Who is Jesus?

Who is Jesus?

This is a question that people from all walks of life have been asking for all the last two thousand years.

Some say:

He was a great teacher

He was a prophet

He was a miracle worker

He was a revolutionary

He was a good man

He was the founder of Christianity.

But who do you say He is?

None of those descriptions do Him justice.

But John begins His Gospel, not focused on what Jesus did, but who Jesus is.

Pray

Read John 1:1–5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Jesus is the Eternal God

Read John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

John’s Purpose

John was intentionally open his Gospel exactly where the Bible began… creation.

Read Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

John is taking us back to a point before creation.

As we discussed last week at Momentum, God, the Creator had to exist before creation it couldn’t have been created if the creator didn’t first exist.

But we also discussed that Jesus was before creation too.

Jesus’ story didn’t begin when He was born in Bethlehem.

Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem was just the moment that eternity stepped into history.

Three Reasons That is Important

The Word is Eternal

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Jesus always existed which sets Him apart from anyone else.

He was never created and thus had no beginning.

The Word is Distinct from the Father

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

This opens the door to an important concept to understand from the Bible called Trinitarian Theology.

Now that’s a face bible term, but let me explain it.

This part of this verse tells us that God and Jesus are two separate people.

They have two separate responsibilities in the story of the Bible.

They are distinct from one another.

But they exist in perfect fellowship.

When the Summer Olympics come around, I am enamored by the team diving.

Anyone ever watch the team diving?

This event essentially is what it sounds like.

Two people climb up on top of this giant platform a ways above the water.

And at the same time they jump off and do some flips and spins and enter the water at the same time.

Now when they are good, you can’t hardly tell that there are two people involved.

As a matter of fact, they are often so in-sync with one another, that I get tricked as to what event it is when I turn it on.

Their launch, their spins, their flips, the way they move their arms, the way the stretch out to enter the water, and the way they enter the water is flawless.

Their perfect unity doesn’t erase their distinction, it magnifies their relationship to one another.

In the same way, from before the beginning of time, God and Jesus have been working so closely with one another that their distinction also magnifies their relationship with one another.

That’s the first important part of Trinitarian Theology, God and Jesus are distinct.

But and if it were left at that, it would be way easier for us to really understand, but the next part is what really sets them apart from anyone and anything else.

The Word is Fully God

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

The last part of John 1:1 tells us that the Word, Jesus was also fully God.

Now wait a minute, we are saying that Jesus was both completely distinct from God and now we are saying that He is completely the same.

Both of the those statements are true.

John didn’t say:

The Word become God.

The Word was almost God.

The Word was like God.

He said the Word was God.

This is important because most of us know Jesus the man that died on the Cross.

But if He were just a man who died on a cross, He wouldn’t have been able to conquer death.

He wouldn’t he able to save us.

Jesus was able to conquer death, because He was God.

No one else has ever died and rose again apart from the power of God.

Now you might say, “I hear of people all the time that died and then were brought back to life in hospitals.”

And that’s somewhat true.

However, when someone is “brought back from the dead” there are still parts of their body that are still functioning.

And of course, their body is still very much present.

When Jesus was “brought back from the dead” his situation was much different.

There was no CPR, Defibrillator, or ventilator.

They took Him, fully dead, off the cross.

They prepared His body and they put Him in the tomb.

Once they put Him in the tomb, they rolled a giant stone in front of the opening and soldiers stood guard.

There was no one “bringing Him back”

He didn’t just happen to wake up.

God reach down into that very tomb and retrieved His Son and brought Him back to where He belonged, sitting at the right hand of His throne.

And that truth, is very much what every bit of Christianity is built upon.

If Jesus didn’t conquer death, if Jesus wasn’t fully God as well as fully man, then He was just fully man and no different than you and I.

But in fact, the Bible tells us that all of those things are very true.

Jesus was before the beginning of time.

Jesus was distinct from God.

Jesus was fully God.

If Jesus is fully God, what evidence does John give to prove that?

Jesus is the Creator of Everything.

