Advent 1 - Who Do YOU Say Jesus Is?
Please stand with me as we go over our current memory Scripture:
Job 19:25-27
“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes - I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”
And our memory Scripture “refresher” verse(s) is(are):
1 Thessalonians 5:22-23
“May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through
and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept
blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.”
Today we will be reading from
Matthew 16:13-16 & Matthew 1:18-25
This week, at our home, an amazing thing happened.
In only a few hours that spanned over two and one half days, five people put a 1,000 piece puzzle together. It came out of the box as a mess; some pieces right side up and others upside down.
I couldn’t believe it. When it was about 90 percent done I went over and tried to find one piece that would fit but I gave up after a few minutes. When it comes to jigsaw puzzles I head for the church nursery to find one I can do!
We had gotten the puzzle from the town library and I kept thinking, “What if one or a couple of pieces are missing?”
Wouldn’t that be awful? After all that work wouldn’t it be frustrating?
But even as frustrating as that would be it would soon be forgotten and left in the past.
Now … try imagining your hopes for eternal life. Try to imagine that you have struggled and strived for literally decades to secure a place in heaven only to find that when you stand before the judgment throne on that Day of the Lord’s reckoning, the one, most vital piece is missing and the awful judgment of “depart from Me” is heard from the throne of God.
What is that piece of the puzzle that is missing for so many who call themselves by the name of Christian?
Please join me in your Bibles as we read two different passages:
Matthew 16:13-16 & Matthew 1:18-25
(Prayer for help)
I have talked to many people who say that they “believe in Jesus”.
And often I have taken that phrase at face value without asking for any further information.
Great! They believe in Jesus so they are saved, right?
Maybe … maybe not …
Some follow up questions might be …
- What do you mean by “believe”?
- Who is Jesus?
- Where did you these beliefs about Jesus?
Now, these can all be phrased as simple questions and not as an interrogation, but, without the information that would be provided by these questions the person may mean something radically different from what the Bible means about believing in Jesus.
But the most important question in all of human history is this, “Who is Jesus” or more pointedly, “Do do you believe Jesus is?”
Can we even know who Jesus REALLY is?
How would some eyewitness accounts do?
Well, the entire Bible is about Jesus. The entire Old Testament points forward to the Redeemer who is to come, starting in the third chapter of Genesis and on through to the very last and least prophet!
And, then, when you get to the New Testament what you find is that it is ALL about Jesus and our relationship with Him. In fact, Jesus is SO predominant that every other person mentioned in the New Testament is nothing greater than a minor character in the account. In fact the sign language motion for the Bible is basically two words, Jesus and Book combined.
The name Jesus is found in the New Testament 1,310 times. There are 7,956 verses and 260 chapters in the New Testament. That means that the actual name of Jesus is mentioned on the average once in every six verses and over five times in the average chapter.
These are just references to Jesus’ proper name and do not include pronouns referring to Jesus or the titles of Jesus such as “Son of God”, “Son of Man” and “the Lamb of God”.
With such an abundance of information you can be assured that all we need to know about Jesus and His life on earth is contained in the New Testament and that it is abundantly available if we will take the time to study and read the Bible.
But … without the Bible things can really go off the rails.
Here is a really wild one!
The Mormons believe that there are an innumerable number of gods but that for this planet we call earth, there are three gods. The three gods are known as; The Father, Jehovah/Jesus and the Holy Spirit and they claim that each one of these gods are actual humans who were once as we are but were elevated to the position of being a god through their own righteousness.
They believe that there are three gods and not one God with three
Persons.
They believe that Jehovah of the Old Testament is the Jesus of the New Testament and that His birth came about when God the Father came to earth and had sexual relations with Mary even though Mary was pledged to Joseph and that out of this union Jesus was born.
Do you want proof?
Brigham Young stated, “The Father came down and begat [Jesus], the same as we do now…”
And Joseph Fielding Smith wrote, “Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God in the flesh. Well … how are children begotten? I answer just as Jesus Christ was begotten of his father …Jesus is the only person who had our Heavenly Father as the father of his body”
But the Bible says … “This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.”
Based on that, and there are many other substantiated quotes from Mormon elders, we can see that this Jesus is nothing like the Jesus of the Bible.
Interestingly, I once worked with a Mormon and when we asked her if she believed Jesus was the Son of God she said that she did. But, because I did not understand the Mormon beliefs I was not able to talk with her further and she did not seem interested in explaining their non-Biblical beliefs to me.
OK, so the Mormon example is an extreme one where the Word of God is basically thrown out the window and a “revelation” has been use to replace the Bible as the final authority.
Why do I use such an extreme example? I use such an extreme example because any time you stray from the Holy Bible and rely only on human reason or wisdom or intellect you WILL move into error.
So, remember, today we are asking you, “Who do you say that Jesus is?”
We see that many people in Jesus’ time did not know who or “what” He really was.
Jesus had been teaching for some time when He asked His twelve closest disciples the question, “Who do men say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
So, even during Jesus’ life on earth there was confusion and controversy about who and what He was. What do you think it is like now?
So, who do YOU say that Jesus is?
There is NO more important question than this one.
Just recently Pastor Karenlee was talking to someone who is very dear to her heart. This lady said that she believed in Jesus but that He was not the only way to be saved.
She was not willing to discuss this any further but what if she was?
Would we know to ask these questions?
- What do you mean by “believe”?
- Who is Jesus?
- Where did you get this information?
Would we have any Scripture to back up what the Bible says?
What memory Scriptures do we have that would be helpful?
John 3:16-18, John 14:6-7, Romans 10:9-10 (If you confess), for instance …
Would you have the testimony of your salvation ready to share?
I guess the question would now turn from, “Who do you say Jesus is” to “Do you know who Jesus is and can you tell someone why and how you know this to be true?”
What are some other things people say about Jesus?
- He never really existed
- He was just a man
- He was a good man but just a man
- He was a prophet but no more
- He was just a good teacher
- He was just a spiritual guide
- He is not the only way to heaven
- He is the same as the leader from any other religion
All of these are lies of the evil one and he will gladly take you off his list of concerned souls if you hold any of these to be true because they are enough to land you in hell.
Jesus IS the Son of God.
Jesus IS the only way to the Father and to eternal life.
Jesus WILL save you if you seek Him
As we bring this to a conclusion, let’s look at a couple of verses about Jesus that were spoken hundreds and even thousands of years before He came to earth to show us the way to the Father.
Isaiah 7:14
“The LORD Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel.”
Many use this verse to cast doubt on Jesus Deity. They say that the word for virgin can mean young maiden. If you read the verse that way it is no prophecy at all. Young maidens conceive every day all over the world and have done so for thousands of years.
But, none of them who give birth to a son and call him Immanuel will mean it the way this verse does!
Jesus IS God WITH Us!!!!
And, Isaiah 9:6 says,
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
There has NEVER been a child born who was rightly called The Mighty God except for our blessed Lord Jesus! Praise His Holy Name!!!
Each of us knows in our heart what we truly believe about Jesus.
Is your belief found in and founded on the Holy Bible?
If it is get to know the Bible even better and you will fall even more in love with Jesus.
If it is not then get into the Bible and see where you need to change your thoughts about Jesus. You’ll be glad you did, not just in this life but in all of eternity!!!
Final thoughts and prayer
