7-3-16 sermon notes - Who is Jesus?

1. The Bible tells us who Jesus is. 
2. Jesus is the heart of the Christian faith! He is the one we worship as the Son of God, God the Son and the Savior of the world. 
3. Within the Bible - Jesus proclaimed that He is the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. 
4. Using the rules of logic we have to determine is Jesus a liar, a lunatic/madman or is Jesus God. 
5. We learned last week that we have an accurate copy of the Bible and that the Bible is historically accurate. So, we can’t say that the church exaggerated who Jesus was. He is either a liar, a madman or God in flesh.  
6. So Who is Jesus? Three things.
1. First, Jesus is the fulfillment of all Old Testament Prophecy
1. The Old Testament was written 300 - 1500 years before Jesus ever stepped foot on the earth.
2. It is full of Messianic prophecies. These are predictions of a coming Messiah. These predictions in the O.T. include…
1. The Messiah would be of the seed of Abraham - Genesis 12 (He would be a Jew)
2. The jews had 12 tribes and the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10)
3. He would be a descendent of David (Jeremiah 23:5-6)
4. He would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) from a seed of a virgin (Isaiah 7:13-14) woman (Genesis 3:14-15)
5. There are 100 more prophecies that I don’t have time to cover - but they include someone preparing the way for Him, speak in parables, would come into Jerusalem on a money, be called out of Egypt, die on a tree/cross, be hated without reason, etc…
3. Now we know that the O.T. is accurate because in 1947 a young shepherd boy was watching his sheep when he threw a rock at a goat and heard the sound of breaking pottery. He went to find the broken pottery to discover a cave full of scrolls. These scrolls were stored here for years and contained full well-conditioned books of the Bible that pre-dated Jesus.
4. One of those scrolls found was the book of Isaiah. The book of Isaiah was written 700 to 1000 years before Jesus came to the world. Isaiah 53 contains one of the greatest passages about the coming Messiah being a suffering servant. 
5. Let me read and you decide who you think this is referring too. Read Isaiah 52:13-53:12
6. There are couple of things said here that we need to point out. 
1. The servant spoken of here would have humble origins (53:1-2)
2. He would experience suffering and affliction (53:3)
3. The servant would accept vicarious and substitutionary suffering on behalf of his people (53:4-6, 12)
4. the servant would be condemned and put to death (53:7-9)
5. He would be sinless (53:9)
6. He would come back to life and be exalted above all rulers (53:10-12, 52:13-15)
7. Just a quick reading of this leaves us with little doubt that this passage is referring to Jesus. But there are some who doubt it is talking about Jesus.
8. Jews want to point out that this is referring not to Jesus but to the nation of Israel. There are a couple of problems with this interpretation. First, traditionally Jews have always interpreted this passage to refer to the coming Messiah. It was not until about 1000 years ago when they encountered Christian apologists that they reinterpreted it to be the nation of Israel.
9. There are serious flaws with this interpretation of Isaiah 53 being Israel. First, verse 9 says that the servant would be sinless. The whole Old Testament contains stories that talk about how sinful Israel is. 
10. Second, the suffering servant in verse 7 is referred to as a lamb who submits himself without resistance. Israel is certainly not a lamb and Israel lies down for nobody.
11. Third, the suffering servant dies as a substitunary atonement for the sins of others according to this passage. But Israel has not died, nor is she paying for the sins of others.
12. This leads us to one conclusion - the suffering servant is Jesus. Jesus fulfilled these prophecies.
13. In his book “Evidence that Demands a Verdict” Josh McDowell writes that the probability of someone fulfilling all the Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament is somewhere like 1 in 10 with 500 zeros behind it. He said the probability would be like someone filling the entire state of Texas up with quarters knee deep. Then taking one quarter and marking it with a black line and dropping it from an airplane somewhere in Texas. He said then if you blindfold someone and sent them into Texas. The probability of the person of finding that one quarter is the same probability of one person fulfilling every Messianic prophecy. 
14. That is Jesus. Now that leaves us with one of three logical options. Reject the O.T.  - we can’t do that because of what we discovered last week. We can either say Jesus was from God like a prophet or He is God. 
15. That leads to the second point - Jesus is God.
2. Second, Jesus is God - the second in the Trinity
1. The New Testament makes several claims that Jesus is God. The very opening words of the gospel of John says, “In the beginning was the Word, the word was with God the word was God.”
2. Paul said in Colossians 2:9 that “in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”
3. Matthew wrote that he would be called Immanuel which means God with us.
4. Jesus also made several claims to be God. 
5. I’ve had discussions with people who Jesus never said he was God. But I’ll give you two times when Jesus said He was God.
1. First in Mark 14 Caiaphas, the high priest, was questioning Jesus. He asked Him Are you the Christ, the Son of God?” Jesus answered “I am and you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” At this point they condemned Jesus for blasphemy. He referred to himself in two ways - first as I am - which is the name that Moses received from God when He asked God at the burning bush what His name was back in Exodus. Second, Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man. The Son of Man is a reference back to the O.T. book of Daniel. In chapter 7:13 it says that at the end times, the Son of Man - the Messiah - will come to earth to judge the world on the authority given to him by God the Father. So in this statement to Caiaphas, Jesus is claiming to be the God that the O.T. predicted would sit at the right hand of God judging the world. 
2. Second, in John 8:56-59 we read about Jesus telling the jews that He lived before Abraham and he said “Before Abraham was born, I am.” It is that I am statement again that points people to the Exodus passages where Moses is told by God that His name is I am who I am.
3. Jesus was claiming in these two passages to be Bod, the self existent one, the eternal one, and that’s why the Jews pick up stones to kill him and they eventually condemn Him to death. 
