James Merritt - Just Perfect
Well, I wanna say good morning to those who are watching online, watching by television, or computer, wherever you might be. To our Mill Creek Campus sugar loaf, thanks for being here today. I'm excited, because I get to preach on my favorite subject, which is Jesus. There are 4,200 formally recognized religions in the world. And in a Google search for religious practices, I found there at least 37,177 different religious beliefs. We're living in a world today where the spiritual possibilities are just absolutely endless. It's almost as if we live in this big God buffet, and you just kinda pass down the line, and just choose whichever God that you want. You might say the whole world's throwing a #BYOG party, Bring Your Own God. Just doesn't matter. Your God's as good as mine, my God's no better than yours, just pick one, and we're all good to go.
So why is it that every other spiritual, religious, mystical leader who has ever lived should be rejected in favor of following only Jesus Christ? I mean, there's a valid, I think there's a valid question that every Christian should have to answer, and I would think if you're not a Christian, you'd want to have it answered. And that question is, "Why Jesus"? Why is it you reject everybody else? Why are you so narrow minded? Why are you so intolerant? I mean, it's not just, "Why Jesus"? but, "Why Jesus only"? Why Jesus alone? Over the next three weeks, we're going to be exploring why, and believe it or not, the answer to that question, it's a hard question to many, it's not to me, it's really easy, because there really are three things that differentiate Jesus not only from every other religious spiritual leader who's ever lived, but from every other person who's ever lived.
And those three things are His life, His death, and His resurrection. If what Jesus said about Himself is true, and if what the Scriptures say about Him is true, if what the Gospel writers said about Him is true, if what the Disciples who spent three years about with Him said about Him is true, then He lived an unequal life, nobody's ever lived a life like He did. He died a unique death, everybody dies, He died like everybody else, but nobody died the kind of death that He died. And He experienced an unparalleled, unmatched resurrection. 'Cause last time I checked, every other religious leader who died, still dead. Everybody ever got buried, still buried. Everybody got cremated, still cremated. Except Jesus.
So today, we're going to look at His life. He lived an unequaled life. And I gon' tell you what I mean. How often have you, like me, slipped up, messed up, blew it, did it wrong, made a mistake, felt guilty, then you kinda patted yourself on the back and said, "Well, after all, nobody's perfect". I mean, we've all said that. And you might find someone that would disagree with that. I read the other day about a psychiatrist was having a group therapy with about 100 people in the room and they all had different hang ups, and addictions, and bad habits. And so he's tryin' to kinda get off on a good start, and try to make them feel a little bit better about themselves, and so he said, "Okay, let's make sure we're all on the same plane, here. Has anybody ever heard of a perfect person"? And he thought everybody would be unanimous saying they had not, but one sad looking guy in the back raised his hand, and he said, "Well, yeah, I've heard of one perfect person". "Really"? He said, "Who is that"? He said, "My wife's first husband".
Now, one person did claim to be perfect from His thoughts, to His words, to His deeds, absolutely pristine perfect. His name was Jesus. Now it may not surprise you that it's not a universally held opinion that Jesus really was perfect, and Jesus really was sinless. As a matter of fact, the United States has the largest Christian population in the world. One out of 10 Americans claim to be a Christian. So Americans were asked this question: "Did Jesus ever commit a sin or sins during His earthly life"? 52% of Americans said, "Of course. Jesus was human just like I'm human. To err is human, to be human is to err. I sin, He sinned, because we all sin". So that means if this crowd is like the average crowd in America the majority of you would say, "Absolutely, I believe that Jesus sinned just like everybody else".
Now, let's suppose I'm wrong in what I'm gonna be preaching to you today, and what I'm saying to you today, and let's suppose that 52% of Americans are right. That Jesus sinned just like we did. He was a guy just like I'm a guy. He blew it just like I've blown it. Well, understand that creates a problem. And not just for the church, though it creates a big problem for the church. It actually creates a problem for you, and me, and everybody in the entire world. Because let's just assume for a moment Jesus was not sinless, Jesus was not perfect. Let's just assume that's true. If that's true, then He was not who He said He was, the Son of God, because the Son of God by definition couldn't sin. If He was not who He said He was, then He could not have done what He said He did, which is die for our sins. If He didn't do what He said He did, then there's no hope for anyone being delivered from sin and having a relationship with God.
