Magnitude — The Message of Christ | Sermon Audio

0:00Welcome to the Peace Church sermon podcast where we journey together through God's Word. I'm Ryan Kimmel the lead pastor here at Peace Church and it makes us so happy to have you join us. Each week here at Peace Church we open up the inspired Word of God to let it encourage us and challenge us in our life and faith. Hey before we begin I just want to remind you of the importance of fellowship and connection with the real group of people. We invite you to join us in person at Peace Church or at a gospel preaching church near where you live. You can visit our website at peacechurch.cc to find out more about who we are, our services and events. Now with that I hope your heart and mind are ready to receive God's Word. Today is the day that the Lord has made so let us rejoice and be glad in it and never once said and everyone said amen and amen so there is not a person alive who can deny the fact that Jesus Christ changed the course of human history. We can do what we can to diminish that or downplay that you know that we're no longer supposed to say BC and AD when we talk about

1:05history the now we're supposed to say BCE and CE the common era and before common era. However you want to divide human history we cannot deny that Jesus is the one who actually divided human history. Everyone who lived lived in relation to when this man did so here's the question what would you have to say or do to become the single hinge of history? I will tell you you have to do more than what we want to boil Jesus down to. So I think we've tried to boil Jesus down beyond his essence. If you ask modern-day Americans they would basically tell you that the single and only thing that Jesus came to do was to tell us to love our neighbor.

2:06He did tell us to do that but to say that is the single thing he did just completely misses the mark on all that Jesus brought, all that Jesus did. Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ brought us the great purpose of our lives as he came to save our lives. The great message of Jesus Christ is not simply that we should all just get along. Jesus Christ is not the great hall monitor of humanity. Nor is he the great DEI officer of society. Jesus is the Lord of Lord and the King of Kings. See what happens is that we want to just cherry pick out things that Jesus said to further our own agendas of how we want society to be built but you need to understand Jesus came in not to

3:09rebuild society. Jesus came to usher in a new kingdom. This is who we follow. This is who we believe. This is who we give our lives to. You must understand Jesus gives us both the rules and the objective of life. The great commandment is our rule and the great commission is our objective. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God and to love others so loving our neighbor is absolutely foundational to what it means to be a Christian. Jesus said the rule of our life is to love God and love others and our love of others therefore is informed by our love of God. So we are to love God and love our neighbors. That's the great commandment but Jesus also gave us the great commission. See after Jesus Christ died and rose again he gave his disciples the mission of our mission of their lives which when we become Christians becomes the mission of our lives.

4:14If you grew up going to Sunday school maybe you know this it is to go and make disciples. This is the great commission and it's found at the end of every gospel. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all end with Jesus essentially saying okay now that I've done this now that you believe in me go and share this message with the rest of the world that's the great commission but you need to understand it's not just what we find at the end of Jesus' life it is how he starts his ministry and that's what we're going to look at today and that's what we're going to use to usher in our series as we approach Easter which by the way is in two weeks. That means you got two weeks to invite someone. To bring them to church we're adding a service on that morning to make space so that you can invite someone who needs to hear the gospel message and experience the love of the Lord. So as we mark our way as we start marking our way to Easter we're going to use the gospel of Mark in our journey so please turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter one. If you don't have

5:20your Bible that's okay just bring it next week we got something you can borrow today. Mark chapter one we're looking at two verses today it's two verses that we see Jesus start his ministry career with as we look at the message of Christ the message of Christ. Now you need to understand that what we're going to look at today isn't something that Jesus just said in past passing it's not something he said because someone provoked him to say it Jesus openly chose intentionally crafted this statement to be the words that he would use to start his ministry. So a little context what we see going on is John the Baptist is out baptizing people. Jesus comes and gets baptized by John and then immediately Jesus sort of starts his ministry but he starts his ministry by going into the wilderness 40 days alone where he's fasting and being tempted by the devil. Now Christ overcomes the temptations of the devil he returns to town and he starts his

