Jesus of Nazareth

I told somebody who taught me yesterday about Mr. Hull, Albert Hull, a friend of mine, and he always said that if a brother prayed for three or four minutes he would say amen. He says if it went beyond five I would say oh man. That's not mine, that's not original, that's Mr. Hull.

Acts chapter 22, and Paul starts out here of course with his defense, men and brethren and fathers, hear ye my defense which I make now unto you. You know he speaks unto them, he said verse three, I'm verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, yet brought up in the city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God as ye are all this day. And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, and so on.

And also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders, with whom I also received letters unto Damascus, went and went to Damascus to bring them which were bound unto drusom for to be punished. Came to pass that as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus, about noon suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. I fell unto the ground and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto him, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

They that were with me saw indeed the light, were afraid, but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. Now there's much other passages we could read, but I just want to share something with you on a devotional thought that I've enjoyed, and it is the title, Jesus of Nazareth. Harley would you find from, I'm just going by, I've never been there, I've never been to the Holy Land, and I may as well say it because his grandsons are in the meeting.

My generous brother Tim called me up one time, and he said, he said, we call each other McCandless, he said, I want you and Shirley to go to the Holy Land. And I says, oh, I said, well, I said, I'll tell you Tim, I'm kind of busy, and I said, I think I'll go when it's a lot cheaper and a lot safer, okay. So he says, you're not going to go? No, not going to go.

Well, I said, I'll tell you what, when I get to the wailing wall, I'm going to say a prayer for you. I said, you've been there lots of times. He said, what do you mean? I said, remember out behind the house, that old cement wall it was against, and where dad used to take us for a little admonition behind it, you were wailing all the way, and my dad used to say to him, what are you crying for? I haven't touched you yet.

And then you, on the way, you were blaming all your sins on Murray, but we both got it. So you were to the wailing wall, but I said, I've been interested in that wailing wall. However, Nazareth was a very despised city, very despised.

It was, very few people would ever identify themselves as, as I am told, with Nazareth, but he did, he did. It's interesting, he could have easily said to him, he could have said, I'm the great I am, and he would have been right. He is, and never ceased to be.

He could say, I am the Alpha and Omega. I'm the Lord of life and glory. There's a lot of titles that he could have used to introduce himself to the Saul of Tarsus, but he said, I'm Jesus of Nazareth.

What humility, brethren, sisters. I'm just Jesus of Nazareth. Paul loved that title, and he uses it.

Peter used it as well, in some, in different ones of his addresses. And you think of the Apostle, here he is, this proud religious zealot, as we have in Philippians chapter 3, circumcised, as he said, the eighth day of Israel, and the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of the Hebrews, touching a Pharisee, concerning, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is of the law, blameless. But when the Lord said to him, I'm Jesus of Nazareth, all that suddenly dissipated.

Okay? Saul, Saul saw himself for what he was. You know, that's true of all of us, when it comes to salvation. I can't stand here and say that I saw you, saw myself totally for what it was.

I don't think I could understand how vile I was before him. Why would he ever love me? Why would he ever reach down and save the like of me? No, no, no. There's others that make far better Christians than I've ever made.

Others that make far better preachers than I'll ever be. But he loved me, and he reached and saved me, and it was Jesus of Nazareth. Okay? I am Jesus, what humility.

I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. I'm the one that's persecuting you. If you went back to Acts, of course, chapter 9, Paul is reminded it was hard for him to kick against the goads.

Always keep that in mind. Some of you that have maybe relatives that are not saved, they kick against the goads. Oh, they do.

I lost a brother-in-law to Lou Gehrig's disease, and he kicked hard against it. He accused his father getting saved, his father and mother both saved. I was, my wife and I are so thankful they were in heaven when he died.

It would have broke their hearts. He said, this saved business divided the friendship between me and dad, and my sister-in-law, Joan Gustafson, picked up on it. She said, did no such thing.

She said, we had a father that we never had, that we never had until he was saved. That's true. I'm sad to think that he died that way, only because my wife requested it.

He came to one gospel meeting we had, I'm just on a sideline here for a minute, just pardon me, that we had, and finally Shirley begged me to go and visit him. She says, he's dying, he's not going to make it. Come with me, I'll go and see him.

So, he wouldn't even go to the doctor to have the case diagnosed until my wife and his wife dragged him there. Said the doctor, the doctor said, I want you to see a specialist. So, I want you to tell me what you think it is.

I says, if you insist. He says, I think you've got Lou Gehrig's disease. That's what it was.

Anyhow, I went with Shirley out to visit him. So, got the house door, and his wife said, now listen, she said, Henry's down in the bedroom. She says, he is not going to come out.

I says, listen, listen Kathy, you go and tell Henry, he comes out, I'm coming in. So, she went down, so he came out, you know, sat down. I says, Henry, without going over the past, I could be gone before you.