So, if Jesus was not without sin, He cannot be the Savior. And if He cannot be the Savior, then we cannot have Salvation. And to make it as simple as I know how to make it, if Jesus died in His sins, He could not die for our sins. Just that simple. He couldn't die for our sins if He died in His sins. A sinner cannot be the Savior of other sinners. A drowning man cannot save another drowning man. It takes a sinless Savior to save sinners. Now here's the good news. If Jesus was who He said He was, and did what He said He did, and if He was sinless, He gives all of us hope with all the temptations that we face, and all the failures that we have, and all the faults that we battle because we have a Savior who is absolutely perfect.
Now, there is a passage in a book called Hebrews, and I invite you to turn to it if you brought a copy of God's Word, or if you just brought an iPhone, or a Pad, or whatever, Google it. It's in the book of Hebrews, it's kinda toward the back of the Bible. Hebrews chapter four, there's a passage in the book of Hebrews that explains to us just what a practical, powerful truth this doctrine or this belief is. Because you may be sittin' there goin', "Okay, let's just say He was sinless. How does that help me? I mean, I'm havin' trouble holdin' a marriage together, I've got an addiction, I'm stuck in pornography, I'm battling alcohol, I've got an uncontrollable temper. How in the world does that help me"? Well, in this passage, we're not only told why Jesus lived an unequal life, but he also tells us how we can live a life that would never be possible without Jesus.
So we're in Hebrews chapter four, and I'm gon' tell you three wonderful things about Jesus that will help you and will help me. First of all, Jesus confronted temptation like us. Jesus confronted temptation like us. Now, the author of Hebrews has taken a look back at the life of Jesus, and here's what he says. "We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses. We have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are". Now, I wanna ask a very, gon' make sure all on the same page, okay? Have any of you, every day, at least once, faced temptation? Just raise your hand, 'kay? How many of you, you don't have to raise your hand, were tempted not to come to church today? You, yep, thank you for your honesty, you were tempted to stay in bed, you were tempted just to go have a big brunch somewhere, and you said, "Y'know, I'll just skip it today". We all face temptation.
Well one thing Jesus has in common with every person who's ever lived; He was a human being. If 2,000 years ago you'd kinda walked up on Jesus, you would've looked at a man that looked like a human being, that talked like a human being, that acted like a human being, that walked like a human being, because He was a human being. And one of the reasons He became a human being is so He could experience what it would be like to be human. And every human being experiences temptation. Nobody's immune to it. Nobody's above it. Nobody never faces it, including Jesus. And here's the good news. We're told He confronted temptation in the same way that we do. That's why He's able to sympathize with our weaknesses. By the way, that word in the Greek language literally is the word "sympathize". It's a word that gives us sympathy. Jesus can sympathize with our weaknesses.
So, when you're tempted, as we all are, Jesus said, "Y'know what? I have felt what you're feeling. I've experienced what you're experiencing when you are tempted". 'Cause He didn't just come to planet Earth, and sit up in some ivory tower, and observe how a human lives. He said, "No, I'm gonna live just like you. I'm gonna be one of you. I don't wanna see what it's like to be a human being, I wanna know what it's like to be a human being, and I want you to know that I know what it's like to be a human being". I was reading the other day, if you're a piano player, you may know this, I didn't know this. If you have two, if I have two pianos up here on the stage right now, if I were to strike a note on this piano, this piano would strike exactly the same note even though nobody touched it. I didn't know that. It's what they call "sympathetic resonance".
When you hit a key on one piano, if that piano's close enough it will sound the exact same note. Well, Jesus' body was an instrument that had sympathetic resonance. He was just like us. He can resonate with our temptations. So, when you're like me, and you're battling to do what's right, or you're battling not to do what's wrong, Jesus is lookin' at you and saying, "I know exactly how you feel. I've been there". Now, you may stop, and you say, "Okay, got a question. You just said Jesus is sinless, He never sinned". That's correct. So you may be saying to yourself, "Well, now, wait a minute. So He never gave in to temptation". Well, no, He didn't. "Okay, if He never gave in to temptation, how does He really know how I feel? And how does He really identify with us"? Because y'know the old saying, "You can't know what it's like 'til you taste it, you can't know what it's like 'til you try it".
