Well, welcome. Welcome to Maranatha Conference,
Shabiba, all that you want to call it Year #25.
Yes, Amen. My first time here was in 2014,
and I have to, I have to be honest from the beginning that I
don't remember a more awake, passionate, excited opening
service than this one tonight. Yeah, man, yeah, that's that's
how my person. You might disagree, but that's
what I sensed. So I'm excited, and I also want
to let you know from the beginning that because you chose
to come here and I I pray and trust that you came here for the
Lord primarily, the Lord will reward you, because when we do
seek Him, He does bless us. And so you're you're not wasting
your time. This weekend you didn't
sacrifice much, I'm sure. Maybe in the natural feels that
way. But the Lord will reward us for
seeking him in this way. And so I'm eager to see how He
will bless us as we seek his face.
You might have noticed these tshirts, the tshirt that I'm
wearing, tshirt that the priest he was wearing, some other
people sprinkled around. You might have noticed what is
said on the back. And if you don't know what's
said on the back, I won't turn around.
But I'll tell you, something greater is here, something
greater is here. Now that's not a phrase that we
came up with. That is a statement that Jesus
Christ himself made. And I want to show you in the
Bible very quickly where Jesus said it and how many times he
said it in the same context for you to see what he was trying to
declare about himself. So turn with me briefly to
Matthew chapter 12. And I want you to see here
beginning in verse 6, Matthew 12, Jesus was going through
grain fields on the Sabbath with his disciples.
They were hungry. They began to pluck heads of
grain and they ate. And the Pharisees were there to
spy on Jesus. Try to find something wrong with
Jesus and his followers. And they thought they got him
somewhere in these fields. And Jesus corrects their
understanding of the Sabbath, and he proclaims his authority
in this way. Verse six, he says to them, I
tell you, something greater than the temple is here, something
greater than the temple is here. That's Jesus's first statement.
But then you continue and you see in the same context as he
engages with the religious leaders.
In verse 41 of the same chapter, he says the men of Nineveh will
rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it.
For they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold,
something greater than Jonah is here number two.
And immediately right after, in verse 42, Jesus gives his third
and final reference concerning himself and his superiority.
Where he says, the Queen of the South will rise up at the
judgment with this generation and condemn it.
For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of
Solomon. And behold, something greater
than Solomon is here, Something greater than the Temple is here,
Something greater than Jonah is here, something greater than
Solomon is here. Now, out of all the things that
Christ could have referred himself to, out of all the
things that Christ could have referenced, why these three
identities? Why these three realms, so to
speak? Well, for one, the Jew would
have understood very well what Jesus was trying to communicate
by contrasting himself more than contrasting, towering over these
things that were highly prized and treasured by the people of
Israel. More specifically, what Christ
is trying to say is that he is the fulfillment of the three
great offices that were in operation during the Old
Covenant. And so by saying that he was
greater than the temple, he's actually declaring that his
priesthood is more significant and more effective that his
offering as a High priest pleases.
God satisfies his justice, satisfies his demands, and makes
a one time offering that never has to be repeated and seals
your salvation forever. Something greater than the
temple is here a greater priest, and that priest is also the
sacrifice. Something greater than Jonah is
here. Here's Christ expressing that he
occupies the office of the prophet.
And not only was he sent by the Father to proclaim the word of
God, he is the perfect expression and the fullest
revelation of God. He is the radiance of the glory
of God, and he's the exact imprint of his nature.
Something greater than Jonah is here.
Yes, we understand the immediate context is because he's going to
perform a miracle that was foretold by Jonah.
But more than that, the office itself.
I'm the prophet of prophets. I am the.
Word of God. And lastly, he says something
greater than Solomon is here. Now we're talking about what?
What do you think it is his role as what?
King. King.
And so he is declaring that he is king.
Not just king, but king of kings, governing not just one
nation, one people, but governing the world, the
universe who knows how to display and demonstrate perfect
righteousness and execute true justice.
