You know sometimes people like to portray Jesus as a safe teacher. Hes kind of a good philosopher, good moral teacher; hes an excellent teacher. Everybody loved Him; he said good things; he made people feel good. Well, I want to tell you something. He was anything but a safe teacher. In fact, sometimes when Jesus was done teaching, thousands of people would leave and say, Who could stomach that? Who could listen to that? When Jesus would say, Unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you cannot have a part of me, sometimes people would say outlandish things. Theyd say, Who can listen to this? Other times, He would say, I am the way, the truth, and the life. The way. The truth. The life. The people understood the full ramifications of what he was saying. At times people got offended. Sometimes people got so angry that the Bible says they would tear their clothes off and shout at Him and threaten to kill Him because of the words that came out of His mouth. No, dont ever try to say Jesus was a safe teacher. He said outlandish, outrageous, maniacal crazy things unless…they were in fact true, unless they were true. In John, Chapter 10, hes talking, using the analogy of shepherds and sheep. Out in the field, not in the main gate where all the sheep were kept in the night, but in the nice climate, they would have little sheep foals in the pasture. The shepherd would lie down and literally become the gate of a shepherd pen to keep the sheep in and to keep predators out. Jesus says in Verse 9, I am the gate. Think about that-thats radical stuff. I am the gate. Whoever enters through Me will be saved. Thats pretty bold, isnt it? Thats pretty outrageous to say, If you want to be saved, you want to go to heaven after you die, youve got to come through Me. Thats radical stuff! Whoever comes in through Me will come in and go out and find pasture. Verse 14, I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and my sheep know me, just as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father. And now Hes going to foreshadow the cross and the resurrection a long time before He would have to walk that road. He said, I lay My life down for the sheep. Now, Hes going to talk about you. He says, I have other sheep that are not of this pen, not of Israel. Thats you and me. I must bring them also. They, too, will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is I lay down my life-only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father. He just said some radical things. He just called himself the entrance to salvation. He just said, You can take my life, but Ill raise it back up. So whats their response? The Jews were again divided. Verse 20 (pg 1062 in church Bibles) said, Hes demon-possessed. Hes raving mad! Why listen to Him? Thats a choice some made. Only a crazy person would say something like that. Only a person thats out of his mind would say those kinds of words. But others said, These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? In other words, others were saying, Look at His miracles. For goodness sakes, listen to the teachings that flow from His mouth. Those are not the teachings of a crazy person. These are not the miracles of a man thats possessed by the devil. Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area, walking in Solomons Colonnade. The Jews gathered around Him, saying, How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered, I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Fathers name speak for Me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life… Who does He say gives them eternal life? I do. Pretty bold, outrageous, audacious claim…unless its true. …and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Fathers hand. I and the Father are one. Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me? We are not stoning you for any of these, replied the Jews, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God. Is there any question whom Jesus was claiming to be? God had come to this planet in the flesh. Is there any question in the mind of those who are listening whom he was portraying Himself to be? Not at all. They were not very happy about it. To understand the full ramifications of the cross, you must understand who was on the cross. If you see Him as just a good teacher, a good philosopher, a moral man that got in trouble for His own words, youre missing the point. God was on the cross. God was in Christ reconciling a falling world to Himself. Thats why the cross is so amazing and the resurrection is so glorious. Jesus was saying to them, in no uncertain terms, Youve got to choose. Youve got to choose. I am the gate. If you want to go to heaven, if you want to be saved, you must come through Me. Speaking of gates, I had some gate problems a couple weeks ago. I was in Los Angeles and on my way home, and I had to stay in Las Vegas for three hours. I thought, Well, you know, if you have to stay in an airport for three hours, Las Vegas would be a good one to stay in. My son and I stayed in El Pasos airport for three hours, seemed like three days. Three hours in Las Vegas went by like that (snapped his fingers). My strategy was to go get a Pepsi at Burger King and just sit