JESUS - Centerpiece of Scripture

[nChrist]

JESUS - Centerpiece of Scripture
by J. Vernon McGee
Why Jesus Was Angry (Mark 3:1–6)

The Wrath of the Lamb

Let us come back now to the Lord Jesus. We looked at incidents in His earthly ministry. We went back to the Old Testament and saw that God was angry in the past. I want us to move into the future now and take one final look at Him. Will you listen to this language?

And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:15-17)

“Do you mean to tell me a little lamb is angry?”

Yes.

“Do you mean to tell me men are going to run and hide from a lamb?”

Yes.

“Well, they surely must be cowards to run from a little lamb! Whoever heard of a little lamb hurting anybody? Such a gentle little thing!”

The greatest deception the world will have, until the Antichrist gets here, is the fabrication concerning Jesus Christ — that He would not swat a fly, that He would not crush a grape, that He is sort of a first-century Mr. Milquetoast.

“Wasn’t He a lamb?”

Yes. John marked Him out as a lamb.

“He was a lamb in His character?”

Yes. Meekness, humility, and gentleness characterized Him, but not the kind of meekness you have in mind. It was not weakness — it was strength.

If you will read the Gospels very carefully, you will find that only twice in His adult lifetime did He ever obey any man or follow any human suggestion. Did you ever notice that? He positively did not go along with the crowd. His disciples said, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the village and buy bread.” Our Lord said, “You feed them.” (See Luke 9:12-13.) He is following nobody’s suggestion.
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[nChrist]

JESUS - Centerpiece of Scripture
by J. Vernon McGee
Why Jesus Was Angry (Mark 3:1–6)

A man came and said, “My little girl — she’s dying! Oh, if You’ll just come and heal her.” Our Lord said, “Not now. There is a sick woman here. I want to heal her first, and it will be a little while before I get to your house.” The servants came and said to the anxious father, “Your little girl is dead. You can leave Jesus alone now.” Our Lord said, “I am coming, but not to heal the sick, as you thought I would. I am coming to raise the dead.” He just simply did not follow men’s directions.

Simon Peter said, “Don’t go to Jerusalem and die on the cross!” Our Lord said, “I am going to Jerusalem to die on the cross, regardless of what you say.”

They said to Him, when He was hanging on the cross, “Come down from the cross.” Of course He would not, because He was paying the penalty for the sins of the world.

When He was a boy of twelve, it is said:

Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. (Luke 2:51)

As an adult He was obedient to His Heavenly Father but did not take orders from man, until they came and arrested Him. From that moment on, He was the Lamb led to the slaughter, and He became “obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8). The reason He hung there obediently, yielding Himself to the hatred of men, was because He was dying for your sin and mine. That was the only reason He was being obedient.

He is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). And because He died for the sin of the world, a great many people say, “Well — a little lamb — I’m not afraid of Him!” My friend, you do well to be afraid of Him. And every believer does well to fear the Lord Jesus.

“Oh, don’t say that! He is so gentle and so loving — I can go to Him.” Yes, you can! But, my beloved, He hates your sin. He hates it! He is angry with your sin.

For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:30-31)

The writer to the Hebrews says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Whom do you think he is talking about — the unsaved? No. “The Lord shall judge His own people.” The greatest deception held by Christians today is that they can go on being indifferent, living in sin, and saying, “I am going to get by with it.” This is the reason we have so many psychosomatic disorders among believers. They are trying to “get by with it.”

The further I go in my ministry and the more I watch God’s people, the more convinced I am that He is moving today. He is reaching in here and reaching in there, judging His own when they will not deal with the sin in their lives. My friend, we must recognize that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!” He disciplines His own. Oh, He redeemed you. He died for you, and He loves you. But He hates your sin.

If God were to compromise with sin in my life, I should lose my respect for Him. But I have not lost and never will lose my respect for Him because I have learned that when McGee tries to explain it away, to excuse his sin somehow, God does not. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
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[nChrist]

JESUS - Centerpiece of Scripture
by J. Vernon McGee
Why Jesus Was Angry (Mark 3:1–6)

If for the believer it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, what about the unsaved? God hates sin; the Lord Jesus is angry with sin. And there is only one place to hide from the wrath of God, the wrath of the Lamb — only one place to hide.

After World War II a book came out bearing the title No Place to Hide, with the alarming message that there is no place to hide from an atomic bomb. It is a frightful and awful thing to find that we live in a world where there actually is no place to hide, no refuge to which one can flee.