6:23ministry and he starts with a very specific announcement to verses these two verses lay the foundation framework and the fulfillment of Jesus ministry. It's the message he announced at the beginning throughout and at the very end the message we are to carry. Let's look at it so I'd ask if you are willing and able would you please stand or stand in spirit for the reading of God's Word the gospel according to Mark chapter 1 verses 14 to 15 would you hear God's word? Now after John was arrested Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying the time is fulfilled the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel. Amen this is God's word let's pray before you take a seat let's pray father and heaven above God you are good and you are good to us you have given us your gospel and so by the power and

7:25presence of the Holy Spirit Lord would you help us here and now to know and to respond rightly to the message of Christ our Savior here today and all God's people said amen and amen please have a seat so in our day and age with everything happening all over the world that we watch unfold as is happening it's easy to get so overwhelmed it's easy to get bogged down chasing headlines here's what we so often do we live we live responding to the weight and the moment of the world when Christians are meant to live responding to the words and the message of Christ we need to speak into what's happening definitely but our primary message Christians our primary message should be Christ's primary message and it's a message of immense magnitude it's a message that changed the course of human history it's a message he gave his life for it's a message that saves our lives

8:30so our main idea here this morning is simply this the magnitude of Christ's message is that it's timely and timeless as well as specific and thematic meaning there are particulars in Christ's message that we cannot move past but there's also things that we must look to there's an overarching idea that we must understand but there's also a message that you individually need to hear and this opening statement of Jesus where he announces his message here's what I want to share with you today here's our outline Christ message is timely and timeless it's also specific and thematic all right so so after Jesus has his physical baptism by John Jesus goes into the wilderness and sort of has a spiritual baptism by fire when he's in the wilderness he's fasting for 40 days he's being tempted by the devil but Christ overcomes Christ overcomes the adversity and he goes back into

9:35town he goes back into town rip roaring and ready to go and he starts his ministry and he starts his ministry the opening statements of his ministry career is this the time is fulfilled the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel there's so much packed into this one verse so let's take a step back let's look at the verse prior and let's understand this Christ's message is timely and timeless verse 14 now verse 14 what Mark does here is he starts by giving us a time stamp he starts by giving us a date stamp he says this now now after John was arrested so Mark is letting us know when this happens all of the gospels talk about how John the Baptist was out preaching before Jesus did that John the Baptist is sort of fulfilling a prophet Elijah type

10:36ministry he was sent ahead to prepare the way for the Lord for the man in the ministry of Jesus Christ but we see now that John the Baptist has been arrested so Mark is telling us an interesting fact he's letting us know that the year is 30 AD or CE if you're secularist meaning it's a timely message it happened at a moment in time a certain moment in time it says now after John was arrested Jesus came in to Galilee and so was quickly retraced the steps of Jesus he was born in Bethlehem Jesus was raised in Nazareth he was currently living in cappernum now after he defeats the devil in the wilderness he begins his ministry career by going out into the wider region of Galilee so here we are Galilee Judea 30 AD we know when and where this is happening so we're talking about history here my friends now after John was arrested Jesus came into Galilee and look what it says

11:42proclaiming the gospel of God because this was Jesus focus proclamation now we're reading from Mark and that's what we're going to be for this sermon series but in in Luke Luke talks about when Jesus started his ministry career Luke highlights another fact that when Jesus begins his ministry career he goes into a synagogue and preaches his first sermon and for the text that Jesus chooses he chooses Isaiah chapter 61 verse 1 which says this the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news then Luke says that Jesus after reading that sits down and then says today this scripture is fulfilled and everyone in the synagogue is like wait you've got to be kidding right you you think you're the fulfillment of this prophecy that's almost 800 years old and Jesus is like yes I came to proclaim the good news because proclamation

12:49is the heart of Jesus ministry even before he was a miracle worker Jesus was a gospel preacher and look at this important phrase it says Jesus came proclaiming the gospel of God so it's not the gospel of some Galilean sage it's not the gospel of some great moral teacher Jesus comes with a message that is the gospel of God so to clarify if it's not clear enough what we are saying here is that Jesus message trumps all others this is God's gospel and so for those of you who grew up going to Sunday school you know what gospel means it means two words say with me the gospel means good news for whatever the gospel is we say this all the time for whatever the gospel is and forever truth it brings or power has the gospel edits core is good news meaning Christians as we are out

