*Outlines, fill-in-the-blank sheets, and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations are available. For more information, please contact pastorgeoff@bellsouth.net.
Truth Detectors [Episode 1]
Message 4
“The Truth About Jesus”
John 14:6-7
Opening Illustration
Several years ago at a passion play an incident took place during Jesus carrying the cross. A man in the audience was heckling the character playing Jesus, throwing out jeers, taunts and dares. Finally the character could no longer tolerate the heckler, he dropped the cross and went over and punched the man in the face. The director was aghast and after the play pulled the actor aside and told him in no uncertain terms was he ever to do that again.
Well, the next night the same heckler was back and again the same thing, Jesus this time had to be restrained. The director called the actor in and gave him an ultimatum of either quitting or keeping his composure. The young actor assured the director he would keep himself under control.
The third night, the heckler was present again and taunted even stronger than the two previous nights. The man playing Jesus rose to his full stature, gritted his teeth and told the heckler, "I’ll see you right after the resurrection."
Illustration from Sermoncentral.com, contributed by Mark Sutherlin.
Somehow, I don’t quite think Jesus would act that way. I have more of a “turn the other cheek” picture of Jesus in a situation like that one.
I am convinced that there are so many misconceptions in our world with regard to who Jesus is, what He did, where He is now, and what He’s going to do in the future. And there are so many lies in our world about Jesus. False religions and cults will take Jesus and incorporate Him into their belief system. Have you experienced that before? They will take Jesus … spread Him out over their religion … and have just enough Jesus-talk and Christianese language to be able to fool Christians.
Think about it … Muslins consider Jesus a prophet. Jehovah’s Witnesses consider Jesus a god. So many other false faiths let just a little bit of Jesus in … just for a little Christian “seasoning.”
Friends we must not be fooled and lulled into the false teachings of the world just because those teachings are sprinkled with a little Jesus! We need to be solid in our doctrine! We need to know what we know and believe and why we know and believe it, so that we can stand boldly in the face of lies. We have to be Truth Detectors. And today, we are going to review ourselves on The Truth about Jesus.
And as we begin, what must we start with? What do we have to have when it comes to the essentials of the faith?
Starting Point:
In essential beliefs we have unity.
There are some things which cannot be compromised. We must have unity in these areas. Our essential beliefs are defined in our Statement of Faith.
That statement of faith is on our web site. We go over it carefully in our 101 Discovery class. It clearly lays out those doctrines that we hold dear and true. Now, here is …
Our Statement Regarding Jesus
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is co-equal with the Father. Jesus lived a sinless human life and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all people by dying on a cross. He arose from the dead after three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death. He ascended to Heaven’s glory and will return again someday to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Matthew 1:22,23; Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1-5; 14:10-30; Hebrews 4:14,15; 1 Corinthians 15:3,4; Romans 1:3,4; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Timothy 6:14,15; Titus 2:13
So, let’s delve into this doctrine. Let’s go to the Bible so that we can have a solid, firm foundation for our faith in Jesus Christ.
Bible Truths
Jesus is:
1. Divine (Romans 1:4)
We must begin here. We must agree upon the basic fact that Jesus was and is divine … He is God. He is not just a prophet or teacher. He was not just a good man. He was and is and always be God. Anything belief … any understanding of Jesus Christ short of that leaves you with nothing but a dead prophet. If you reject this truth, then you reject this book and everything that it teaches. If you cannot accept the truth that Jesus is divine, then you must believe that He is dead, this book is a lie, and all of Christianity is a vast conspiracy … a sick hoax.
We know that He is divine because the Bible tells us so …
• He is called “God with us.” (Matthew 1:22, 23b)
Do you truly understand the meaning of this name? It means that God deliberately and purposefully interrupted human history in the person of Jesus Christ. God became flesh and dwelled among us. Jesus is “God with us,” Immanuel.
• He is called the Son of God. (John 3:16)
This beloved verso of Scripture calls Him God’s one and only son. He is the Son, the second Person of the Trinity. It stands to reason that, if He is God’s Son, then He must be divine. It’s a “no-brainer.”