But for the sinner there is a place to hide, and that is in the cleft of the Rock — that Rock, Christ Jesus, who was rent for us. There the storm of the wrath of God will pass over. But that is the only place. Do not deceive yourself with the idea that, because He is characterized as a lamb, He is not going to punish sin. He is going to punish sin. He does punish sin. The wrath of the Lamb is a reality.

However, that same Lamb was offered as a sacrifice on the Cross for you and for me. He took in His body, there on the Cross, all the wrath and judgment of a holy God against sin in order that you and I might be saved. He is the only place of safety today, and He invites you to accept the merit of His sacrifice and be safe. To accept His invitation is to find the one hiding place for a sin-troubled heart. To reject Him is to choose the wrath of the Lamb.
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[nChrist]

JESUS - Centerpiece of Scripture
by J. Vernon McGee
Who Am I? (Matthew 16:13–19)

There has been more confusion concerning the person of Jesus Christ than of anyone else who has ever lived. There have been more differences of opinion regarding Him, and there have been more divisions made regarding His person than of anyone else. It has always been so.
 
Confusion Among Men Concerning the Person of Christ

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” (Matthew 16:13-14)

For two and a half years of our Lord’s ministry, He walked in and out among folk. He taught as no other man had ever taught. He performed miracles; He expressed to men and women the longing of the Father’s heart for lost sinners. He mingled with the human family, speaking with individuals, rebuking religious rulers, and giving words of comfort to sinners. After these two and a half years, there was great confusion concerning His person, who He was. So He took His disciples aside to Caesarea Philippi, which was actually gentile territory, beyond the northern border of Judea, to a remote place away from the curious crowd and the caustic criticism of religious rulers.

Now when Jesus went into gentile territory, I think He had two purposes in mind. He went there for the sake of His disciples, that they might have clearly in their minds who He was. His second reason may have been the need to gird Himself for the task that was ahead of Him, because at Caesarea Philippi, six months before His crucifixion, He told these men for the first time that He was going to Jerusalem to die on the Cross. We can well understand that before this traumatic experience it was necessary for them to be clear as to who He actually was.

There are those today who are saying that it is not really important that we believe in the virgin birth of Christ or that we believe in His miracles or that we believe in His deity. After all, they say, you need only to believe in Jesus. That is the only thing that is essential. But may I say, you and I cannot trust Him unless we have confidence in His person. You and I cannot have a Savior unless He is every whit who He claimed to be. The real test for any of us is what we think of Christ.

“What think ye of Christ?” is the test,
To try both your state and your scheme;
You cannot be right in the rest,
Unless you think rightly of Him;
As Jesus appears in your view —
As He is beloved or not,
So God is disposed to you,
And mercy or wrath is your lot.
 — John Newton

So when He took His disciples aside, He asked them this question first, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” That is, “What is the thinking of folk yonder on the outside with whom I’ve come in contact? I’ve rubbed shoulders with them. I’ve spoken to them, and they’ve seen miracles performed. What do they think concerning Me? What is their estimate?”

Of course, the disciples had always mingled with the crowds also, and they had heard many things. So they gave Him a report, and you’ll notice that all of them chimed in here, and I think each one of them mentioned something because He asked it of all of them. Maybe Thomas said, “Well, I’ve heard some of them say that You are John the Baptist,” and I think probably John the apostle said, “I’ve heard some of them say that You are Elijah,” and Andrew added, “But I’ve heard some of them say that You are Jeremiah.” All of the disciples made a contribution. Then one of them, probably Philip since he was a very quiet fellow, spoke: “Or they say that You are one of the prophets.” So you can see that there was a difference of opinion concerning who He was.
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[nChrist]

JESUS - Centerpiece of Scripture
by J. Vernon McGee
Who Am I? (Matthew 16:13–19)

I suppose the majority of the people thought He was John the Baptist (John the baptizer). Many had heard this forerunner of Jesus speak, and probably most knew of his untimely decease. They knew how brutally and cruelly he had been beheaded and how this man’s voice had been silenced because he stood out against evil in his day. He had actually had the courage to rebuke a king, and for that he was beheaded! And so there were those who believed that Jesus was John returned to life. To believe that, in my opinion, was superstition; but they believed it because the Lord Jesus had at the beginning picked up the same message that John the Baptist used: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Also there was something about our Lord that reminded those who heard Him of John, so that some of them were saying, “I think He is John the Baptist.” That was a great compliment, because even John’s enemies regarded him as a prophet from God.