Well, lemme give you an example. Many, many years ago, four decades ago, I had back surgery. I had a ruptured disc, didn't know what was wrong. I'd gone, I had back trouble for about nine months. In fact, we, Theresa and I, got married in the middle of my back trouble, and so now we have a saying: I'm a pain in her neck, she was a pain in my back. So anyway, I went to doctor after doctor. I started off with a medical doctor, I went to a chiropractor, I went to an osteopath, I went to a massage, a masseuse, I went to an orthopedic doctor, and I finally found a neurosurgeon. Finest neurosurgeon I think in the South East. And he immediately diagnosed my problem, took me into surgery, operated on my back, and I mean gave me almost a brand new back.
Now, here's the strange thing. He'd never had back trouble. And he had never had his back operated on. But what qualified him to do the surgery on my back is he actually knew the problem I had better than I do. I didn't know what my problem was; he immediately knew what it was. I didn't know which disc was ruptured; he knew immediately, it was between L4 and L5. I didn't know how to treat the problem; he knew exactly what he needed to do. In other words, his experience with back trouble was actually greater than my experience. He actually understood what I was going through better than I understood it, and I was going through it. Jesus was the same way. He was tempted just like we are. Because really, there's only three ways you can be tempted. I don't if you've ever heard this, but this would be worth comin' to church for.
There's only three, y'know, we think, "Oh, you can be tempted thousands of ways". Not really. You can boil down every temptation you face in three categories. In fact, there's a Disciple named John who laid it out for us. John said, "For everything in the world," and here's the way we're tempted, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, comes not from the Father, but from the world". So in other words, John said, "You can categorize every temptation you face in three categories". Appetites, ambitions, and attitudes.
Now, the reason why I know Jesus was tempted just like we were is because that's exactly the three ways that Jesus was tempted. I'm gonna take you back 2,000 years, and if you've never heard this story, I'm gon' tell it to you. If you've heard it, you'll remember it. Jesus had been in the desert 40 days, 40 nights. He was fasting. That means no food, no water, for 40 days, okay? So he wasn't hungry, he was "hongry". He was famished, and he was thirsty. So Satan comes along, and he points to some rocks on the ground, and he says, "I know you're hungry. Hadn't anything to eat for 40 days. Why don't you turn those rocks into bread, all right"? What's he appealing to? His appetite, right? Men, you're hungry.
So today, what does Satan try to do? He tries to take a legitimate appetite that God's given us and tried to get us to fulfill it in an illegitimate way. So God's given us an appetite for sex. Satan says, "Sleep around". God's given us an appetite for food. Satan says, "Overeat, be a glutton". God's given us a desire to make money and provide for our family. Satan says, "Be greedy, make all that you can, and keep it for yourself". So the same way Jesus was tempted, we're tempted. Appetite. Then Satan said, Satan takes Jesus up to a mountain, shows him all the kingdoms of the world. And he said, "See all these kingdoms? You can have them all. You can rule over all them. All you've got to do is just worship me".
In other words, what he was saying was, "Bypass the cross, don't be beaten, don't take the crown of thorns, don't be whipped, don't be flogged, don't shed one drop of blood. Detour 'round all that. Don't take the high road, take the low road. Don't take the hard road, take the easy road". What did he appeal to? His ambition. "Get what you want, but get it the way you want it". So today, Satan does the same thing. We're tempted to sell out anytime we can for popularity, for possessions, for position, for prestige, for power. I've watched people all of my ministry; I've seen it, and couldn't do anything about it. I watched them sacrifice their family and their friends on the drive to get ahead, to make more, climb the corporate ladder, get everything that they wanted. Same way. Tempted by our ambitions.
Then Satan gives it one last chance. He takes Him to the Pinnacle on top of the Temple. He says, "Why don't You throw yourself down? 'Cause You know God won't let You hurt Yourself. God's got all these angels down there, they've got a safety net, and they're gonna take care of You, they're gonna catch You, and they're gonna protect You". He was tempting Jesus to test God. He was tempting His attitude. "Hey, look out for number one. Do what makes You feel good. Do what You want to do. Don't let anybody else tell You what to do. You forget about what God wants You to do".
Now, here's the point I want you to understand. When Jesus came to planet Earth, He got in the game with us. He played by the same rules. He didn't pull rank, He didn't cheat. He used the same thing to overcome temptation that we have at our disposal. He didn't rip His suit out and become Superman. All He did was use two things: Scripture and surrender. "Satan, this is what you want Me to do? This is what God says. I'm not gonna surrender to what you say, I'm gonna surrender to what He says". We got the same tools. Every time we're tempted, we can always do two things. What does God's Word say about this? Am I gonna do what God's Word says or not? So Jesus confronted temptation just like us. Oh, it gets better. Secondly, Jesus conquered temptation for us. Now, the author of Hebrews presents us with this unparalleled claim for anyone who's ever lived.
