The victorious Lion of Judah

This sculpture is called The Victorious Lion of Judah ( Michael Dudash: The Victorious Lion of Judah ). Many years ago I came across this sculpture in an art store in Orland Florida. By then I had not yet rejoined the congregation as I did in 1999, the pastor was still my ex-officio pastor as he is for so many people who do not live in Boston, and my mentor. And by that time, the congregation had barely changed its name from the Central Baptist Church to the León de Judá congregation, and for me that sculpture, even after seeing it for the first time, for me that represented so much of the message of Pastor Roberto and the call of this church, that even then we had an idea perhaps of something different that God was going to do. And I prayed somehow that God would make me a part of that vision.

But take a good look at this sculpture. Perhaps you have seen other images of Christ. Perhaps a crucified Christ, inert on a cross, or perhaps we have seen the famous image of the humble shepherd, shepherding a flock. This sculpture, by Michael Dudash itself, is very different, and by the way, the artist, the sculptor of this sculpture, says that he very purposely wanted to represent Jesus in control. Represent Jesus as sovereign King over all creation and over the universe. With heaven as the prophet Isaiah declares in Isaiah 66, heaven as his throne, and as the artist depicts in this detail, earth as his footstool.

A Jesus already ruling among lions with all the authority that the Father had given him. Now, my brothers, maybe we didn't get to know, we weren't there that day, we weren't witnesses that day Jesus was crucified, we didn't get to see the crucified Jesus, the humble Nazarene or the sheep shepherd, but this yes, The whole word agrees on this, both the Old Testament prophets, both the Gospels and almost all of Jesus' messages. The book of Acts agrees with this, the letters of Paul, the letters of Peter, the letters of John, and indeed the book of Revelation all agree with this.

Do not worry, we will all appear before this Jesus and his throne, sooner or later we all say the word, we will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and we will give an account for all our deeds, our words, and our thoughts, and if today we see Jesus from afar, there we will see him, face to face, now my brothers, a question, how does this make you feel? The fact that one day we will be in the presence of this victorious Jesus, and I think how do we respond, what image does this form in our hearts, what images does this inspire? It depends on what that Christ and that throne represent to you. Now I can tell you that these days there are very few days that I do not think of that throne and that Jesus, but the image for me has been dynamic, it has not always represented the same thing, and perhaps it is the same for you.

I don't know about you, but there was a time when being before that throne and giving an account of my life before that judge God inspired me with terror. And I would say that is the first option, I grew up in a very legalistic environment, and although they spoke to me about Jesus, they spoke to me about this Jesus who is represented in the word in Revelation, they talk about the Lord sitting on a white throne, Heaven and earth flee before Him, Hades and the sea surrender their dead, books are opened and all are judged by this Jesus. And now, my brothers, I don't know about you, but in my youth I distributed many tracts representing Jesus asking us this: why should I let you into heaven?

And we did our personal work on the streets of New York, and from time to time I reflected on the same tracts that I distributed, not knowing that I was going to answer Jesus, and you know, there is a great reason why this question, a secret, This question does not appear in the Bible, although it appears in these treatises, do you know why it does not appear in the Bible? And this was a gift from the Lord, the reason why it does not appear in the Bible is because Jesus already knows the answer. There is nothing that we can tell him at that moment, no heroic deed that we can think of that can convince Jesus to let us into heaven. I have never been very strong with mathematics but this is very easy: 0 + 0 + 0 equals? (congregation:zero). And my brothers, if you want to tithe a million dollars, we bless you, but that will not let you enter heaven. You can recite two million Hail Marys, that won't give you permission to enter heaven either, that is, there is nothing we can do to enter heaven. And besides, that decision is not made there, what the author of Hebrews says, the day of salvation is today. That decision is made here.

What finally the Lord visited my life with what I hope, if this, you still lie down, and if you still have those fears I have good news for you, the Christian already knows why we entered heaven. If one turns the sculpture around and we can see the back of the sculpture, we find this detail that the sculptor included, a cross on the back of the sculpture, as if we were to say that the throne of Jesus in this sculpture is literally supported by a cross, his cross, yes it is a beautiful statue. And what the word promises us is that it is by grace, you know, that it is by grace that we are saved, through faith, and this is not from you, it is the gift, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.

