Benedict Yo: Sermon on Jesus

From:   MILLICAN MISSION

This is from Benedict Yo who is the son of John Yo, the preacher in Taiwan.  At sixteen he is already a great preacher and a strong Christian.  This is the lesson he preached.

John 14:6

Draw three symbols: the road, the book, and the heart

Intro:
 

I don't want everyone to know the topic yet. By these three symbols, I know at the end all the brothers and sisters will know my topic for today. What I want to say is that Christians often feel like they are satisfied with the Word of God. However, if you already are paralyzed with this kind of "feel-good-with-what-you-already-know-about-the-Bible", then you are in big trouble.

If one day a non-Christian ask you "Who is Jesus? Is He a man or God? Can you show me the evidence? I thought... You guys have a kind of book isn't it? Can you show me?"
 

What will you do? Well, you think you know something in the Bible but you can see that we always need more so that we can help out others. For this question, just a simple verse, that is in John 1:3-4
"All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being .  In Him was life , and the life was the Light of men ."
 

I want everyone to know that we have to read the Bible continuously by ourselves, not just in the church or cottage meetings, but on your own. I don't care if you plan to read it daily or weekly but you should check if you have enough spiritual food so that you won't starve from eating all the junk food out there. You want to have a healthy spiritual body? Just read it.

1. The Way

I want everybody to imagine yourself walking in the desert. You have no food, no water, no friends or family members walking with you. You are trying to find a road out there because you know the road leads to somewhere that is safe. You  are almost out of breath and you near fainting. Then suddenly, almost out of oxygen, you see a guy come running toward you and pick you up, carry you on to the road, into his car, and drove into a hospital. Will you be happy because this guy saved you? If you think that this guy is Jesus, then He has truly shown you the way.

Acts2:28
‘ You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence. ’

In the Bible, there are many verses that mentioned about the way or the road. This symbol is very common and important in the Bible. Like in Luke3:4-5, and many other verses talked about John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus to come.

Recently I have been watching a Taiwanese movie which talked about the aborigines in Taiwan. They had opened up the paths for later people who can climb to the mountains to find natural resources. Jesus is like the aborigine who opened up the paths for us so that we can know the way to heaven.

We all know that if there is a good path to heaven, there will be another evil path to hell. Sometimes these evil paths don't show their reality, rather make themselves look like the good paths and easier paths than true path.

Proverbs 14:12
"There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death."

Jude 11
"Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah."

The example of Cain and Balaam is the evil path. One man killed his own brother, another man who cursed God's chosen people, the Israelites.

1 John 3:12
"not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous."

Deuteronomy 23:4-5
"because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. 5 Nevertheless, the Lord your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God loves you."

2 Peter 2:15
"forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;"

All these verses showed what Cain and Balaam had done. Their paths seem so dangerous to us but yet people still like how the danger can bring you happiness.

Matthew 7:13
“ Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it."

2. The Truth

John 18:38
"Pilate *said to Him, “What is truth?”
And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and *said to them, “ I find no guilt in Him."

Do you have this truth? What is the truth?

Colossians 1:3-6
"We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel 6 which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth;"

The truth is equal to the gospel and the Word, if you read John chapter one verse one you will know that the Word is God. In John chapter one verse fourteen, you will know the Word means Jesus, therefore, the truth is Jesus!

On the other hand, there are tons of false doctrines flying around the world. Many denominational churches teach a lot of illogical information, including dancing in the worship, mumbling words which they said are connected to spiritual part of the body, etc.

Ephesians 6:14
"Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,"

1 John 4:1
"1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."

These are the examples we often see outside of the church, but there are some that have already sneaked into the church and tried to pull out some other brothers and sisters!

Jude 1:3-4
"Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. 4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."

If every single different type of churches claims that they are the only true church, will you believe that? Therefore, we have to be really careful to ensure that the truth we follow is from the Bible. If the false teachers see that they can't fool the strong and faithful Christians, then they will naturally leave the church.

Sometimes you might lose some brothers or sisters in the church just because they have been moved by false doctrines.

1 Corinthians 7:15
"Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace."

John 8:32
"and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

3. The Life

What is the eternal life?

1 John 5:12
"He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life."

From this verse we know that Jesus is equal to eternal life so if we don't have Jesus in our hearts then we will not have the eternal life.

Matthew 16:26
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"

Nothing in this world is as worthy as the eternal life which is promised when we die in this world.

If you ask an elder person, do you want to be the richest person in the world or to have just a simple, healthy body? What will they say? Of course we know that it's healthy body because when they get to the end, they know healthy body is more important than earning a lot of money! Like Christians, we should know that in the end is either getting that eternal life or going to hell and be burned for the rest of our eternal life.

Revelation 2:10
"Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life."

Having God's promise for us to get this eternal life is easy, but to continue the rest of our promises until we die is hard.

For example, a young man wants to have a healthy body by eating healthy food. He checked books and internet and found out that every meal you eat has to contain six different elements that includes proteins, lipids, glucose, or something something(I really don't know the names). The first day of his healthy diet, he was so excited and was thinking that, "Finally! From today I will be healthy!" he bought fruits, fish, a lot of vegetables, some meats, etc. He cooked the food himself and ate it all up. This was his first day. Then someday his friends called him, "Oh Ben! You should come to McDonald to celebrate our successful performance tonight! If you don't come then too bad! All of us are here right now! Come quickly!" So Ben was thinking that he should eat his healthy dinner, but thinking about all the delicious foods at McDonalds, so he gave up. Then the next day the grocery store was closed so he went to the nearby Burger King to buy some hamburgers. You can see that within a short time, Ben has fallen into the temptation of the junk food. Like Christians, we have to be really careful and to always eat spiritual healthy food.

Luke 21:19
"By your endurance you will gain your lives."

Conclusion:

John 14:6
"Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."

Think about this, who is as bold and Jesus when He said He is THE way, THE truth, and THE life? Is it Buddha? Is it the Catholic Pope? Nobody would dare to say this unless He is the only true God!

So brothers and sisters, we have already received this gift from God and Jesus IS the way, the truth, and the life. If we keep hold on these three gifts, then when we leave this world, we will be excited rather than leaving with fear and sorrow