Crisis at Capernaum

So when our daughter Lynette was little, like lots of little girls, she started a doll collection And we wanted to help her out And we started traveling a little bit And so we would bring her back a doll from somewhere we'd been.

Oh, this one's from Holland And let's see, this one's from Romania Whether or not Romania is going to stand, excuse Azima, this one's going to sleep.

This one here is from Mexico Fine, upstanding lad, but he misses his wife.

Thankfully she's here.

Finally, we have to have the Scottish bagpiper.

Where's Mack Mercado when you need him?

Of course you go to Russia.

You've got to bring back the nested dolls.

And her collection grew because, in a weird sort of deal that we couldn't have projected, we started traveling more 40 different countries, and so we'd bring home these dolls And we were all excited about it.

And the truth of the matter is this I think we got more excited about the dolls than Lynette did, and when she got married and left home, the dolls stayed there.

She didn't take one of them, and there they are up on the shelf still collecting dust.

So if you stay in our guest room, you'll be sharing space with these dolls.

I hope you like them Today.

We hope you're going to collect some life-changing truth To help you remember.

You're going to need a note page that America's finest ushers are even now extending to you.

If you didn't get one, look at that talented Ryan out there.

Oh, my goodness, randy, all pro, you're going to want that note page, you really will.

It's funny how people collect all kinds of things, including Star Wars memorabilia.

John Jessison is the proud owner of 272 Unopened Star Wars LEGO sets.

By the way, what kind of a car would a Star Wars memorabilia collector drive?

A toy Yoda, of course.

The jokes don't get any better.

So John Burley holds the record for the largest collection of unopened Coca-Cola bottles.

He owns more than 600 unopened bottles.

They date back to the 50s.

I don't know if the cola has any fizz in it, but his collection does.

It's worth 15 grand.

Danny Fleming holds the title for owning the largest collection of bagpipes.

He has 105.

The only collection is Y.

One is more than sufficient.

Suzanne Swazel owns an impressive collection of slinkies 1,054 of them, she claims, unless she's stretching the truth.

How about a collection of hair locks?

Yep, people collect those.

The Guinness World Record holder has got to be John Resnickoff.

Through auctions and so on, resnickoff has accumulated locks of hair from get this Abraham Lincoln, elvis Presley, marilyn Monroe and Beethoven, to name a few.

By the way, beethoven is no longer composing, he is decomposing.

Speaking of collections, several years ago the city of Elmhurst featured a summer collection known as Cows on Parade, and then it was Cars on Parade This year, as you can see, we're collecting umbrellas.

If you go, pay a visit, they're really quite beautiful.

Well, the New Testament town of Capernaum had their own unusual collection, which, in the end, created a crisis.

To find out what they collected, you're going to need to become something of an amateur detective.

Think Sherlock Holmes.

By the way, what did Sherlock Holmes say when Dr Watson asked him what grade an eighth year old was in Elementary?

my dear Watson, all jokes aside, the passage of Scripture that we're about to read is among the most sobering in all the Bible.

So keep your detective eyes and ears open And if you have your Bible handy, open it up to Matthew's Gospel, the 11th chapter.

It's the first book in your New Testament.

And, if you're able to and comfortable, would you mind standing with me as we honor the Word of God?

We're going to read verses 20 through 24.

A couple of pronunciation tips as we begin C-H-O-R-A-Z-I-N is Chorazine, and don't be stumbling on Bethsaida.

Let's read out together, starting at verse 20, as the slide is up there.

Verse 20 is the up.

There we go.

Then he began to reprimand the cities in which most of his miracles were done, because they did not repent.

Woe to you, chorazine.

Woe to you, bethsaida, for if the miracles that occurred in you had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

Nevertheless, i say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you And you.

Capernaum will not be exalted to heaven, will you?

You will be brought down to Hades, for if the miracles that occurred in you had occurred in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.

Nevertheless, i say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.

Thank you and be seated.

You see what I mean.

That is sobering.

The passage there we just read mentions three towns.

The first city, chorazine, is located on a hill not far from the waters of the Sea of Galilee.

You see, there on the map, at the tip of that blue arrow, is Chorazine, and when you visit today and I know some of you have you can't help but notice the black coloration in the rocks.

This is called basalt, not to be confused with pepper.

This basalt made the area very productive agriculturally, and Chorazine was actually known for its early harvest of grain.

Now the second city, bethsaida, was also near Galilee, but scholars still debate its exact location.

This may well be the place that you see on your map.

There It's an easy drive from one city to the next.

The third city, capernaum, is the one we're focusing on today.

Capernaum really, in many ways, was a city of great fame.

Why?

Well, it was Jesus' second hometown.

Everybody knows that Jesus was born where.

Everybody knows Jesus was born in and and where did he grow up as a boy?

That was his hometown.

But his second hometown was Capernaum.

How do I know that?

in Matthew 9, verse 1?

Matthew 9:1

, Jesus called Capernaum quote his own city.

Now, dianna and I just visited Capernaum a couple weeks ago, and here in Capernaum Jesus called Peter, andrew, james and John to follow him.

It was here that Jesus healed the centurion's servant.