back and watch the show. I mean, it was a display, this cross-section of humanity-you know gamblers that couldnt get enough, continued to gamble; star seekers would say, Oh, I saw Vanilla Ice! tee hee hee. People would be going off, That Todd Hamilton guy, hes over here. Theyre seeing celebrities. There are people that are intoxicated. There are people that are loud and obnoxious. Time just flew by. And then, as we were watching, we realized it was time to get to the gate, so I take out my boarding pass. My boarding pass has no gate assignment. I thought, Huh? How about that? I go to the TV monitor and look to see, Theres my flight. Okay, but it doesnt say what gate on that. So I got a little bit of a predicament. So I go to somebody, and I said, Can you tell me where Northwest flies out of? At what gate? They said, Oh yeah, you want to go to Gate C. Thank you very much. Go through security, and I get to Gate C, and I find out that Gate C can be reached by getting on a tram. You had to get on a tram, and it took you far away to another terminal, a whole different terminal. It was a long ride. I thought to myself, Oh boy! If this isnt the right gate, Im now away from the rest of the airport. Ive got to make sure Gate C is the right gate. So, I asked a person just for reassurance. Can you please tell me? Im on Northwest, going to Wisconsin. Is this the right gate, Gate C? Oh, no no. You need to go to Gate AB. Ohhhh. Good thing I asked you. He said, Yeah, you have to go through this new part of our airport. The doors are locked. Ill have to take you there. So he unlocked the doors, and I said, Thank you very much. I started walking down the corridor. Im like the only person. Its like 12:15 in the morning in Las Vegas, and Im the only person walking down this terminal. Im thinking, This doesnt seem right. So I finally get to the end of this long hallway, and I say, So, Northwest flies out of this gate, right? This area? This terminal? Oh, no, no, no, no. You dont want AB. You want to go to D. Oh, Deeeee. Okay, I gotcha. Thank you very much. I almost got on the wrong…Im glad you… So I turned around and I start walking the opposite direction, to Gate D. Now, Im getting concerned because Ive been told C, AB, and now D. Nothings on my boarding pass. Nothings on the monitors. All I have are these three testimonies, so I finally started thinking about this and I thought, I still dont know. I still dont know. So, I went up to another gentleman, and I said, Listen, I really need some help. Ive been all over this airport trying to find this gate. Where does Northwest fly out of? He says, Ohhh. You want to go to C. Thats where I was to begin with! Are you sure? He says, Ive worked in this airport for 20 years! Im telling you Northwest flies out of Gate C. So back I went through security. Only this time, there was a long line, and I was just fuming mad. So the whole point of that story is…dont fly Northwest! (Congregation laughing). It has nothing to do with Easter or anything else. I just had to vent somewhere. Sometimes, its really helpful if we tie spiritual truths to a word picture we can relate to. It helps us to retain. It helps us to learn, so thats what Id like to do. The first point I want to make is that Las Vegas was not my home. I was just there for a bit, just visiting, just temporary. But this is my home, and I was on my way to that home. I wasnt going to stay in that airport. In the same way, the Bible says Earth is not our home. Were here for a short period of time. Sometimes we can get pretty comfortable. Sometimes we could think, Hey, this is our home. The Bible says all of us are just passing through, that our life span is just a moment, just a blink of an eye in eternity. Someday our bodies will die, and our spirits will leave this shell. We will either live in eternity with God or apart from God, but this home is just temporary. There is coming another home that is eternal. Secondly, I had to make a choice. I had to choose. I couldnt just stand there and say, Yup. Is it C or D or AB or G or Z? I dont know. I couldnt just stand there and twiddle my thumbs. My flight was getting ready to leave! I had to make a choice to go. And I had all these competing voices telling me which gate to choose. You know, you have to make a choice when it comes to matters of eternity. You have to make a choice about which voice youre going to believe as to whats on the other side of deaths door. Theres some who have that Vegas mentality, that hedonism. They say, Hey man, lifes short. Live it to the fullest! Just go for it! Just go for it! Just live it up and party. What happens in Vegas…stays in Vegas. What happens on Earth...stays on Earth. This is it, man, so you best go for all the gusto you can. Just live it up! Thats a voice. There are a lot of people that follow that voice. Jesus says, Broad is the way that leads to destruction. Many go that way, but few there are who follow the narrow way that leads to eternal life. For a lot of people, that is their philosophy of living. There are other philosophies that talk about what Heaven is like. There are religions that say life is a series of reincarnations, that you come back as a higher or lesser form of life