The Power Behind the Son | Spirit of Jesus | 3.1.26

Welcome to the Journey Christian Church podcast.

This week's episode is the first sermon in a new series called Spirit of Jesus.

The sermon is called The Power Behind the Sun.

Amen.

He is worthy.

I got so into that song I almost forgot that I had something else to do.

I love that.

I asked him to do that song specifically for this sermon.

I'm going to be talking some about the fear of God today.

But first I want to ask the question: how do you view Jesus?

What is your image of Jesus?

What image of him do you have in your mind?

The way we view Jesus is probably going to set the trajectory of our faith walk.

How we live out our faith will be determined by the way we view Jesus.

And none of us has a 100% completely accurate image of Jesus in our minds.

We are to be recreated into the image of Jesus.

We are not to create Jesus in our image or to create this idol of who we want Jesus to be.

One of the great challenges of the Christian walk is to continue to know more and more and more about Jesus.

There have been a lot of trendy images of Jesus throughout the years.

Back in the Great Awakening, angry Jesus.

That was kind of the thing.

Jonathan Edwards said, you know, we're sinners in the hands of an angry God, and in churches, a guy with a suit, a suit stood up there and screamed at people.

My grandpa was a very, very loud preacher, and my sister, when she was about four or five years old, referred to him as that screaming grandpa.

And you know, Angry Jesus basically says, you know, you're you're just not good enough and you are hanging on by a thread.

But then in the Jesus movement of the 70s, um, there was Buddy Jesus.

Good Buddy Jesus, you know.

Buddy Jesus will never harsh your mellow.

Jesus is just all right.

I mean, really what Jesus wants is everybody just to be cool with one another, you know, and just take it easy.

What is your image of Jesus?

What image do you have in your mind?

Our image of Jesus will determine the way that we walk out, walk and live out our faith.

John chapter 17, verse 3 says that our salvation is based on knowing Jesus.

John 17:3

I'm talking about the real Jesus.

Now, this is eternal life, that you, that they may know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

In John chapter 12, or excuse me, in Ephesians chapter 1, it says that we know Jesus and grow in our knowledge of Jesus through God's Spirit.

John 12 · chapter mention Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

It says, I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better.

Paul says, My main goal in life is to know Jesus, his suffering, his crucifixion, his resurrection.

And so, as Christians, our goal should be to learn and know Jesus better and better and better every day so that the image we have of Christ lines up with who he actually is as a person.

We grow in knowledge of Jesus.

Because a really popular image that people have had of Jesus for a long, long time, this version of Jesus was actually condemned as a heresy, super Jesus.

Super Jesus is this man who had superpowers and was able to do these supernatural things.

But the reason, one of the reasons Jesus came was to not demonstrate what a superhuman could look like.

One of the reasons he came was to demonstrate what somebody who is fully human looks like, who is completely dependent on God and the Holy Spirit.

Did you know that Jesus never performed a miracle by his own power?

Let that sink in.

Jesus never performed a miracle by his own power.

In Ephesians, or excuse me, Philippians chapter 2, in the New American Standard, it says that before Jesus came to this earth, he emptied himself.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Have this attitude in yourself, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped or held on to, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of man.

He emptied himself of his advantages, of his power, even of supernatural knowledge, and became a human being to demonstrate to us what a human being looks like whose life is completely and totally dependent on God and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus could not have been more clear that this was the case in John chapter 5.

John 5 · chapter mention

And in verse 19, it says Jesus gave them this answer.

I tell you the truth, the son can do what's the word?

Nothing by himself.

Also in John chapter 12, in verse 49, it says, Jesus said, For I do not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it.

John 12 · chapter mention

Because how you say what you say is just as important as what you say.

Jesus did not say anything on his own.

God gave him exactly what to say and how to say it.

He didn't perform miracles by his own power, he relied on the Holy Spirit.

He didn't speak on his own, he relied on the guidance, wisdom, and commands of God to lead him every step of the way.

And he came to show us this is what a person looks like who is completely dependent on the Holy Spirit.

So I want to begin a sermon series today, The Spirit of Jesus, and talk about over the next four weeks, how did Jesus interact with the Holy Spirit?

What did that look like?

And how can we interact with the Holy Spirit as well?

Pray with me, please.

Father in heaven, we are thankful for you and we love you.

And I pray, Father, that you would give us a clearer picture of who Jesus is today, a clear picture of who you are, Father, and a clearer picture of who the Holy Spirit is and what he wants to do in our lives today.

Lord, we want to know your character.

We want to know your personality.

We want to know your tone in your word of God as Jesus speaks in the word, Father.

We want to know how he said what he said.

We want to know you, Father.

Open up our eyes to see you.

I pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Number one, the power of the Spirit was behind everything Jesus did and said.

And Isaiah chapter 11, verses 1 and 2, says, a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse.