Then there were others who thought Jesus was Elijah, and there was scriptural basis for this. Elijah is the prophet they remembered above all the other prophets. He was probably the most courageous man who ever walked this earth. And, my friend, he walked alone with God. He had no one with whom he could fellowship. “Oh,” you say, “there were seven thousand up yonder who had not bowed to Baal.” Elijah didn’t know them. And neither would Elijah be found hiding in a cave up in the mountains with the one hundred mentioned in 1 Kings 18:13. This man was out in the open, standing alone against great odds. He stood against the evil of his day — Ahab and Jezebel — and you just won’t find any who are worse than those two. What Ahab didn’t think of, Jezebel did. Actually she thought of twice as much evil as Ahab thought of. She was one of the most wicked people who ever walked across the pages of Scripture, but this man Elijah is the one who stood against her and against the prophets of Baal. He made a great impression on his people. And, as you may remember, he did not die but was carried to heaven in a chariot of fire.

In the Book of Isaiah, and then Malachi 4:5 specifically, God had predicted Elijah’s return: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” So you see, they had Scripture to believe that Elijah would return, and when our Lord Jesus came, rebuking the religious rulers and standing against evil, they said, “He is Elijah who has now come.” May I say to you, that was a compliment — I can’t conceive of a greater compliment than that.

Then there were others who thought Jesus was Jeremiah. When I read this I must confess that I am puzzled how anyone could imagine Him to be Elijah and then someone else imagine He could be Jeremiah, because Jeremiah was the opposite of Elijah. For example, I cannot find Elijah shedding a tear. I see no sympathy in that man whatever. He was as cold-blooded as they come. I see no sign of even weakness until that day he crawled under a juniper tree and said, “I want to die.” But I can explain his condition at that time. He was physically exhausted, so much so that what he needed was good food and rest. He wasn’t well when he made a statement like that, and the Angel of the Lord — who I believe was the preincarnate Christ — nursed him back to health. Oh, how tender our Lord was with His overwrought prophet! Do you know what Elijah did after he had recovered? Back into the court of Ahab and Jezebel he went, back again to bring anathema down upon them. That’s Elijah.

But Jeremiah was entirely different. Emotional — he couldn’t give out God’s message of doom to his people without weeping. He was the weeping prophet of the Old Testament.

You say, well, why did God choose him as a prophet? Because God had to have that kind of man to give such a message. It was the harshest message of all. He said to the people of Judah, “You are going into captivity.” He said, “God will destroy the temple and the city of Jerusalem.” My friend, God doesn’t want a harsh man to give a message like that. God wants a man with a tender heart. And this man Jeremiah had a heart of compassion for his people. He had a heart almost like a woman’s. The statement he made was:

Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! (Jeremiah 9:1)

Finally he went to the Lord and said in effect, “If You don’t mind, I’ll resign. This thing is too difficult. I can’t go on giving a message like this — it’s breaking my heart.” God said, “All right. If you want to resign, Jeremiah, you may.”

And he did resign, but he came back and said, “Lord, Your Word was in me like fire in my bones, and when I tried to keep quiet, I couldn’t. If You don’t mind, I’ll go back.” He is God’s man, and when you see him weeping, you know exactly how God feels about sending His people into captivity.
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[nChrist]

JESUS - Centerpiece of Scripture
by J. Vernon McGee
Who Am I? (Matthew 16:13–19)

Therefore, the Lord Jesus reminded people of Jeremiah, especially when He sat and wept over the city, saying:

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Matthew 23:37)

Then He added, “See! Your house is left to you desolate.” He knew that city was to be destroyed just as it had been destroyed in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. But this time it would be destroyed by Titus the Roman, with just as much brutality, cruelty, and bloodshed. Like Jeremiah, our Lord wept over the city. It was a heartbreak to Him.

So some of the people thought He was Jeremiah, and rightly so, because He did shed tears. But what a contrast there was between Jeremiah and Elijah, and what a difference of opinion as to who Jesus was!

Then others in the crowd thought Jesus was just one of the prophets. May I say to you, everything they said was complimentary, but it fell far short of the true identity of Christ.

Also in our day, friend, to miss the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is God incarnate is one of the most tragic blunders one can make. These folk in that day were making this blunder. Here He was, rubbing shoulders with them, and they were missing who He was! And certainly there was a divergence of opinion among them.
 
