02 04 01 12-18 - Who is Jesus to the Believer

Who is Jesus to the believer?

John 1:12-18

Intro:

·         @ Video

o    That video is the question we need to ask ourselves all the time

o    Are we really following Christ?

§  For us to know that answer – we have to know Christ!

·         The Gospel of John present Christ to us so that we can

o    Know Him as Saviour——Know Him as Lord

o    Have eternal life——Have purposeful life now

·         We have to know Christ!

·         Last week

o    Climbed the mountain towards verse 12

o    The faith in Christ an unbeliever needs to express for salvation

·         As we come down the other side, we see...

o    The faith about Christ a believer needs to express

o    The truths that help us live a God-honouring and purposeful life

o    These truths correspond with the truths we saw last week

I.          Jesus is the way to salvation (12)

A.       Believe in His Name

1.         All the truths we saw and will see...

a.        God in the flesh

b.       Came and lived without sin among men

c.        Died on the cross to provide forgiveness of our sin

d.       Buried and rose again

2.        ...We put our trust in those truths and rest fully on them for EL

B.        We Receive Him

1.         We accept Him as our Lord

2.        He is our Master

a.        We live for Him

b.       We let Him direct our life

C.       We Become the Children of God

1.        We have the privilege – yes, right – to become God’s children

2.        enter a wonderful family with all kinds of great benefits and privileges

D.       Transition

1.        One of the benefits is that we get to know even more about our Lord and what He has done for us

II.       Jesus is received through God working  (13)

A.       A Reminder of what does not provide salvation

1.        Not of blood — racial or ethnic heritage

2.        Not of flesh — personal desire or works

3.        Not of man’s will — religious systems or philosophies

B.       But of God

1.        Something we looked at in Ephesians last year

2.        We could not come to Christ unless God worked in our heart

a.        God didn’t force us to be saved – but He worked in our heart drawing us to Himself through faith in Christ

3.        This should produce such great gratitude in our heart!

C.       Ramifications

1.        If we chose God because it seemed like a good idea then in essence, we’re kind of the top dog

a.        @ Playground games as a child – picking teams – the one who picked was the captain

(1)     If you got to pick, then you could tell people where to play

(2)    if you were picked, then you listened to the captain

2.        God picked us – not us Him

a.        Therefore, our life is...

(1)     Not telling, commanding, God what He needs to do for us

(2)    God telling, commanding us what we need to do for Him

III.     Jesus is Easily recognized (14)

A.       The Word Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us

1.        Remember the Word refers to Jesus in His fullness

a.        Includes His ministry here on earth—but also all that He is and does outside of that earthly ministry

2.        Remember the Word is God

3.        The Word – Jesus – was unknowable to us as humans until He came to earth and lived as a man

a.        He never stopped being God

b.       But He was also a real and complete human

(1)     He ate, drank, got tired, felt pain, endured all the types of things humans go through...except sin

(2)    Why did he do that?

B.       So We Could See His Glory

1.        As believers, we see that He was not just a man

2.        We see Jesus for who He is

a.        Not the pastel Jesus

b.       The one and only Son, the Lord, the King, The Creator, The God

c.        And it affects our life

(1)     We are not taking leadership from a good man

(2)    But from the God who made us

3.        We also see how He is working around us

a.        We recognize His work in the lives of others

b.       We recognize opportunities to join Him in what He is doing

c.        We recognize what He is doing in our life

d.       SO – some—not all—of the mystery of life is removed because we see that Jesus is so busy and lets us join Him

IV.     Jesus is the one to be trusted       (15)

A.       JB

1.        “Jesus is the one to prefer since He came before me.”

a.        JB was six months older — began his public ministry earlier

2.        How could Jesus have come before JB?

a.        Because the Word always existed

3.        Therefore, JB’s message was:

a.        I may be older, more experienced in ministry

(1)     But this One is the One to follow! —He’s been around longer

B.       Application

1.         Bottom Line: You can trust Jesus!

2.        Some 15 times in John we see the idea of following Jesus

a.        It is one of the great concepts of living the Christian life

b.       To follow someone = you need to trust where they are going

c.        @ Imagine you are out in the Kawekas and you find yourself lost

(1)     Two people come by and offer to help

(2)    One tells you this is his first time in the mountains but he’s pretty sure he knows where he is going

(3)    The other tells you he is a member of the mountain rescue team and he has been covering these mountains for 15 years

(4)    Which one will you trust?