And he also knowing how to rule and oversee the hearts of men
perfectly, perfectly, as he is the king of the Kingdom now and
will usher in that Kingdom here on earth, forever and ever and
ever. And so you have Jesus saying, I
am greater than the temple because I am a greater priest,
and I have a greater sacrifice. I'm I'm greater than Jonah
because I am the fullest expression.
Of the word of God, the nature of God, the character of God.
And I am the king of kings, the long-awaited son of.
David, who will occupy the throne for eternity?
Now, that's more than just a clever, crafty way of
interpreting Jesus's words. Why is it significant for us to
understand Jesus declaring himself to be superior in these
areas? Because how you view Christ will
determine how you honor Christ. You see, Jesus said these things
to his immediate audience because they refused to
acknowledge his authority. They reserved their repentance
and they would not give him the awe that he deserved as king.
None of a repented when a man much more inferior to Jesus gave
a very brief sermon. And here's Christ who was giving
the words of spirit and life, and these men hardened their
hearts even more. Solomon, as fabulous as he was,
was flawed in many ways. And here is the king who
beautifies wisdom, who perfects it, who has not one thing wrong
with him, and they wouldn't bow the knee.
Here's the one who did not sin, and they try to find sin in him,
and he declares that he is greater than the temple and they
would not acknowledge his position.
How you view Jesus Christ is the most important thing about your
life. It's the most important thing.
Not your job, not your hairstyle, not what you do in
your retirement, what you study. The most important thing about
your brief mist of life is how you perceive the.
Person of Jesus Christ, Jesus says unless you believe that I
am He, you will die in your sins if you have a wrong view of
Christ that will determine your eternal destination.
This is not a matter of opinion. This is not a subjective
sparring that we can do. No, it's a matter of eternal
life. How you view Christ will
ultimately determine where you spend eternity.
And if you if you are a person who says, I see him as the high
priest, I see him as the Word of God Incarnate, I see him as the
King of Kings. How you view Christ will also
determine the depth of your sanctification doesn't just stop
at you expressing your belief in him.
It's ultimately you, something that you continue to discover
about him, how great he is more and more and more do you see and
perceive it. And that has an impact and how
you're conformed to the very same image of his greatness, of
his moral greatness especially. And so how you view Christ and
the goal here today is we would need so many meetings to touch
on each of those components of his nature and of his work.
And so we're going to stick with Solomon for this weekend.
Why Solomon personally? Because in reading about Solomon
and 1st Kings a few months back, I saw the great detail that the
Holy Spirit gave concerning him as king and his accomplishments
and what he was able to do and his abilities.
And what was ringing in my mind as I was scaling through First
Kings chapter 2-3 all the way up to 10 and 11 all through that,
as as you were just you're just reading this blueprint of this
man's amazing capacity. Jesus is greater.
Jesus said I'm greater than even
him. So I thought to endeavor to say,
Okay, Lord, I know you're greater.
That's my theology, right? It's wrong to say that Jesus is
not greater. But show me how you're greater.
Let me see it. Let me behold it.
And I hope that you would behold it with me and that you would
see it for yourself. Here's where I'll end in this
brief introduction. When we get, when we get
together, when this is organized year after year, our desire is
many things. One that people who don't know
Christ would come to know Christ.
That happens, I believe, every year it's happened.
Or at least one person has given their life to Christ, which is
amazing, right? To organize all that for that
goal is, is, is something that God would approve of.
Obviously for Saints to be encouraged to be built up, to
meet one another, to be refreshed in a very dark and
deprived world, absolutely. But there is a specific goal in
this, in this conference, at least in my prayers, and that is
this, that every single person here.
Would leave with a ferocious desire to master.
The word of God, if there's anything that we're hoping for
and praying for, is that you would leave here with this new
ambition to devour the Bible for yourself.
To not be content with looking at just some things, but to.
But to ask God to open your eyes to see all that he wants to show
you in his written word. And one way of being able to
hopefully stimulate that is to see how one verse can take up a
conference is to see how one statement that Jesus makes
Behold, something greater than than Solomon is here, would
cause you to say this word is inexhaustible.
