SERMON BRIEF
Date Written: March 22, 2007
Date Preached: March 25, 2007
Church: OZHBC (AM)
FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS
Series Title: Doctrines of the Faith
Sermon Title: Jesus Christ – Who Is He?
Sermon Text: Matt 16:13-16
“…13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 14 And they said, "Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets…” 15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God…"
INTRODUCTION:
Just who is this man we have heard about called Jesus of Nazareth, a man we so often hear called Jesus Christ? Who is He and what has He done that He is so prevalent in today’s culture some 2000 yrs after His life here on earth.
With all the technology at our fingertips today, I thought I would try an experiment. I went to Google and googled the name Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, Gandhi, and Jesus Christ.
• Gandhi 1,470,000 different sites
• Martin Luther King Jr. 9,930,000 different sites
• Thomas Jefferson 15,600,000 different sites
• Jesus 23,800,000 different sites
In looking at this I saw that this simple man who was born into simple and plain surroundings has more written about Him than 3 of the most famous men in the history of the world.
Jesus was a man of lowly birth and not of privilege. Jesus was Christ was born the small Jewish town of Bethlehem. The literal meaning for the name Bethlehem is "The House of Bread."
He was not born in the house of royalty, or the house of riches, or the house of a celebrity.
Jesus was not born in Jerusalem, or in Rome, or in Athens or Alexandria.
Jesus was not born in any political, commercial, cultural, educational, or socially significant city of the day.
When Micah, the OT prophet, foretold the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, he emphasized its lack of significance to the world.
2 “ But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”
Micah 5:2 (NKJV)
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, "The House of Bread" because bread is one of life’s most common things. God wanted his Son to be "common" in one sense. God wanted Jesus to be available to all!
SOURCE: Brian Atwood in "Why Jesus Was Born in Bethlehem, The House of Bread" on www.sermoncentral.com. Edited by SermonCentral Staff.
Today we have much controversy over this man we know as Jesus. There are those who seek Him and seek to serve Him and live by His teachings.
There are those who seek to destroy His name and eliminate anything history has written about Him, in fact there was even a law suit in Italy recently where a man was suing the Catholic Church for false teachings and his claim was that Jesus was NOT a real person!
And then there are people who fall in between these two positions. But regardless of where you may find yourself this morning, I want you to know that Jesus is a man that must be reckoned with and dealt with… You cannot ignore the man known as Jesus Christ!
With that said I want us this morning to look at Jesus thru the eyes of the world, the eyes of other religions, thru the lens of God’s Word and finally we are going to look at Jesus through YOUR eyes!
First of all this morning I want us to look at and try to answer the question…
1. What Does the World Say About Jesus?
I know this is sort of outdated information, but in reality this information represents a time in which our society was much more in line with God than we are now.
In a 1983 Gallup poll Americans were asked, “Who do you think Jesus is?”
• 70% of those interviewed said Jesus was not just another man.
• 42% stated Jesus was God among men.
• 27% felt Jesus was only human but divinely called.
• 9% states Jesus was divine because he embodied the best of humanity.
• Also, 81% of Americans consider themselves to be Christians. Gallup Poll
I recently was speaking with a friend of mine who was raised in South Louisiana in the Catholic faith. I asked him what his view of Jesus was and what he thought about Jesus.
He told me that he thought that the teachings of the Bible were great, but that he believed that Jesus was basically something like an urban legend.
He believes that Jesus lived, but thinks the miracles, His suffering and death on the Cross and His resurrection were things of myth and superstition.
And this is coming from someone who was raised to believe in Jesus and in what Jesus has done for the world. Can you imagine what is being said about Jesus in places where people are not exposed to church and the teachings of the Bible?
There have been a few scholars who have actually questioned the existence of Jesus as an actual historical person.
The views of scholars who entirely reject Jesus’ historicity are summarized in the chapter on Jesus in Will Durant’s Caesar and Christ; it is based on a suggested lack of eyewitness, a lack of direct archaeological evidence, the failure of certain ancient works to mention Jesus, and alleged similarities between early Christianity and contemporary mythology.
But not everyone in the world rejects the idea of Jesus Christ, but we can find many who believe He existed but like my friend, they cannot see the relevance He could have in their lives today… “how does a man from 2000 yrs ago affect my life today and my eternity?” is what you may hear several people say about Jesus.
