NOTE: This sermon was adapted from my book, Holy Heroes of the Bible. If it's a blessing to you, please consider buying the book which includes chapters/sermons on 17 additional Bible heroes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SBNJTSZ
Heroes of the Bible: Jesus
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 9/12/2021
The world needs heroes—champions of truth and justice who fight for what’s right and save the day. I think there is an inner yearning for heroes woven into the fabric of the human heart, which is why superhero movies and TV shows have reached unparalleled levels of popularity. The only drawback is, of course—superheroes aren’t’ real. As real people with real hardships, we need real heroes to inspire us, encourage us, and to model true heroism from a biblical perspective.
Lucky for us, the Bible is full of heroes.
For the last nine weeks, we’ve been inspired by the stories of some of the Bible’s greatest heroes: Noah—the hero who built an ark, Abraham—the hero whose faith founded a nation, Jacob—the hero who wrestled with God, Moses—the hero who led a nation out of slavery, Samson—the anti-hero with super-strength, Ruth—the heroine who left everything to follow God, David—the hero who slew a giant and became king, Elijah—the prophet-hero who performed mighty miracles, and finally Esther—the burdened, beautiful, and brave heroine who saved her people from extermination.
Through obedience and faith in their all-powerful Creator, these heroes of the Bible performed jaw-dropping miracles, ruled kingdoms, and rescued entire nations from certain destruction. They defeated giants, toppled pagan temples, and stood up for what was right even in the face of death. These were some pretty super heroes! As we bring this series to a close, we’re going to shine the spotlight on the greatest hero of all—Jesus!
• Next Slide: Jesus
At the beginning of this series, I referenced an interview with Ben Affleck, the actor who played both Marvel’s Daredevil and DC’s Batman. In an interview with USA Today, Ben Affleck made a compelling observation about the popularity of superhero movies. He said, “Part of the appeal of this genre is wish fulfillment: Wouldn’t it be nice if there was somebody who can save us from all this, save us from ourselves, save us from the consequences of our actions and save us from people who are evil?” I don’t know if Ben realized it, but such a hero does exist! And that’s not just wishful thinking.
God knew that our world was imperiled by wickedness and wrongdoing and destined for destruction. So, at just the right time, “God sent his Son into the world… to save the world through him” (John 3:17 NLT). As the Son of God, Jesus came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. He turned water into wine, healed all sorts of diseases and disabilities, commanded the wind and the waves, fed thousands by miraculously multiplying loaves and fish, cast out demons, occasionally teleported from place to place, and even defied gravity by walking on water. But Jesus’s heroism goes far beyond his mighty miracles.
While we couldn’t possibly summarize the entire story of Jesus in a single sermon, I’d like to spotlight three ways in which Jesus is the world’s greatest hero. First, Jesus is a righteous hero.
• A RIGHTEOUS HERO
All the other heroes of the Bible had flaws of Biblical proportions. Following the flood, Noah drank until he passed out. Abraham lied about his marriage and slept with the maid. Jacob started off as a con-man. Moses was a murderer. Samson slept with prostitutes. David committed adultery. Esther hid her faith from her husband. The list goes on and on. Even these great heroes of God were sinners just like you and me. Despite their heroic accomplishments, they still fell short. In fact, the Bible assures us, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 NIV). When we’re honest with ourselves, we know this to be true. If you have any doubts, just compare your life to these three little laws from the Ten Commandments, God’s most basic rules of right and wrong:
1. “Thou shalt not steal.” Have you taken something that didn’t belong to you? A pen? A paper clip? A peanut? That makes you a thief.
2. “Thou shalt not lie.” Anyone who says they haven’t just did.
3. “Honor thy father and mother.” There’s not a teenager alive that never dishonored or disrespected their father or mother.
If you’re like me, you didn’t score so well. And that’s just three out of ten. We could keep going, but we’ve already fallen short. The Apostle Paul was right when he wrote, “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10 NIV).
This places all of humanity in mortal danger because, as the Bible says, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” (Romans 5:12 NLT). Just as God told Adam and Eve in Garden, the price and penalty for sin is death. Since all of us sin, we are all doomed to die.
That’s when Jesus stepped in to save the day.
As the Son of God, Jesus remained perfectly sinless. The Bible says Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15 NIV). He lived a real human life, yet he did it with complete righteousness. In other words, Jesus always did what was right.
At the beginning of his ministry, John tried to discourage Jesus from being baptized, but Jesus replied, “it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). In other words, this was the right thing to do, and Jesus wouldn’t let anyone stop him from doing the right thing. In a confrontation with some of the religious rulers in Jerusalem, Jesus asked, “Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin?” (John 8:46 NLT). Not one of them had any honest accusations to make.
In any situation, any crisis, Jesus always did the right thing. That’s why Jesus, and no one else, could pay the penalty for our sins on the cross. The Bible says, “He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God” (1 Peter 3:18 NLT). After Jesus died on the cross, one of the Roman centurions who nailed him there looked up and said, “Surely this was a righteous man” (Luke 23:47 NIV). He was right. Jesus’s righteousness enabled him to pay the penalty for our sins and rescue us from certain doom.
Jesus gave his life on the cross to save us from sin and death—something that only he could do. He died on the cross save us from ourselves and from the consequences of our actions. What’s more, through faith in Jesus, we can become righteous in God’s eyes. The Bible says, “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are” (Romans 3:22 NLT). When we put our faith in Jesus, we are forgiven for our sins and made right with God thanks to our righteous Hero!