Where does this well end? And I'll give you a hint it
doesn't. And that you would for the rest
of your days draw from this well, as we take Matthew 1242
and try to ring out as much as we can from it, which we won't
for you to say, if that's what can happen with one verse.
Lord, I want to know all that you have to say to me, and I
want to show you what's at cost. Just one example.
What's at cost if you and I as believers do not value?
The word of God. Do not seek to know all that God
has said. At least familiarize yourself
with it. Let me give you an example.
Turn with me to Luke 24, Luke 24 and go to verse 13 says here in
Luke 2413 that very day. Two of them.
We're going to a village named Emmaus, about 7 miles from
Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these
things that had happened. While they were talking and
discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with
them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
And he said to them, what is this conversation that you were
holding with each other as you walk?
And they stood still, looking sad.
And one of them, named Cleopas, answered him.
Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the
things that have happened there in these days?
And he said them want things. And they set them concerning
Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet, mighty indeed, and
word before God and all the people, and how our chief
priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and
crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the
one to redeem Israel. Yes.
And besides all this, it is now the third day since these things
happened. We have two sad disciples
walking towards Emmaus. Jesus camouflages himself.
Does it make himself known? How true is it that as you're
walking, Christ doesn't necessarily show himself all the
time He camouflages himself and he.
He wants to hear. He already knew their
conversation, but he wanted them to open up and see what was the
reason for their sadness. And they do they they open up
and they say are you? Did you just walk in here?
Did you not hear the news is everybody knows what just
happened. This mighty prophet that we were
hoping was a fulfillment of the prophets.
He disappointed us. They killed them and our hopes
are dashed. Now here's Jesus inquiring the
source of their sorrow. Now, what would what would you
do if if you were a pastor? You probably put your arm around
these these disciples, say it's okay, and try to comfort them
and try to give some kind of assistance to their heavy
hearts. Here's what Jesus does verse 25.
And he said to them, Oh, foolish ones.
That seems kind of insensitive, doesn't it?
Oh, foolish ones. I have a feeling that you're not
going to get that inseminary for your counseling course, but this
is Jesus. His ways are perfect, he said to
them. Oh, foolish ones, Let me say it
one more time. Rebuke is necessary sometimes in
the Christian walk, oh foolish ones, and slow of heart, to
believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these
things and enter into his glory? What is Christ getting at here?
He's diagnosing the real source of their problems.
The source of the problems is not that they believed the right
things and what they believed did not come to pass.
It was that they did not believe everything.
They were ignorant of all that the prophets had spoken.
Either they were willfully and selectively interpreting the
word of God, or they were negligent, and that is their
responsibility. Nonetheless, look what Jesus
says carefully, oh foolish ones, slow of heart, to believe all
all that the prophets have spoken.
You believed some you're familiar with a fraction.
Your heart was drawn to the political Messiah, the Redeemer
of the oppression from foreign nations, the prosperity that was
once known under Solomon's reign.
Perhaps this is what you were drawing, and that was a that was
a common problem for all the Jews.
Some people are sympathetic towards the Pharisees because
they thought, well, maybe maybe the word of God was a little bit
complicated, and that's why they didn't understand all that Jesus
said. That's not true.
And that's that's that's what we see here with Christ.
He blames them. The scriptures were clear.
You just chose to turn your eyes away from all that God had to
say. About myself and I think the
problem for the Jews is the problem of many Christians
today. Let me put it this way.
There is much confusion, frustration, depression, dare I
say, and all these spiritual maladies based on one main
thing, a bad spiritual diet with.
The word of God. What's the reason why they were
sad? Jesus made it clear you didn't
take in all that God said. Just some, not all.
And we look across the lens and we see perhaps very weak
Christians. We see people who are
frustrated, people who are roller coaster with their
devotion. And I would say that the main
cause is the very same reason what Jesus brings up here.
