02232020 The Case for Jesus From the Water to the Wilderness Jase Robertson

remain standing for a moment come on Abbi you thought I was taking your thunder huh our scripture reading today will be my young miss Abbey as soon as Jesus was baptized he went up out of the water and at that moment heaven was opened and he saw the Spirit of God alighting on him and a voice from heaven said this is my son whom I love with him I am well pleased you can give that to mr. mine thank you miss ivy for being courageous and brave well I tell you it's something about hearing that young innocent voice shares such a powerful moment in the history of our world that's moving don't eject just your your sets if you're watching online that is a beard I'm Jase a nobody really but God moved in and took over so here I am today standing before you I must warn you that I'm under the influence of the Holy Spirit of God I have a drug problem in Jesus three specifically Psalms hymns and spiritual songs y'all look perplexed by the seasons 5:18 don't get drunk on wine but be filled with the spirit as you sing psalms hymns and spiritual songs that's what we do what I decided to do this week a little bit different in preparation as I decided to worship God in song and in thought at every moment I was awake grocery store I'm singing people are noticing well you're excited I said I really am it can actually be quite exhausting to tell you the truth I'm in the car Christ be magnified I know that was a new song to you but Missy and I heard that song we were at a worship leaders meeting thousands of people and they sang that song they all knew that song and when you have these moments where you're singing with thousands of people and it sounds like some kind of angelic sound and you start imagining heaven it stirs you up I heard this lesson that I'm gonna try to share with you today while I was there from the water to the wilderness from the water to the wilderness what does it mean I've spent a lot of time in my life in the wilderness and on the water it has nothing to do with that I'll just tell you before we get into our text we have this moment most of us in this room had this moment when you were introduced to Jesus and you were cut to the heart and you said this is it you were broken you surrendered to Jesus it might have been a river it might have been right behind me in this heated baptistry and you knew that you had God's Spirit you knew that you were forgiven and you knew that one day when you die you're coming back and then all of a sudden two weeks later to be honest you're like what the heck this has gotten difficult and even that you might have gone and done things like when we went to the worship conference or you might have gone out to camp and you have these top of the mountain experiences and then you go back out and you're like what in the world this is why why isn't this easier why are bad things happening the most miserable years of my life and I'm counting before my parents for Christians was the two years I spent down the road here West Monroe high school because I came to Jesus at 14 from 14 to 16 go in there as a believer it was miserable I was persecuted I was alienated I was young I didn't know how to do this I was just trying not to do wrong I was lonely I kept studying this I kept thinking back to when I was standing in the water looking at my dad who I had one time had hated and I kind of had a point but now God has brought them together and brought us all together I kept thinking about that moment because faith is being sure of what we hope for it but I had gotten out to the world and that question kept coming through my mind am I sure about this because it sure seems difficult what I didn't know had happened is I had gone from the water to the wilderness so I realize somewhere in there that I was not going to be able to be shy and be a follower of Jesus so I started making changes in my life and about the time I thought I was on top of the world again the only friend I had through that those two years 14 to 16 was this I'm gonna probably get emotional about this I've already prepared myself but that's fine when I was 14 to 16 I met a girl ironically her name was angel I met her because she introduced Jesus to me at a basketball game which was weird and we became friends it was 100% spiritual she was the most bold person I've ever met she reminded me of John the Baptist which is what we're gonna be looking in today especially about the lifestyle she loved you know when John the Baptist before he baptized Jesus which happy just read you know we don't read this very often but right before that happened the Pharisees and the Sadducees came to John the Baptist and he said you bunch of snakes these were religious people it would be like me coming in here and my opening line being aren't you bunch of snakes you need to produce some fruit out there in keeping with repentance she was kind of like that when she heard any kind of mischief going on people getting drunker she'd be like that's just stupid that is just dumb it's not gonna get your body out of the ground I tell you that to say this about the time I got rolling again she gets killed in a car wreck so I'm like why her I didn't understand how this worked didn't get over it for years my wife could tell you it was just it was it was a sore subject and so God blessed our family through a silly show and it gave us a platform so I said you know I'm gonna write a book I'm gonna tell about how God rescued us and uses us well part of my journey was median angel so I'll put that in the book while her parents when they read it they got in touch with me because they were happy because I mean this