OPEN: In the late 1700’s, the manager of Baltimore’s largest hotel refused lodging to a man dressed like a farmer because he thought this fellow’s appearance would discredit his inn. So the man left. Later that evening, the innkeeper discovered that he had turned away none other than then Vice-President Thomas Jefferson! Immediately he sent a note to the famed patriot, asking him to come back and be his guest.
Jefferson replied by instructing his messenger as follows: “Tell him I have already engaged a room. I value his good intentions highly but if he has no place for a dirty American farmer, he has none for the Vice President of the United States.”
APPLY: That hotel manager hadn’t realized that it was Thomas Jefferson who wanted lodging. He turned away the Vice-President of the United States because he didn’t know who he was looking at.
I. In the Gospel of John we’re told of some Greeks who approached Philip and said: “Sir, we would see Jesus!”
That’s a great statement. Entire sermons have been built upon that single phrase from this Gospel.
ILLUS: In the first church I served, someone had taken a “label makers” and had created a label that they placed on the face of their pulpit. And as I stood in the pulpit every Sunday Morning I would look down on that phrase: “Sir we would see Jesus!” When I first stepped into that pulpit I said to myself “ALRIGHT! I’m going to do everything I can to help them see Jesus!”
But there was a problem at that Church. This church ran through preachers faster than my flashlight runs thru batteries. Preachers usually stayed only 2 or 3 years on the average.
When I first thought to apply for that church, I asked my dad and my preacher. They both knew about that congregation’s reputation… and they both said “No… I don’t think you’d better.”
So I didn’t. I worked in a fiberglass factory and sold real estate for the next couple of 3years. But then the pulpit came open again I supply preached for them. They like me and asked me to apply as their preacher. So, again I asked my preacher and dad what they thought and THIS TIME they both said: “We think you might be ready now.”
Now initially I was too ignorant and innocent to realize what had bothered my dad and preacher. But, what I discovered about that church was that while they had that wonderful saying on their pulpit “Sir we would see Jesus!” they really didn’t want to see Jesus all that bad.
That’s part of the reason they ran through preachers so often. Every preacher that had filled that pulpit had tried to show Jesus to those leaders… but the Jesus of the Bible that wasn’t the Jesus they were looking for.
(pause…) The Gentiles approached Philip and said: :Sir, we would see Jesus!”
But I don’t think those Gentiles knew WHAT they were asking for. I don’t think those Gentiles knew WHO Jesus really was. And – as a result – the Gospel writer never tells us any more about THEM. As soon as Philip and Andrew report their request to Jesus, Jesus launches into a sermon that basically says: The Jesus you see may not be the Jesus you want.
There are people who regard Jesus VERY highly because they think he was
1. a great teacher
2. or a great prophet
3. or a highly moral individual
4. or the founder of one of the world’s great religions
They want to see Jesus… but they aren’t looking for the Jesus that the Bible shows us.
ILLUS: About 5 years ago (July 6, 2000) Hugh Downs hosted a round table discussion on TV about the question “Who is Jesus?” Among his guests was Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Dean of the Oxford Líchaim Society.
During the discussion, the Rabbi said, “Jesus was a great teacher, a very ethical, moral, human being -- perhaps in our opinion, not a prophet -- but certainly a phenomenal teacher and Christianity is a great world religion . . .and while I agree he is a great light, once we say he is the only light, THIS is what leads to all kinds of spiritual racism and a division between Jews and Christians.”
So, you see, there are people who struggle with the question: Who is Jesus? And often times – the Jesus they come to see isn’t the same one we find in the Bible.
II. So, who was this Jesus?
Last week, we explained that Jesus was the Son of God – he was divine. He was God in the flesh. But now THIS week our text describes Jesus as the Son of Man. What does it mean that Jesus was the Son of Man?
Well, that’s the very question the Jews asked Jesus that day.
Look at John 12:34 "We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?"
What does “son of man” mean? It means Jesus was mortal. He was born of a woman just like you and I were. Well… ALMOST like you and I were.
Because – while Jesus had a mortal mother, He had no human father
Scripture tell us that an angel told Mary “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:35
So Jesus was BORN of both God and of woman. Thus, He was literally both the Son of God and the Son of Man.
But why did Jesus have to be a Son of Man… why did Jesus have to be born of a woman?
1st – Jesus had to be born of a woman because that was what had been prophesied.
When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they lost their closeness with God. They had lost the privilege of walking with God in the Garden. They could no longer enjoy His presence and His intimate love because they were tainted with sin.
And so God set about dealing with the damage that their sin had created.
God gave the FIRST sacrifice for sin. God had to slaughter a couple of animals so that their skins could be used to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve.
But God also prophesied that another sacrifice would be given one day. A sacrifice that would not just cover the nakedness of man, but a sacrifice that would cover the sins of all man.
In Genesis 3:15 God spoke to the serpent and said:
"Because you have done this, “I will put enmity (hatred) between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he (the offspring of a woman) will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
What did that mean? It meant that a day was going to come when the offspring of a woman would defeat the Devil… when a Son of Man would rise up and destroy the power of Satan.