d.       When you and I realized the truth of Christ – that He has always existed then we can confidently follow Him

V.       Jesus Is the One Who Allows us to enjoy Life       (16)

A.       Through salvation we Have God’s Fullness

1.         Colossians 2:9-10 - 9For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. 10So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. (NLT)

a.        Jesus is fully God

b.       Through salvation we have received the full benefits of this

(1)     @ Adoption story

(a)    Poor son amazed that he gets to enjoy all the benefits

(2)    Not talking about you’ll be as rich as God or as smart as God

(a)    But you have God’s riches, knowledge, power, presence all available to you all the time

(b)    God doesn’t spoil us by giving us everything we want

i.         BUT we know that we don’t need to worry or fear

ii.        Our heavenly Father is more than able to care for us

(3)    That all comes through our relationship with Christ

B.       Those Blessings Keep on Coming

1.         This is the kind of giving God gives [an example]

a.        Malachi 3:10 - Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! (NLT)

b.       God is an extravagant gift-giver

(1)     Life — abundant life — eternal life!

(2)    Happiness — joy — joy that is inexpressible

2.        Grace upon grace

a.        God’s goodness upon God’s goodness!

b.       Want to enjoy life? – then live for Christ!!! And receive the fullness of God

VI.     Jesus is  the creator of life            (17)

A.       Moses gave the Law

1.         Not a bad thing

a.        Given by God to reflect His holy, just, and righteous character

b.       Romans 7:7 - What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law.

c.        Romans 7:12 - Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

2.        But restricting

a.        The purpose of the law was not to save anyone

(1)     Romans 3:20- For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. (NLT)

b.       The purpose was to bring people to faith in Christ

(1)     Galatians 3:24 - Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

3.        The law told mankind — sin problem that we were incapable of fixing

B.       Jesus Gave Grace and Truth

1.        Two concepts we have already seen

a.        Grace – God giving to us what we don’t deserve

b.       Truth – living with honesty and integrity

2.        Salvation

a.        We received it through grace as we believed the truth

3.        Sanctification

a.        We live the truth through grace

b.       IOW – I have reminded us recently that we don’t do good things in order to get God’s approval

(a)    I could go out and commit the most heinous sins and God will still love me

(2)    HOWEVER

(a)    That doesn’t mean I go out and do whatever I want

(b)    I still live by God’s moral law

(c)    I still obey the Word of God

(d)    WHY?

i.         Because it is how I show God I love Him

ii.        Because there are always consequences for sin

iii.      Because God will discipline us to bring us back

iv.      Because it is a way of showing this world Christ

4.       When we live by grace and truth—we truly do experience life the way Christ intended for us to experience it

a.        There will be trials—but we always have full confidence

b.       @ Jonah – on a ship running from God—storm comes—he knows it is because of his sin—“Cast me into the sea”

c.        @ Hudson Taylor—on a ship going to China—storm comes—tells the captain all will be right because he is called by God

VII.   Jesus is the revealer of god           (18)

A.       Jesus Declares God

1.        Greek word is the source for our English word exegesis

a.        Exegesis—interpreting Scripture

2.        Jesus...

a.        because He is in the bosom of God

b.       Because He is God

(1)     ...Is the One who interprets God

(2)    John 14:8-9 - 8Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? (NLT)

B.       Application

1.        There are so many ideas of God out there

a.        Grandfather—Big Guy—Vengeful—Unconcerned and distant—Force—besides all the different world religion ideas

2.        How do we know?

a.        Jesus is the exegete of God

b.       Jesus is the one who tells us what God is like

3.        So as we get to know Jesus, we get to know God

4.       Everyone else can only tell us what they THINK God is like

a.        Jesus tells us for sure what God is like

5.        No more wondering or confusion——No more fear or frustration

Conc:

·         For the rest of this book we will find out more of who Jesus is

o    By the time we finish, there will be too much to remember

o    So how will this help us in our life?

·         @ I dated Lisa for 4 years and we’ve been married for 20 years

o    Over that time I have found out hundreds of items that answer the question, “Who is Lisa?”

o    Do you think I can remember all those?

o    But they affect me—why?

o    Because I’ve lived their truths as I relate to her

·         Jesus is not a historical figure we need to learn about

o    Jesus is REAL

o    Therefore, the truths we have seen today, live them out in your relationship with Him

§  Pray and thank Him

§  Decisions

§  Talk about Him

Make sure you are a Christ-follower this week!