Confession of Peter about the Person of Christ

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:15-16)

Now He turns from the crowd outside to His own disciples. You must remember that He has been with them for two and a half years. They have been together constantly, day and night. Everything Jesus did was under their scrutiny. He could say to them, “Which of you convinces Me of sin?” And even Judas, for three years, kept his eyes on Christ. Oh, what a critic he was! Possibly he was thinking, Just wait until He stubs His toe. I’ll get Him. But our Lord never stubbed His toe, and when Judas finally betrayed Him, he had to honestly confess, “I have betrayed innocent blood.”

So, speaking directly to these men who have been with Him for two and a half years, He asks, “But who do you say that I am?” Now all these men are able to answer through their spokesman, Simon Peter. Will you listen to them now: “Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!’” Peter could have said nothing higher than that. He was saying, “You are the Christ,” that is, “You are the Messiah, the Anointed One, the One predicted in the Old Testament.”

The psalmist David had said in Psalm 2 that “the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed.” His “Anointed” is Christ, if you please. He is the One who is God’s partner, God’s equal, the Christ. Now Peter says to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Isaiah 9:6 speaks of Christ in His second coming. “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.” Notice that the Child was born; the Son was given (not born) because He is the eternal Son of God, and God the Father is the eternal Father. My friend, when you have an eternal Father, you have to have an eternal Son. And when you have both an eternal Father and an eternal Son, you never have any begetting. The Lord Jesus has always been God the Son. And when He was put on trial, these religious rulers who knew the Old Testament Scriptures pointedly asked Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Remember what His answer was — He was under oath at the time — He said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62). He made the highest claim that anyone could possibly make for that title, “Son of Man.” It is on an equal with the title “Son of God” or “Son of the Blessed.”
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[nChrist]

JESUS - Centerpiece of Scripture
by J. Vernon McGee
Who Am I? (Matthew 16:13–19)

Now may I say to you, Peter and the other disciples are accurate on the person of Christ when they say, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” They have been with Him for two and a half years — they know who He is.

Our Lord now speaks to them. Will you notice this very carefully:

Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17)

In other words, you cannot come to this estimate of the Lord Jesus Christ unless the Holy Spirit of God opens your eyes to Him. Paul says, “No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3). Oh, I don’t mean just to say the word Lord, because many use that word. But I am saying that no one can acknowledge Him as Lord in their heart unless the Holy Spirit reveals Him. And the Lord Jesus Himself said that when the Holy Spirit has come, “He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14).

Friend, that is why the Bible is different from any other book in existence today. Any book that any person ever wrote can be figured out by another person. I remember what my geometry teacher used to say when I’d come to school many a time frustrated and complaining, “Nobody can work this problem!” He would say, “There never could be a problem made by a person that another person couldn’t work out.” And, friend, you cannot find anything that anyone can write or do that cannot be figured out by someone else.

But here is a book that is different from any other. You will not, nor can you, understand it, nor will you ever know the person of Jesus Christ until the Holy Spirit opens your eyes to see Him in all His winsomeness, in all His loveliness, and in all the glory of His person. I am not disturbed today to hear an unbeliever say, “I do not believe in the deity of Christ.” Actually, if he says he does believe in the deity of Christ, something is wrong. You can’t believe in His deity until the Holy Spirit of God makes Him real to you. Our Lord said, “Simon Bar-Jonah … flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
 
Construction of the Church on the Person of Christ

Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:17-18)

I think these verses and the succeeding verse are probably more misunderstood in Christendom today than any other three verses. We miss in our English translation the play on words that is here. Our Lord used two Greek words for the English word rock. The Lord Jesus, speaking to Peter, said, “You are Petros, and on this petra I will build My church.” In other words, “You are a little rock, you’re just a pebble” — and that’s all we are, just little pebbles on the beach — “but on the bedrock I will build My church.”

This is the first time that Christ mentioned His church, and He mentioned it only twice. He said, “I will build….” At that time the church was in the future. The church came into existence after His resurrection, on the Day of Pentecost.
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[nChrist]

JESUS - Centerpiece of Scripture
by J. Vernon McGee
Who Am I? (Matthew 16:13–19)

What did He mean when He said to Peter, “I will build My church on the rock”? He certainly didn’t mean He would build it on Simon Peter because He changed the word altogether. He didn’t say, “You are Petros, and on this Petros I will build My church.” He said, “You are a little rock, and I’ll build My church on the foundation rock.” What is that foundation? I hear people say, “It is your confession of faith in Christ.” Absolutely not. What is the foundation on which the church is built? What is the rock on which the church is built? First Corinthians makes it abundantly clear: “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). Our Lord is the foundation on which the church is built.

