Jesus Is Savior.

Notes
Transcript
Introduction: Jesus is ____.
Who is Jesus? if someone were to ask you that right now.
That coworker you’ve been praying God would move them to ask you
your child or grandchild who all of a sudden dropped out of the church, they are curious to know what you say.
A stranger sees your tattoo, your necklace, your clothing with jesus on it.
What would you say? I can hear your hearts beating faster just thinking about it.
and even if you knew the right words to say, would you understand what they mean and why you believe it?
Over the next few weeks, we’re going to discover what we believe and why we believe it about Jesus. So that we can be ready to share in a reasonable, confident way.
When we think of the world outside of these walls, we tend to think that the world is split between those who know and love Jesus, and those who know and hate Jesus.
Either way, we assume that everyone knows Jesus, has been taught about Him, and has a firm opinion on who He is, what He’s done, and how important He is.
But when you look at the data, there’s something I found surprising among those claimed “none” for religious affiliation. When asked what their opinion is about Jesus, most of these “nones” claim that they don’t have a opinion on Jesus.
So, these next few weeks are also for those here who may be unsure about Jesus, who’ve never spent too much time thinking about Him, or for those who have encountered Him through the people in their lives and just want to learn more.
So, Usually, we pick a book of the bible, and we go through it verse by verse all the way. But for a topical series like this, we take a theme, a question, a teaching, and we see how the whole of Scripture speaks to it. So we’re going to be surveying a few scriptures today, and those will be shown on the screen as we go. Do not try to flip through the bible. Don’t try to memorize what is written where, just pay attention to the actual words being shown.
Each of these seven weeks, we’ll look at one of the main characteristics of Jesus.
And today, we will see how, and why, Jesus is the savior.
What is a savior? Of course, someone who saves others.
We see everywhere that say “Jesus saves”. If people know one phrase about Jesus, that’s gotta be it. It’s everywhere!
On Billboards, along the Highway.
On Buildings
Sometimes we even see the phrase hockey t-shirts.
a, for some reason, angry guy shouting it at the street corner.
why do we need a savior? what are we being saved from?
We need to be saved from our own sin.
What is sin? Sin can be described in multiple ways, all accurate:
Going against God’s will in our actions, words, and even our thoughts.
Sin is described as a Debt, not a money debt.
When we disobey God, we cause injustice to Him and others. And for justice to be served, that debt we took needs to be paid back.
It is also described as a Trespass, like when you go on someone else’s property.
God’s laws are like a boundary, a line in the sand for us. And when we disobey those laws, we step outside of our boundary and trespass.
It has also been described as missing the mark.
Think of an archer, whose supposed to hit the bullseye, is destined to, it’s his one purpose. But He fires three arrows scattered to the outer rim of the board. Sin is like that, we miss the mark of how we are to live.
And all of these describe sin as a set of actions. But sin isn’t just that. Sin is also an underlying condition that we have inherited and carry with us.
Psalm 51:5 ESV
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
And this sinful condition is like a stain on us. a nasty, impossible to get out stain. Like on a white garment, you can try the tide stain stick, you can try a scoop of the oxi-boost powder, you can try bleach. Nothing we try can will get this stain off of us. we are tainted.
And it affects all of us.
Romans 3:23 ESV
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
So okay, we’ve missed the mark, we’ve gone too far, we’ve done this and that, but who hasn’t? The world will move on! Why is sin such a problem that Christians are always going on about it?
Because it goes against our design
God made us to be perfect. And Originally, mankind was perfect, until we sinned. We were designed to live according to God’s will. it is good for us to do so, it gives us life, it is the best life.
It’s like building a piece of furniture from Ikea. We’ve all made the same mistake, the first time we tried it. “i don’t need those instructions!”
You learned really quickly that the instructions are good!
Because sin is evil.
God is good, by definition. Anything that is apart from Him or goes against Him is evil. And we do not want to live lives that are evil.
because it hurts.
Sin hurts us and the people around us, from stealing to lying, to murder. It can only do damage.
it causes all suffering, sickness, and brokenness.
Sin has corrupted every person and even the created world itself. Even though God created it all perfectly, man’s sin threw it out of balance, and it is still wobbling.
every disaster, disease, and broken relationship is due to sin. Not always because you did something, but because the whole world is broken.
And worst of all. Because it causes death.
Not only difficult lives and pain, but our sin makes us unfit to be with God, the source of all life.
Romans 6:23 ESV
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Can’t God just look the other way?
No, because he is just.
And we cannot make our own sin go away. We cannot save ourselves.
we desperately need to be saved. Otherwise, there is nothing but suffering and death for us.
and so, in our scripture reading we heard earlier, God promises Adam and Eve that eventually, an offspring would come who would set things right, who would pay the price, who would save them and overcome sin, death, and the devil who seeks to destroy and devour us.
And that’s exactly why Jesus comes and where He steps in. Jesus is the one that came to save us.
1 Timothy 1:15 ESV
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
But how does Jesus save us? By doing everything we can’t.
He could be obedient, as a human He was also subject to God’s laws.
Galatians 4:4 ESV
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
He still takes our sins.
1 John 2:2 ESV
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
He dies in our place and pays the debt.
Isaiah 53:5 ESV
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
By His resurrection
1 Corinthians 15:3 ESV
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
1 Corinthians 15:4 ESV
that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
As Jesus is raised to life, He overcomes sin, death, and the devil that seeks to control and devour us. And He shares His victory with those who believe in Him.
When Jesus asked His disciples, his followers, who they thought He was, they answered correctly:
Mark 8:27 ESV
And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”
Mark 8:28 ESV
And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”
Mark 8:29 ESV
And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”
Mark 8:30 ESV
And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
And Then Jesus told them how He was going to save.
Mark 8:31 ESV
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Jesus has done all the work of saving the world. And He is the only one who can save.
Acts 4:12 ESV
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
No other religion, no other God, no self-help book, no exercise, no mindfulness, no discipline, no effort, no technology or medication, nothing has the power to saves us from sin, death, and the power of the devil. Only Jesus can do that.
And Thank God it is Jesus, because He is so unlike anything else out there.
We don’t usually spend a lot of time thinking about how unique Jesus is. Jesus, and Christianity are different from all other beliefs for one big reason.
Most Religions, philosophies, and practices see all of the pain, the suffering, the death and brokenness. They see this miserable hole that we are trapped in.
And they all try to do the same thing: To teach you how to get yourself out of that hole. And they might differ from one another a little. One tells you to jump, the other to climb, the other to crawl out. But they are all the same on telling you how You can get yourself out of the hole. How you can make your way up to be with God.
Jesus is different. Jesus doesn’t instruct us on how we can save ourselves. He does not tell us how we can get ourselves out, because we can’t.
Instead, in Jesus, God comes down to us, takes our place in the hole, and lifts us out of it so that we can be with God again.
That’s what a savior does. That’s what Jesus does.
And this salvation, that He has won for the whole world, how does it come to you?
Jesus dies for the sin of all people, but what’s the difference between those who are saved and those who are not?
We may think it’s about obeying enough, or being good enough, or giving enough, or trying to make up for our sin. But it’s not. Jesus has done all that already
The difference is faith. All we need to be saved is to have faith in the savior, Jesus.
Ephesians 2:8 ESV
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
Jesus has taken our sin, paid our debt, died our death, and conquered our greatest enemies. So that all who call on Him in faith shall life forever.
And that is why Jesus is Savior.
Reading:
Mark 8:27–31 ESV
And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.
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