It was in these very streets You're looking at that.

Jesus healed the woman that had been bleeding for 12 years In this neighborhood.

Jesus brought Jairus' daughter back to life.

Remember that paralytic whose four faithful friends dragged him all the way up to the top of that house, disassembled the roof, let him down through the roof.

It happened here.

Peter's mother-in-law Healed here in this town.

You're looking at what might well have been her home right there.

Amazing, it was here that Jesus gave sight to two blind men and, of course, it was here that Jesus did that late-night healing Marathon, brought to life by the thespian, award-winning actors of West suburban community church.

Check out this fact more of Christ's recorded miracles Were performed in Capernaum than in any other town mentioned in Scripture.

Wow, that's fame for you.

One more factoid the columns of a synagogue you can see them in this photo still stand today in Capernaum And if you look carefully at the floor, you'll see a black layer of stone beneath the existing modern foundation.

That black layer that we'll see in the next slide, right there on the very bottom, is the foundation of the synagogue that was there at the time of Jesus.

Wow, how cool is that?

Well, capernaum certainly had its fame, but Capernaum was known by Jesus for its folly.

And how could such a fabulous place, all these miracles, all these great sermons end in folly.

Seem to have a bright future.

You and I might walk at streets and say wow, but Jesus walked those same streets and said whoa as in whoa to you In Matthew 11, capernaum is one of three cities upon which Jesus pronounces his whoa.

Why?

Well, let me read for us again what Jesus said about Capernaum and you.

Capernaum will not be exalted to heaven, will you?

you will be brought down to Hades.

For if the miracles that had occurred in you had occurred in Sodom, not a town known for its righteousness, it would have remained to this day.

Nevertheless, i say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.

By the way, no details are left out here in Genesis 19.

We hear exactly what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah.

It says then the Lord reigned brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven, and he overthrew those cities and the surrounding area and all the inhabitants of the cities.

And what grew on the ground?

Talk about a scorched earth judgment.

Imagine the people gasping As they choked in those sulfur fumes.

That's what brimstone is.

Imagine the horror of fire falling on you Walking down the street and suddenly you're on fire, people in their homes, incinerated.

And when the day of judgment finally comes, Jesus says these people Will be better off than Capernaum for all eternity.

So why does Jesus speak so harshly of Capernaum?

Well, despite all the miracles, despite all the fame, the people stubbornly refused to believe in Christ and they stubbornly refused to repent.

I mean they knew the facts about Jesus.

I mean they knew the facts about Jesus but they didn't embrace Jesus.

They heard his words but they didn't act on them.

They loved his miracles, but they didn't love him.

They knew of the Savior, but they weren't saved.

What folly.

That's folly.

Matthew Henry says Christ came into the world to bless us, but if that blessing be slighted, he has woes in reserve, and his woes are, of all others, the most terrible.

Which points us back to our mystery, the question we asked earlier What did the townspeople of Capernaum collect?

Anybody guess it?

Apparently, the people in Jesus' hometown collected get this religious experiences, miraculous encounters, profound sermons.

They loved these things.

They loved them, but they never really responded.

They treated Christ's teachings and miracles like souvenirs.

They put them on the shelves of their souls and left them there to collect dust, just like the dolls that we brought home for our daughter.

But Jesus is not a souvenir.

He's our sovereign, he's the king.

So what does all this mean for us 2,000 years later?

Well, for one thing, it means it's okay to hear the teachings of Jesus, it's okay to experience the miracles of Jesus, to read about Jesus in the Bible, to go to a Bible study at West Sub.

But it's not okay to remain unchanged, unrepentant, it's not okay to simply file Jesus away as one more religious option.

That is the ultimate folly.

That is a true crisis.

That's Capernaum, and Jesus demands a response.

Believe and repent.

Or, if you prefer, repent and believe.

What does it mean to believe?

It's more than intellectual assent.

Yeah, i can agree with that.

Yeah, jesus is a savior.

Yeah, no, no, no.

It means to trust Christ fully for your salvation, to live a life fully pleasing to him.

It means we're willing to trust him with our lives in a way that's obvious to others.

If there's been no change in your life since you met Jesus, what was the point?

What does it mean to repent?

The liberal meaning is to do a 180 degree turn from where you are, turning away, from what you are, to what Jesus is.

That's a lot different from what you and I often secretly believe.

You just sort of buy your internal life insurance policy.

You know that's what a lot of us are living like.

So two questions for you this morning in your notes.

Question one have you just heard about Jesus or have you received Jesus?

Have you just heard about Jesus or have you received Jesus?

There's a huge difference.

George Barnas says that upwards of 40% of people attending church in evangelical churches Sunday after Sunday have not truly received Jesus.

Look around, out of every 10, that's four of us.

The people of Capernaum heard about Jesus, but they didn't receive Jesus.

They didn't believe him.

What about you Now?

maybe you'd be honest enough and you'd say well, you know, i mean, come on, if I saw some miracles, maybe I could have an easier time believing in Jesus.

So show me some miracles.

News flash he already has Driving.

Late at night you fall asleep A split second before you land underneath the wheels of a semi.