Did Peter understand it this way? He most surely did. Speaking of Christ, he wrote:

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. (1 Peter 2:4)

I think it is so interesting how Simon Peter, that big, rugged fisherman, repeats the word precious, which we tend to think of as a woman’s word. But Peter, speaking of Christ or of His blood or any part of Him, uses the word precious.

Peter says Christ is a living stone. But how are we living stones? We have been born again by the Word of God.

You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” (1 Peter 2:5-6)

Simon Peter understood absolutely that not he but the Lord Jesus Christ is that cornerstone:

Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious [a better translation would be, “for you who believe is the preciousness”]; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” (1 Peter 2:7)

When He came into the world He was rejected by His own people — “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him ” (John 1:11). Not only then was He rejected, but you and I live today in a Christ-rejecting world. Peter was saying, “The Lord Jesus Christ is the stone. He is the Rock on which the church is built.” And, my friend, your confession, my confession, and Simon Peter’s confession establish us as little rocks on Christ the solid Rock. That is the thing our Lord is saying to this man Peter.
 
Clarification on the Keys of the Kingdom

As Jesus continues to speak to Peter, He says something else that is very significant to you and me. It also has been greatly misunderstood:

“And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19)
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[nChrist]

JESUS - Centerpiece of Scripture
by J. Vernon McGee
Who Am I? (Matthew 16:13–19)

What did He mean by this? Did Christ mean that He was actually giving to Simon Peter some keys, and whatever Simon Peter would bind on earth would be bound in heaven, or loosed on earth would be loosed in heaven? Yes, He meant that. Were they given only to Simon Peter? No, Jesus gives them to those who make the same confession made by Peter, those who know Christ as Savior. If you are a child of God, you have these keys as well as any other believer has them. The keys were the badge of authority for the office of the scribes who interpreted the Scriptures to the people, as in Nehemiah’s day (see Neh_8:1-8). When Nehemiah wrote, there probably were no more than two copies of the Scriptures in existence. Multitudes of the people who returned to the land of Israel after seventy years of captivity had never heard the Word of God. So the people were called together, and they had the greatest Bible reading on record. They read all the way until noon. Ezra the priest would read a Bible portion, then students of the Scriptures who were stationed among the people would ask, “Did you understand what he read?” Some folk would say, “No, I never heard that before,” or, “I don’t know exactly what it means,” and they would stop and explain it to them. When faces would light up with understanding, the signal would be given and Ezra would read another segment, and the appointed men would be out there in the crowd to help them understand what he had read.

There began at that time one of the greatest revivals you find recorded in the Bible. Also the order of the scribe began with Ezra, and in time all the scribes began to wear keys. In Christ’s day you could see them moving about in the temple area, all wearing keys as the badge of their office.

As the Lord Jesus was instructing His disciples, He said, “Now that you know who I am, I’m taking the keys away from the scribes, and I’m putting them in your hands, because the key to the Scriptures is your knowing who I am.”

My Christian friend, that key is in your hand today. If we withhold the Word, we “bind on earth”; if we give the Word, we “loose on earth.” No one man or individual church has the keys to the exclusion of all other believers. We have a responsibility to give out the gospel because it is the only thing that can save people. There is someone around you today, maybe several folk, who are not going to hear the gospel unless you give it to them.

The Lord Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved” (John 10:9). It is a wonderful thing to use the keys and open the door for someone who has not heard the gospel before or has not accepted it, and because of your testimony, your use of the keys, he walks in — that is, he comes to faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God!

I close with this little story. It happened in London years ago. One night there was a woman down in the skid row section, the slums of London, dying. She was a prostitute, and she sent her young son to the nearest church to get a rector to come down and talk to her. She said to her boy, “Go get a minister to get me in.” So this boy went down to the rectory and knocked on the door. The rector came to the door and said to this little, ragged urchin, “What do you want?”

“My old woman wants you to come and get her in.”

“What?”

“My old woman wants you to come and get her in. She’s dying.”

Then this minister knew what the little fellow meant. He was liberal in his theology and had never preached the gospel. On the way over, he wondered what in the world he would say to her. He couldn’t preach what he had been preaching to his congregation — that would get nobody in. Oh, it was scholarly and couched in beautiful language, but it was no good for a dying woman in sin. He thought of what his mother had taught him when he was a boy at her knee. When he reached the house he said to her as she lay there dying, “What is it that you want?”