happened 30 years ago they were glad that her legacy was was being introduced into them into the world and so they called me and they said they wanted to meet and uh I called Trent I was like Trent had gone he's my security at some of the events we went to cuz he just got the body for it and I asked him to go because I thought I'll give you some extra money but I like surrounding myself with people who really love Jesus and are using that I just like them being around me but I called him you out there and I put you in a difficult circumstance I didn't know what was gonna happen but they they gave me a jersey chef's scholarship at Baylor University she was a freshman it's the only woman that ever just absolutely destroyed me in basketball I was pretty good and they gave me a Bible as was got all kind of notes in it of course I lost it and when I opened up the cover she favorite verse John 3:16 it's a verse that I know by heart but I went over there and I read it 25 years after that happened for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life like an idiot I thought she had perished what was I thinking so John the Baptist came preaching and then Jesus comes up in Matthew 3 and in verse 13 Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John but John tried to deter him saying I need to be baptized by you and do you come to me jesus replied let it be so now it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness I didn't know what that meant at first but the more I studied the more I read Hebrews chapter 11 I realized that all the people up to Jesus who had put their faith and trust in God because of his word they didn't get what was promised the last verse in Hebrews 11 says that only together with us so here comes Jesus in this moment fixed to start his ministry what he's fixing to do is going to provide forgiveness and hope all the way back and all the way forward john consented as soon as Jesus was baptized he went up out of the water at that moment heaven was opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him and a voice from heaven said this is my son whom I love with him I am well pleased I spoke last week I speak Moke most weeks this time of year I only have one speech I introduced Jesus sometimes it's friendly fire people are believers they get people like me to come in I share Jesus people that wouldn't normally go to church they're hunters they're fishermen they watch the duck dynasty they'll come last week I was at an event that I could tell in about five seconds this wasn't a church event in the VIP meet and greet a lady she'd kind of patted me on the rear so I figured she was drunk because who would flirt with me looking like I do you know I was like well she's gone and you said well what did that do to you I realize I'm in the wilderness here this was a fundraiser for public education they got me to show up they charged people because they wanted their money so I got up and I said well since this is a fundraiser for public education I'm gonna go and Noah Webster here y'all know his famous quote crickets I said who knows that quote no one raised their hand I said well let me quote Noah Webster where we get our dictionary education is useless without the Bible well nobody Amen there I'll tell you that and then I went down the Galatians Road I said I've been crucified with Christ I no longer live the life I live I lived through faith in the Son of God Christ Jesus lives in me I live by faith because he loves me He gave His life for me I don't set aside the grace of God I'm quoting Galatians 2:20 because if righteousness could be obtained by performance observing the law then Christ died for nothing I then went to Galatians 3:26 and 27 because they had played sharp-dressed man as I was walking up I mean we're going back to duck dynasty days here and I was the most underdressed person in the entire building and I said I'm glad y'all played that because I'm a son of God through faith because when I was baptized I clothed I was clothed with Jesus Christ and there's no male there's no female in Christ there's no class of people verse 27 there's no nationality we're all one in Jesus and because of that God sent the spirit to my heart then I went to 522 or you could hear a pin drop in this place so the acts of the sinful nature are obvious so I'm not gonna get into them but I figured y'all know what sin is right of course at this time a lot of people are holding their cocktails and their drinks and they're like should I set this down I said but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness gentleness self-control I said these qualities we need in our public education system whether you believe in God or not we need those qualities we need kids who love who have joy who have peace who are kind are not resentful who don't rejoice in evil and then I'll go to first Corinthians 13 well it was a smattering of an applause but I introduced Jesus and in the end I was right because look if you miss Jesus if you miss the forgiveness of Jesus the purpose on life and you miss living forever that's dumb that's just dumb by any definition I said that line so I tell you that he said why did you go through that and use that as an illustration based on what I just quoted to you in Galatians I am 100% convinced when you surrendered to God in baptism that voice this is my son whom I love with him I am well pleased that's what happened you have Jesus inside of you that's what happened to me to me yes I hear I understand Jesus I'm saved by His grace on a cross I follow to my knees I surrender but I know even though I didn't hear it if I were to read this more closely before I did this I would have listened to