And what does that mean to me? I can still worry about many things, I can worry if my shirt matches my pants and my vest. I can worry if my car has enough gasoline to get to the gas station, I can worry about the budget of the ministry that I run, I can worry about many things, but thanks to Jesus, I can sleep peacefully knowing that in the When that day comes, I am saved. By his grace, by his mercy, and there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

But we always get the throne. Well, Samuel, there is no more condemnation, so why the throne? Well my brothers, maybe there is another way to see the throne and this day. See it as what I have learned to call divine evaluation. Just as the parable of the talents declares that the Lord will one day call us to account for the talents he gave to his servants, this Jesus will ask us what did you do Samuel, what did you do with what I gave you? And the Lord has given us so many things, and He is going to call me to account for all those things that He entrusted to me in this life, because just like you and all of us who are here, even before I was born, the Lord had a purpose and a call with our lives.

You know, Ephesians continues in that quote, "because we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." And on that day the Lord is going to give me his full attention for a moment and he is going to ask me, "Samuel, I gave you a good church, I gave you a good wife, I gave you good pastors, I allowed you so much education, I gave you so many years of life, I gave you that health, I gave you that family, I gave you that mother, I gave you that father, I gave you those brothers who get along, you were blessed, I gave you so much, what did you do with that? that I gave you to advance the mission that I entrusted to you? Because you know that my brothers, only things that have value are worth evaluating, and I have a lot of good news for you, first of all, nobody takes you more seriously than Jesus, and that reality filled me with encouragement, wow If the Lord cares about every thought and every word and every deed, it's because he takes me seriously.

And you know what? There is nothing wasted in your life, the Lord is going to call us to account because everything is important to Him, what we liked, what we did not like, our triumphs, our challenges, our tragedies, our victories, all those things count. And they are part of his plan. And He will evaluate us on that day.

Now my brothers, I don't know how it makes you feel, but more and more and more I have meditated on this, look, I have reached the point that I am crazy because that day has come. I sincerely live for that, why? Imagine, if there is no more condemnation, that is, if the purpose of this interview with Jesus is not to condemn us, what is left? If it is not that He wants to condemn us, what is Jesus up to with this dialogue? And I see Him as a divine mentor right now. For a moment in history you have an audience with not only the Creator of the universe, your Creator. All his attention will be on you, and this sculpture Jesus carries a rod in his right hand, which represents the shepherd's rod, and one of the things that I believe the Lord wants me to discover at that moment, that we discover this at that moment, the way that He has been your mentor, our mentor all our lives, feeding us, and revealing to us what that was for.

Samuel, do you remember that event, what did you learn from it? Well Lord so-and-so, fine, but don't you know that I had this purpose with this, and this other thing Samuel, how about that?, Lord that was a glorious day, but what?, what did I want you to get out of that?. Such a thing Samuel, such a purpose. Samuel, and this?, oh Lord, that was a failure, he says no Samuel, that was one of the greatest victories of your life and you didn't even realize it, if it weren't for that you would have suffered 25 failures, but I was there , my rod and my staff guiding you, moment after moment, event after event, memory after memory, day after day, the Lord showing us, I was with you, and I want you to learn because there is more.

So for what purpose? What does God want us to get out of this? The apostle Paul, thinking of this day, knowing that this day was drawing near, wrote: "I have fought the good fight, and I have kept the faith, for the rest the crown of justice is reserved for me." Now let's think about this and I think this is what excites me the most about this day and I, my brother, invite you to meditate on this too, because the apostle Paul says: "The Lord will keep this crown for me and not only for me if not also to all who love his coming". One of my prayers is that we all leave here loving his coming, why? Yes there will be crowns but I don't think they are the crowns that many of us believe. For me, when we talk about crowns, imagine, a gold crown, what is it worth to us?, a golden dawn, a piece of metal in gold, by the way, the bricks of the streets of heaven are made of gold.

Well, for us, perhaps gold is not a big deal, but when the word declares these things, I think they are poetic phrases, trying to explain the inexplicable, what could be so inexplicable? The parable of the talents says that the master, very happy with his servant, looked at him, smiled and said: "Well done, you did well." Now brothers, imagine you and God alone, living all the adventures of your life, and at the end he tells you, you know what?, you know what Omar, you know what Maria, Roberto, you know what Samuel?, it was not an easy mission It wasn't just any mission, that's why I sent you, that's why I assigned it to you, I knew it was difficult, that's why I equipped you for that day, that's why I sent my Holy Spirit to make sure it would end well, not everything It was perfect but you know what? I'm proud of you, well done.

