November 25, 2012
Morning Worship
Text: John 8:48-59
Subject: The Eternal Nature of Christ
Title: Who Is Jesus – Part 1
Now that we have gotten past Thanksgiving it is time to start looking forward to our celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus. Everything is different this year – at least it is for me. For some reason it seems to be easier to be able to get into the holiday spirit. We are looking forward to these days leading up to Christmas. And that is different for me because it seems that we always get caught up in the busyness of the season more than we do the spirit of the season.
Today I wanted to begin a short series about the One who was born on Christmas morning. Since we have now passed Thanksgiving and are looking forward to the Christmas celebration isn’t it appropriate that we should take the time to look at the very nature of the One who was born on that first Christmas morning so many years ago?
Isaiah 9:6-7, 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
Those verses tell us about the two different appearances of Christ on earth. The first when He came as a child to deliver us from our sin, and the second coming when He will establish Himself as king over all the earth during the Millennial Reign.
But the question is who is Jesus and what is it that makes Him different than everyone else?
Read John 8:48-59:
I believe this is God's Word…
I believe it is for me…
I accept it as mine…
And I appropriate it to my life today…
I want to look today at the very nature of God as revealed by His Son Jesus Christ…
I. By His nature Jesus is different than the world…
… We have to go back and look at the verses preceding these to find out why the Jews would say something like that about Jesus. 1) Verse 32, The truth will set you free… 2) In verse 33 the Jews claimed to be Abraham’s descendants and that they have never been slaves to anyone… 3) verse 35, Jesus explains that they are slaves to sin… 4) Verses 39-40They may be Abraham’s children by lineage, but not by faith… 5) verse 41, Their real father is not God like they claimed… That sets the stage for verse 48; 48The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?” Let’s do a little logic to see why the Jews said that. They thought they belonged to God… They knew that Jesus was saying and teaching and doing everything that was different than what they said, taught and did…. So if they belonged to God and Jesus was the polar opposite to them, then Jesus must be demonic… Verses 49-50, 49“I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. How did they dishonor Jesus? By saying that He had a demon… He was so totally different than the religious Jews. They sought only to honor themselves by doing what they thought were good works that would please God. They were so caught up in what they could do for God that they forgot to ask what God wanted to do for them. Jesus has it right here. His one and only goal was to bring glory to the Father. Those who honor me I will honor… I have to say this… the world and even the church are full of people who are so bound by their traditions or are convinced that they are good enough to stand before God because of their good works and yet they do not know Jesus. In Matthew 15 Jesus addressed that very thing. 1Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!” 3Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ 5But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’ 6he is not to ‘honor his father’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 8 “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ What Jesus is saying is that what is in your heart is what will be manifest in your flesh. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks… So if you have Jesus in your hearts then what should be manifest in your natural man? Jesus! If you have the word of God hidden in your heart what should come out of your mouth? The Word! If the Holy Spirit of the living God is dwelling in you by faith and you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you, then what should your life look like? A life of faith and power! 51I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” The word “keep” in verse 51 is a key. It means, “to guard; to keep your eye on; or to fulfill a command…” So keeping God's Word in your heart is connected to doing His word as well. Faith without works is dead… Verse 51 has to be connected to verse 50, I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. It is the very nature of Jesus to direct praise and glory to the Father.
II. By His nature Jesus is in conflict with the world… 52At this the Jews exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. 53Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?” Here we go… The Pharisees think they have Jesus now. They have been looking for a way to pin Him down and now they have it. … if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” It doesn’t make any sense to them. If Abraham, their spiritual Father died, and the prophets, the very messengers of God's Word to His people died, Who do you think you are? That is a good question isn’t it? Who does Jesus think He is? Isn’t that the appropriate question? Who does Jesus think He is? Back in Matthew 16 Jesus asked His disciples the question, “Who do people say that I am?” But the question at hand is, ”Who does Jesus think He is?” Jesus doesn’t have to think He is someone special. He knows exactly who He is. In the gospel of John there are seven “I AM” statements that Jesus made concerning Himself. John 6:35, I AM the bread of life… 8:12, I AM the light of the world… 10:9, I AM the gate… 10:11, I AM the good shepherd… 11:25, I AM the resurrection and the life… 14:6, I AM the way, the truth and the life… 15:1, I AM the true vine… Every time that Jesus said, “I AM” He connected Himself to the Great I AM, God the Father. Hebrews 1:3, The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being… The truth is that Jesus never had to testify about Himself because the works that HE did, the words He spoke and the effect of His ministry spoke for itself. Here is where we get into trouble with the world and even other Christians. Paul told the believers in Ephesus in 5:1, 1Be imitators of God… Ephesians 1:15-23, 15For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit£ of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. Jesus always said what He heard His Father say and did what He saw His Father do. He imitated God perfectly, and we are called to do the same. We are holy for He is holy… We have His Spirit in us. We can walk according to the Spirit and not the flesh. We can operate in power through the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Jesus said we can do the things that He did. And people point their fingers at us accusingly and say, “Who do you think you are?” Jesus had a full grasp of who He was. God wants His church to have that same confidence. You’re just trying to be like Jesus… Yes, yes I am!
III. By His nature Jesus brings glory to the world… 54Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Do you see the difference between the relationship that Jesus has with the Father and the one the Jews had? Jesus’ relationship was family. The relationship the Jews had was formal. Jesus was glorified by God in the midst of the people. When he worked a miracle God was glorified, but God glorified Jesus by testifying to His ministry through signs and wonders. 55Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. Two different Greek words are used in the beginning of this verse – one for the way the Jews knew (or didn’t know) God and the other describing the way that Jesus knew Him. …55Though you do not know him… is the Greek word ginosko and it means to know absolutely-without doubt. The word that Jesus uses about His knowing God is the word eido and it literally means to know by seeing. The Jews thought they had a full understanding of who God is – they didn’t. But Jesus knew God because he has seen Him. John 6:46, No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father… if Jesus had tried to deny that fact it would have made Him a liar…
IV. By His nature Jesus transcends the world… 56Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” How did Abraham see Jesus’ “day”? Genesis 12:3, 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” This prophetic word given to Abraham by God gave him a picture of the redemptive work of one to come later and he rejoiced over it. 57“You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” 58“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” The little baby born in Bethlehem could say before Abraham was, I am The miracle worker who walked the hills of Judea could say, before Abraham was born, I am… The Lamb of god who died on a cross could say, before Abraham was born, I am… and the king who sits at the right hand of the Father can say, before Abraham was born, I am… HALLELUJAH! What Jesus said clearly was a claim to deity.
59At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. We don’t know how Jesus avoided them – we just know that it was not yet His time…
Everything that we talked about today points to the fact that Jesus was radically different than anyone who ever walked the face of the earth.
John 1, 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.
3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Who is Jesus?
By His nature Jesus is different than the world…
By His nature Jesus is in conflict with the world…
By His nature Jesus brings glory to the world…
By His nature Jesus transcends the world…
And we are called to be co-heirs of all God’s promises with Him…
