in due season. Many of our people have forgotten that because they look to the material rather than the spiritual, and that's why you and I have been called out of this world, because we are called to worship Him in spirit and in truth. In the spiritual dimension of life, not to be preoccupied with the physical, although we must function and operate in it to the best of our ability with the help of God.

A fourth characteristic of Jesus, a very important fourth characteristic of "The Jesus Many Never see," and that is this. That Jesus cannot ignore false teaching. When Jesus encountered false teaching in his ministry, He whacked it to the ground real hard, and He would not compromise with the truth of God. Matthew 5:17 - They were accusing Him of coming to destroy the law of God and the prophets, and He said in verse 17 -

Verse 17 - "Think not," because that's what they were thinking. And He said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." To set an example of how this is to be done.

Verse 18 - "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Verse 19 - "Whosoever therefore breaks one of these least commandments, and teach men to do that, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven." Well I submit to you that there are people out there that are teaching certain things. About the commandments are done away, and Jesus said, "Hey, if you're telling this and teaching this, you're going to be the least in the kingdom of heaven. That's food for thought for those who so boldly want to say the things of God are done away. Remember, the Pharisees were doing that in His day. You read Stein's book on, I think it's Stern's book on "The Jewish New Testament." He talks about that in the book of Galations. How that at the appropriate time, the appointed time, Jesus came into a perverted Judaistic society. That's why he was always in conflict with these guys; they were always on Him because He wasn't walking the chalk the way they wanted Him to. Because they weren't teaching the right ways, plain and simple. And so Jesus made it very clear, He was not going to walk that way, and He met false teaching head-on. Now those who subvert the truth of God, Jesus is very upset with. Notice in John 2:13 - Here we have the account of Jesus driving the individuals out, the moneychangers and the like out of the temple of God, because He took the things seriously, as it says in verse 16 -

Verse 16 - Take these things hence: make not my Father's house a house of merchandise. And then the disciples realized later on that what the scripture was saying when it said, verse 17 -

Verse 17 - The zeal of your house has eaten me up. God's son felt strong waves of righteous indignation when He saw what was happening; how they were taking the things of God and turning it into a merchandising operation.

Go back to Matthew 18 if you will please, beginning in verse 5 - Jesus takes the example of a little child and He puts this little child up, because most people tend to think little children get in the way. But little children represent something very special in God's eyes, because you and I are little children. Remember, He called His people, and Old Testament Israel, He called them the "children of Israel." Why? Children behave like children, and you and I have behaved like children, and we are to grow up to the fullness of the stature of Jesus Christ. It is a maturing process, but notice this, He says, - verse 3 -

Matthew 18:3 - "I say unto you, except you be converted," here again, that change, that total transformation, "and come as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." What he's saying is not that he wants us to go back and be little children; because Paul made that clear. He said, (I Cor 13:11) "When I was a child I thought as a child, I behaved as a child, when I became a man I put away childish things." So God expects a maturing, a growing up as men and women in the knowledge of His ways. But what is clearly defined here is, He says, "Look, children are very precious, but they are very impressionable, and they are vulnerable." They will copy anything that's going on around them, and they need to copy the right things, not the wrong things.

Remember the commercials you've seen on television; father sits back against a tree and smokes a cigarette, little kid takes a stick, puts the stick in his mouth, and he's copying dad, isn't he? And people wonder, well why do people do what they do? Because we're copycats, but we copy the wrong thing. We copy wrong behavior; we want to be like everybody else. Just like ancient Israel, they wanted to be like the nations around them, and God said, "You don't want to be like them. Follow me; I will be your God. I will be the one to provide for you." And if they had copied the things that God had said, just like He said "This will be your wisdom in the sight of the nations; they will be absolutely astonished at how you prosper and how the good things just flow your way." But you wouldn't do that, and that's the lesson of Old Testament Israel, and you and I are told we have to learn from that so that we don't make these mistakes that they made.