There are those in the church who think that this ignorance of Jesus is something new, but when we look at our passage of Scripture for this morning we can see that who Jesus is… has always been a question being asked and the answers are always quite interesting.
In Matt 16:13 Jesus asks His disciples, “…who do people (the world) say that I am?” The disciples began to share what others had confided in them as to the identity and purpose of Jesus.
•
• Some of them believed Jesus to be the 2nd coming of John the Baptist…in other words a great preacher and prophet!
• Still others said that they believed Jesus to be Elijah the prophet come back from heaven… Elijah had been taken from this world by a fiery chariot and many believed Jesus was Elijah returning…
• Still others believed that Jesus was the prophet of doom, Jeremiah, as He had come saying that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand and that we must fall before a holy and righteous God
Suffice it to say that the people of Jesus’ day had no greater understanding of who He was than the people of our world today. When you ask the question, who is Jesus today you get many answers.
• Some will say that Jesus never existed and was a myth…
• Some will say that Jesus was a good man who lived a good life and we should strive to live like him…
• Some say that Jesus was a great teacher with a special knowledge that we all can benefit from…
• Some say that Jesus was a special man of God but he was NOT divine…
• And there are those of us who will confess like Peter that Jesus is the Son of God!
In the world today, many people do NOT take Jesus literally from the biblical perspective, but Jesus is relegated to a less prominent role that accommodates current philosophical and worldly standards and beliefs.
But in this world we also hear who Jesus is from the religions of the world as well, so this morning I also want to look and see…
2. What Do The Religions of the World Say About Jesus?
The Jesus of the Mormons:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints… otherwise known as the Mormon Church teaches that Jesus is the actual son of the God of Heaven, he is NOT God, but the Son of God.
He is also believed to be the brother of Lucifer (Satan). It is taught that before the world was created God asked both Jesus and Lucifer to present to Him a plan of salvation for the world they were about to create.
It is taught that Satan’s plan demanded of all in this newly created world to submit to God’s authority and power. Jesus’ plan was that all humanity have the choice to bow or reject God.
God chose Jesus’ plan and rejected Satan’s, and this caused a sibling rivalry that eventually ended up splitting the family (so to speak) as Satan was cast out…
The Jesus of the Mormon Church is considered to be the Son of God and Savior… BUT salvation does not come from Him alone but is focused on our earthly lives and the works we do FOR Him…
They also teach that the blood of Christ cannot atone for every sin, that there are some sins that only the shedding of your own blood can atone for…this is known as the Blood Covenant.
In the Mormon Church, Jesus Christ will be ONE of the judges that judge humanity at the end of time. The Mormons believe that God, Jesus and Joseph Smith will be the judges for humanity.
Although they use terminology like Savior and Son of God, what they mean by the words they say is totally different from orthodox Christianity.
The Mormons sound Christian and with their moral lifestyle they appear Christian, but they are FAR from being the church of Jesus Christ… they are a false church and they do not know the true Christ of Scripture!
The Jesus of Islam:
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world today. More and more people are flocking to Islam because of their teachings of morality and piety in this life. And many don’t know this but Islam reveres Jesus.
I know when I researched this matter it surprised me. Islam believes that Jesus was born of a virgin and thus had a special mission from God.
They hold Him up as one of the greatest prophets to ever live. But Islam rejects the divinity of Christ and they also reject the Crucifixion and Resurrection as myth. They believe that Jesus ascended into heaven and is waiting to return at the end of times.
Jesus is a very prevailing figure in Islamic end times teachings. Jesus is believed to come back to earth to set up the kingdom for the 12th Imam who is known as the Mhadhi… Islam teaches that Jesus will submit Himself to the authority of this man.
Islam goes on to teach that Jesus will go throughout the world and purge the world of all false religion… that is all religions NOT Islamic! These people will either convert to Islam or they will be killed.
Islamic teaching says that it will be Jesus lead this charge! It is incredible to believe but Islam actually teaches that Jesus will actually persecute the Christians who claim Him as their Savior!
Jesus of Jehovah’s Witness
In the teachings of the Jehovah’s Witness faith they believe that God is the Creator, Supreme Being, Sovereign Lord over the entire universe.