She said, “I want you to get me in. I’m a sinner. I’m an awful sinner, but I want you to get me in.”
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[nChrist]

JESUS - Centerpiece of Scripture
by J. Vernon McGee
Who Am I? (Matthew 16:13–19)

He didn’t know how to proceed. In a faltering way — he’d never done this before — he turned to John 3:16 — that’s all he could think of, it’s the verse his mother had taught him when he was a boy, so he read it to her, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

She asked, “Does that mean me?”

“It certainly does, ‘whoever’ means you and me and anyone.”

“Well, I’ll believe it. Tell me more.”

He knew only John 3:16 for salvation, so he gave it to her again: “‘God so loved the world.’”

“Do you suppose He loves me that much?”

“Well, He loves you so much that He gave His Son to die for you.”

“Oh,” she said, “then I’ll trust Him.” As she lay dying, a smile came over her face and she said to him, “Minister, thank you for getting me in.”

When this preacher was telling about it later, he said, “You know, that night I got two persons in. I got that poor sinful woman in, and I got myself in. I had never been in before.”

My friend, that is the use of the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and right now the door is open. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved” (John 10:9).

Now let me say again, my friend, every believer has the key to the Kingdom of Heaven, and we have the responsibility to use it. If the Spirit of God has made Him real to you, He can also make Him real to the person to whom you are witnessing.

Remember that our Lord said to Peter, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Our part is merely to present His Word — even a single verse like John 3:16 may be enough — and He does the saving.

Oh, what a thrill it is to see someone walk through the open door to come to faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.
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TO BE CONTINUED.

[nChrist]

JESUS - Centerpiece of Scripture
by J. Vernon McGee
“May I Walk with You?” (Luke 24:13–35)

Why is it that the forty-day period between the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Ascension is so often overlooked? Is it because of its brevity? Yet more is recorded in Scripture concerning these forty days than is written of the life of our Lord from His birth to the time He began His ministry when He was thirty years old. Actually these forty days are far more significant to us than those early years before His public ministry. We are robbing ourselves of some of the exceeding riches of His grace by not laying hold of the things revealed to us by Him during this important period.

There are at least two reasons for the importance of the post-Resurrection ministry of Christ. First, these forty days were a continuing witness of His resurrection from the dead. They were a tangible demonstration of it as stated in Acts 1:3: “To whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”

A second reason for the importance of our Lord’s post-Resurrection ministry is that we are more vitally related to the life of Christ after His resurrection than before. Too many people put a wrong emphasis upon the life of the Lord Jesus as they habitually speak of Him as the Carpenter of Nazareth, the Man of Galilee, and the One who walked the dusty roads. All that is fine, but it is to the living Christ that we are related. “Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer” (2 Corinthians 5:16).

When Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me,” what Christ did he mean? Clearly he was speaking of the resurrected Christ who today is at God’s right hand. “Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Again we read in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” What is meant by that? Simply that believers are no longer related to the first Adam, but to the resurrected Christ. How important that is!

Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. (Luke 24:13)

This road was not as famous as the Jericho road; however, for me it has more meaning. I read that on the Jericho road a man fell among thieves, but on the Emmaus road two humble, unknown disciples met the living Christ face-to-face.

“Unknown?” someone may ask. “One of them was named Cleopas.” True, but we do not know who Cleopas was. He and his companion are unknown disciples, and some have suggested that they were man and wife. Whoever they may have been, they were on a little-frequented road, a path just seven miles long. It was not a superhighway, just a narrow, dusty roadway. Yet it was here that Christ made His first public appearance. He had appeared privately to the women in the garden, but He chose a little-known road and two little-known people for His first appearance in a place used by the general public. There followed one of the most remarkable revelations of the living Christ — an interview in which the sublime touched the simple, when the supernatural acted in a natural way.
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[nChrist]

JESUS - Centerpiece of Scripture
by J. Vernon McGee
“May I Walk with You?” (Luke 24:13–35)

Two followers of Jesus have left Jerusalem late in the afternoon following the Resurrection, after having heard startling things. They are talking excitedly and frankly, and they are so interested in their conversation that they do not at first notice a stranger who joins them. Finally He interrupts, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?” (Luke 24:17).