And as in this particular case, as spiritual children of God, in the body of the Church of God, He's telling us here, we have a serious obligation that we, when we're working with people whom God is calling - He calls them "babes in Christ," and we have to be careful that we don't do anything to offend or cause a problem in the conversion process of a person. This is why it's very, very delicate. He says: "Whosoever shall humble himself like a child shall be called the greatest." Well, humility is a very important part of our learning to be like Jesus Christ. And it says, verse 6 -

Verse 6 - "But whosoever shall offend one of these, if anybody gets in the way of one who believes in Jesus, it's better for him that a millstone be hung around his neck and he be drowned in the depths of the sea." Why would he say something like that? Plain and simple, that when you start monkeying with a person's conversion when God is calling him, you're treading dangerous territory. You'd better be very careful and let God work out His plan and purpose in that person's life. Be there to help, to assist, but don't cause a stumbling block. Sometimes that can happen, the very word stumbling block comes from the word in the Greek, scandalizo, which is a derivation of the word scandalon, which is where we get the English word scandals. You don't want to create something that would cause a snare. Snare is the alternate translation; you don't want people to be snared with things that will take them away from the truth of God.

We have an enemy out there, Satan the devil, who'd love to snare mankind. He tried to snare Jesus time and time again, but Jesus would not play the game; and Jesus fought him and resisted him. You and I are told to stand fast and resist him steadfast in the faith; see our faith and confidence. And that's what it says in the Book of Revelation, how are we overcoming? Even our faith, our trust in the living God, because if God is not there, if God doesn't exist, if God can't save us, you tell me who can. There is no one else. That's why "US News and World Report" wrote years ago in an editorial feature in the concluding aspect at the close of their publication. Mankind was facing a dangerous threat, and they used this term: "Unless there is a strong hand from somewhere, we are headed for trouble." They recognized; we need help as a human society because civilization is treading some very dangerous waters.

All right, another element, a fifth area in which an unseen quality of Christ that many people do not recognize, that Jesus is very patient with us. He is very "long-suffering" with everyone who does what? Who is struggling in the faith? You, see, life is a struggle, and some days you're better at it than other days; we're all that way. We have highs and lows in our spiritual life. Oh, it would be wonderful if we could stay high all the time, but it doesn't happen that way. You have a high day, then, oh, the bottom falls out and with faith you have to fight your way up the mountain again and draw close to the living God because as the old saying, "When in doubt, look up." That's where you gotta look; don't look down, don't look within. We're told today by different ones, "Oh, God is in you. You are God." That's the same lie as the Garden of Eden. "Take the knowledge of good and evil to yourself; don't listen to God. Don't let God tell you what is and what isn't." And that's why mankind has been in trouble ever since. Matthew 12:14 -

Matthew 12:14 - The Pharisees had held council against how they might destroy him. And it goes on to talk about that and how it says in verse 18 -

Verse 18 - Behold, (this is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah), Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put My Spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. God is very, very patient in working with all mankind. And that's why it goes on to describe Him. He doesn't bruise a reed, He's not one quick to judgment, but He's fair and honorable and He will work with those who struggle in the faith.

The apostles had many failings. When you look back at the lives of the apostles, these are the men he chose, and then what do they do. They start having falling out among themselves. Who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom? Well, that's carnality speaking. That's not the mind of God. And then what did Peter do on the night when Jesus was observing the Passover and making the transition from the old to the new? He gets up to wash Peter's feet and

Peter says, "You're not going to wash my feet; that's a servant's task, I'm not gonna do that. You're aren't gonna do that with me."

He says, "If I don't wash your feet, you have no part in me."

He says, "Wash me all over; cover me up." He went to the opposite extreme.

Jesus said, "You don't have to do that. All you have to do, Peter, is have your feet washed." A lesson of humility, and Jesus was willing to lead, to do a servant's task. And love and devotion to His own beloved disciples.

Jesus watches over us. He keeps us in His way through the power of His Holy Spirit. That's why He said He goes, and that a Comforter would come. Mark 7:7 - Very powerful scripture.

Those who rebelliously take tradition over truth cause Jesus to be very angry, and He goes on to say -

Mark 7:7 -Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. And what do they do?