They reject the Trinity and therefore they do not see Jesus Christ as God wrapped in flesh, but they teach that Jesus is God’s highest creation.
They teach that by Jesus all else was created, but they hold fast to Jesus being a created being and not eternally co-existent with the Father. They teach that Jesus is literally the only begotten Son of God, and received his life from God.
And if you were to take a trip to your local the B’Hai Temple, you will find a variety of pictures on the walls. They will have pictures of Buddha, Confucius, Jesus, Mohammed and others. This is because the message and teaching of the B’Hai faith is that Jesus is simply one of many prophets.
Many of the major and minor religions of the world will include Jesus in their collage of deities or holy men to attract believers from traditional Christianity. But the solid truth about this is that Jesus is merely a way… to them Jesus is but one path that can be taken!
And the sad truth about all this is that even among many people today who label themselves as Christians, Jesus is NOT viewed as the ONLY way to God…
But if we seek TRUTH, if we seek to know what God desires us to know, we cannot see Jesus in the light that the world and the man-made religions of the world cast… and this is because the Bible simply won’t let us look at Jesus that way, but just…
3. What Does The Bible Say About Jesus?
Well the Word of God addresses the One we know as Jesus in many ways. We find Jesus all throughout the OT and we find Jesus revealed personally in the NT.
The Old Testament contains over 300 prophetic passages that refer to the first coming of Jesus the Messiah. 48 of these prophecies refer specifically to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. All of them published during and eleven-hundred year period that ended four centuries before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
Grant R. Jeffrey, Jesus, the Great Debate (Toronto, Ontario: Frontier Research Pub. Inc., 1999), 229.
In Gen 3:15 we find a Messianic reference to the coming One who will save the world from the evil of Satan… speaking to the serpent after the fall in the garden God said, “…I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head and you will strike at his heel…”
If you have seen the movie “The Passion of the Christ” by Mel Gibson you see this scene played out in the Garden of Gethsemane which is the very 1st scene in the movie…
In the book of Isaiah we find the prophet Isaiah writing about a Suffering Servant who is to come… One who will deliver Israel from darkness…
“He grew up before Him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or splendor that we should look at Him, no appearance that we should desire Him.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like one people turned away from; He was despised, and we did not value Him.
Yet He Himself bore our sickness and He carried our pains; but we in turn regarded Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds…”
We can also see Jesus in the book of Micah as we have already seen earlier this morning…
2 “ But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”
Micah 5:2 (NKJV)
But we can also find Jesus revealed in a more personal and dynamic way in the pages of the NT.
In Matt 1:20b-23 we find the Angel of the Lord speaking to Joseph,
“…’Joseph Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been [d]conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."
Here Joseph is told quite plainly by the angel of the Lord that Jesus was the One whom Israel had been waiting for… the One who would deliver them from sin and save them! The angel of the Lord proclaimed the deity of Christ to Joseph!
In John 1:1-5 we find the Apostle John writing these words:
“…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 came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it…” (NASB)
Here John proclaims the deity of Jesus by equating Him to God, by revealing that Jesus WAS God, and that all things came from Him. He reveals that Christ is the giver of life, both physically and spiritually and that without Christ there is no life or light, but only darkness.
Even after Christ had ascended and Paul was trekking around Asia Minor doing mission work for God, we find that Paul taught and preached the same thing about God. Let’s look at Gal 4:4-5:
“…But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons…”
Here Paul reveals both the humanity and deity of Christ as Jesus was human in that he was born of a woman, but he is divine because He has the power to forgive sin and welcome us into God’s family as sons… family members with full family benefits!
In the book of Revelation, John reveals that not only was Jesus, Lord and Savior of those seeking forgiveness and mercy, but Jesus was also the Judge of the world and that one day we would all stand in judgment before Jesus Christ! Let’s look at Rev 5:8-10 when John was seeing what was happening in Heaven…
“…When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth…"
There are many other places in the NT that speak about Jesus and his mission here in this world. But there is but one central theme connected with the person known as Jesus Christ… and it is that He is the One whom God has sent to save the world from sin… and the One from whom eternal life can be obtained.