That’s pretty much what Hebrews 2:14-15 declared when it says
“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death— that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”
III. This brings us to the 2nd reason Jesus had to be the “Son of Man”
Hebrews 2:14 tells us that it was “by His Death” that Jesus destroyed Satan
What does THAT mean?
IT MEANS: that the DEATH of a perfect sacrifice was required for the forgiveness of sins
For years – under the law – goats and bulls and sheep were sacrificed for that forgiveness. And they all had to be perfect specimens. No imperfections or faults were allowed.
Hebrews tells us that
“…the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Hebrews 9:22
But it also says: “… it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Heb 10:4
Under the Old Testament, God accepted the sacrifices of animals their blood was allowed to “cover” the sins of man in God’s sight. But there was nothing inherent in those animals OR in their blood that really took away sins.
What was ultimately required was going to be
A sacrifice that was WILLING to take our place
A sacrifice that would MAKE THE CHOICE to “stand in” as our substitute
A sacrifice that wasn’t some dumb animal who had nothing invested in the outcome
What Scripture is basically telling us is that…
God did just that
God became our willing sacrifice
He voluntarily took our place.
But, of course, the problem is this:
– you can’t kill God
– God can’t die
So, in order for God to be our substitute on the Cross, He had to become human. He had to become the Son of Man.
That’s why it tells us in Philippians 2:6-8
“Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!”
ILLUS: A man once dreamed that he was witnessing the Day of Judgment. He saw billions of people scattered out across a great plain before the throne of God. And then overheard voices:
“How can God judge us?” One asked
“What does He know about suffering?” said another, who rolled up her sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp “We endured terror, beatings, torture and death!”
From another group came the comment from a black man who pulled down the collar of his shirt “What about this!” he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. “Lynched for no crime but being black! We have suffocated in slave ships, been wrenched from loved ones, toiled till death gave release.”
Far out across the plain were 100’s of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He permitted in His world. How lucky God was to live in Heaven where there was no weeping, no fear, no hunger and no hatred! SO THEY DECIDED TO MAKE THEIR CASE BEFORE GOD.
Each group sent a representative to prepare their defense...
There was a Jew, a Black, an untouchable from India, an illegitimate person, a victim of Hiroshima, and someone who’d endured the horrors of a Siberian slave camp.
Their decision was that before God could judge them he should be “Sentenced to live on earth as a man!”
· He must be born of a despised race.
· The legitimacy of his birth should be doubted so that no one would know who was really His father.
· He should champion a cause so just, but so radical that it would bring down upon him the hate, condemnation, and efforts of every major traditional and established religious authority to eliminate him.
· He should have to try to describe what no man had ever seen, tasted, heard, or smelled - He must try to communicate God to man.
· He should be betrayed by someone he considered a friend.
· He should be indicted on false charges, tried before a prejudiced jury, and convicted by a cowardly judge.
· He should see what it is to be terribly alone and completely abandoned by every living thing.
· And He should be tortured and die the most humiliating of deaths.
And then as the man dreamed - he realized that God had already done those very things.
CLOSE: The Greeks had approached Philip and said “we would see Jesus!” But they really didn’t know who they were asking to see. And that wasn’t their fault.
They had come to hear a great teacher
They had come to see a great healer and prophet
But they didn’t understand… nor could they understand who Jesus was.
This Jesus was the Son of Man who had come to fulfill prophecy
This Jesus was - God in the flesh – who had come to be their sacrifice for sins.
This Jesus was the offspring of a woman who had come to defeat the power of Satan and to free them from the fear of death.
This was the Jesus that those Greeks could not yet understand. AND until Jesus was crucified on the cross for their sins – they never would.
Jesus said: “…When I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” John 12:32
You see: Those Greeks had an excuse – Jesus hadn’t died yet. They had an excuse… but you and I don’t. They could be excused for looking for
a teacher…
or a healer
or a highly moral individual
But, now – if you and I want to see Jesus we’ve got to be looking for far more than that. We have to be looking someone whose blood can take away our sins. Someone who died in our place. Someone who loved us so much that He gave His life for us.
That’s why God’s plan of salvation is tied so heavily to the death of Christ. In order to be saved, you must:
1. Believe – that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and that He died on the cross for YOUR sins.
2. Believe – that you are a sinner in need of the blood of Jesus to cover your sins and be willing to repent of those sins before Him
3. Confess that Jesus will now be your Lord and Savior. That because of His death on the cross, He has the right to claim you and all that you have as His own.
4. Be baptized. Now, this unique act reflects the genius of God. For, as Romans 6:3 tells us “Don’t you know that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” When we’re buried in the waters of Christian baptism, we die to our past and we share in the death of Jesus Christ. We’re buried together with Him and are allowed to rise as from a grave to a new life.
SERMONS IN THE “MEETING JESUS” SERIES
The Son Of God - Matthew 16:13-16:20
Knowing Who You’re Looking At - John 12:20-12:36
Whose In Charge Here? - Colossians 1:10-1:20
WWJD In Worship - Luke 4:14-4:21
How Jesus Ministered - Matthew 11:1-11:6