This alone solidifies Jesus as the world’s greatest hero, but there’s more! The next way in which Jesus is our greatest hero is that he is a risen hero.
• A RISEN HERO
There’s an old adage among comicbook fans—Nobody stays dead in comics. The death of a major title character makes for great drama and increased sales, but so rarely remains permanent that frequent resurrections have become a cliché in comicbooks. The list of comicbook characters who’ve come back from the dead is extensive, including Captain America, Bucky Barnes, Batman, Robin, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, the Flash, Spider-Man, Thor, and Jean Grey—just to name a few.
While tales of superhero resurrections occur quite frequently in comicbooks, real-world resurrections remain utterly unheard of… with one notable exception: Jesus Christ! After his death on the cross, Jesus’s followers buried him in a tomb in a nearby garden. But the following Sunday, Jesus rose from the grave. Luke summarizes the story this way:
But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead!” (Luke 24:1-6 NLT)
Over the next forty days, Jesus appeared to his followers many times and proved to them beyond any doubt that he was alive. According to all fourteen authors and twenty-seven books of the New Testament, Jesus didn’t stay in his tomb. On the third day following his death, he got up and walked out of his grave! By rising from the grave Jesus’s definitively defeated death.
In the last book of the Bible, Jesus identifies himself by declaring, “I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever!” (Revelation 1:17 NLT). That is a statement worthy of a highlighter! Similarly, the apostle Paul wrote, “Christ rose from the dead and will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him” (Romans 6:9 TLB). As Christians, we have a risen hero!
Over the centuries, skeptics have proposed several alternative theories about what happened to the body of Jesus, but the best explanation for all the evidence is that Jesus Christ did, in fact, rise from the dead. Ignatius, who was a pupil of the apostle John and martyred for his faith, wrote about Jesus, saying, “He was condemned. He was crucified in reality, and not in appearance, not in imagination, not in deceit. He really died, and was buried, and rose from the dead.”
What’s more, since Jesus conquered death, we can live forever too! Christ’s resurrection paved the way for our own resurrection from the dead. Jesus confidently proclaimed, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying” (John 11:25 NLT). For those who put their faith in Jesus and the power of his resurrection, death is not the end. The grave doesn’t have the final word. There is life after death! Other heroes—police, firefighters, doctors—might be able to rescue us from danger temporarily, but only Jesus can save our lives and keep us safe for all eternity because he is our risen hero.
Finally, in addition to being our righteous and risen hero, Jesus is also a returning hero.
• A RETURNING HERO
Forty days after his resurrection, Jesus left this world and ascended to his Father in Heaven. Luke, again, describes the scene, “He was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!’” (Acts 1:9-11 NLT).
Since that day, Christians of every generation have eagerly anticipated the return of our hero. The Bible says, “Christ will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:28 NLT). Are you eagerly waiting for Christ? The early Christians did. They spent their lives with an eye on the clouds and ear for the trump. They waited anxiously for the day of Christ’s return and so should we.
The Apostle Paul describes the Second Coming of Christ with vivid imagery, saying, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NLT).
On that day, every eye will see him, every knee will bow before him, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. All those who believed will be amazed by Jesus. When Christ comes again, the heavens will open like a curtain, and through waves of light you’ll see a silhouetted figure so consuming that you’ll know, instantly you know: Nothing else matters. Forget stock markets and football games, election results and power outages. The story is Jesus! Nothing else is newsworthy.
The return of Jesus will change everything—forever. The last book of the Bible speaks of that day, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever” (Revelation 21:3-4 NLT). The return of Jesus will usher in the total abolition of evil, a world without violence or villainy, a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness, where we will live with our Heavenly Hero forever!
I can only imagine what it will be like to behold Jesus Christ with my own eyes. But until that day, I’ll choose to live with an eye on the clouds and ear for the trumpet, eagerly awaiting the return of my Lord, my Savior, my Hero. I hope you will too.
Conclusion:
Yes, the world needs heroes. And, yes, the Bible is full of heroes. They didn’t wear spandex or fly around in capes. They didn’t inspire action figures, cartoon shows, or summer blockbusters. They didn’t become heroes because they were bit by a radioactive spider or exposed to gamma rays. Rather, they were godly heroes—ordinary men and women who accomplished extraordinary things through faith in their Almighty God. I hope this series has been a blessing to you. I hope the stories of these heroes have inspired you to be a little more heroic yourself. Even more importantly, all these heroes of the Bible point us beyond themselves to the one true superhero, the greatest hero of all—Jesus.
Jesus is and always will be the world’s greatest hero because he’s a righteous hero—a good and godly hero who always does the right thing, a risen hero—who conquered death and rose from the grave to give us eternal life, and a returning hero—who will come back one day to bring salvation, healing, and wholeness to the entire world.
Invitation:
Is Jesus your hero? Have you asked him to save you from sin and death? Have you accepted him as your Lord and Savior? If not, I’d love to talk with you about how to do that. If you have accepted Jesus as your own personal hero, then let’s praise him together as we stand and sing our invitation song. Let’s sing, church.
NOTE: This sermon was adapted from my book, Holy Heroes of the Bible. If it's a blessing to you, please consider buying the book which includes chapters/sermons on 17 additional Bible heroes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SBNJTSZ