Now, listen to what He says. "We don't have a high priest who's unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who's been tempted in every way, just as we are". Boom, "Yet He did not sin". I just reread that this morning in my Greek New Testament, and there's only two words. He says, "Yet He did not sin". That's what the NIV says. There's only two words in the Greek. It just says, "Without sin". "He was tempted just like we are, without sin". Now, to understand what a great statement, what an unbelievable statement that is, you've gotta understand what sin does to all of us. Say, we don't take sin seriously, let's just be honest. I don't take it as seriously as I ought to, you don't take it as seriously as you well to.
Think about the things we don't even yawn at today that our mouth woulda flown open 30 years ago. We just don't take it seriously. We don't realize how sin affects every part of our life, 'cause sin affects us in four ways. Watch this. Number one, sin affects us in who we are. Sin affects who we are. We're all born in sin, we're sinners by nature, it is who we are. Nobody has to teach you to sin. Nobody has to teach you to do wrong. You don't have to go to class, and say, hey, gimme all the ways I can mess my life up. We're all born with that ability because sin affects who we are. Now, because sin affects who we are, sin affects what we do. I mean, sin's not just a matter of the hands, it's a matter of the head, right?
So I mean, because we're sinners, lemme go back. Because we're sinners, we engage in sinful acts. Our sinful nature is the root of why we do wrong, and what we do wrong is the fruit of our sinful nature. In other words, do you know why we do bad things? Because we're bad. We do wrong things because we're wrong. We sin because we're sinners. That's who we are, we were born that way. It affects who we are, it affects what we do, and because it affects what we do, guess what? It affects the way we think. So sin's not just a matter of the hands, it's a matter of the head. So we have lustful thoughts. We have selfish thoughts. We have angry thoughts. Somebody cut you off on the freeway. I tell you this, when somebody cuts you off on the freeway, the first thing you think is not, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life".
No, we have angry thoughts. We have evil thoughts. And yes, we have racist thoughts. We have greedy thoughts. Why, why is that? Why do we think these things? That's the way we're born, that's the way we are. We are sinful in who we are, we're sinful in what we do, we're sinful in the way we think, and we're sinful in where we fail. See, sin's not just being successful in doing bad things, it's when you're a failure at doing good things. You can sin in one of two ways. We only think about one way. The only way we ever think about sinning is when we do something bad, but if we fail to do something good, we kinda give ourselves a free pass. Both are sins. You can commit a sin by commission, you can sin by omission. You can not do what you oughta do, or do what you should not do. It affects every part of my life.
But then the author of Hebrews comes along and says, "Well, wait a minute. Jesus was without sin". And the incredible thing is this. It's not just what the author of Hebrews said. When you go back and read the Gospel, you know who else said Jesus was without sin? His family said it. His friends said it. His foes said it. Because He was just perfect in every way you could imagine. One of His three closest friends, John, that we just talked about a little while ago, He was confident in His circle. He saw Him up close and personal for three years. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, He watched Jesus in every imaginable situation. You know what John said about Jesus? "You know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin".
In other words, he said, "Jesus was perfect in who He was. We're not, but He was. He was born without sin. He didn't have a sinful nature. He wasn't just pure on the outside, He was pure on the inside". Then another Disciple, another part of His inner circle, a Disciple named Peter came along. He wrote this about Jesus. "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth. He wasn't just perfect in who He was, He was perfect in what He did. He never committed one sin. Every time He said something, it was always the right thing. Every time He did something, it was always the right thing". Then a man comes along by the name of Paul. Paul at one time was the greatest hater of Jesus in the world, 'til he met Jesus. When he met Jesus, he went from being the greatest hater of Jesus in the world to the greatest lover of Jesus in the world. And after he met Jesus, he wrote this about Jesus.
"For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God". In other words, "Jesus wasn't just perfect in who He was, and what He did, but the way He thought. He didn't even know sin mentally. Sin never even entered into His mind". Can you imagine? Never a lustful thought, never a racist thought, never a greedy thought, never an angry thought, not one thought like that even passed through His mind. And then finally, the coup de gras, Jesus Himself makes this audacious bold statement when He asks a question I would never ask, and no one should ever ask. Listen to what Jesus said. "Can any of you prove Me guilty of sin? If I'm telling the truth, why don't you believe Me"? Do you know who was out there listening when Jesus asked that question?