Isaiah 11:1

Jesse's David's dad, so a descendant of Jesse, which Jesus is the descendant of Jesse, from his roots, a branch will bear fruit.

And this is what this is what's going to happen.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, will rest on Jesus.

When did we see the Spirit of the Lord resting on Jesus?

The Bible says, as soon as he came up out of the waters of baptism, the Spirit of God descended on him like a dove.

Matthew chapter 3, verse 16 says, As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.

Matthew 3:16

At that moment, heaven was open, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.

And so the Spirit descends on Jesus, fills Jesus.

And what does Isaiah say the Spirit is going to do for Jesus?

He's going to produce these things.

The Spirit, this is in Isaiah chapter 11, verse 2, the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and power, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

Isaiah 11:2

Jesus would come and he would have more wisdom than Solomon.

He would offer better counsel than Nathan, who counseled King David.

Jesus would come and he would have more power than Samson.

Now, Jesus never accomplished any like feats of superhuman strength like if you want a superhuman in the in the scripture, look at Samson.

I mean, he's super Samson.

That would probably be uh accurate.

Uh Jesus never accomplished these feats of superhuman strength, whereas Samson could wipe out entire armies.

Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, could tame the entire universe, calm the winds and the waves and the storms and the heavens and earth were willing to obey him.

The universe.

And so the Holy Spirit would produce these things in Jesus.

And I want to focus in on Isaiah 11:3a.

It says He will delight in the fear of the Lord.

How do you delight in the fear of the Lord?

What is the fear of the Lord?

Commentary by Terry Briley.

He writes, in the Old Testament, fearing God is synonymous with trusting Him, living properly before Him and worshiping Him.

The fear of the Lord, therefore, is a positive concept which refers to the proper response to an all-powerful and all-loving God.

Now, last week I revealed our new mission statement as a church.

Journey's mission is to make followers of Jesus who gather together, grow together, and go together.

And the first one, gathering together.

We gather together to worship and lift up our Father in heaven, lift up God, lift up Jesus and his Spirit.

And so every time we come together to worship, we ought to come in with a sense of awe and reverence.

It's possible to go through an entire song service at church and never once consider the God on the throne who we are singing to.

We come in with a sense of fear and awe and worship.

Fearing the Lord.

Jesus talked about fearing the Lord.

Jesus said, don't fear man who can just kill the body.

Fear God who can kill the body and afterwards also destroy the soul in hell.

The book of Hebrews talks about fearing the Lord's discipline.

The Lord disciplines the ones he loves.

When we get off track, his rod of correction is something that we can expect.

Kids that have grown up in houses without boundaries understand that.

Boundaries give us a sense of safety.

And so the rod produced boundaries, and it was a comfort, but the rod of God's discipline, this should be something that we have a holy fear of.

We get off track.

And that's a healthy thing.

And so with these concepts of fearing God and what the Bible says about it, how does it say that Jesus will delight in the fear of the Lord?

How do you delight in the fear of the Lord?

Listen, our world is more anxious than it ever has been.

I don't know if you've been watching the news lately.

But the Euphrates River is drying up and the kings from the east are getting ready for battle, is what it seems like, you know.

I was texting back with my brother and and my dad, and and uh my dad said, keep your eyes on the skies.

And so, you know, how how do we deal with this anxiety?

We have anxieties over things that are happening, we have anxieties over things that will happen in the future.

We have probably m the most anxieties over the things that might happen.

We worry about our jobs, we worry about um our financial security, we worry about our kids, we worry about their salvation, and and we have all these anxieties of things that we can't control, and anxiety is generally this feeling that there's a problem that is unsolvable.

And when our anxieties become greater in our minds, God becomes smaller.

But when we have a proper fear of the Lord, all these other fears diminish.

And we realize that I don't need to worry about my job because even if even if I lose this job, God has planned out my steps before I was born, and he has a plan for me.

And I don't have to worry about money when I realize that my father owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

And I don't have to worry about the safety of my children when I realize they are firmly in his grasp and he won't let go.

And I don't have to worry about the salvation of my children, that they are saved and following Jesus because God wants them to be saved more than I do, and he is pursuing them, and he will not give up the pursuit.

He's gonna continue, I'm gonna continue to pray that God will pursue them and and continue that, and and I trust that he will when we have a good, healthy fear of God, all the other anxieties diminish, and it becomes a delight to realize I don't have to make sure I'm worried about this, and I gotta make sure I'm worried about this, and make sure I'm worried about this.

All I have to make sure is that I've got one good, strong, healthy fear of the Lord, and He will take care of all these other worries.

And so, if you do it right, the fear of the Lord can be a tremendous delight, a tremendous like weight lifted off.

Jesus had all of this because of the Spirit of God that rested on him.

And a delight in the fear of the Lord.

And the amazing news.