The word conversation here means “discussions. ” Actually, these two were trying to agree on some reasonable explanation as to why the Lord’s body had disappeared. A prophet had been crucified, placed in a conspicuous new tomb, sealed and guarded by Roman soldiers. But now no one could find the body. This news had electrified Jerusalem.

Now notice this fact: Had the enemy been able to produce the body, Christianity would have been sealed forever in that tomb! All that the Lord’s adversaries needed were the earthly remains — but they could not find them. Mr. Unbeliever, tell us where the body was!

Along with most of the disciples, these two on the road to Emmaus did not believe that Christ had risen. It is interesting that the followers of Jesus at first were doubters, but before the post-Resurrection ministry of our Lord was ended, these eyewitnesses were thoroughly, joyously convinced that theirs was a risen, living Savior!

Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?” (Luke 24:18)

This question raised by Cleopas reveals a sidelight not given by anyone but Dr. Luke. The arrest, crucifixion, and purported resurrection from the dead had stirred Jerusalem. These two people could not believe that there was anyone in the area who did not know about it. It would be like walking down the street in your hometown with a friend and discussing the trip to the moon. A stranger joins you and says, “You mean someone has been to the moon?” You would naturally react. It would be difficult for someone to live in this day and age and not know that someone has been to the moon and back to earth. It was just as incredible to these disciples that someone had not heard about the events of the past few days. Paul in his defense before King Agrippa said that he was persuaded that none of these things were hidden from him “since this thing was not done in a corner” (Acts 26:26). The Crucifixion and Resurrection were not done secretly. They were public news, and everyone in the area was talking about it.

To this, however, the Lord — still unrecognized — simply answered, “What things?”

I think when Christ said this, there was a note of humor in His voice, a twinkle in His eye. Certainly He knew all that was on their hearts, but He was drawing them out.

So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.” (Luke 24:19-21)
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[nChrist]

JESUS - Centerpiece of Scripture
by J. Vernon McGee
“May I Walk with You?” (Luke 24:13–35)

“Have you not heard about Jesus of Nazareth?” is their incredulous reply. Death had not destroyed the love of these folk for Christ, but it had revealed how limited was their faith. They considered Him simply as “Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.”

Note they said Jesus was a prophet — they thought He was dead. Then a glimmer of hope lit up their faces: “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel… today is the third day since these things happened. Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us” (Luke 24:21-22).

The other facts soon follow — how the women, “when they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see” (Luke 24:23-24). One can see the depths into which they went. They had loved Him; they had pinned their hopes on Him; but they failed to comprehend the Resurrection. They did not know what had happened, but somehow the body had been taken away. They were not prepared to explain what had taken place, but the fact remained that they thought no one had seen the Lord.

Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24:25)

This is a very important section, friend. The Lord, in speaking about His Resurrection, did not show them the prints of the nails in His hands to prove it. He referred them to the Scriptures rather than to the nail prints. He told them, “You should have believed what the prophets said.” It is well to note the Lord’s attitude toward the Bible. The day in which we live is a day of doubt. There are people who are actually saying that you cannot be intelligent and believe the Bible! Many people are afraid that they will not be considered intelligent, so they don’t come out flat-footed and say whether they believe the Bible or not. I suppose it is the most subtle and satanic trap of our day to discount the inerrancy and integrity of the Word of God. Christ says a man is a fool not to believe it. He gave a unanimous and wholehearted acceptance of the Bible’s statements, with no ifs, ands, or buts.

The other day I picked up a seminary professor and took him to a filling station because he had car trouble. As we rode along, I asked him about his school’s viewpoint of the inerrancy of Scripture. “Well,” he said, “you mean the infallibility of the Bible?” I replied, “Wait a minute, you are arguing semantics. You know what I mean, and I know what you mean. Do you or do you not believe in the inerrancy of Scripture?” Well, he wouldn’t make a forthright declaration whether or not he believed it. He wanted to appear intelligent. Frankly, a lot of these men do not have the intestinal fortitude to stand for the Word of God. I think their problem is more intestinal than intellectual!

Now notice that the Lord puts the emphasis upon the Word of God.

“Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:26-27)

He began with the books of Moses and the prophets. Moses and the prophets had spoken of Him. His death and resurrection had fulfilled their prophecies. I’d love to have been there that evening, listening to Him, wouldn’t you?
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[nChrist]

JESUS - Centerpiece of Scripture
by J. Vernon McGee
“May I Walk with You?” (Luke 24:13–35)

Christ says that there are two things essential to the understanding of the Word of God. They are simple but important. First, as verse 25 indicates, we must have faith in the Bible. Christ said, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!” Pascal said, “Human knowledge must be understood to be believed, but divine knowledge must be believed to be understood.” I think the Bible is a closed book to the critic and the infidel. He can learn a few facts, but he misses the message. On the other hand, some simple soul whose heart is turned in humble faith to God will be enlightened by the Holy Spirit of God. The eyes of his understanding will be opened.