it but I believe God looked down on me and he said you're my son and I love you and I'm pleased with you you know Jesus at this point had done one thing as a human besides build a few houses it's not based on your performance so I'm gonna try something today because our next part is the wilderness you're gonna have to get those three things in your mind and you're gonna meditate on them because once you go out into the wilderness and it's going to happen we'll get to that next so I thought we could do something together let's see I have four sections here this is gonna be fun I'm going just off scrap here so it's gonna be fun this section on the left when I say I'll make this pithy when he says this is my son you go I am a child of God are you on practice now if you're if you've been sleeping here we go then we'll get to the next section which will be whom I love you got it easy this would be this middle sit he loves me all right with him I'm well pleased God is plea and feel free to enunciate coz I God is pleased with me I think would be better and then you wait from the finale you say nothing the fourth all right can we try this this is gonna be fun once do it so in a voice from heaven said this is my son we got four people over here who have the Spirit of God and the rest of you I'm going to invite you to respond at the invitation that was weak G it's tough name when you go off-script okay a voice from heaven said this is my son love it whom I love I forgive you with him I am well pleased y'all cheated your head sigh that's all I heard now here's the interesting thing in mark chapter 1 in verse 12 coz Matthew if you look at there there's no chapter break in there I want you to really get this mark 1:12 when Jesus came out of the water the Holy Spirit at once immediately there was no chapter break carried him to the wilderness you say is that is that what that says at once the spirit sent him out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil now what happened there you're familiar the evil one used the same tactics that he used in the Garden of Eden he he began to question our faith he questioned Jesus if you're the Son of God then what he told he did God really say well of course he really said in fact 9 times in the first two chapters of Genesis it says and God said so then he moved on and said you won't die and what he totally I'm comparing and you can do this in your own personal Bible study time Matthew forward to what happened in Genesis 3 because the evil one he has two tactics he temperature and he'll kill you that's why I told you the story about angel I see why she died now I see why John the Baptist had his head cut off he had the gall to go out in the wilderness he was voice crying out in the wilderness and go to the King John 14 I mean I'm Matthew 14 and say hey you and your wife there that's not lawful that's why in Hebrews 2:14 Jesus came to destroy him who had the power of death that is the devil that's why in Hebrews 4:15 Jesus was tempted in every way just as we are it was without sin but eating help us so you have the three temptations what did Jesus do he quoted scripture you know how you turn a garden into a wilderness put a poisonous snake in it you need a weapon then first day of duck dynasty we're doing a commercial there's a guy's got all these snakes he's a snake Wrangler professional thought this is weird he hands Willy a snake I was like I don't know if I like this but we're doing a commercial we're trying to get people to watch our show this is all set up well the snake just jumps down Willy's thumb he said it's not poisonous look blood started pouring down his arm I said well he's bleeding who cares if it's poison I'm looking at blood when blood streaming down your arm we got a problem well I noticed in a cage he had a cottonmouth that is poisonous let me tell you right now snake Wrangler I don't play with poisonous snakes spiritually or physically so an argument arose because by contract this guy is the professional they've sent him down so they started giving me all these argument she said why why are you telling me a story well I got to looking and I said you don't have a nine fingers I said what happened to that tenth finger he said well I was in Africa and a snake bit it and I lost my finger I said let me make an announcement to the duck dynasty crew I do not trust nine-fingered animal Wranglers I tell you this to say if you're getting your advice off of social media and at public school and at a bar why are you so shocked that this whole life went off the rails no it's interesting they commit the sin in the garden and then God comes up and asked him three questions you know who told you this and where are you and you don't think God didn't know what happened he's all-knowing he said well why was he asking the question to see if they'd lie about it and they did we did the same thing with our kids oh I'm an interrogator like you wouldn't believe guess what I know the answers to the questions I I never asked a question I don't know the excerpt a lie so Jesus thank the Lord after 40 days he answered with Scripture he overcame the temptation and he winds it up with sin worship and serve the Lord God only thank the Lord so what does this all mean well I believe that Jesus when he was in the wilderness for those forty days he basically did everything that the children of Israel should have done and there's a comparison there and you say what do you mean well I want to read you something in Deuteronomy chapter 8 I think they had this on the screen for you did you say why do we have the wilderness why would the holy spirit care me to the wilderness Deuteronomy 8 to remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years to Humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart that's why you're gonna go through the wilderness spirits gonna take you out there some of you might not have done well God wants to know what's in your heart are you sure are you gonna trust his word did God really say did he really say I'm a child of God he loves me he's pleased with me he humbled you verse three causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna which neither you nor father's had known to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord see that's the verse that Jesus quoted to the evil one I wanted to read this to you I'll give you these points of what happened in the wilderness you know verse five speaks of discipline which is a cousin to disciple you want to be a disciple of Jesus you remember what Jesus said I don't even have a place to lay my head you better bring your calls so why is Jesus always saying like that because he knew the Spirit was going to carry you in the wilderness God's going to test you the evil ones going to tempt you and if you don't give in guess what he's going to persecute you he's gonna bring pain to your life and he may kill you in verse five had better on me know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son so the Lord God disciplines you he allows it to happen I want to read this of this comparison to what the children of Israel went through what we did this is by McGuigan in a in his book with exegete in Exodus listen to this they were to be tempered by the absence of soft conditions in the wilderness before they entered the promised land which produced so abundantly but in either place they were blessed how was that possible because behind bread behind the physical needs lie the great provider whose purpose is not to bind them to prosperity but to him it was by the Word of God they would find themselves in a place of abundance where they would live and prosper but how is it that they could live and prosper in a wilderness by the same word of God it isn't where they are that ultimately provides life it's who they're with so in the wilderness they found trust they found the surance they found that sin matters there's consequences you'll find the same thing in our wilderness I'm going to close with this because in Matthew 18 something interesting happens and that's why I told you this bore my soul about angel he gathered up on a mountain with Elijah who didn't die God just and Moses who there was some big dispute read the book of Jude about where Moses his body was once he died and what's interesting is Peters looking around and you know this energy this Transfiguration starts to happen and guess what happens a voice from heaven y'all ready you know what he said the same thing he said that Jesus is baptism you said what why what's he doing here's Jesus that no crime was committed with Jesus why there wasn't a body couldn't find a body that's why I said Father forgive them for they know not what they do because they could you couldn't have proven it anyway can't have a crime without a body you got Moses we can't find his body and Elijah he just left by the power of God what's the significance of that they're still alive it's not when the evil one thought he had one by crucifying Jesus guess what I wasted 20 years of fretting asking why in the world would God take the most spiritual person on then oh that wasn't God at all if I was even one oh yeah I would have tried to shut her up too so now I did what the Hebrew writer did I realized that I'm surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses and a marching to the wilderness and when they persecute us when they alienate us when they laugh because wilderness may be this church building to you the evil one masquerades as an angel of light it may be your cell phone oh it's a wilderness there but y'all agree he said what are we gonna do I'll tell you this I'll make a deal with you if you'll read this because this is your weapon heat your fees and six the sword of the Spirit when you're in the wilderness this is your weapon the reason I quoted all those verses in Galatians I wasn't trying to impress you because I'm not very smart but I had the Holy Spirit of God that's the bullets I'll make a deal with you you read this more than the time you spend on your cell phone and I'm good because then I'll know you'll make good decisions while you're there I'm not picking on the cell phone I just it just starts me you know I'm driving the other day on the roundabout there's a person dead stopped at the yield Sun I blow my horn car comes around me I'll go around them I look it's a woman looking at me she's on her cell phone like why are you blowing the horn I'm on the phone here my window was down and I went live I didn't do it mean I was just saying live you're dead stopped at a roundabout live I'm gonna offer the invitation some of you might have forgotten you'll try it again you might have forget forgotten Thank You Trent you might have forgotten you might have forgotten and now the finale on the mountain at the Transfiguration he said those three things and then he added one more thing Matthew 18 listen to him it's one thing to hear it's another to listen so when you leave here and go to the wilderness you ready this is your finale moment and then will arise and you can come one two three we got to do that again that was two weeks let's everybody join in one two three if you have a need come while we stand in sing

Channel: Whites Ferry Road Church

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Id: LXbGItZhnGQ

Length: 37min 30sec (2250 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 25 2020