Jesus in the Real World
Jesus in the Real World
1/11/2003 and 1/12/2003
READ “ONE SOLITARY LIFE”
John 1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood a it.
6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. b
10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, c nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, d who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’” 16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, e f who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.
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-The title of today’s message is “JESUS IN THE REAL WORLD.”
-I want to begin looking at who Jesus is and what Jesus taught.
-We are talking about “From Christmas to Easter” in a Bible study format on Wednesdays and on the weekends I want to focus on some of Jesus’ teaching. That is things like; the parables, the Kingdom of God, and the Sermon on the Mount.
-We need to address who Jesus is and why is He significant to us 2000 years later?
-What is the big deal?
1. According to John, He is God
-To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, Jesus didn’t leave us the option of thinking He was just a good man. If He isn’t the Messiah, the Son of God, He has the same credibility as a poached egg.
-The issue of Jesus’ identity is the key issue. Cults believe that Jesus existed; they just don’t believe that He is God in the flesh.
-In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word WAS GOD.
-If Jesus was just a good man or a prophet, He couldn’t die for us, He would have to die for Himself.
-If He was indeed God in the flesh, born of a virgin, He would be uniquely qualified to carry our sins and take our place.
-Remember Jesus walking along with His disciples and asking them who He was.
Matthew 16
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, a the Son of the living God.”
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-Peter said He was the Son of the Living God.
-The demons said, “You are the Holy One of GodGod.”
John 11- Martha said,
27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, b the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
[3]
-We are Christians, followers of Jesus. Who is He?
-He is God in the flesh, not just a good guy or a moral teacher.
-Why is it important?
-If Jesus is who He said, He can do for us what He said He could do!
-Imagine, the logos that the jaws worshipped, the eternal law, became a man, a person and lived among us.
2. He is the Lamb of God
John 1
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”
[4]
-Jesus is the lamb of God.
-The symbolism to the Jews was the Passover lamb being offered for the sins of the people.
-The angel said in Matthew, “You are to give Him the name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.”
1 Corinthians 5
7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. [5]
Revelation 5
5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits a of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
[6]
-John said He wasn’t just God, He was our sacrifice and substitute.
-He didn’t just come as God. He came as the bearer of our sin.
-Jesus took our wrong ways and actions and was sacrificed for them.
-He is the lamb who takes away our sins.
-He made it possible for man to come back to God.
-Islam doesn’t do that. Buddhism doesn’t do that. Not even Judaism does that.
-Only Jesus can be the Lamb of God.
-Jesus took your sin and the penalty of your sin.
Not long before she died in 1988, in a moment of surprising candor in television, Marghanita Laski, one of our best-known secular humanists and novelists, said, "What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness; I have nobody to forgive me."
John Stott in The Contemporary Christian.
In "The Christian Leader," Don Ratzlaff retells a story Vernon Grounds came across in Ernest Gordon's Miracle on the River Kwai. The Scottish soldiers, forced by their Japanese captors to labor on a jungle railroad, had degenerated to barbarous behavior, but one afternoon something happened. A shovel was missing. The officer in charge became enraged. He demanded that the missing shovel be produced, or else. When nobody in the squadron budged, the officer got his gun and threatened to kill them all on the spot . . . It was obvious the officer meant what he had said. Then, finally, one man stepped forward. The officer put away his gun, picked up a shovel, and beat the man to death. When it was over, the survivors picked up the bloody corpse and carried it with them to the second tool check. This time, no shovel was missing. Indeed, there had been a miscount at the first check point. The word spread like wildfire through the whole camp. An innocent man had been willing to die to save the others! . . . The incident had a profound effect. . . The men began to treat each other like brothers. When the victorious Allies swept in, the survivors, human skeletons, lined up in front of their captors (and instead of attacking their captors) insisted: "No more hatred. No more killing. Now what we need is forgiveness." Sacrificial love has transforming power.
-Jesus changes us with His love. He didn’t come to punish us but to help us.
3. JESUS IS OUR EXAMPLE
John 1
43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”
44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
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-Paul said “FOLLOW ME WHILE I FOLLOW CHRIST”
-Jesus came to be the answer, not just to tell us what to do.
-Jesus is the truth in person.
-He didn’t ask us to do anything that He didn’t do first.
-There is a very popular term today, WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?
-That is what we are to do as Christians, ask ourselves, what would Jesus do in this situation?
Ephesians 4
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
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-Jesus made it simple, follow me, do what I do.
-Your purpose in life is to “be like Him”.
-What would Jesus act like and be like in 2003?
-That’s how you should be.
“Jesus is a man for all times. His life and message belong to every preceding and successive generation as much as to the generation in which He actually lived. When we study Jesus we have to look for “The Spirit of Jesus” and not get choked and lost in the times of Jesus. The message of the gospel can’t get lost in the culture of the first century.”
JESUS IS GOD
JESUS IS THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TOOK AWAY YOUR SINS
JESUS IS OUR EXAMPLE
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[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Jn 1:1-18). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[2]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Mt 16:13-16). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[3]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Jn 11:27). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[4]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Jn 1:29-34). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[5]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (1 Co 5:7-8). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[6]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Re 5:1-9). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[7]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Jn 1:43-45). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[8]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Eph 4:11-16). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
