Who is He?

Introduction

I hope you are having a great Christmas season. I know all the kids are looking forward to Christmas day. I have planned a series of messages this year that are intended to strengthen our faith. If you remember our series through Acts, Paul has just been traveling through the churches confirming their faith and strengthening them. That is what I hope to do today. I don’t know about you but I honestly don’t doubt my salvation, but every now and then intrusive thoughts rush into my mind saying “What if it all isn’t true?”

One of my favorite Christmas songs is the hymn Who is He in Yonder Stall. Listen to these lyrics

Who is He in yonder stall, At whose feet the shepherds fall? Who is He in deep distress, Fasting in the wilderness?

Who is He in deep distress, Fasting in the wilderness? Who is he the people bless For His words of gentleness?

Lo! at midnight, who is He Prays in dark Gethsemane? Who is he on yonder tree, Dies in grief and agony? At His feet we humbly fall, Crown Him! crown Him Lord of all! Who is he that from the grave Comes to heal and help and save? Who is he that from His throne Rules thro' all the world alone?

The resounding answer to those questions:

'Tis the Lord! O wondrous story! 'Tis the Lord! the King of glory! At His feet we humbly fall, Crown Him! crown Him Lord of all!

He is the Lord. He is the Savior. And as the song Katy sang, He is the same God that angels worship veiling their eyes with their wings.

Christmas is all about one person. It isn’t about presents, or Santa Clause or Christmas parties or cookies. Christmas is all about Jesus Christ who came to be the Messiah and save us from our sins. But how do we know that Jesus was the right guy? Who is this baby that lies in a manger? Why should we believe he was the right one?

I think this is what the Jews were asking. In fact, many years later they would ask Jesus this very question. How do we know you are who you say that you are?

i want to tie our text in John 5:31-47 into Christmas. Because this is the question we need to ask who is He that has come into the world to save us from our sins. Turn if you will to John 5. We will start with vs 43 in introduction. Notice the word come. This passage clearly has a Christmas tone to it because it was on that day in Bethlehem that Jesus came.

Maybe your one of those who doubts that Jesus was who He said He was. You don’t really know who he was. Maybe just a good man and a teacher, but who is He? I hope to begin to answer that question today. If this topic intrigues you, I challenge you to come to both of our services next Sunday. The mini-series for the day will be Christmas for Skeptics.

Maybe you are a believer in Jesus Christ today. All of the messages this Christmas season are intended to strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ. Look for that common thread in each of the messages including tonights message. Are there times that random doubts pop into your head even? Are there times when circumstances make you fear that this is all a mistake? Can Jesus be trusted?

Today, we are going to look at four evidences that Jesus was the Messiah.

The life of changed believers confirms that Jesus was the Messiah vs 33-35

Jesus begins his defense and that is exactly what it is, by ushering in his first witness. Imagine putting God on trial. It is kinda like the scene from Miracle on 34th Street where they put Santa Clause on trial to prove he is who he said he was only worse because this is the God of the Ages. As Katy sang this morning this was the same being whom the Angels and Seraphs cover their eyes and cry Holy, Holy, Holy. But man often sets God up on trial. We don’t like something God allowed in our lives or we can’t believe something we cannot see; so we judge the God of the universe. This is what these Jews were doing. They had established themselves as judges over God.

But God in His mercy often humors us. God gives us the evidence we need. God continually reaches out to us to make Himself known because His love is greater than the offense He might take. God wants you to seek Him and find Him.

The first witness Jesus brings out is John the Baptist. He reminds them how they had asked John about the Messiah and John had told them the truth. Let’s take a look at the witness account of John the Baptist.

John 1:19-23 “And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.”

The very next day, John continues his testimony. Have you ever noticed how long court cases take and how sometimes a witness can be called more than once. But John continues his testimony by identifying the Messiah whom they were seeking: John 1:29 “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

John serves as a witness because of the words that He spoke.

He had been given a special role to play in God’s plan of redemption. John could have taken all the credit for himself. People were flocking to him after all, but he declared He must increase, but I must decrease. John wanted all the attention to be given to Jesus Christ.

The first witness I want share with you is the testimony of those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ. Any Christian here could give you a brief testimony of how Jesus came and saved them from their sins. In a court of law, witnesses testimony means a lot. I was saved as a younger boy around 9 years of age, but my family was completely lost before this moment in my life. My dad had gotten saved reading a gospel pamphlet called God’s Simple Plan of Salvation. That Sunday we attended a Baptist church for the first time, and on the way home, I started asking questions about how I could have my sins forgiven. My dad took that tract and he worked though it showing me how I was a sinner facing judgment and condemnation; but Jesus came died for my sins and then rose again on the third day victorious over death. He also showed me that I couldn’t save myself. There wasn’t enough good I could do to erase my sin; so I needed someone else to save me. Jesus offers that salvation to anyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ. Maybe that wording isn’t something you understand, but it simply means that you come to a point in your life where you choose to trust Jesus to forgive you and save you. Every Christian in this room has a similar story that they could tell.