depending on your karma; life is just this never-ending series of reincarnations. How depressing is that? Eventually, you can get to the point where you cease to exist. Wow! Thats a happy one, isnt it? Then theres nirvana, where you just reincarnate, and then youre absorbed into God. You just become absorbed into this being called God. Theres some that are pantheists. They think that God is just everywhere and in every thing. God is in you. Gods in the trees, and Gods in the animals. Theres some who teach that. They believe youre just absorbed into nothingness and you cease to exist. Some say youre absorbed into God. Christianity teaches that after you die, your spirit goes to stand before the judgment seat. Youll be judged for the works that youve done and the decisions youve made, and you will be you. Those of you whove made that decision, to yield your life to Christ, will live in a Heaven with a real God, and youll really be you. So those are all different choices, arent they? Another thing I want to tell you about is truth. Only one gate was correct. It didnt matter how much I believed that Gate AB was the right gate. If Gate AB was not Northwests gate, I wasnt coming home that way. I had a ticket for one flight, and only one gate was going to have that plane. Some people say, Well, you know, whats true for you is true you. Whats true for me is true for me. Thats not the way truth works guys. Well, you know if you just believe it with all your heart, thats what counts. No, its not! Because I could go to Gate AB, and they would say, Sorry, sir. You missed your flight. Northwest flew out of Gate C. I could stand there and say, But I really believed this was the right gate! I could beg and cry and complain and moan, which I was doing a lot of by the way, but it wouldnt have changed reality. Reality was…my flight left on Gate C. Thats where my flight was from. Thats the ticket I had. That was the only flight that would take me home. There are a lot of competing voices out there telling you which way to go, but friends, only one is correct. You cannot say, Well, youre going to cease to exist, or youre going to be absorbed into God, or youre going to continue to be reincarnated, or youre going to go to Heaven. With those four, theres nothing in common. One of those is true, and the rest are false, but they cant all be true. They cant all be true. You have to make a choice which gate youre going to follow. So, as Christians we listen to the testimony of Jesus. We read His Word. We hear His miracles. We read the account of His resurrection, and weve made a choice to follow Him, those of you who are believers here today. Its hard. I finally made a choice. I chose Gate C. Two people told me Gate C. The last person was really convincing and seemed credible, so I got on Gate C, but it was still a leap of faith. When I got on Gate C, I didnt have a boarding pass that said I needed to get on Gate C. I didnt see anything on the monitors that said Gate C, so when I got on that tram to go to Gate C, I was doing this (scratching head). Because when I took off on it, I thought, Man, I hope this is it, because if this isnt it, Im staying in Vegas. Just take the building fund and let her ride on lucky number 7, do something to kill my time (congregation laughing). So, it was the right one, but it was still a leap of faith. It was kind of like this: If youre a Christian, is that what you have? Is this your hope? Its like, Ive listened to all these voices, and I want to know is it Ala? Is it Buddha? Is it Jesus? Is it some other way? Is it nothing? What is it? Im going to choose the Jesus gate, Oh boy! Here I go! and you hope for the best. Is that the faith we have? Ill describe that to you. We got a phone call about three weeks ago, and it was a really weird phone call. I came home, and Brenda told me she got a phone call, and the guy said that we are heirs to oil rights on some land. I went, Yeah, right. She said, Yeah, seriously. Her grandma Leatha had left her and her three siblings five acres of land in southern Illinois. She said they believe there is oil on the land-we own 1.25 acres. We have oil rights on the property and all the children must sign a notarized release so they can begin to drill for oil. They have two years to find oil, and if they find oil, we get a percentage of it. Now, before you get all excited for me or before you get all jealous of me, I want you to know, were not going to be the Clampetts. Its not going to be much. They said between $80 and $250 a month coming in, if they find oil. Well, thats okay. Ill take that, right? Thats better than a kick in the head, but, you know, Im not going to be Jed, sons not going to be Jethro, daughters not going to be Elly May, and Brendas not going to be Granny-although she does get cranky once in a while, she gets a little cranky (congregation laughing!). I couldnt say that at 8 oclock because she was sitting right there, but I know none of you will ever tell her that because you dont see the humor in that. So, you wont say anything, right? Were not going to get rich, so what were doing right now is signing these documents, notarizing them and sending them in. Theyre going to then start drilling