November 3, 2013
Unchangeable Things: Christ and His City
God is building an eternal family, an eternal city, not made with human hands.
Scripture: Hebrews 13:8-14
Sermon Notes:
- We live in a constantly changing world, but Christ and the gospel of His kingdom remain unchanged.
- God is building an eternal family, an eternal city, not made with human hands.
- The divine Word became flesh and lived among us (Jn. 1).
- Is there really an unchanging person? Unbelievers will always seek a non-Christian explanation for Jesus’ life.
- Jesus defines Himself as the I AM, the self-defining eternal God; Jesus forgives sins, accepts worship, performs miracles, and lived a sinless life.
- He is the very revelation of God Himself to the world.
- Our culture sees the church on decline as we have been carried away by strange doctrines.
- Many claim that all religions are only superficially different, but essentially the same.
- However, no other religion reveals a personal God who speaks into history in an infallible divine person declaring salvation and redemption for man.
- Unlike Buddhism and Hinduism, Jesus teaches continuity of personhood after death; He affirms the world and affirms godly desires.
- If Jesus is who He said He is, it affects everything; it is of infinite importance.
- Modern man is trying to work out his own salvation: history is all there is; there is no design, no Creator, no God.
- As mere material entities, with brains driven by chemistry, we lose our dignity as humans.
- Living consistently with materialistic premises, humanists cannot account for the very intelligibility of human experience.
- The humanist faces a meaningless world in which he must strive to create meaning.
- By contrast, in Christ we are called forth by a personal God.
- We accept a world which has meaning and purpose defined and governed by God.
- Hebrews 1 extols the superlative excellence of Christ, in whom we all have our being.
- We are all creatures receiving life from God; we do not animate our own bodies.
- All philosophers and gods pale when contrasted with Christ.
Application Questions:
- Who is the one permanent unchangeable person in the world upon which we may anchor our lives?
- Defend the divinity of Christ from scripture.
- What are the logical entailments of accepting the identity and person of Jesus as He is revealed in the Bible?
- What are the implications of materialistic assumptions for humanity? What are consistent humanists forced to conclude?
- What is the meaning and purpose of the world and our lives as they are owned and defined by Christ?
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