13:53they're sharing the gospel if people don't understand at the end of our conversation that what we are sharing with them is ultimately good edits core then we haven't shared the gospel with them because the gospel is good news doesn't mean there's not hard things that come with it but the gospel is good and so great it's good news so hear me what this means is that it's timely and that it's good news for you today but it's also timeless and that it's good news for your entire life it's good news for you today it's good news for you for your entire life and so pop quiz class you're on an elevator and someone asks you what is the gospel you have two minutes to answer what do you say now before you answer i want you to think about what came what's on the tip of your tongue right now think about what came to mind and let's compare it with what mark records

14:59Jesus says as a follow-up statement because Christ message is timely and timeless but it's also specific and thematic so Jesus comes into Galilee verse 15 and saying the time is fulfilled the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel this is specific and it's thematic here's another way you can think about it it's not just spoken to the populous it's spoken to you to you as an individual made in the image of God Christ message is spoken to you with your name on it it's also spoken to the entire world it's specific and it's thematic so let's look at the specifics here there's four phrases in this one statement which composed Jesus gospel proclamation i would probably say there's actually two things and each of those things have two different sides you

15:59could say Jesus says a the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand and then second repent and believe the gospel so let's start with the first one Jesus comes on the scene and says the time is fulfilled i'm here to tell you there is no more epic way to start your ministry Jesus says the time is fulfilled what's he getting at so the time that Jesus is speaking of and the fulfillment those go hand in hand because Jesus is talking about all of what the old testament pointed towards the coming of the Messiah that is the king and the kingdom of God and so for you Bible nerds out there i'd like to take notes like me i'll just give you a real small selection of some of the verses that we're talking about from the Old Testament even though we could go on and on for the rest of the day Daniel chapter 2 verse 44 and in those days the king and in those days of the kings the god of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed

17:05nor shall the kingdom be left to another people it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end it shall stand forever a backup chapter 2 verse 3 we're still the vision awaits at a pointed time it hastens to the end it will not lie if it seems to slow wait for it it will surely come it will not delay Hosea chapter 3 verse 5 the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their god and David their king and they shall come in the fear to the Lord and in his goodness in the latter days i could go on and on and on but you get the idea here the Old Testament repeatedly pointed to a future time where God's promises would come to pass and his kingdom would begin to unfold and so Jesus comes on the scene thousands of years in the making and he says all this time we've been waiting for for generations and for millennia it's happening now what Israel had waited for was unfolding before their very eyes and what's so sad

18:10that there are millions of Jews today who are still waiting for those promises to be filled not knowing that Jesus has done it 2000 years ago even two days ago did you did you hear what Benjamin Netanyahu said about Jesus did you see this he said that Jesus Christ has no advantage to Genghis Khan he was talking about how aggression overcomes good and I want to say brother the reason that billions of people still follow Jesus and the reason that you yourself are talking about him 2000 years later is because he won his victory is still being accomplished it's still here he has done it all everything he's set out to do he's done it Genghis Khan is a footnote in history books Jesus Christ is the ruling and reigning king who accomplished salvation for the world

19:19and so it was just a stark reminder to me that the nation of Israel and the Jewish community need the gospel as much as anyone else they need the good news as much as we do and the good news is this the kingdom of God the hope that they long for it's been established it's here it's now and we are invited in Jesus says here look at the phrase in the ESB it says that the kingdom of God Jesus says is at hand now let's make something clear when Jesus says the time is fulfilled the kingdom of God is at hand it'd be very easy for us to read that and think that both of those statements are in reference to time that the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand is just another way to say it's all happening now but please hear me when Jesus says at hand he's not making a chronological statement he's making a physical one see we translate this into English as Jesus