A lack of willingness to embrace all that God has to say, a lack
of willingness to investigate all that God has to say.
And because of that, there is weakness where there doesn't
need to be weakness. And there was sadness where
there doesn't need to be sadness, and there's brokenness
where there doesn't need to be brokenness, and there's fear
where there doesn't need to be fear.
The word of God is the answer. Say prove it.
Look what Jesus does. How does he solve this?
How does he treat this wound? Verse 27 This is what Pastor
Jesus does. And beginning with Moses and all
the prophets, he interpreted to them and all the scriptures the
things concerning himself. How does the Lord treat their
sadness? He opens the scriptures to them
because he knew that the reason why they were sad is because
they didn't open up all the scriptures for themselves.
And so let us save ourselves from unnecessary pain and seek
to know all that God has to say. That's my prayer.
That's my desire. And I hope that's your desire
for yourself as well, that you would leave this place excited
to know that God speaks through this and that something happens.
The more you discover, the more you inherit, the more that you
glean something happens to you. Let me prove it to you.
This is my last verse. And James, this is one of my
favorite verses concerning the power.
Of the word of God. I quoted often, so forgive me if
you're hearing it again in such a short span of time.
Look at these words from James and James, Chapter One.
And this was where we will sign off for this introduction.
James one and look here with me in verse verse 21.
James 121 therefore put away all filthiness and rampant
wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word
which is able to save your souls.
What is significant charge? Receive the implanted world.
If it's implanted, it's already received, isn't it?
What are you asking me to do, James?
Continue to receive that which you received initially in
salvation. Continue to open up your heart
to indulge and accept and explore what the word of God has
to say, and notice what he says which is able to save your
souls. He's talking to Christians.
What do you mean, save your souls?
You're already saved. Yeah, but there's another saving
that needs to take place. A continual saving, a perpetual
delivering in your life. You know it, right?
You know that when you get saved, you're not instantly made
perfect. Join a local church and you'll
figure that out within a few months.
Nobody is. And yet there is a promise.
There is a guarantee that to the degree that you expose yourself
and receive the word of God, you will know as saving in your own
soul. From trauma, from
disappointment, from sin, from wrong world views, from
temptation, from bondage, from strongholds.
It's the word of God that saves and cleanses and washes and
uproots all the things that perhaps you've had from the
earliest memories of your life. That's the word, and that's what
it can do. So here's one thing that we can
guarantee. Here's one thing that you can
guarantee every single time you go to the word of God for
yourself that you sit under the preach word.
And This is why this weekend is excited.
Because we have a condensed time where you're just going to
receive the word of God as those coming from a fire hydrant.
People are going to be saved. If it's received with meekness,
we will know it's saving. I'm not talking about salvation,
I'm talking about a renewing of the mind.
I'm talking about a redirecting in your affections.
I'm talking about an empowerment that will make you leave this
place stronger than you came in. That's what the Word of God can
do. And we're going to see it
through Jesus saying something greater than Solomon is here.
What does that mean, Lord? We're going to figure it out
together. Let's pray, Father, we give you
glory even from the opening night.
Thank you for the joy in this place.
Thank you for the openness in the hearts of every soul in this
House. Thank you, Lord, for people who
decided to take up this weekend. Though it might be a difficult
weekend in the year to dedicate few days to be with God's people
and to seek the God of these people.
We asked, Lord, that we would know the very saving that you
promised in James that we would know a new ambition to have a
complete grasp, a growing grasp with the word of God, so that we
would be rescued from unnecessary sorrows.
And, Lord, we asked from the beginning that by the power of
your Holy Spirit you would open our eyes to behold how Christ,
your Son, is greater than that great man's Solomon.
It may cause us to give him the worship and the honor and the
praise that the King of Kings rightly deserves.
Lord, bless our hearts, our minds, protect us from head to
toe. Let everything about this
weekend, from the messages to the singing, to the activities
to the eating. May it all be led by your
spirit. May we sense your presence
wherever we go, for we are here for you above all else.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Amen.