for oil. Heres what Im doing (rubbing hands together), Come on! Come on! Find the oil! This is not what youre doing as a Christian. Christ has been raised. Oil has been found, and the well is capped, and more is coming. Thats the faith we have. More is on the way; 1 Corinthians 15:20, He is the firstfruits of whats come. Its happened! Theres already been a resurrection. More resurrections are on the way! Thats the hope we have. In the Book of Acts 17:30 (pg 1098) Paul is speaking to a group of men in Athens, and he says, In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. What does the word repent mean? Repent means to change your direction. When I was in the airport, I repented many times. I was going this way, and then I repented and changed my mind and when another way. Based on what another person said, I repented and went another way. Thats repentance. You change your mind; you change and you walk in a different direction. Does God suggest repentance? Does God say repentance, I think, is a good idea? If you ever get around to it, itd be nice if youd repent. What does God say of repentance? He commands it. Who does He command it of? All people. How many of you are in all people? Saturday night, like two people raised their hands. Weve got problems, right? All people, everywhere. I think that means you, guys, because he has been talking about how all people came from One, and God determined what lands and times and boundaries where they lived. …For He has set a day when He will judge the world… Uh-oh. What happens in Vegas…stays in Vegas. What happens on earth stays on earth, not true. It transfers to Heaven it says. …For He will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. Who has He appointed to judge the world? Just a nice moral teacher? A nice philosopher? No. God, the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He has given what? Proof of this to all men by raising Him from the dead. What the resurrection is, is proof. Our faith is not a blind faith. Our faith is not that we cross our fingers and hope we got the right choice. Your faith is only as valid as the person or thing youve placed it in. And when you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have put your faith in the most reliable person in the universe. Youve put your faith in a person who cannot lie, a person who has perfect character. Jesus fulfilled His promise in John 10 (pg 1062), and He did rise from the dead, just as He said. You know, Ive gathered my evidence. Ive made my decision, but the fourth point I want to make about that gate is that I could intellectually believe that that tram takes me to Gate C, and Gate C is the gate thats going to take me home. But it does me of no good until I do what? I board the tram, right? You have to board the tram. I could sit there in the airport, You know, hey, you looking for Northwest? Yeah. Right there, that tram to Gate C. I believe thats the gate. Guys come up to me and say, Hey, you still waiting for your flight? Well, yeah, but you know I believe youre right. Thats the gate right there, Gate C. That tram right there is going to take me there. And he might say, Well, you know if you want to catch the flight, you still have to get on it. Its not enough to simply say I believe something. The same thing is true in the realm of the spirit. Its not enough to say, I believe Jesus is the Son of God. I believe He died on the cross. I believe He rose again. I believe Hes Lord. You have to get on the tram. You have to make a commitment to Him. Verbally confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, receive Him into your life, repent-turn, change directions-and follow His way and His will. Its a full commitment of your life. Because Jesus didnt give you another option. He didnt say, Im a gate. Im a way. Im a truth. Im one of your choices. He said, Im the way, the truth and the life. You say, Well, thats pretty narrow! The truth is narrow! Who decides who accesses you? You do. Who decides when youre accessed? You do. Who decides how youre accessed? You do. Does God have fewer rights than you? Everybody is going around trying to determine how they access God and when and who? Thats His decision to make, and He took on flesh and came to this planet to communicate to us through Jesus. How do you come to Him? You must come in faith. That Hes paid a provision for your sins to be forgiven so you can be put back in right standing with God, and one day when you die, you will pass from death to life, but you have to make that decision. Youve got to board. Its not enough to hang around the airport. You know, some of us, were a seeker-friendly church; we love seekers. We invite seekers to our doors. We say, We dont care. You can be agnostic or an atheist. If youre serious about investigating the faith, we welcome you here. Some of you have been coming for a while- youve been hanging around the airport-and you even say, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe the Bible. But youve never made a commitment of faith. You need to. Youre thinking too hard. Youre thinking too long. Eventually youve got to make a decision. Theres this writer for Sports Illustrated who shared a story I read of how