Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

To Jews, He was a false Messiah that led millions of people away from the one true God and one true religion: Judaism.

To Muslims, He was one of the greatest prophets ever sent, but He was not the Son of God and was not crucified.

To Hindus He is simply another god among thousands.

To atheists, agnostics, Buddhists and many other religions He was a good and wise moral teacher.

Jesus is obviously a huge figure in the history of the World, everyone who has ever heard His name has to address Him, everyone who has heard His name has to deal with Him.

The question before us today is the same question posed to Peter by Jesus Himself in the shadow of Caesarea Philippi, named after the Roman Emperor and devoted to the worship of a false God, “Who do you say I am?” What do we believe about Jesus.

What are the things about Jesus that we must stand our ground on and refuse to move.

We are in a similar situation as Peter when He was asked this question.

We live in the most powerful nation on the Earth and we are told to bow to many different things, and many different Gods.

We are often inclined to bow to the USA before we bow to

As Ken said last week, this is why the ancient creeds were written, so that we would have something that unified us.

Something that we could all proclaim together without division.

Something that grounded us in doctrines that we cannot and must not stray from.

Let’s look at the creed together:

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead.

On the the third day he rose again;

he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit.

I believe in the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints,

I believe in the forgiveness of sins,

I believe in the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Amen,

Our church fathers knew that what we believe about Jesus is vitally important because Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith.

Jesus is the hero of the Bible.

What we believe about Him will define us!

So the next several weeks, we will be talking about Jesus.

Today we will be we will be covering the first section about Jesus in the creed:

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,

So we will be talking about Jesus as: 1) Christ (2) The Son of God and Lord (3) The Word made flesh

Jesus: The Christ

1) Christ is often thought of as the last name of Jesus, but this is not the case.

Christ is a title.

Christ is often thought of as the last name of Jesus, but this is not the case.

Christ is a title.

The word Christ (Christos) means anointed one and is the same word for Messiah (Mashiach) in the Old Testament Hebrew.

There were many anointed ones in the Bible.

There were prophets who were anointed, priests who were anointed, but most of the time the term referred to a king, the king of Israel or Judah.

For instance, David referred to Saul as God’s anointed one in

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6 He said to his men, “I swear before the Lord: I would never do such a thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed.

I will never lift my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed.”

But we also see in the Old Testament that God promises to send a great king descended from King David who rule the whole world, who would bring peace to the world and establish the kingdom of God forever.

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10 The scepter will not depart from Judah or the staff from between his feet until he whose right it is comes, and the obedience of the peoples belongs to him.

or the staff from between his feet

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until he whose right it is comes,

11 When your time comes to be with your fathers, I will raise up after you your descendant, who is one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.

12 He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.

13 I will be his father, and he will be my son.

I will not remove my faithful love from him as I removed it from the one who was before you.

14 I will appoint him over my house and my kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever.’

”

and the obedience of the peoples belongs to him.

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ISRAEL REGATHERED

10 On that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples.

The nations will look to him for guidance, and his resting place will be glorious.

....12 He will lift up a banner for the nations and gather the dispersed of Israel; he will collect the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

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6 For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders.

He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

7 The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end.

He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.

a son will be given to us,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

He will be named

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

7 The dominion will be vast,

and its prosperity will never end.

He will reign on the throne of David

and over his kingdom,

to establish and sustain it

with justice and righteousness from now on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.

will stand as a banner for the peoples.

12 He will lift up a banner for the nations

This coming Christ would be the greatest of all anointed ones, and would set everything right.

He would fulfill all of the prophecies given.

This is the Christ that the people of God were waiting for.

6 For a child will be born for us,

If you place yourselves in the Israelites shoes for a minute and think about the situations they were in, you can imagine their desperation.

They had been overtaken again and again.

They had been in exile.

They had strayed from the Lord and been punished over and over again.

And in Jesus’ day, the Israelites again had been overtaken and were now ruled by Rome.

The promised land was occupied and ruled by pagans, people who did not honor God, but instead worshiped many Gods, one of which was their Emperor.

Jesus is the King of Kings

and gather the dispersed of Israel;

The nations will look to him for guidance,

and his resting place will be glorious.

Then Jesus shows up and He was not what they were looking for.

The son of a carpenter from a podunk town of Nazareth, who was preaching about the Kingdom of God, repentance, forgiveness, and love.

How could this be the Christ?

They were waiting for a warrior king who would come take back the land.

One who would push back and conquer their enemies.