• He was born of a virgin. (Matthew 1:22, 23a)
This is a very important doctrine that some people don’t like to talk about. They just can’t comprehend a birth with no biological male donor. They can’t comprehend a virgin birth. So, in our day and time, people who claim to be Christians reject the reality of the virgin birth. Instead, they believe that Joseph and Mary must have had sexual relations before marriage. But, friends, to reject the virgin birth is to reject this verse. To reject this verse is to reject Scripture in its totality. You cannot cherry-pick which verses you will believe and will not believe. God’s Word, and God Himself, are package deals. You either take them all the way, or you don’t take them at all!
You know, I pity the people who serve a god (little g) who is so weak that He can’t even cause a virgin girl to be pregnant. What a sad life it must be to follow after that god. Because my God is all-powerful! He is an awesome God! And about 2,000 years ago He made a virgin girl pregnant with His only begotten Son!
• He is co-equal with the Father. (John 14:10-11b)
Isn’t that amazing? Jesus said, “Do you want to see the Father? Then look at me!” “I am in the Father, and the Father is in me!” Jesus Christ is Divine, He is co-equal with the Father.
2. Human (Romans 1:3)
Friends, here’s where it starts to get a little bit tough. We have already agreed upon the fact of Jesus’ divinity … His Godhood. But now we see that He is also human! How can that be? How can He be both God and man … the God-man?
Well, first, let’s look at the facts of His humanity. We need to, because some people reject those facts. Some people believe that Jesus was just a spirit-being who went through the motions of humanity. He did not actually live a human life, suffer, die, and rise from the grave. That was the spirit of God just going through the motions. But an honest examination of the Bible affirms that Jesus was just as much man as He was God.
• He was born. (Luke 2:6-7)
He was physically born of a human mother named Mary. In fact, we have a little celebration each year to commemorate His birth. Now, what is it called??? Jesus was born! As a baby! He passed through the birth canal! He drew his first breath of oxygen! He was born!
• He lived on this earth. (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)
The four Gospels are about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. That is a major part of the theme of each of the Gospel accounts. We know that Jesus lived, first as a child, then as a boy, then as a man. We walked, talked, ate, slept, laughed, cried … he lived! Just like you and I live. Because He was a man.
• He died. (Luke 23:44-46)
There can be no doubt about His death on that cross. There was a moment in time when the man Jesus drew his last breath, His heart stopped beating, His brain ceased to function, and He was dead. The human being named Jesus literally died. So, we can clearly see from Scripture that Jesus was human.
As we think about the person of Jesus, it’s important for us to understand and believe that He was …
3. Without Sin (Hebrews 4:14-15)
This truth about Jesus is inseparably tied to His humanity. That’s the point of these verses. Jesus is our Lord. But we don’t have a Lord who hasn’t been where we are and dealt with the same things that we deal with each day. He has “walked in our shoes.” He has experienced humanity. He has stood face to face with sin, and He has defeated it! Jesus was and is perfect, without sin. He never made a single decision or made a single act that displeased the Father. He never gave in to temptation or acted in selfishness. He was without sin, the perfect man.
Several years ago there was a travesty of a film about Jesus called The Last Temptation of Christ. That movie portrayed Jesus in a way that was full of lies. It showed him having sexual relations with Mary Magdalene. It showed Him as a broken man infected with sin. It made me want to weep. Friends, do not buy into the lies of the world about Jesus. He is without sin. And because He is without sin, He is …
4. A Perfect Sacrifice (Hebrews 10:8-18)
This is a pretty lengthy passage. But we need to give it a good, long look. Listen to what God’s Word says about the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. (Read verses.) Understanding this requires that you think back to the Old Testament. God initiated a system of sacrifice for Israel. They offered sacrifices unto God as payment for their sin. They killed animals, poured out their blood, and burned the flesh upon an altar as a sacrifice to God. But it was a repetitive process. It had to be done over and over again, every single day. But God changed all of that through Jesus Christ. Look at v. 10 again. Jesus was the perfect, once-and-for-all sacrifice. His blood paid God’s penalty for sin. No more sacrifices were required! In Christ Jesus, God remembers our sins no more! Jesus Christ, the sinless God-man, shed His blood as the perfect sacrifice.
