What Are You Going to Do with Jesus Christ 1982

From the Gospel of John, the first chapter, starting at verse 9. The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him. Yet the world knew him not.

He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. For the moment, let's just forget all the doctrines, and all the things that people have told us about who Jesus is, and all the creeds which people have written about Jesus, which are as important as those things are, and deal with one issue.

Jesus' personal impact upon our own lives. This may not be true for every single person here, but for most people in this gathering today, there was a point in our lives when Jesus began to make himself known to us. For some of us, it took place during the crisis, when all our illusions were shattered.

And for others, it happened quite by surprise, maybe in the middle of an ordinary day. Suddenly, we're aware of Jesus as being alive. We're in his presence.

We just know in some clear way that he knows us by name, he sees us. And now he begins to speak to us in some unmistakable way. We begin to understand clearly that he's calling us personally to leave our old life and follow him into the purpose of God.

We're also aware at that point that the only reason he has come to us is to bring us from death to life, to lift us out of the rut we've been in and make us one with the people of his kingdom across the earth. For most of us, when this occurred, it was attended by some taste of this life, some healing, the breaking of a chain that held us bound, perhaps a flash of vision that caused us to begin to see with new eyes. But this taste we received was only a taste.

To actually get that new life and hold it and live in it, to come up out of that rut and stay up out of that rut, we have to respond. We have to do something with Jesus now that he's come to us. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.

But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And to believe on his name, to receive him, really involves a radical response. Jesus never lets us get by with a kind of casual friendship.

It's either receive him or reject him. It's either open our heart or shut the heart. It's either really bow down and worship him or spit in his face.

And we just don't like to make any kind of radical response to him, positive or negative. I mean, we don't want to upset anything. We don't want to be nasty.

But we also don't want to become deeply involved with him in a radical commitment. And so we aim for the middle of the road. We all do this.

Lord, let me be your friend. You know, if you need me anytime, let me know. If I can do something for the church, I'd be glad to, anytime.

Let me know. But in this, there is absolutely no middle of the road. He that is not with me is against me.

He that gathereth not with me scattereth. Once Jesus begins to break in upon our lives in this fashion, we find that he keeps happening. He keeps breaking in, haunting us, hounding us, annoying us, troubling us often, in order to help us decide and make clear to ourselves and to him what we're going to do with him.

Sometimes we get a month off or a year off or five years off and then it seems like he hits us again. And he breaks through and he begins to press in and all our protesting and all our attempts to escape fail. We ultimately have to decide whether we're going to forsake everything and follow him in the purpose of God, which always will in some way involve a cross, or whether we're going to send him away forever.

When they brought Jesus to the Roman governor's headquarters early Good Friday morning, the last thing Pontius Pilate wanted to do was deal with this Jesus. Pilate went out and said to them, What accusation do you bring against this man? They answered him, If he were not an evildoer, we would not have brought him to you. Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and judge him by your law.

The Jews said to him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death. You Romans won't let us put any man to death. Now, Pilate's trying to push the issue of Jesus aside in exactly the same way we do all the time.

So what are you going to do with Jesus, Pilate? Well, I'm going to give him a break. I'm going to set him free. Pilate entered the praetorium again and called Jesus and said to him, Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, Do you say this of your own accord or did others say it to you about me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me.

What have you done? Jesus answered, My kingship is not of this world. If my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight that I might not be handed over to the Jews. But my kingship is not from the world.

Pilate said to him, So you are a king. Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. For this I was born and for this I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth.

Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Pilate said to him, What is truth? After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, I find no crime in him, but you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover.

Will you have me release for you the king of the Jews? They cried out again, Not this man, but Barabbas. Barabbas was a robber. Pilate had the best of intentions.

He could see that Jesus was a good man, a holy man. So, I'm going to rough him up a little bit, let the people see a little blood, they'll be satisfied, and then I'm going to release him. Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him, had him whipped until the blood was running.

Then the soldiers plated a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him saying, Hail, king of the Jews! and struck him on the face. Pilate went out again and said to them, Behold, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no crime in him.

So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. His face by this time is all, his eyes are all puffed up, you can't even see on him. You know, he looks like he's been in a fight.