20:19saying the kingdom of God is at hand but in Greek a more direct translation would have would be to say that Jesus said the kingdom of God has come near meaning in spatial proximity he's saying the kingdom of God is here it's arriving now it's established all around this the kingdom is here now listen this doesn't mean we're going to build castles and put a princess fair up in the high tower not the kingdom we're talking about but the kingdom is a spiritual kingdom that's meant to be manifested in physical ways as we follow Christ as we seek to bring kingdom God's kingdom plan in purposes into the world how do we do that here's how we spread truth mercy justice love of God and love for our fellow man that we are being part of the kingdom is to be part of the kingdom work here and now as we make the spiritual visible and this is why Jesus the greatest teacher of all time

21:25this is why Jesus also gives us an action item he doesn't just announce that the kingdom is here and says take a look he says the kingdom is here so repent and believe he tells us the time is fulfilled the kingdom of God is at hand and then he says repent and believe in the gospel now in a sense you could say that repentance and believing are the two legs that we use to walk across the bridge that brings us from the kingdom of this world to the kingdom of God specifically speaking you you are called to repent and believe thematically speaking all of those who have repented and believe are part of the kingdom of God so I want to share my heart with you for a moment this fall I will mark 20 years preaching and teaching the Bible and I will tell you as I look back on my 20 years preaching and teaching that there are a number of things

22:30that I wish I would have spent more time communicating and there's a number of things that I wish I would have spent less time now I can't change the past but I can be a part of inventing the future so I'm going to try and course correct from here on out but I'll tell you of all the things that I wish I would have spent more time communicating at the top of the list it's this repentance I see it as a great failure of my ministry time that I haven't focused on this enough now listen if you're like me when you hear repentance your heart response is to think it's something negative when you hear repentance we don't like the sound of that we think judgmental things that that repentance means telling people that they're filthy sinners who need to feel like dirty wretches and we think this because we haven't done a good job and I say we as in the American church haven't done a great job on preaching repentance rather what we've done is we've let the fire and brimstone street preachers own that word for themselves who preach repentance in a

23:34violent abrasive in a judgmental way listen to me repentance is not an evangelical word repentance is not a fire and brimstone word repentance is a Jesus word it's his word listen we're reading from from Mark but Matthew Matthew records that that the word repent is the literal first word that Jesus says to begin his preaching career he starts his career not with love your neighbor he starts his career by saying repent imagine if I started every sermon by saying repent then I might be a little bit more like Jesus JC Ryle great preacher from the late 1800s said repentance and faith must always be the main subject of every faithful minister's instruction why because repentance is not just important it's central to Jesus calling regarding the kingdom

24:37of God so let's talk about repentance in Greek it's the word metanoia this word in a very literal face value way just simply means to change your mind which is why it's often paired with the idea of turning from our sin now this word is the combination of the word for after and the word for to think meaning after you repent you think about things differently this is how you know you've repented you don't just turn from your sin but you think about sin differently and so here's where I'm going to cause a stir I'm going to give you another way to think about repentance it's another word I'm going to use this word it's it's it's a word that's at the forefront of many cultural conversations happening right now and I just want you to know the word I'm going to use I'm not using it to be controversial or because it is controversial but because I think it's actually very helpful and accurate helps us to understand what Jesus is calling us to

25:39calling us to when he calls us to repentance it's a polarizing word but I think it's helpful it's helpful to make us aware if we have truly repented or not if we're truly part of the kingdom of God or if we're still part of the kingdom of this world but we just show off the church on Sundays when Jesus calls us to repent here's what I think he's calling us to a simulation now assimilate does not mean you lose your individuality it does not mean that you're just a drone in the hive when I say repentance means assimilation this is what I'm getting at we've already said that repentance means to think differently to change your mind that we turn from sin but I will tell you right now one one thing I've come to find is especially for us Western Americans that's far too open-ended change your mind from what to what turn from sin but turn to what because here's what you do here's what Western Americans do if we have an open-ended question we like to

