<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Amazing Facts

Joe Crews

If Jesus Were Pastor

Strange as it may seem, history records that evil has been more popular than good.

I'll be back in a moment with the amazing facts about majority opinion.

Hello, this is Joe Cruz in the Amazing Facts Broadcast, Facts which affect you.

Very early in the ministry of Jesus, a scribe came to him and said, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

Now Jesus could see right through the heart of this man, and perhaps he perceived that the man was looking only for temporal blessing and advantages.

For Jesus said this to him, The foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

In other words, the kingdom of God is not merely worldly gain.

There must be sacrifice and concerted effort on the part of the follower of Christ.

I suppose most of us have said to ourselves at some time, I certainly would have loved to have been living in the days when Jesus was here on this earth.

If I could have been here then, I would have done everything He asked me to do.

I would have gone any place and done anything.

Well, today I wonder just how it would have been with us, friends, if Jesus were actually our own pastor today in our own church.

What if He were right here on the earth now and He could stand up in a pulpit and preach?

Would we gladly and freely follow his advice and teachings?

Now Jesus' comment on the religious conditions of the church and the people in His day may reveal something to us about our own times.

In Matthew 15, 8 and 9 we read, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines and commandments of men.

Now friends, those are the words of Christ Himself.

Now we know that during the Dark Ages, tradition and pagan practice became the rule of the Church.

As the Reformers brought out certain truths that had been hidden from the knowledge of the people, Multitudes followed that truth.

However, many denominations still are holding on to doctrines and practices that have been handed through tradition and are not fully in accord with the Bible teaching at all.

Now, friends, how much we need to examine our own hearts, our own practices of life, and our own doctrines?

Does every doctrine of our church and life measure up fully with the plain, Thus saith the Lord?

If Jesus were to stand in your church today, could He proclaim His full gospel, His full truth, just as He did when He was here in person?

If the answer is no, then we need to examine ourselves on the truth of God's Word and determine that we are going to attend only on the Bible and the Bible only as the great foundation of our positions.

Jesus pointed out that traditions had taken over as truth in His day, and He could do no other than to point out the same spiritual condition today.

Far too often the truth of God is laid aside for some more popular doctrine, 1 that has been handed down all the way from Roman paganism.

And these traditions have been accepted in Protestant churches today who profess to believe in and teach the Bible and the Bible only.

You know, friends, this principle of the Bible only is a pure Protestant principle, but unfortunately it is being neglected today, and traditions have actually come in to take root in some of the great Protestant organizations.

In fact, no church in Jesus' day would have Him for their pastor.

Let me call your attention to the story found in Luke 4.

You can read the whole thing in your own Bible, but this tells how Jesus had come home to His own hometown church, and on the Sabbath, in accordance with His weekly habit, He went to church, and He was asked to preach to the people that day.

Now his fame was already spreading into the region and here was an opportunity for this popular young preacher to preach at home.

And how glad the people should have been to hear his words, friends.

Luke 4, 18 and 19 gives us a text that Jesus used as a basis for His sermon that day in the church at Nazareth, His hometown church.

After reading the verses taken from Isaiah 61, Jesus began His sermon by explaining that He was the exact fulfillment of the prophecy made by Isaiah.

But when the people heard that claim of Christ to be the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, they were filled with anger and were about to throw Him off the hill on which Nazareth was built.

Jewish law permitted, actually, the slaying of anybody who was caught in blasphemy, and the people accused Jesus of teaching error and blasphemy.

Even His own hometown church would have nothing to do with Him as a leader in His day.

I wonder if Jesus were a pastor today, friends, would people's hearts be any different than they were in that time?

When Jesus stood up there and told the people the truth in His day, they were not willing to accept it.

Yet today we find the majority of churches who profess the name of Jesus teaching doctrines and practices that are not from the Bible at all, and they are ignoring the words that Jesus spoke while He was here.

Friends, here is a very serious thought for all of us who profess the name of Christ.

Jesus said, Why call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Can we be true Christians while we do not follow his teachings fully?

Reason and logic alike testify to the fact that we cannot be true Christians without following Christ.

Now there were probably several reasons why Jesus was not accepted in His day.

First of all, Jesus' teachings were not popular.

He said in Matthew 7, 13, Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction.

And many there be which go in thereat, because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

So the teachings of God and truth have never been popular.

In the days of Noah, when God sent a special message through Noah to the world, he was not accepted, and his message that he proclaimed was also rejected.

Now Noah had the true message, and the world listened, but it would not accept it, and therefore they were lost.

The cause of Christ is no more popular today either.

Right now only 30% of the world's population accept the name of Christ and profess to be Christians at all.

7 out of every 10 individuals living on this earth do not accept or profess to believe in Jesus?

Surely the cause of Christ is not popular today, but I speak even more frankly than that with you, friends.

Take all who do profess the name of Christ.

How many churches and denominations are there who are following the teachings of Jesus without adding tradition or without leaving out some of the things that He said?

I'm afraid you could almost count them up on your hands if you think of that kind of church.

Now, why are not Christ's full teachings accepted today?

Many feel that some of His teachings are inconvenient, and others feel that they are not important or necessary.

Yet, since the Bible makes it clear that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, we must surely all know and admit that Jesus would not have any different doctrine or teaching for His followers today than He did when He walked here on this earth and spoke personally to people.

We can never measure truth by popularity or by who may or may not be following it.

Truth must be accepted and followed because it is the truth, and anything that is not in the full truth and in full harmony with Christ and His Holy Word cannot be the truth at all.

Now we find another reason why Jesus was not accepted in His day.

A reason, by the way, why His teachings are not generally accepted today either.

I read from Matthew 10, 34-38, Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth.

For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, and he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me, and he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me." And these verses, now, Jesus outlines the reality of service to Christ.

He points out that if we follow tradition merely because our families have done it, and now we do it also, we can't be called the children of God for we're not even worthy of His name.

We are following our own family, father, mother, or so forth, instead of Him.

Christ wants us to be saved as unbroken families, however, and this matter of Salvation is an individual matter.

It cannot be made on the basis of a family.

Just because a husband or wife or son or daughter or father or mother or anyone for that matter does not agree with the Bible and is not willing to follow Christ all the way does not excuse us from making the important step of serving Him fully.

Many people will be on the outside of the kingdom of heaven who profess the name of Jesus, but who didn't do what He taught in its entirety.

Now you can read that in Matthew 7, 21 to 23, when Jesus said, in part, not every 1 that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Long ago, when I reached the age of manhood, I came to realize that I must decide once and for all whom I would serve.

I wanted to be a Christian, but how could I do it?

I began to study the doctrines and teachings of various denominations and churches, wanting to find what I should do in order to be saved.

And, friends, God led me by the study of the Bible to take that Bible as the great basis of all truth.

And with this in mind, there comes the question, how can we have so many denominations in the world today?

It is evident that most of them, most of those denominations, profess to teach the truth.

And most profess to believe that the Bible is divine authority for truth.

Back to Menu

If Jesus Were Pastor

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Sound Doctrine