Transition Illustration
A Sunday School teacher taught her 5th grade class that Jesus was buried in a borrowed tomb. She asked her students if they knew why. One of them replied, “Well He only needed it for three days."
You know … that kid was absolutely right … because we know that Jesus was …
5. Victorious Over Death (Luke 24:1-8)
Of course, most of us saw The Passion of the Christ. We experienced a dramatic portrayal of the death of Jesus. But that movie just blew through the most important part of the story. It skimmed over the meat of the message … that Jesus was victorious over death. Look at these verses (Read Luke 24:1-8).
The Bible proclaims that on the third day, on that Easter Sunday morning, Jesus cast off death, stepped back into life, and walked out of that grave! He did it to fulfill the Gospel and to demonstrate His power over death. He ha already done that on a few occasions. Do you remember Lazarus? He was already rotting and stinking in the grave, and Jesus called him out! But on that third day, Jesus got up off of that cold rock, rolled back the stone from the door, and stepped out of death back into life. Because He did that, we can know that He is more than capable of providing the way for us to have eternal life. So, yes Jesus died on the cross. But He is no longer dead. He is alive!
Now we know that Jesus is …
6. In Heaven (Acts 1:9, Hebrews 1:3)
The event that we see in Acts 1:9 is called “the ascension.” Following His resurrection and a short time with the disciples and followers, Jesus ascended into heaven. He now is seated at the right hand of the Father.
And don’t you just love Hebrews 1:3? The fact that Jesus “sat down” means that His work is done. Like He said on the cross, “It is accomplished!” His work is finished … He has provided forgiveness of sins and salvation. So now He is in heaven, awaiting the Father’s time for His next entry into human history.
Transition Illustration
A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch.
The little boy was curious and asked, "Why do you have that palm branch, dad?"
"You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved Palm Branches to honor him, so we got Palm Branches today."
The little boy replied, " Aw Shucks! The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up!"
Contributed to Sermoncentral.com by David Yarbrough.
No, Jesus didn’t show up that Sunday … at least not like that little boy was thinking. But, friends, one day he’s going to … because we know that He is …
7. Coming Back! (Acts 1:10-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
One Day, Jesus Christ, the sinless, perfect son of God, is going to split the sky wide open. He is going to come back and claim His people and establish His kingdom on earth … the question is … are you ready for His return. Philippians 2:9-11 teaches us that one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. But I fear that not all will do so willingly. Are you ready to take a step pf faith, to believe in this Jesus, and make Him the Lord and Master of your life?
Closing Illustration
Pastor D. James Kennedy said in a sermon, “I remember years ago talking to a man in his home about Christ and asking him who he thought Jesus was. He said, ‘Oh, He’s a wonderful man. He was the greatest man who ever lived, the most loving and gracious person who ever walked upon this earth.’
“I said, ‘Let me tell you something I believe will startle you. According to the Scriptures, and the historic Christian faith, Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter of Galilee was and is the eternal Creator of the universe, the omnipotent, omniscient, and Almighty God.’
“Instantly his eyes filled with tears and this man of about fifty-five or sixty said, ‘I have been in church all my life and I never heard that before. But I have always thought that is the way it ought to be – that God ought to be like Jesus.’”
Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations and Quotes, p. 486-487.
Friends, when commit your life the Lord Jesus Christ, you are committing yourself to the Creator, Master, and Sustainer of the universe. Never forget that. And never forget what this perfect, holy, sinless, Savior … 100% God yet 100% man … did for you on that cross and in that tomb.
Are you ready to accept this truth about Jesus? Are you willing to knock yourself off of the throne of your life and put Jesus there … where He belongs?
Closing Challenge
Salvation for Nonbelievers
Lordship for Christians
LIFE Applications
1. Make it a priority in your Bible study life to learn more about Jesus.
2. Make it a priority in your devotional life to better know Jesus.
3. Just as Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for your sin, seek to make all of your life a living sacrifice for Jesus.
4. As you consider the perfection of Jesus, you should become more aware of your own sin.
5. Live every moment of every day as if it were your last.