His mother was there, His brothers were there, His sisters were there, His Disciples were there, the Pharisees were there, His family was there, His friends were there, His foes were there, and He gets up. Can you imagine? You talk about bold, you talk about having some guts. He says, "Okay, take your shot. Which one of you can convict Me of one sin"? And as of today, nobody's stepped up to the plate yet. And by the way, y'know what's really tough for a pastor? Y'know what I did for a lot of in my ministry, and I still do today? Think about this. How would you like to be a pastor, and get up here, and preach, and try to tell people how they oughta live, when your mom and dad are sittin' out there. How 'bout that? Can you, I can see it now. Which of you convicts me of sin? And I got a mom, and a dad, and two brothers, and a wife. "Can I get in line first"? "Can I, I got a testimony, let me bear witness".
There's no way I would ask that. Yet Jesus says, basically, "I'm declaring open season on Me. Bring it". He gets the CIA, He gets the FBI, He gets the IRS. He says, "Can any of you here convict Me of even one sin"? Now, to be fair, Jesus was accused and crucified for the crime of blasphemy, which was claiming to be God. But you have to understand the difference between sins and crimes. This'll be worth comin' to church for. Bet you never thought about this before. All sin is a crime against God, that's what makes it sin. All sin's a crime against God. But not every crime is a sin against God. In certain countries, it is a crime to share the Gospel. It's not a sin, because Jesus commands us to share the Gospel. Jesus was accused of the crime of claiming to be God, but He was innocent of that crime because He was God, and He never committed a sin.
Now, this is where we have to stop, and we've gotta make a choice here. We gotta make a decision. 'Cause one of three things has to be true about Jesus. One, He was deluded. He thought He was sinless, but He was just crazy. He was about six fries short of a Happy Meal, okay? He was just nuts. If He wasn't deluded, then He was deceptive. He knew He sinned just like everybody else, He just lied about it. And He hid it. But if He wasn't deluded, and He wasn't deceptive, He had to be divine, because only God never sins. So we're looking at a man who in 33 years of living never lost sleep over a guilty conscience, never blushed over a shameful comment, never regretted any sinful conduct, no unclean thought ever flashed through His mind, no unkind word ever crossed His lips, no unrighteous deed ever came out of His hands.
So for 33 years, or 396 months, or 1,720 weeks, or 12,047 days, or 298,128 hours, or 17,347,680 minutes, Jesus Christ never sinned. There's not a religious leader, not a spiritual leader, not a moral leader, not a civic leader that can say that, because only Jesus is just perfect. Now, so far you may say, "Pretty good stuff. Interesting. But I gotta go to work tomorrow. And I got pornography on my computer. And I got drugs stashed under my bed. And I got a bottle of alcohol waiting on me in the refrigerator. And I got a bitterness toward my parents I've never gotten over. And I got a bad temper". Well here's the third thing. Jesus not only confronted temptation like us, He not only conquered temptation for us, Jesus combats temptation with us. Now, watch how this works. How does this help us?
You say, "Well, Jesus was sinless, but I'm not". I get it. "He fought temptation and beat it, sometimes I don't". I get it. "So how can a sinless Savior help a sinful person like me live the life I ought to live"? Keep reading, verse 16. "Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need". The word "then" is the word "therefore". That is, "In light of the fact we have a high priest who never sinned, He was tempted like we are, but He never blew it one time. In light of that, we can go to God anytime we want to, don't have to make an appointment, don't have to go through an assistant, don't have to get on anybody's calendar.
Anytime I ever wanna go in, the door's always open. I can go in and talk to God any time I want, because Jesus was the sinless Son of God, He has opened the door for all of us to go to the very throne room of God any time we want to". And guess what? "We'll find exactly what we need when we're facing that temptation, and we can beat it". Or, "We can find what we need when we face that temptation and we don't, it beats us". 'Cause think about this, this is why I believe the Bible has to be the Word of God. What do we need to fight temptation and beat it? And what do we need when we fight temptation and we don't? Well, let's take it in reverse.