26:43invent our own answers and so we'll we'll parry check out cherry pick out verses that Jesus says to help fit the answers that we want to impose upon this when we talk about turning from our sin turning from sin turning to what changing our mind from what to what I think the simulation helps us to understand what we are turning from and turning towards what we're changing our mind from and changing to to repent I think what Jesus is saying is that we need to assimilate to the beliefs and the behavior of the culture of the kingdom of God I think that is what Jesus is calling us to that we go off the broken path of this world and on to his better one doesn't mean it's easy but it does mean it's better I think the reason that so many Christians don't act like Christians is because they have not assimilated to the kingdom culture they haven't repented and truly

27:47changed the way they think which is why they still behave like the world so here's how to know if you've truly repented and if you're and if you're part of the kingdom of God does the pattern of your life how you spend your time what you think about what you value how you treat strangers how you use your money do those things look more like the ways of the world or do they look more like the ways of the kingdom of God again I want to go back and stress a simulation to the kingdom culture it does not mean you lose your individuality rather listen to me I would say that in the kingdom of God this is where you become who you are meant to be it's the ways of the world that want to keep you in a lesser version of yourself finding value and identity with the things that the world values but in the kingdom of God you are called to God's original design for you which is beautiful and better and who you are truly meant to be the ways this world will not lead you to your true

28:52self the ways that the kingdom will this is why Jesus equates coming into the kingdom like being born again like you get you get to start over that when we turn from the world we turn towards the kingdom listen to me the path to the kingdom is not just like a bridge it's also like a birth canal where you're born again through repenting and believing but I know my church and I know my culture and I know my community and I know there are many people here who grew up being a Christian and I thank God for that I know there are many people in here who grew up being a Christian and so it's hard for you to really think about a time before Christ because in a sense you've always believed and this is where we must stress the other important thing about repentance repentance is not a one and done thing repentance is a lifelong journey of turning from this world and turning

29:57towards God the world will always want to pull you back in which is why we must always be repenting towards the kingdom so if you grew up being a Christian if you grew up being a Christian listen to me maybe the question for you isn't what was your life maybe the question for you isn't what was your life like before Christ but for you the question would be how would your life be any different without Jesus if you grew up being a Christian you can't remember a time without him then let me ask you what would your life be like without him right now with the only thing that changes you don't go to church on Sunday how would your life be any different without him does his message have any impact not just on your life but on your every single day because the magnitude of Christ's message is that it's timely and timeless it's specific and thematic he is the king

31:03of the kingdom history all of human history is divided into when he lived before he lived and after Jesus is the dividing marker of history he should be the dividing marker of our lives and so what do we do we do what Jesus calls us to do repent and believe the gospel that Jesus announced is the gospel that Jesus came to complete he is ushered in the kingdom he is sealed it with his blood by dying on the cross and he stamped it with his resurrection securing our place in our salvation in our seat in the kingdom of heaven and it comes with a purpose and a mission my friends so many of us have heard the gospel you have heard it enough it's time to repent and believe is that you how many more times do you have to hear it I think you've heard it enough it's time to

32:11repent and to believe and to be welcomed into the kingdom to walk through the door that the king is calling you through you need only to come the path has been paved the ways been set all you do is walk through it and we walk through it by repenting and believing changing the path Iran and entering the kingdom that's waiting for you the king is calling you by name so answer so here's what I want to do in just a moment I want to offer up a time for you to accept the gospel to repent and believe and if you've already accept the gospel then let this be a prayer where you just reaffirm what you already believe or I think for maybe many of us you look at your life now and let's just be honest your way off path this is the time to course correct the king is calling you back so I'm going to invite you to bow your heads and I'm going to say a prayer line by line

33:13and I want you to pray this with me whether you're praying it for the first time or the thousands time would you pray this with me Jesus you are king you are the savior of the world you are the savior of my soul I believe that you died on the cross and that you rose again victoriously I repent of my sin and I turn and believe in you and your gospel save me be the Lord of my life grant me eternal life in your name as you welcome me into your kingdom and everyone said amen amen thank you for listening if this was a blessing to you then let it be a blessing to others we encourage you to like follow and share this podcast with your friends and family by doing so you help us to spread the gospel

34:17message to the nations to learn more about peace church and our ministries visit peacechurch.cc