The Bible is clear in its proclamation of WHO Jesus Christ is and Jesus Himself said it in John 14:6 when He said:
“…I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father but through Me…”
The Bible proclaims Jesus as God and Savior and coming Judge of the world. But the most important question I could ask this morning is…
4. What Do YOU Say About Jesus?
After the fall of Communism in the former Soviet Union, Russia began to reach out to peoples all over the world. The spiritual vacuum that had been the norm for over 75 yrs was now able to be filled and so people were seeking to hear about God.
In 1994 two Americans answered an invitation from the Russian Department of Education to teach morals and ethics (based on Biblical principles) in the public schools. They were invited to teach at prisons, businesses, the fire and police departments, and a large orphanage.
It was nearing the Christmas season and they wanted to tell them the Christmas story about Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem and finding no room in the inn, and how they went to a stable, where Jesus was born and placed in the manger.
The children sat in amazement as they listened to the story. Some sat on the edges of their stools, trying to grasp every word.”
As a follow-up activity to the story, each child was given three small pieces of cardboard to make a crude manager.
Each child was also given a small paper square that was cut from yellow napkins which the children tore into strips the paper and carefully laid them in the manger for straw.
Small squares of flannel from a thrown away nightgown were used for the baby’s blanket. From pieces of tan felt a doll-like baby was made.
As they made their way around the room to see the children and what they were doing one of the missionaries said, “All went well until I got to one table where little Misha sat. He looked to be about 6 years old and had finished his project…”
As we looked at the little boy’s manger, we were surprised to see, not one but two babies in the manger. Quickly, we called for the translator to ask little Misha why he had put 2 babies in the manger.
The missionary said that little Misha very accurately recalled the story that had been told until he came to the part where Mary put Jesus in the manger.
It was at that time when Misha started to ad-lib his version of the story. He made up his own ending to the story as he said, “And when Maria laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay. I told him I have no momma and I have no papa, so I don’t have any place to stay…”
Then Jesus told me I could stay with him. But I told him I couldn’t because I didn’t have a gift to give him like everybody else did.
But Misha said, “I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a gift. I thought maybe if I kept him warm, that would be a good gift.”
So I asked Jesus, “If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift?” And Jesus told me, “If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me. So I got into the manger, and then Jesus looked at me and he told me I could stay with him – for always.”
As little Misha finished his story, his eyes brimmed full of tears that splashed down his little cheeks. Putting his hand over his face, his head dropped to the table and his shoulders shook as he sobbed and sobbed.
The little orphan had found someone who would never abandon or abuse him, someone who would stay with him – FOR ALWAYS!” Misha had found Jesus Christ!
Today you can find Jesus as well. He is calling to you, He is tugging at your heart to surrender to Him as Lord and Savior… as Master of your life.
Misha gave himself to Christ to warm the babe in the manger… today God is calling you to give yourself in submission to Him and know that God has promised that he would never leave you NOR forsake you!
In our passage of Scripture this morning we read that after Jesus had asked His disciples to share what the world around them had said about Him… He asked them what they thought…
15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God…"
So the burning question today for all the world is, “…but who do you say that Jesus is…”
There is NO greater question to ask… there is no greater answer to know… this is because the question and answer carries with it eternal and everlasting implications and outcomes!
Do you know Jesus Christ? If you have heard of Jesus, what do you have to say about Him? Are you going to confess His Lordship like Peter and the disciples did in Matt 16? Or are you going to try to rationalize and philosophize your denial of who Jesus is?
Today you face NO greater challenge than to know Christ as Savior. Your job can and will challenge you but it is NOT going to get you into heaven… it is NOT going to forgive your sin and save your soul.
Your family is important and we are called to love our wives and children as Christ loved the church, but there is NO comparison when it comes down to family or knowing Jesus! Knowing Jesus must be your first priority… Knowing Jesus will solidify your family and the things of your life.
So I ask the question again… who do you say Jesus is? Is He Lord and God… Is He Savior and Master? Or have you relegated Jesus to the scrap heap of holy men that have lived throughout history?
There is NO greater question to be answered in your life… can you answer that question today. As Bro Jerry comes to lead us in our hymn of invitation, “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus” I pray that you will honestly evaluate your life and surrender to Christ!