You wake up just in time to tap the brakes.

That's a miracle.

Your child is gravely ill, amazingly healed That's a miracle.

Did we not see that with a deforbed family, and maybe your family?

I think of Diana who went to the doctor for just an ultrasound with regard to some gallbladder pain Not pleasant, but certainly not life-threatening right, and what did they discover?

Way at the corner of their little scan, a little spot that someone might not have noticed, but did.

They pursued that spot on her kidney.

It was found to be cancerous.

She had a third of her kidney removed and has been healthy ever since.

That's a miracle, are the answers to prayer, of course, but all these stories are drenched in the miraculous, and you have them in your life too.

You know what, i think, our problem is?

We've lost our sense of smell.

Spiritually, we all brush up against God's miracles, but not all of us are willing to call them that, and that is the unbelieving posture of Capernaum.

Have you received Jesus as the leader of your life, the forgiver of your sins?

This is the day to do it.

Don't let the moment pass you by.

We're going to pray with you right after church.

If you'd like, pastor Dennis is going to stand right there by those flowers and I'll stand right there by those.

Come on up, let's pray.

But there's a second question, question two, in your notes What do you need to repent of?

You know a lot of folks get the mistaken idea that Jesus is an add-on.

You know I'm doing my thing and, yeah, i accept that Jesus is my savior and now I just do my thing.

No, no, no.

To repent is to change directions.

Remember To go 180 degrees away from things that are not of Christ.

Repentance is an ongoing process.

You didn't do it once.

It's every day.

Is your sin?

laziness?

Get to work.

Is your sin pornography?

Get a porn blocker app on your phone.

Let's repent.

Is your sin?

course language, get an accountability partner and change.

Richard Owen Roberts says one must be forever repentant.

It is not enough to once feel sorrow over sin.

True repentance affects the whole man and alters the whole lifestyle.

Jesus expects repentance, he demands repentance.

You can't repent too soon because you don't know how soon it may be too late.

The people of Capernaum were condemned by Christ very specifically because they did not repent.

A lot of places these days have a wellness program for their employees.

We've got one at Moody and you sit and watch little videos about health.

You do fitness exercises, maybe you sign up and you do a healthy eating class And for every course you take you get points And when you earn enough points then you get the reward, in my case 20 bucks a month off the insurance.

I like that, so I do it.

But you know, really, this wellness thing, it's actually about repentance.

They want me to repent of my five layered burrito at Taco Bell.

They want me to repent of sitting on the couch binge watching NCIS or whatever it is.

They want me to repent of visiting the King, the Burger King They do.

But you know what Don't tell anybody this at Moody, i just want the points, i just want the discount.

So I do the bare minimum.

I watch the sermons on wellness, but I don't really change.

I hear the gospel of good eating, but it doesn't sink in, which proves I haven't really believed or repented.

What about you?

When was the last time you repented from anything?

I repented when I received Jesus as Savior.

That's great, but sin is a lifelong battle, so repentance is a lifelong work.

What do you need to repent of today?

See, once we've heard from Jesus and met with Jesus and encountered Jesus in His miraculous saving power, we cannot be comfortable collecting religious souvenirs.

I am so blessed by Pastor Jim Sermons Great, but are you different?

It's good to be blessed, but it's critical that we be different, that we believe and repent.

As a young man, augustine lived a wild, immoral life and then he believed in Christ and the work of repentance began.

One day he happened to encounter a prostitute, a former lover of his, and she kind of saddles up to him coily and says Augustine, augustine.

And he ran away from her immediately.

Well, she pursued him, called after him Augustine, it's me, it's me.

And he said, quote but it's not me.

The old Augustine is dead.

I'm a new creature in Christ.

That is repentance.

That is the lesson of Capernaum.

We're going to pause in silence right now as you grab your note page and you wrestle with the two issues presented to Capernaum Believe and repent.

We've got two headings there.

Under believe you'll see two boxes, one of which you must check.

Box one I have already believed in Jesus for my salvation.

Box two I have not yet received Christ.

I will do so today by praying with someone here at church.

The second heading is titled repent.

Finish the sentence there that says I need to repent of.

Go ahead and write in whatever the Holy Spirit lays on your heart.

You know, it's probably the first thing that comes into your mind And then take that sheet home and put it somewhere, so public that it annoys you, so that you're always looking at it, so that the Holy Spirit will work his repentance work in you as you work on repentance.

Leave it there for a week.

We're going to take just 30 seconds right now to do this.

I don't want to belabor the point.

I want to give you some space for the homework.

You don't want to do homework after work.

Let's do it now.

So go ahead and write for 30 seconds and then I'll pray.

Lord, God of heaven, thank you for coming to our earth, walking our streets, walking the streets of Capernaum.

Thank you for not holding back, for speaking the truth to them, as You speak it to us.

It's not enough to read Your word.

It's not enough to come to church.

It's not enough to hear sermons.

We must believe and repent.

Lord, help us not file this away, but act on it.

Anything less is folly.

We receive it as from You, Jesus, Your own words.

We take You seriously.

Help us act seriously now, in the name of Jesus, who loved us and gave himself for us.

Amen, amen.