Brothers, I don't know about you but a compliment from the lips of Jesus is worth something. It is worth so much, that I imagine that it is irresistible, and when the word declares that the twenty-four elders prostrate themselves before Jesus and throw their crowns before Jesus, I imagine that they are the same crowns, I cannot imagine anyone selfish enough or arrogant to be able to get his crown and say, yes, thank you Jesus, that's how it was. If not, I think our instinct will be to throw down that crown immediately and say Jesus was You, the work is Yours, I could never have done it without You.

Let's pray brothers: My brother, this day comes, and everything in our hearts, truly, your heart, your soul longs for this day, even if you don't realize it, but we are created for that day, that is the purpose, we end there, and my first prayer is for those who still look at this day with fear and terror because there are still accounts to settle, my first prayer is for you. If you are hearing this on the internet or if you are here in the congregation tonight, and this moment still fills you with terror, because you have not yet discovered the power of the cross, I hope that you receive that gift of salvation tonight. , and that I begin to long for that day, and for the rest, come Lord Jesus, receive the glory and the honor, and keep us until the day we give it to you in person, in the name of Jesus, amen.

Brothers, I would like, I would like to invite you to stand up at this hour, and follow the prayer line that Pastor Samuel made. Much of the purpose of what we are doing these nights is for us to be able to receive precisely that message, so that we can renew our sense of commitment, our sense of love with the Lord. Again, these messages are not to condemn anyone, on the contrary, it is to let them know that we are accepted before the Lord. There is a Lord who loves you, there is a Jesus who loves you, and there is a Jesus who longs to be in communion with you, there is a Jesus who longs to tell you well done, you have been faithful in little, I will put you in much.

Something very interesting that Pastor Samuel did not mention but that he said right away in a conversation I had with him, that part of what I just said, when that moment comes things will not end, when we get to heaven each of we will have a task to do. It is not that we are going to be flying like this through the streets of gold enjoying the presence of the Lord, no, we are going to do something there, the Lord says if you have been faithful in a little, here on this earth, in this world, in the present, if you have been faithful here, we are going to put you in a lot, what will that be? I do not know, only He knows that, but for now here in the present we are being faithful with what He has called us to do.

As Pastor Samuel said, you are being faithful with your husband, with your wife, with your son, with your daughter, your brother, your sister, the ministry that you have in your hand, the work that you have, the abilities, the talents that God has given you, the health that God has given you, the vitality that God has given you, the words that you can say to someone, the resources that God has provided you, are you using them for yourself or are you putting them at the service of others?, what are you doing?. This is how we show our love for the Lord, everything we have that we enjoy is a demonstration of God's love.

How do we show that love both to Him and to those around us? So where you are, we are going to make this last prayer, and tell the Lord there, Lord, I want to be faithful to you with what you have placed in my hands, I want to be faithful to you, Lord, with those gifts that you have placed in my life, in This moment in which You allow me to live Jesus, I want to show my love for You by being able to be faithful in showing my love for those who are around me, from my most intimate nucleus of my family to the brothers of the church, and even those who are outside of that body Lord, at work, at school, at university, in the neighborhood, wherever we are Lord help us show that love, help us to make a good representation of who you are, of what You long, from the desires of Your heart, that we can show those desires too, to those significant people around us.

Father and as a church, help us Lord Jesus to be faithful to you in what you have called us now. Help us to be faithful to You with what You have placed in our hands now, with the resources we have, the ministries we have and those that we will have later, help us to be faithful to You, Lord, so that when that moment arrives we will be before Your presence looking at You. face to face, we can raise our heads Lord, and be able to say Jesus, here it is, what You gave me, I have doubled it, I have multiplied it in the way that I could, here it is I bring it before you, my crown Lord I bring it before you you, well this is all for you Lord it is not for me, it is not for the glory of any man, no woman, it is for you Lord. We surrender this church Lord at your feet, the crown of this church we surrender at your feet Jesus, it is not for the glory of any person, it is for Your glory, everything we do, from the pastors, ministry leaders and even all the people that make up this congregation, we throw our crowns before you, because you are the only one worthy of glory and honor Lord.

Thank you for the privilege of serving you in this time Lord, and may we always continue to bring glory and honor to Your name Lord, we bring our crowns before you Lord, we give you our obedience, thus we show our love for you, thank you Lord, thank you .

We are going to close this service by saying precisely those words.