Verse 8 - For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the traditions of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other things you do.

Verse 9 - He says, "Full well, you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition." All of this does what?

Verse 13 - Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which you have delivered, and many such things you do. Well, this goes on in our world today, the same thing, and what do we learn in conclusion to this entire episode about Jesus himself. Because Jesus is a very powerful figure, that is the core figure of the scripture, and yet here we have gone over scriptures that talk about Jesus, and this is a Jesus many have never seen. They've never seen Him operate like this. And sometimes they will even reject that and say, "Well, that's not the Jesus I worship. I worship a Jesus of love." Well, they haven't understood that the two go hand-in-hand. There's two sides to Jesus personality and character. He's a very gracious and loving and kind, we've seen Him in operation here.

This is what impressed Phil Yancey when he wrote his book. He said, this is a whole, different side of Jesus I hadn't seen before, and to see it clearly, we have to see the whole picture. And what we have seen, we have seen that Jesus insists on repentance. He does not put up with hypocrisy because that's a false religion, masquerading. He doesn't go with this blame game that goes on today, looking for somebody to blame. Jesus said, in fact, you better be careful, He says, (Luke 7:37) "condemn not lest you be condemned." Don't be too fast to jump in those areas, realize that there things going on and many times we're not in a position to fully know. We see here very clearly by His example in His life that Jesus loved people of faith, not perfect people. People who stumbled all over themselves like you do, like I do, like everyone does, but if we exercise our faith and confidence in God, God is more than willing to forgive us, and the Psalms just poured this out. David says, you are a loving and a compassionate God. And why is He willing to do that? Because we're willing to change, we're willing to repent, we're willing to let that heart be changed. A heart that is soft and entreatable to the will of God.

And that's why our faith and confidence is in Him. We recognize that Jesus doesn't put up with false teaching, and that's why we have to get rid of it out of our lives. Others may not recognize that they've embraced false teaching. Well, that's for them to have to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. But you and I must exercise what we know, and exercise. It says, if you have faith, live it before God. That's what you've got to do. And then, of course, Jesus is very patient with those of us who struggle in the faith.

This, what we've learned, in conclusion, is that many people have never seen this side of Jesus. And they won't see it until they are called to conversion. When that time comes, then their eyes will be opened just as Jesus gave his disciples eyes to see and ears to hear. As he opened the understanding of the scriptures to his disciples as we saw earlier, all this is part and parcel of what is involved in understanding about Jesus.

We've learned also that man-made religion is a cheap culprit with all it's traditions and fol de rols that historical Christianity is not the biblical Christianity of the Bible and this is why people have been messed up. And this is why they don't understand, why so many denominations if Jesus, if we're all trying to accomplish the same thing. Why have we got all these different denominations? Simple, because they're made of men. The truth of God is non-denominational. It covers everyone. It reaches out to reveal the truth of God, and as a result of that we begin to see that pride also can contribute. Pride can contribute to blindness. That's what happened to the Pharisees; their pride got in the way. And what we have to understand, is Jesus is just as true, Jesus, that most people never see, is as near as your Bible. Just like Philip Yancey began to discover when he really began to look into it, he saw something about Jesus he had never seen before and he wrote about it.

A lot of people did not agree with him, and a lot of people did, but the point that we need to keep in mind is that Jesus is right there in the pages of the scriptures. He's there to be seen for all those who will humble themselves and come as a little child in faith to see the real Jesus that most never see. May we be thankful and grateful to God each and every day and express our appreciation for God's giving us eyes to see and ears to hear at this time in our life, that in this sojourn we should be part of a dynamic firstfruit invasion of the Spirit of God in the lives of people that will bring about the dynamic change that will cause them to transform and become the sons and daughters of God at a glorious return of Jesus Christ, and then the transformation of the whole world will take place as pictured in the Feast of Tabernacles, which we will be celebrating. And we are a part of that dynamic team, and that's the glorious part that God wants us to be appreciative of, because again, if He had not opened our eyes, you and I would not see. Thank you, God. Thank you so very, very much.