his dad was in UCLA taking a test. It was his last test. It was the final exam-worth a lot of points. The teacher asked a hypothetical question. So he gets to the final exam, and its one question. One question! This is it. You get this question right-you pass the test; you get this question wrong-you flunk the test. Theres only A or E; theres no C or B or D. Its pass or fail, and it all comes down to one question. The teacher wrote out the hypothetical question that said, Yes or no: if yes, please explain. So everybody is writing his or her answers. Everybody is scribbling these long page after page essays of why thats true. Well, this guys dad, he studied, hed looked at the test question. Yes or No. If yes, please explain. If you think no, it didnt say explain, so he just went with no, and he got up and left. The other people there, the whole class, were writing, and all he did was come down look at it, read about it, thought about what he knew and went, No. He got up and left; that was it. Everybody was looking at him like how can you be done so fast? He said, By the way, only one person got an A on that paper. That was his dad. His dad knew what he knew, and he made his choice. This morning, Im talking specifically right now to those of you, good people, moral people, religious people and maybe even church people or maybe worldly people. I dont know who all of you are, but I do know this: Earth is not your home. I do know this: You have to make a choice. I know this: Only one choice is correct. And I also know Acts 17:31 (pg 1098), theres going to be a final exam. Theres going to be a day when well stand to give account of our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. Thats the only answer that really matters. If you have not made a commitment of your life to Him, I invite you to pray, and I want to lead you in a prayer. Some of you say, Well, I dont know how. Some of you have been hanging around church, good folks, but never made that commitment. This is your opportunity. Would everybody please bow your heads, close your eyes, and pray this prayer. If youve never committed your life to Christ, Im going to give you an opportunity to do that right now. Pray this prayer with me: Heavenly Father, I come to you in Jesus name. I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He was crucified for my sins, that He rose again from the grave, that death could not hold Him. I ask you to forgive my sins, forgive my rebellion, my defiance-when Ive chosen my own way, my own gate. I want to choose Your way. I want You to be my gate, my passage. I receive You into my life. I ask Your Holy Spirit to come and reside within me, to make me a new person, to forgive my sins. I want to live my life for You from this day forward, so one day I can go and be with You in Heaven forever. I ask this in Jesus name, Amen. If you prayed that prayer this morning, then the Bible says that you are a Christian, in the Biblical sense of the word. Youve made a choice to be a God-follower. You say, Well, what do I have to do now? Well, now you live the life but not to earn salvation because salvation is a free gift. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that who so ever believith in Him shall not parish but have everlasting life (John 3:16, pg 1052). You cannot earn it. It has to be given to you as a gift. But a gift is only yours when you receive it. This morning, if you prayed that prayer in sincerity and authenticity, you have received the Lords gift, and we rejoice with you today. I hope youll tell somebody about the decision that youve made. Wed love to know and share and rejoice in what God is doing. People come to Christ in this church all the time in different ways. Surprisingly enough, its not usually in the service. Its usually someplace else, but it happens here too. So if it happened here for you today, let us know about that decision. Lets all stand together. Im excited about the series on Living Free that were starting next week. Be praying for that, letting folks know thats coming. We continue to be in prayer for the Titanic. Remember to grab tickets on your way out and sign up for faith news. I wish you a blessed Easter, and remember to celebrate the resurrection every day. Thats where our faith is. The faith we have is precious. The faith we have, people have given their lives for. It would have been so easy for Paul and Peter and the others if they knew what they were proclaiming was a lie. Before they were killed, they could have said, Oh, I have to tell you something. Its not true. We didnt really rise from the dead. But something happened that transformed those men from cowards who coward in hiding, shaking and trembling behind a locked door for fear of the Jews, into men who said, Imprison me, beat me, kill me, do whatever you have to do. I wont stop preaching about what I have seen and heard. The Lord Jesus Christ whom you crucified is alive, and Hes Lord of all! That is our hope. Thats what we celebrate. Its not a cross your fingers kind of hope. Its a hope that says we struck oil, weve capped the well, and more is coming. Thats the promise. He is the firstfruits.

04-16-06
Speaker: Pastor Jeff Williams
Series: From the Heart