I mean, this is this is incredible.

Number two, God has given us what Jesus had.

Elijah and Elisha are two of my favorite prophets.

I love the stories of Elijah and Elisha.

I remember uh when I was a kid hearing my dad often preach about King Ahab and Elisha and the way they went back and forth, or Elijah, the way they went back and forth, and Elijah was a man of, you know, that God used in powerful ways.

He went up against all the prophets of Baal, one man against all of these prophets of Baal and challenged them to a duel.

Whoever can call down fire from heaven, that's the one true God.

And when Elijah prayed, fire came down from heaven.

When Elijah prayed, um, famine went throughout the whole land.

And when Elijah prayed, the rain started to fall.

And he had this incredible power that the Holy Spirit was working through him.

And then he is taken away in a chariot of fire.

It's incredible.

He's the only one in all the scripture that didn't die and went to heaven in a chariot of fire.

Now, Enoch didn't die, but doesn't say anything about a chariot of fire.

I mean, how many people did God carry away in a chariot of fire?

One.

And isn't that interesting about our God?

Um God usually does things only once.

How many people did God appear to in a burning bush?

One.

How many people did God appear to as a wheel within a wheel?

That's Ezekiel.

One.

God is always doing these one-off things.

He's always doing something new.

And the Bible even says that God's going to do something new in our time.

And isn't it interesting that so often our God, who always is doing something new, has a lot of followers that just want us to do the same old things we used to do.

And that's not the character and nature of God.

Our God's like always, no, we're going into the future.

We're going into the future.

We're going to do this new thing.

And God's going to lead us into uncharted territories.

That's always his way.

It's not old wine that he is drawing us to.

And so Elijah is just this amazing prophet.

And God says, I want you to train Elisha as your successor.

And Elisha starts getting nervous when it's time for Elijah to leave.

And he makes this bold request.

He says to Elijah, I can't I can't follow in your footsteps unless I have the spirit that you have.

And so in 2 Kings chapter 2, verse 9, it says, When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elijah, Tell me, what can I do for you?

2 Kings 2:9

Because before I am taken from you, let me inherit a double portion of your spirit, Elisha replied.

You have asked a difficult thing, Elijah said.

It wasn't Elijah's to give.

Elijah couldn't answer that that request.

But God could.

And he did.

And Elisha became an even more powerful prophet than Elijah.

His faithfulness was greater.

His his faith was greater.

The miracles that he performed were greater.

And it's amazing how God used the successor.

And so when Jesus is getting ready to be taken up into heaven like Elijah, he says to his disciples, You can't follow in my footsteps unless you have what I have.

You need the spirit that led, guided, and empowered me, the spirit that told me what to say and how to say it.

You need what I have.

And in John chapter 15 verse 12, he's talking to or excuse me.

John 15:12

John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

Yeah, verse 12.

He's talking to his disciples.

disciples.

And he's right before his crucifixion.

He says, I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.

He will not speak on his own.

He will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.

All that belongs to the Father is mine.

That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

In other words, you're going to have what I have.

You're going to have my Spirit.

And because we have the Spirit of God, we lack nothing.

Second Peter chapter one verse three says his divine power has given us everything we need for life.

Let's stop there.

I don't know how to be a good parent.

The Spirit has given me everything I need for life.

I don't know how to love my neighbor.

The Spirit has given me everything I need for life.

I don't know how to navigate these rough waters, Lord.

It's just it's too much for me.

The Spirit has given me everything I need for life and for godliness through our knowledge of him.

Jesus never did anything by his own power is through the power of the Holy Spirit.

God has given us what Jesus had but there is a caution I want to give you we need to make sure and this is number three we don't become so enamored by the power that we miss the person behind the power.

Have you noticed in your study of Jesus that he was often dismayed by the things that excited people would get excited about stuff that really didn't matter and stuff that was easy and they wouldn't get excited about the big things, the most important things.

And sometimes he was frustrated with that when he healed the paralytic you know everybody's amazed you healed this paralytic couldn't couldn't walk and and and Jesus said you know which is easier to heal somebody you know I'm the creator.

I mean I can just snap my fingers and heal somebody or to forgive someone of their sins forgiving someone of their sins is far more difficult because the perfect Son of God had to die on a cross and be risen for the grave in order for that to be possible.

