Story Wars 6

Who Is Jesus?

Is Jesus who He claimed to be?

Text: Matthew 16:13-17 & John 1:1-5, 14

Introduction

Matthew 16:13–17 “13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”

We have come to a point where we can confidently conclude that God’s revelation is absolutely trustworthy when it come to explaining the world you and I observe and experience every day. God has told us important truths like who He is, how everything got here, who we are, why we deal with sin, struggles, pain suffering and evil, which then leaves us with a hopeless dilemma of being separation from God and on the wrathful side of His justice.

If God is correct about those things (and He is), we can approach with confidence God’s narrative about how He Himself brings back to this earth hope for creation and humanity to be restored back to the way God intended everything to be; perfectly united with Him. God’s revelation tells us of a person named JESUS!

I want to spend the rest of our time together getting a general but confident understanding of who Jesus is and what He accomplished for YOU…

1) Jesus’ Person (His Divinity)

A. Jesus eternal existence

Genesis 1:1 “1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

John presents Jesus as the “Word” who was present when the world began.

John is not referring to a starting point, but rather an infinite state.

Jesus “the Word” is the very “Word” who starts the story.

He is the owner, king, and main character of the story!

Colossians 1:16 “16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:”

John is a very reliable source to make such a claim about Jesus

(JPCS Jn): John had almost certainly known “Jesus of Nazareth” since he was a small boy. He was the Lord’s cousin. His mother, Salome, was sister of the virgin Mary. The mysterious circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus, chronicled by Matthew and Luke, were no secret in the family circle. We can reasonably assume that the Lord Jesus, in his boyhood and early manhood days, along with his brothers and sisters, had normal contact with the relatives who lived by the lake.

(v3) All things individually and separately; to the extent of every infinite detail of creation.

From galaxies lightyears away to the lilies of the field.

Every cell that makes up your body.

LISTEN…don’t let the feminist strip joy away from you women of being a woman or from you men the value of masculinity!!!

Creation is a final product, not a continuing process.

(v14) Solomon asked in 1 Kings 8:27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?”

B. Jesus human existence (v14)

In Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s account of Jesus’ life, Peter makes a HUGE claim about this person named Jesus; “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Claims of opposition — “Recycle Redeemer Theory”

In short, the account of Jesus was simply borrowed from mythological gods found across the world

Big problem with this…evidence of these mystical accounts appear after the time of Jesus’ life. They copied from the gospels!

There is no good historical evidence of any mythological creatures or the activities.

There is an enormous record of Jesus’ existence and His works.

Quote: (Gregory Koukl) “Professional historians do not believe the New Testament account is merely a retelling of ancient myth. Not every historian endorses every detail of the Gospel records, to be sure…scholars both liberal and conservative overwhelming agree that Jesus of Nazareth was a man of history and the Gospels, on the main, tell his story accurately.”

Quote: (Will Durant)(Pulitzer Prize-winning historian; “The Story of Civilization”) “No one reading these scenes can doubt the reality of the figure behind them…After two centuries of higher criticism, the outlines of the life, character and teachings of Christ remain reasonably clear and constitute the most fascinating feature in the history of Western man.”

You have to keep in mind that to the Hebrew mind, you didn’t make such claims!

No person in the Hebrew world got their 15 min of fame!

If Jesus is not who He claimed to be, I would encourage you to write Him off as a mad man, imbecile (him claiming what he knows is not true of himself), stupid, and insane.

The writers about Jesus’ life were actual real life eye witnesses!!!

They were not writing fairy tell story’s over in some private corner. They were out there in the public view witnessing the divine in human form.

No one was laughing as they listened to Him.

Soldiers would attempt to arrest Him and come up empty handed.

Eye witnesses experienced Him calm a raging storm.

“dwelt among us” = pitching a tent; tabernacled among us.

John said, “We beheld His glory…full of grace and truth.”

Quote: (John Phillips) “But when Jesus was born, it was not the creation of a new personality at all. It was the coming into this world of a person who had existed from all eternity.”

2) Jesus’ Purpose

God came down; God got small (like a father stoops down to speak to a frightened child)

Turn to — Philippians 2:6–8 “6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

A. Jesus came to be the light we needed (v9-13)

Not life in the since of ethics and equity.

Watched an interview between Jordan Peterson (a renown psychiatrist) and Elon Musk. While they both hold Christianity to a very high level, they seem to only see Christianity for the ethics that flow from it.

While Jesus loved the poor and sick, His purpose was not to usher in financial equity or equity of health.

While Jesus loved and helped everyone who would come to Him, the divide He was concerned about was the divide between proud and repentant.

“Life was the light of men”

He came as the one with the inherit capability of giving life.

He came shining a light on the fact that the One who gives life to every creature has come down in form of the very creature to bring them back to the Creator.

(v9) “gives light” = to cast light on something

“lighteth every man that cometh into the world”

Jesus’ great beam of light came from high upon a cross and within an empty tomb!!!

B. Jesus came to be the sacrifice God demanded (v29)

Turn to — Hebrews 10:5 “5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:”

Matthew 26:42 “42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.”

Jesus submitted Himself to something extremely violent, brutal, and bloody.

Notice these scriptures: (Turn to these)

John 3:17 “17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

Luke 19:10 “10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Luke 5:32 “32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

John 10:18 “18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”

Mark 10:45 “45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Why would God demand such a sacrifice?

Sin is holding everyone as a hostage.

A ransom was demanded by sin.

A ransom is a price to be paid for a slave.

Jesus would buy back human beings.

Jesus’ body would be the price paid.

Jesus removes sin’s ownership over your soul — 1 Corinthians 6:20 “20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Jesus delivers you from God’s wrath — Romans 5:9 “9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”

It had to be a solution of grace outside of ourselves; His name is Jesus Christ!

Jesus willingly made a trade!

Quote: (Gregory Koukl) “He took his perfect life and he traded it for our rotten lives. He gets our badness—and the judgement and punishment that go with it. We get his goodness. We take his place, and he takes our place.”

Conclusion

Who Is Jesus? He is the only self acclaimed Savior who presented Himself as the Son of God and then showed this fact to the world through His victorious resurrection!

This Jesus is calling for you to submit to him a change of mind in who He is, your acknowledgement of your sinful guilt, a rejection of past beliefs, and a trusting faith in Him as your personal Savior.