Pilate said to them, Here's the man. When the chief priests and officers saw him, they cried out, Crucify him! Crucify him! Pilate said to them, Take in yourselves and crucify him. I find no crime in him.

The Jews answered, We have a law. By that law he ought to die, because he has made himself the son of God. When Pilate heard these words, he was the more afraid.

He entered the praetorium again and said to Jesus, Where are you from? Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate therefore said to him, You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you and power to crucify you? Jesus answered him, You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above. Pilate still has the idea that it's within his power to release Jesus or have him crucified.

He truly still thinks that he can help him and he has the best of intentions of helping him. But those are not his options. He only has two choices.

It's either, in fact, bow down and worship him, because he knows already that if he releases him, he's making a commitment to him. If he releases him, that means he goes to the cross too. It's either yield to him, commit yourself to him and go on to a cross and die with him or send him to that cross to die by himself.

Upon this, Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king sets himself against Caesar. When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, sat down on the pavement at a place called Gabbatha in Hebrew.

It was the preparation of the Passover, about the sixth hour, nine o'clock in the morning. He said to the Jews, Here is your king. They cried out, Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him! Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.

Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. Of all the decisions Pilate ever made, this was the most crucial. And he came at the issue of what he was going to do with Jesus with the very best of intentions.

He truly wanted to help. But as he worked on this, it became clear that if he helped, if he was going to say yes to Jesus, if he was going to in any way yield and do this and set him free, this meant the end of his own life, as he had always lived it. And he was not ready to do that.

The issue, what are you going to do with Jesus Christ, is not something we just face at the beginning, at the moment of our conversion. But we face it every moment, every hour of every day, the rest of our lives. And we very soon begin to see with Pilate, that you just can't get rid of the issue by doing something nice.

You know, by throwing him a bone. It's either forsake everything and follow him all the way, even if it means his life, or send him away. We have to face this issue every time Jesus calls us to repentance.

Something wrong in our life. There's an attitude in our heart which we are now beginning to see is displeasing to the spirit of the Lord. Perhaps we're pursuing a goal which can have no other name but vanity.

The Lord calls us to repent. And once we hear that call to repentance, it's not just a matter of dealing with that sin. We're dealing with Jesus.

His call to repentance forces us to have to also deal with Him. If I ignore His call, I'm also ignoring Him. And I'm in fact sending Him away.

On the other hand, if I respond to Him, and if finally wrestling through this thing and stewing about it, and thinking about it, and praying about it, and worrying about it, and dealing with it, I finally come to the point where I say, Lord, I... I'll gladly give up this distraction in my life in order to have You. Then I have Him. I have life.

And by His presence in my life, I have the power to overcome this sin. Every time we see our neighbor in need, we're dealing not only with our neighbor's need, we're dealing with Jesus Himself. We know what He wants us to do.

We know that for our own good, as well as for the good of the kingdom, we have to show mercy to give to that person's need, to help them, to do something. How can I walk with Jesus and not do what He commands? And as I see that person's need, I hear the Lord calling me to show mercy. So if I'm going to respond to the call, if I'm going to receive Him, this calls for action in terms of this neighbor.

In His name and for His sake, I'm going to turn from myself and I'm going to abandon myself to becoming broken bread for that person's hunger or poured out wine in Jesus' name for that person's wounded soul. And every time I hear the call to confess Jesus before men, again, it's not a matter of dealing with some abstract principle of Christian duty. I'm dealing with Jesus Himself.

It's either forsake everything and follow Him, even if it means a cross, or send Him out. If I love Jesus, how can I not confess Him? And every time I confess Him, He manifests Himself not only to the person I'm talking to, but to me. The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.

He was in the world and the world was made through Him, yet the world knew Him not. He came to His own home and His own people received Him not. But to all who received Him, who believed on His name, He gave power to become children of God who are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

The ultimate issue, every moment of every day, including this one right now, is what are we going to do with Jesus? It's either receive Him or send Him away. And to receive Him is to repent. To make the change we know we have to make, to receive Him, is to love that person we know we have not loved.

And not just, you know, with some emotional froth inside, but in action. To receive Him is to confess His name before men, not only with our mouths, but with our lives. Let's take some time before Him now and let's do business with Him now.