Read John 1:1–3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

John doubles down on the Godliness of Jesus here.

He says, He he was a separated guy, sure, but He was also the Creator too.

Now remember Genesis 1:1 tells us the God created the heavens and the Earth.

That means that if God was the Creator, and Jesus is God, then Jesus is also the creator.

He was just simply there, He was doing the creating too.

Everything that came into existence came through Him.

Look at John 1:3 “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

Not only were all thing made through him, but nothing was made without Him.

Remember, I have told you before the repetition is important in the Bible.

Jesus was in the beginning.

Jesus was with God in the beginning

Jesus was God in the beginning

He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through Jesus.

And nothing was made apart from Jesus.

The seven different ways this truth is repeated leaves no doubt to the fact the Jesus created all things.

Why does this matter?

Because if Jesus was the creator, then He has authority over all creation.

It explains his miracles, his power, and his sovereignty.

Tomorrow morning, Jennifer is going to talk more about the power found in Jesus’ miracle and the several different things He should His authority over things.

So I won’t go into too much detail tonight, but I will emphasize that Jesus being God is the very thing that makes those miracles happen.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t turn a few loaves of bread and a few fish into a feast for thousands, help someone instantly, or raise someone from the dead.

Jesus’s Godliness allowed Him to do that.

And all things, even death, submit to His authority because He created them.

Application

If Jesus created

The oceans

The mountains

Every star

Every atom

And every human being

They why would you doubt that Jesus has authority over the hurts, the struggles, and all the hard things.

When we are walking with Him, we know that He can conquer all of the thing that Satan can throw at us.

But even that isn’t all that John tells us about Jesus.

Jesus is the Source of Life

Read John 1:4 “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

In him was life.

In Him, as the creator of all things, comes physical life.

When He created man, God breathed air into His lungs.

In that moment, we too were given physical life because we can all trace our lineage back to Adam.

But more importantly, in Him is eternal life.

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Through Jesus, was were given the opportunity to be physically alive, but we are also given the opportunity to become spiritually alive.

John goes on to say that Jesus “was the light of men.”

Jesus is the hope in the darkness of our sins.

Jesus is the light the brings redemption to the dark places in our lives.

Apart from Christ, we may exist, but we are spiritually dead.

Apart from Christ, we are forever separated from God and Heaven.

It’s only through Jesus, the sources of life, that we can be saved and have that right relationship with Him.

Jesus Overcomes the Darkness

Read John 1:5 “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Darkness is where

Guilt lives

Shame hides

Fear grows

Addiction thrives

Temptations convince us to take action

Sin convinces us there is no hope.

Jesus is the overcomer of all of those things.

He is the light unto the dark places.

And look at the tense of this verse.

“Shines”

Present tense.

His light is still shining and is available to conquer the darkness in your life.

But understand this, no darkness can defeat Jesus.

Not

Sin

Shame

Regret

Mistakes

Anxiety

Or even death. Nothing overcomes Jesus.

Conclusion

Tonight you’ve seen John’s answer to our question.

Jesus is

The Eternal God

The Creator

The Source of Life

The Light of the World

The question now isn’t who is Jesus?

The question now is Who is Jesus to you?

And what will you do with HIm.

Where does the light of Jesus need to shine in your life?

It can be a sin that you can’t shake

An addiction that you can’t get rid of

It could be mental health

I could be hurt that you are carrying from your past

Where does Christ need to meet you tonight?

Of course, in a group this size, there are always going to be people who haven’t ever truly accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Before Christ work in the dark areas of your life, He has to start in the darkest area of your life, the separation between you and God.

Jesus was God’s answer to Adam and Eve’s sin.

Jesus was God’ answer to the Sin Ripple that has carried on through time since sin entered into the world.

And tonight, if you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, Jesus is God’s answer to that very problem in your life.

What are you going to do with that information?

We are all accountable to how we answer the question.

There are only two options in the end.

You accept Christ as your Lord or you don’t

But the consequences are very real.

You spend eternity with God or you don’t

What is your choice here tonight?

Gospel