Who Is Jesus To You?

Who Is Jesus to You?

Isaiah 61:1-3

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - Aug. 25, 2013

*Who is Jesus Christ? -- This is one of the most important questions we ever have to answer in life.

*Some people would say that Jesus is a mythological person on the same level as Zeus and Hercules. That's what I believed when I was a young man. Many people would say that Jesus was a prophet. And most would say that He was a good man.

*But the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is: The Almighty, the Alpha and Omega, the Author of Life, the Author of Salvation, the Beginning and the End, the Bread of Life, the Creator of all, Emmanuel -- God with us, Faithful and True, Firstborn from the Dead, the Good Shepherd who gave His life for His sheep, the great "I Am", the Judge of the living and the dead, King Eternal, the Lamb of God, the Light of the World, Lord of All, our Protection, Redemption and Righteousness, the Resurrection and the Life, our Rock, our Savior, the Son of God, the Way, the Truth and the Life!

*Jesus is all of these things, and more! But who is Jesus Christ to you? This is an even more important question: Who is Jesus to you?

*Today's Scripture helps us see who Jesus wants to be to you. This Old Testament prophecy was written 700 years before Christ was born, but it certainly applies to Jesus.

*In Luke 4, Jesus went back to His hometown of Nazareth. He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath Day, and was asked to read God's Word. At that time Jesus turned to this very passage in Isaiah and read:

1. "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

2. To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,

3. To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."

*Then the Lord sat down to show His authority. In Jewish tradition the one who sat was in charge. That's where we get our word "chairman." (1)

*Jesus sat down after reading these verses, and said: "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:21)

*The townspeople understood that Jesus was claiming to be the prophesied Messiah and promised King. But they would not accept this local man as their Messiah. And in fact, they became so enraged that they tried to throw the Lord off a cliff.

*Of course they could not kill Jesus, because it was always God's plan for His only begotten Son to die on the cross for our sins. They also could not kill Jesus, because He IS the Messiah, Savior, Almighty God, and Lord of all. But this prophecy in Isaiah tells us much more about the Lord.

1. Who is Jesus to you? -- He wants to be your Preacher.

*And if we have trusted in the Lord, then Jesus is our Preacher. There are a lot of wonderful preachers in this world, but none of them can hold a candle to Jesus!

*In vs. 1, Jesus said, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor. . ." That phrase "preach good tidings" is one word in the original language. It means "to bring good news," and the word picture is something fresh and full, overflowing with goodness.

*Jesus said, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor." Now the Lord surely loves poor people, but He isn't talking about financial poverty here. He's talking about someone who realizes his own spiritual poverty.

*It's the same thing Jesus had in mind in Matthew 5:3, when He said: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Jesus is talking about people who have realized that they have no righteousness on their own. But they are happy, because they have trusted in the Lord.

*In vs. 1, the Lord also said: "He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound." Then in vs. 2 the Lord said: "He has sent me to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God. . ."