Why are you excited about this small thing when this huge thing here is much more wonderful example when the 72 went out they were sent by Jesus two by two to go from village to village and they healed diseases and they cast out demons and they preached the good news of the gospel and when they came back the thing they were excited about most was that the demons listened to them and in Luke chapter 10 verse 17 says 72 returned with joy and said Lord even the demons submit to us in your name and Jesus said to him boys your excitement is misplaced Verse 20 he says However do not rejoice that spirits submit to you but rejoice that your names are written in heaven there's bigger fish to fry there's more important things there are things that God sees as truly wonderful and truly great and and there are things that that often we look to as these are the things that are that are really really great that are just minor in God's eyes and and so one of the things that Jesus repeated when he was here on this earth was that anytime we develop an obsession with signs and wonders that is evidence of a heart problem in Matthew chapter 12 verse 39 he answered a wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign and then he said it again later on in Matthew Matthew chapter 16 verse 4 he says a wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign If a person is seeking the power of the Holy Spirit and specifically the power of the Holy Spirit over the physical world which really is a small thing to God if a person is seeking that and hyper focused on that they could very well miss the person of the Spirit.

Luke 10:17 Matthew 12:39 Matthew 16:4

Have you ever known somebody so hyper focused on signs and wonders but it just seems like man I don't see very much gentleness in this person.

Like here's one example and and I don't see a whole lot of like love and joy and patience and I I don't see the person of the Holy Spirit being exhibited by this person.

I don't see the power of a changed life who who is the Holy Spirit what is his personality what is his person his person is what he produces in us.

The Holy Spirit produced you can take that picture down I think that's that's enough the Holy Spirit his personality is love joy peace patience kindness gentleness faithfulness goodness and self-control these these are the fruit of the Spirit that mark a changed life the Holy Spirit is patient is kind the Holy Spirit does not boast the Holy Spirit is not self-seeking and anybody that is self-seeking and self-aggrandizing is not being led by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit keeps no record of wrongs You can be so enamored by the minor things that you miss the major things.

You know that Jesus said there are some that are that will be you know have been obsessed with signs and wonders that will not enter the kingdom of heaven he says on the last day there will be some that say didn't we perform miracles in your name didn't we cast out demons in your name and he will say to me you got so enamored by the big these you know these signs and wonders you missed the person He will say to me Depart from me you I never knew you and you never knew me the power that the Holy Spirit the first evidence of the power the Holy Spirit wants to exhibit in our lives is a transformed life I remember a long time ago I preached a sermon on the fruit of the Spirit and after the sermon a man approached me and said you know as you were preaching through the fruit of the Spirit this is a man who'd been a Christian for years and years and years he said as you as you were preaching through the fruit of the Spirit my wife nudged me and said I don't see any of those in you that's rough I hope it was a wake up call the first power that the Holy Spirit wants to exhibit in us is a transformed personality a transformed life a transformed heart a heart that is just overwhelmed by love for the Lord and love for other people what about what Jesus said anybody that follows me will do greater things than I have done.

Again let's define greatness the way Jesus defines greatness what things did Jesus say were great?

Well Jesus said that forgiveness of sins was greater than healing Jesus said that having your name written in the book of life was greater than exorcisms Jesus said that knowing him was greater than doing miracles in his name to some people he will say depart from me I never knew you Jesus is impressed by the faith of the centurion that says you don't have to come to my house to heal my servant you don't have to make a big show of anything I trust you I trust you're going to do it Jesus is impressed by transformation life transformation Jesus is impressed by John the Apostle going from being a son of thunder who wants to kill everybody that doesn't believe in Jesus to becoming known as the Apostle of love who wrote God is love and perfect love drives out fear.

And it it's been said tradition has it that when John was very very aged some think that he lived to be a hundred years old he could no longer walk and so he was carried to church on a stretcher and everybody would ask John is there a word from the Lord he's the last disciple alive is there a word from the Lord is there a word from the Lord and every time he would answer love one another love one another if you define greatness how Jesus defined greatness then you could say conclusively that people are doing greater things today than Jesus did in his ministry.

Let me give you an example there is a church in California that has as their vision to fulfill the Great Commission, making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, son, the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And they hosted an event called Baptize California and thousands of people were baptized and then on the day of Pentecost in June of last year they hosted an event called Baptize America in which 650 churches participate participated and that day in one day over 2700 people gave their lives to Christ and were baptized watch this video more than 650 churches nationwide participated in baptize America and around 30,000 were baptized in recent years there has been a worldwide surge in adults becoming baptized into the Christian faith have you even heard that did you even know that happened to make well it made CBS news greater things are being done in the name of Jesus today.

There was no day during Jesus' earthly ministry where twenty seven thousand people came to faith.

Last year of America it happened in one day greater things are being done in Jesus' name than he did in his earthly ministry if you define greatness the way that Jesus defines greatness Jesus' life was a demonstration this is what a person looks like who is completely dependent on the Holy Spirit God gave his spirit to us if you want to see the power of God in your life set out first and foremost to have the Spirit of God transform you into a different person that his fruit grows in you so that your family and your friends everybody notices something has changed the Spirit wants to demonstrate his power in us in a changed life Galatians says that there is a way to keep in step with the Spirit it says to reject the acts of the sinful nature and adopt the fruit of the Spirit.

In this way we keep in step with the Spirit