The only difference is, I'm ready to go and you're not. You continue like you are, my man, you will be in hell. That's where you'll lift up your eyes.

I said, you too, Kathy. She sat right beside me, she started to cry. That's how he died.

Died just against the gospel. Kicking against the goads. I mean, parents getting saved, sisters getting saved.

There's two girls and one boy in the family. Died in his sins. So, just for your encouragement, don't give up on them.

And I know you don't. And those that you seek to win for Christ, remember, it's hard for them to kick against the goads. Though a Bethlehemite carried the name of Nazareth with him, a name that expressed the contempt of those that despised, they rejected him, the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's interesting that when Pilate comes to a title, maybe you can help me with this. Pilate is a very strange character in many, many ways. And the things that he says, and yet how he ended, is, you know, flip-flop between what he believed and what he didn't believe.

But it's interesting that when it comes to the title, what is it? Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. They didn't like that sign. Didn't mind the Nazareth parley, but King of the Jews, Pilate says, what I've written, I have written.

Good for him. Give him a title as he is there upon the cross. Peter loved that title, Jesus of Nazareth.

Acts chapter 2, you men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, he said in Acts 2, a man approved of God, you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God by him in the midst of you did as ye yourselves know. So, there's something that tells me that Peter loved that title of humility of our Savior.

And today, he's still Jesus of Nazareth. He's still a prince of life, and light, and glory. He's still a great I Am.

He's still every title that we can give him as given to him in his word. Brethren, I want to compliment you on the way you address the Lord this morning. Hope we're clear on that today.

None of this nonsense of talking to him like he was the big man above and all. I've heard some of their most ridiculous stuff in my life. I'll tell you something.

I was at a funeral. It was a relative of mine. I'm not going to tell you where it is.

I was outside the tent. I didn't know, it was a rainy, cold day. Not sure if my brother Frank was there or not.

Anyhow, a relative of mine was inside praying. Know how he's praying? He's asking God. He says, we fail, he says, give us another kick at the can.

Can you imagine speaking to God like that? Just make you, yeah, you'll want to vomit. And I did saith unto him, one of his other cohorts come walking out that graveyard, it was in Sarnia, and there was John Kimber's grave. I says, you want to do something, you stand at the grave, you salute it.

So I know what he stood for. I know what he preached. I know what he believed.

He died at 44 with cancer. So we come from a rich heritage, but some of this language, you know, it's in the evangelical world, that's the way it is. Some of these places, it's just Jesus and that.

And I, listen, for a young believer, somebody newly saved, I'm easy, okay? Don't, I've had some say, well, you know, you know, these are hard. I'll tell you what I have a hard time with, brethren, okay? These brethren my age, my contemporaries, changing how they address God. I just took an email I got, I flipped it to another brother, and I took the sister, a good sister too, her name off the bottom says here, maybe you can send me your reply, and I'll send it to her.

And she said, what has changed brother so-and-so in his 80s in the way that he addresses God? I told him, I prayed for him, I prayed for his wife, which I did, who had been sick. He wrote me back. He says, thanks for praying for my wife, mentioned nothing of the else, nothing else.

So I just sent it back to the sister. I said, obviously, he doesn't want to discuss it. So I'm not as a policeman around, hounding my fellow brethren this, but you know what it signifies, brethren? Other things are wrong too.

Absolutely. Other things are wrong. You stroke deep enough, as you'll find out that there's other things that are going on that you wouldn't be happy with.

But this title, Jesus of Nazareth. Love it, Acts chapter three. Then Peter, remember the man? Boy, that cost them so much.

They healed that man in Acts chapter three. Peter said unto him, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, I give unto thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rise up and walk.

Man rose up and walked. What power there was. So my point is this, that likely one of the most respected, humble descriptions of our Lord is used in mighty power.

Whether it be from a governor of the day, or whether it be Peter or Paul in their preaching. Acts chapter six, for you've heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the customs Moses delivered us. And so I remember the charge they gave.

Chapter 10, go to it again. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost, with power, and who went doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. Paul loved the title, Jesus of Nazareth.

So I've just picked up Acts chapter 22. You could have had it again in Acts chapter 26. Paul learned from his master that near the end of his course, he says, I'm the chief of sinners.

It's pretty hard to argue with that, isn't it? I'm the chief of sinners. So just to encourage you, just leave that with you. There's other brethren here that are, well, I should tell you, no, they're not.

They got good brethren this weekend. I said to a good cousin of mine, Chad Kimber Jr. one time, didn't speak at a conference. I said, Chad, what happened? He said, they're all dying to preach.

I said, what'd you do? He said, I let them preach and die. So anyhow, just to leave with you, whenever you're reading about Jesus of Nazareth, may it sweeten your soul and appreciate the humility of our Lord.