The True Martyr

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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,

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

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

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

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.

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,

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

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

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

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

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

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,

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,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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,

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.

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

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

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

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,

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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,

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Thank God for Jesus. Amen.