January 5, 2003
Title: What We Believe....about Jesus
Text: John 1:1-18; 1 John 1:1-3
Introduction
1. This morning we kicked off our new vision for 2003...
A. Christ 1st!
B. We want to put Jesus Christ 1st in our lives...
C. in our church...
D. in our families...
E. in every area of our lives.
2. Interestingly...
A. our series covering the Articles of Faith brings us to Article 2,
B. our doctrine of Jesus Christ.
3. It reads "We believe in Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Triune Godhead; that He was eternally one with the Father; that He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and was born of the Virgin Mary, so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say the Godhead and manhood, are thus united in one Person very God and very man, the God-man. We believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and that He truly arose from the dead and took again His body, together with all things appertaining to the perfection of man’s nature, wherewith He ascended into heaven and is there engaged in intercession for us."
4. It’s a daunting task to try to adequately cover the importance of Jesus Christ in a paragraph in the Manual or in a single sermon.
A. Think of the millions of books that have been written about Jesus Christ...
B. and yet...it seems that we have hardly scratched the surface.
5. Tonight, we will try to highlight some of our beliefs about Jesus.
6. Read Text: John 1:1-18; 1 John 1:1-3
7. John wrote the the gospel that bears his name...
A. he also wrote the epistles that bear his name...
B. and he also wrote the book of Revelation
8. He didn’t write...like so many modern scholars....
A. based on his study...
B. and his understanding of Scripture...
9. John wrote as an eyewitness.
A. John was one of the 12 disciples...
i. He was one of the inner circle...
a. Peter,
b. James,
c. and John.
B. John had actually travelled with Jesus...
i. spent hour upon hour....
ii. day after day...
iii. for 3 years...
iv. listening to the teachings of Jesus first hand.
C. John saw the miracles of Jesus 1st hand.
i. John had literally touched Jesus...
ii. John had actually been touched by the hands of Jesus.
D. John saw how Jesus cared about ...
i. the poor...
ii. the sick...
iii. the foreigner...
E. John watched Jesus die on the cross.....
i. He assisted the other disciples in putting Jesus’ body into the tomb.
ii. John saw the empty tomb.
iii. John saw Jesus in His resurrected body.
F. John’s experiences with Jesus were so real...
i. that even when he was exiled on the Isle of Patmos...
a. alone...
b. lonely...
c. and suffering...
ii. his faith remained strong.
10. John’s experiences led him to write, in the Epistle of 1 John,
A. "That which was from the beginning,
B. which we have heard,
C. which we have seen with our eyes,
D. which we have looked at
E. and our hands have touched--
F. this we proclaim concerning the Word of life" 1 John 1:1 (NIV)
11. You can almost sense John’s awe at being a part of that...
A. In today’s language...he might have said...
B. "Hey you guys....
C. I was there...
D. I saw Him with my own 2 eyes....
E. I actually touched Him"
12. When we look at John’s Gospel....
A. we read a lot about Jesus that makes its way into our doctrine.
B. Let’s look at some of these...
Body
1. First of all, we believe that Jesus is God.
A. John 1:1 says, "the Word was God"
B. Here we see more about the triune nature of Jesus.
C. A Pastor and his wife were watching the 11-year-old daughter of some for their friends from India who were visiting int this country. The girl was curious about the Pastor and his family going to church one Sunday morning and she decided to go along and find out more about it. When they returned home from the Church, the Pastor asked her what she thought of the service. She said, "I don’t understand why the West Coast isn’t included too," The Pastor asked her what she meant...She said, "You know, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the whole East Coast."
D. There are many ways to look at the trinity...and I’ve shared some of them with you.
i. we talk about water having 3 forms...
a. solid...ice
b. liquid...water
c. gas...steam.
ii. I’ve also heard about the egg...
a. you have the egg shell,
b. the white
c. and the yolk.
E. Another one that I like...I compare it to my relationship to my family...
i. I am a father...
ii. I am a son...
iii. and I am a husband....
F. In each relationship....my role is different...
i. and yet, I remain 1 person.
G. In the Trinity....
i. we see God, the Father...
ii. God, the Son...
iii. and God, the Holy Spirit...
iv. Each relationship is different...
v. and yet we cannot separate them
H. Most people who deny the trinity do so in order to reduce the deity of Jesus Christ.
I. Jesus Christ is God
2. Not only is Jesus God...We believe that Jesus was a man.
A. John said, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" John 1:14 (NIV)
B. We believe that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary.
i. He breathed...
ii. He cried when He experienced pain...
iii. He walked the same roads that people in the Middle East still walk today...
iv. He was hurt by words spoken in anger...
v. He was hungry....
vi. When He was injured...He bled just like we do.
vii. If we had some of Jesus’ DNA today....
viii. scientists would be unable to prove that Jesus was NOT a man.
C. Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of Mary....
i. Jesus is God become man...the God-Man.
3. We believe that Jesus is Creator.
A. John wrote that Jesus "was with God in the beginning"
B. He also wrote that "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made" John 1:2-3 (NIV)
C. Genesis 1:26 says, "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness"
i. Notice the plural.
4. We believe that Jesus is the Light
A. John 1:4-5 says, "In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."
B. Phillip Bliss wrote the song, "The Light of the World is Jesus"
C. The whole world was lost In the darkness of sin;
The Light of the world is Jesus;
Like sunshine at noon-day His glory shone in,
The Light of the world is Jesus.
Come to the light, ’Tis shining for thee;
Sweetly the light Has dawned upon me,
Once I was blind, But now I can see;
The Light of the world Is Jesus.
D. Isaiah 9:2 says, "The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned."
E. Our world was a dark and gloomy place...
i. and that’s when Jesus was born
ii. and that prophesy of Isaiah’s came true.
F. But for some people....
i. they are STILL living in darkness.
ii. They have yet to experience the light of Jesus.
G. They are wondering around in the darkness trying to find their way...
H. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" John 8:12 (NIV)
5. We believe that Jesus is the Messiah
A. The woman at the well said, "I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he." John 4:25-26 (NIV)
B. The word Messiah, is Hebrew and literally means "annointed one"
C. In Greek, the word for "Annointed One" is "Christ"
D. In Scripture, the Jewish people were waiting for the Messiah...
i. the Annointed One who would set them free
ii. the Deliverer...
E. The problem is...when He came...
i. most of the Jewish people didn’t accept Jesus as the Messiah.
ii. In fact...many of them are still waiting for the Messiah.
F. There are some Jews...called the Messianic Jews..who recognize that Jesus is the Messiah...
i. but they are often ridiculed and unaccepted by other Jews.
G. Some people just believe the Jesus was a good man.
i. a prophet with provocative teachings....
H. But we believe that Jesus is the Messiah...
i. the Son of God...
ii. our Savior...
iii. Our Lord
I. Luke 2:11 says, "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord"
6. We believe that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins.
A. Paul said, "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" 1 Cor 15:3-4 (NIV)
Conclusion
1. This year, our vision is "Christ 1st".
A. There is good reason for us to put Christ First.
B. He died for you....
C. and He died for me
2. Paul said this is FIRST Importance...
A. if you don’t believe this....
B. then the rest of it matters little.
3. "He Is Lord"
(parts of this sermon were inspired by a sermon I read in an old "Preachers Magazine" by Carlton F. Harvey)