So, you face temptation one day, and you swore, "I'll never do it again," but you did it again. And the same guilt's washing over you. Well what do you need? You need mercy. You need a God that will say to you, "I know you blew it again, let's pick you up, let's dust you off, let's start over. I forgive you, let's go again". You need mercy. And then you face that temptation, and you're making that decision. Am I gonna blow it again or not? In this one time, am I gonna whip it or not? What do you need? You need grace. You need the grace of God that comes to you and says, "Because My Son died for you, because My Spirit lives in you, you're not in this alone, we are in this together.
And through faith in this sinless Savior who has come to live in you, you can fight, and face, and fight that temptation together, and you can win". Because Jesus did not come to this earth just to get victory for Himself. He came to give us victory for ourselves. He said, "Hey, we're in this together. I got tempted like you, I conquered temptation for you, and now we're gonna confront and combat temptation together". A great, great writer put it this way. "The life that Jesus lived qualified Him for the death that He died, and the death that He died qualifies us for the life that He lived".
So, now, let's answer the question. Let's just get down to brass tags. Why Jesus? And not just "Why Jesus"? Why Jesus only? Why Jesus alone? 'Kay, let's take it from the top. Because God is Holy, and God is just. Now, if God is Holy, He cannot condone sin, and if God is just, He must condemn sin. He can't just let humanity off the hook. He can't just turn a blind eye and pretend it didn't happen. He can't just sweep it under the rug. Sin must be punished. So here's the dilemma that we've all got. We're all sinners. And we're all guilty. And our sin must be punished.
So if God cannot condone my sin, and God must punish and condemn my sin, how on Earth can I be saved from my sin? Well, the only solution to that problem, and the only answer to that question, and the only cure for that sickness is a sinless Savior. 'Cause here's what happened. Jesus comes and lives an absolutely perfect life, and God looked at Jesus and said, "I condone what You have done". And then we came along, we lived a sinful life. So God looked at Jesus and said, "I'm gonna condemn them in You for what they did. I'm gonna condone You for what You did, but I'm gonna condemn in You what they did".
And because of His sinless life, He could pay for our sins. And I wanna say to every Buddhist, and every Hindu, and every Muslim, and every Jew, and every other person who follows any other religious leader: nobody makes that cut but Jesus. Nobody makes the grade except Jesus. Nobody fits the bill and fills the bill except Jesus. 'Cause when it comes to living a perfect life, there's only two grades. It's not pass/fail, it's 100 or zero. And Jesus is the only one who's ever scored a perfect 100. So, I Googled a list, I went on Google when I was workin' on this message. I thought, I'm gonna check somethin' out.
So I Googled a list of the top historical experts in the world. And they all got together and they chose the top 10 leading religious figures of all time. We're gonna take them in descending order. I'm gonna put them up on the screen. I want you to think while I'm talkin' for the next 10 or 15 seconds. Just kinda run in your mind. Let's see how many you could name. If I were to say to you, who are the top 10 religious figures of all time, who would you name? They named the top 10, we're gonna do it in descending order, and let's just see how many you get. Couple of 'em I promise you won't get. I wouldn't've thought at least one of them, but some of 'em you'll get.
So we'll just start, okay, so this is number 10. They said the 10th most important influential religious figure who ever lived was Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science. Number nine, Joseph Smith, Junior, founder of Mormonism. Number eight, Moses, gave the 10 Commandments. Number seven, Martin Luther, inspired the Protestant Reformation. Number six, wouldn't've made my list, Zoroaster, all right, founder of Zoroastrianism, first historically acknowledged world religion. Number five, Confucius, founder of Confucianism, which is why they're all confused. Four, Krishna, Major Avatar of Hinduism. Three, Gautama Buddha, founder of Buddhism. Two, Mohammed, Prophet of Islam, writer of the Koran. And then drum roll please, number one, Jesus of Nazareth.
Now, you may say to yourself right now, "Wonderful, awesome. I knew Jesus would be number one. I knew Jesus deserves to be first". I take great exception to that list. Great exception. Jesus doesn't deserve to be first. He deserves to be only. Only. It's an insult to Jesus to put Him on a list with anybody. To put Jesus in a line up, I mean, can you imagine? Jesus in line up. Can you pick out number one? Y'know why? Because everybody else up on that list, they had flaws, they had faults, they had failures, they made mistakes, they messed up, they blew it. Only Jesus was just perfect. So, why Jesus? Better question. Why not Jesus?