John serves as a witness because of His life

John was kinda an odd ball to most of the world. Here was a man who lived in the desert, ate wild honey and locusts. He wore strange cloths. But all of that means nothing. John was a man who preached that we should repent of our sin. Repent means to change our mind about our sin. When Jesus saves a person, He changes a person. 2 Cor 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Jesus Christ changes lives. Sometimes that change seems small on the outside because we are still growing, but the truth is that there has been a huge change on the inside. Christians spend the rest of their lives learning to live out that change. I can’t answer for those who seem to have never changed, but I can usher before you a host of people who have been transformed by Jesus Christ. Something has to have happened to take a drug addict and turn them into a clean, diligent husband. I have heard stories of gang members who became Christians. Let me tell you the story of Bro. Mark Battory’s dad.

The miracles that Jesus performed confirm that Jesus was the Messiah vs 36

Jesus next witness or piece of evidence was the miracles that he performed. Vs 36 This piece of evidence may not be as strong to you today because you aren’t personally present to see those miracles. But Jesus was so bold as to bring up the miracles to his enemies knowing they didn’t believe in Him. They do not argue with him in fact, they tried to accuse him of being demon possessed because they couldn’t explain the power behind his works.

Could Jesus have faked these miracles? It is possible to put on a big show and deceive a lot of people, but there are somethings that just couldn’t have been faked. I remember watching David Copperfield make the statue of liberty disappear for all the world to see. This feat was the clever work of optical illusion and clever tactics; but we must remember that in Jesus day there were no computers, no artificial spotlights, no helicopters and gadgets. Jesus performed his feeding of the 5,000 in front of a large crowd on the side of a hill. No preparation had been done to stage a miracle. This just happened to be the place that they ended up at.

One of the greatest miracles that Jesus performed was the resurrection from the dead. This event has a lot of evidence to support it. Consider the empty tomb and all the work the Romans had done to secure. Consider the fact that Jesus was seen by over 500 people at one time. Consider that those same witnesses were so convinced of the truth of what they had seen they were willing to die for that belief. There was no lie or fictional, mythological development. It takes 3-5 generations for events to develop the mythos and legend. These accounts of Jesus miracles were written by men who saw them performed who would have been naturally resistant to accepting Jesus as the Messiah because he didn’t fit their preconceived ideas on how God would fulfill the prophesies.

The voice of God confirms that Jesus was the Messiah vs 37-38

1 John 5:9 “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.”

Jesus also ushers in the testimony of God Himself. At the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist there was a voice from heaven that said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” These men had not heard the voice of God, but others had. When Jesus says ye have neither heard his voice at any time, I do not believe he was making a general statement that people haven’t heard God. After all Moses heard God’s voice on Mount Sinai. Jesus was making a condemnation of these men.

They did not hear the voice of God because they had not placed their faith in the messenger that God had sent. True Christians know the work of God in their lives. Jesus says they hear his voice and they know Him, but those who are not the sheep do not hear or experience God in their lives like this. These men rejected the messenger that God had sent to them, His son Jesus Christ.

It’s kinda like waiting for a message from a client that he is going to purchase some large piece of property. He sends a message to you at your place of work by one of his mail room guys, but you refuse to let the messenger into the building because you think he is just some punk kid of the street. I imagine that deal is going to fall through.

God’s voice is heard in the message that God gives us through his Son Jesus Christ. And that message is found in the scriptures.

The scriptures prove that Jesus was the Messiah vs 39-47

The last piece of evidence that Jesus ushers forth is the witness of the scriptures. The written Word of God. The bible is filled with promises about the Messiah that Jesus Christ fulfilled. These promises were written hundreds to thousands of years before his birth. There is a popular lie out there that the Catholic Church created the bible in 300 AD. I can’t deal with the entire discussion, but I want to focus on the part that deals with the Old Testament because those prophesies about Jesus did occur before His birth. A work was done about 100-300 years before Jesus Christ was born to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek. This was called the LXX. The very fact that such a work was done before Jesus shows these prophesies existed before Christ. Also this translation was done by Jews so there was no Christian bias trying to write Christ into the Bible.

Christmas eve’s messages will both be about the fulfilled prophesies about Jesus’s birth. I am titling the message Christmas for Skeptics.

Jesus only references one old testament prophecy here in this passage Deut 18:15-19 “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; According to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. And the Lord said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.”

This prophesy spoke of a Messiah who would come as a prophet. He would be a Jewish man. He would preach God’s words. The prophesy concludes with these words, “If anyone will not listen to Him, I will require it of him.” We will all be judged by the message that Jesus preached. He came to preach deliverance from our sins, forgiveness; but we must place our faith in Jesus Christ.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

If we refuse to listen and obey that message, all that is left for us is judgment.

Conclusion

This morning if you want evidence that Jesus is the Messiah, there is plenty of it out there. Ask yourself why did Jesus come? Who was this baby that we celebrate at Christmas? What is so special about Him? If you need more evidence than that which I have given you today, come talk to me. We are going to have an invitation this morning. This is an invitation to come get some answers. I will also be giving more evidence in both services next Sunday.

Christian, this is a chance for us to rest in our faith. We don’t have a reason to give in to doubts. So let’s worship this baby in a manger who is also our Lord and Savior reigning at the right had of the Father in heaven.