Some of the great men of the past have come to the pages of Scripture for light and life in the hours of darkness or crisis. It is not smart to ridicule the Bible. The Lord said, “You are a fool not to believe it.” I would rather lack sophistication and subtlety than to be a fool.

Then the Lord says that the Bible can only be divinely understood. Human intellect is simply not enough to comprehend its truths. Verse 45 tells us, “And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.” Then in 1 Corinthians 2:14 Paul declares, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” There are things that are above and beyond human comprehension, and only the Holy Spirit of God can make them real to us. Our prayer ought to be, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law [Word]” (Psalms 119:18). We should come with a humble attitude to the Word of God. Just because you read the Bible does not mean that you know it. The Holy Spirit of God will have to make it real to you.

Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. (Luke 24:28-31)

They wanted Him to stay with them, and He was known to them at the table in the breaking of the bread. Eating around a table is a wonderful time to share the things of Christ. The resurrected, glorified Christ wants to fellowship with those who are His own. And He fellowships only with those who believe in Him.

There is nothing wrong with a church banquet, provided it is not all given over to hearing some soloist or watching a magician or some type of entertainment. We have too many church programs that leave Jesus Christ out. To have true fellowship and blessing, He must be in the midst, breaking bread.

And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together. (Luke 24:32-33)

Late as it is, they hurry back over the miles with the wonderful news. And they are greeted by a roomful of overjoyed followers of Jesus, saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”

And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread. (Luke 24:34-35)
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[nChrist]

JESUS - Centerpiece of Scripture
by J. Vernon McGee
Secret Of Service (John 21)

The scene before us here is a familiar and popular spot, the Sea of Galilee, probably the world’s most famous body of water.

It will be of interest to note those present: “Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together” (John 21:2); an interesting group that might be called the convention of problem children, each a problem in his own way.

First and foremost was Simon Peter — impulsive, impetuous, affectionate, even saying that he would lay down his life for his Lord. Thomas was also present, Thomas the magnificent skeptic, always raising some question or casting some doubt. Then there was Nathanael, a doubter at the beginning of Christ’s ministry. Philip came to him and said, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote: Jesus of Nazareth!” Hearing that, Nathanael said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” However, he went with Philip to the Lord Jesus, who said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” It was then that Nathanael made his first confession:

Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49)

Also in the group were James and John, to whom Jesus gave the name “sons of thunder,” a name well deserved. There were two other disciples, but their names are not mentioned. And since the Holy Spirit omitted them, let us identify ourselves with them — you and me; we are the two who would probably classify as problem children at the Sea of Galilee.

This group had left Jerusalem and were there in Galilee by commandment, Christ’s commandment, relayed by the women who had been at the empty tomb: “Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me” (Matthew 28:10). So here the disciples are at the Sea of Galilee.
 
I’m Going Fishing

It is springtime, the Passover season. Warm zephyrs from the south make ripples near the shore and whitecaps out on the sea. The surrounding hills are green, and there are wildflowers in profusion. (I once saw it like that a few days after Easter, and I imagine it was even more beautiful two thousand years ago.) They may have waited and waited for the Lord Jesus to come. Peter would be the one to become impatient and, after pacing back and forth and looking up and down the shore, would be the one to say, “I am going fishing.” And the six others join him.

They fish all night and catch nothing. This may be the only true fish story that has ever been told! Dr. Scotts calls it the failure of the experts. These men fish all night without catching one fish! They had been restless before, and now they are restless and frustrated. It’s easy to fish when you catch fish and frustrating when you don’t. They knew how to fish — that’s the way they had made their living — but that night of failure was in the will of God for them.

The psalmist says in Psalms 1:3, speaking of God’s man, “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season.” The fruitage of man’s labor will come forth at a time when it will fit into God’s plan and purpose. We are living in a day when everything is measured by the yardstick of materialism. Mathematics is the language of the hour, and to many it is the language of success. When will we learn that spiritual values cannot be determined by figures?

They fished all night and caught nothing! It’s hard to fish when the fish are not biting.
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