6. Third, there are indirect claims of Jesus being God.
1. Jesus prayed, “And now, O Father, glorify me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was (John 17:5).” But the O.T. says there is only one God and God says, “my glory will I not give to another.”
2. Jesus claimed to be the judge of all people - a job that the book of Joel in the O.T. says quotes as being a job for only God.
3. Jesus said I am the good shepherd (John 10:11) but Psalm 23:1 says the Lord is my shepherd.
4. Jesus is called the First and the last (Revelation 1:7) which are precisely the words used by God in Isaiah 44:6 to describe Himself.
5. Jesus declared Himself to be God in many parables. For example - the lost sheep, the lost son, and in many others he calls himself the Son of Man - which I’ve already addressed.
7. Fourth, Jesus does divine things.
1. He forgave sins (Mark 2:5-11)
2. He declared all authority belong to Him (Matthew 28:19-20)
3. He gives new commandments - (John 13:34- love one another)
4. He told us to pray in His name - (John 14:13-14)
5. Despite the fact that the Old and New Testament forbid worshipping any other than God - Jesus accepted worship on at least 9 different occasions. From a healed leper, to the disciples after the storm to Thomas declaring after the resurrection - My Lord my God.
8. Imagine your neighbor making claims like this - I am the light of the world, the good shepherd, the first and the last. You would seriously consider moving because your neighbor is crazy. You surely wouldn’t come to the conclusion that this guy is a great moral teacher. 
9. So here is what we know from studying Scripture and even other non-christian historical evidence
1. Jesus fulfilled hundreds of messianic prophecies written years in advance
2. Jesus lived a sinless life and performed many miracles. We know this b/c his disciples who spent three years with him day and night declared that he was unblemished and spotless (1 Peter 1:9), In Him there was no sin (1 John 3:5) and Paul said he knew no sin (2 Cor. 5:21) Try spending three days with any human being much less three years and you definitely will find faults. But the disciples said Jesus had none. Even the Pharisees tried to dig dirt up on him and found none (Mark 14:55) Pilate found him innocent of any wrong doing. 
3. finally, He predicted and accomplished his own resurrection from the dead.
10. The only thing left to conclude is that Jesus was a liar, a lunatic or God. The most logical conclusion Jesus is and was God.
11. Now there are a few objections that I will address before we finish.
1. Why didn’t Jesus make more direct claims to be God. There are a few reasons that I think he didn’t make more direct claims. 
1. First, the misconception of the Jews that he would come and free them from Roman oppression. There were a couple time in Jesus ministry that he performed a miracle and the people tried to make him king. So, he stayed quiet because His kingdom was not of this world - it was a eternal kingdom.
2. Second, remember in Matthew 4 when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by Satan. Satan tempted him to pull rank and throw himself from the pinnacle of the temple. Jesus said, Don’t test God. What Jesus was doing was he emptied himself of his humanity so that he could be like us. He didn’t want to pull rank every time he got into earthly trouble by claiming to be God.
3. Third, he had a mission to accomplish. By constantly claiming to be God he would have been killed even sooner than He was.
4. Finally, N.T. Wright said, “Imagine going to a Muslim country that one was fulfilling the will of Allah while apparently mocking Muhammad and making him the bad guy and burning the Koran.” That is essentially what Jesus did to the Jews. He gave evidence that he was God to the open-minded, but not enough to overwhelm the free will of those wishing to cling to their traditions. 
2. A second objection to Jesus being God is a wrong interpretation of the Trinity. 
1. The Trinity is not the worship of 3 gods or 3 divine essences. The Trinity is three persons in one divine essence. In other words, there are three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who share one divine nature. 
2. Like a Triangle has three corners but it is still one triangle.
3. Some argue that is illogical because three is not one and one is not three. But it’s not illogical. Let me explain. 
4. No finite being can completely comprehend an infinite God. But we can comprehend the Trinity. Just like we apprehend the ocean but never completely comprehend it. 
5. Muslims say the Trinity is to complex, but who said truth must always be simple. 
6. If we were making up a religion of course it would be simple, because God would only be as big as our understanding. But if we are dealing with fact, then of course at times it won’t be that simple. 
7. The Triune God is seen throughout Scripture and it truly helps us understand how love existed from eternity. The N.T. Says God is love, but how can love exist in a monotheistic being. But because of God’s triune nature we can see how God exist eternally in perfect fellowship of love. 
8. Think about it - to have love you must have a lover, a loved one, and a spirit of love. That is God! He is the perfect in everything and lacks nothing - not even love. 
9. Knowing he lacks nothing, we understand that he didn’t need to create us human beings. But he chose to create us, and loves us in accordance with his loving nature.
10. Jesus is the God the Son who became a man. His incarnation was not the subtraction of deity, it was the addition of humanity. When Jesus was a man he didn’t cease being God, He simply added human nature. 
12. So here is the final conclusion that we come too. 
13. Look at this illustration and decide for yourself. Page 347
14. So the Logically conclusion is if Jesus is God the He is Lord and Savior
3. Third, Jesus is our Savior
1. The Bible teaches us that Jesus died on a cross for our sins and rose from the dead on the third day to become our Lord and Savior.
2. The Bible teaches that is only through Jesus that one can get to God and go to heaven. 
3. Acts 4:12 - there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.
4. John 14:6 - Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”
5. So how do we get this salvation?
6. Ephesians 2:8-9 says this “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast”
7. It’s not about what we do, it’s about who we believe in. 
8. Romans 3:23 says - we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
9. Romans 6:23 - the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
10. Romans 5:8 - God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us
11. John 3:16 - “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
12. Romans 10:9-10 - if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, [g]resulting in salvation. 
13. That’s it - You must confess that Jesus is Lord and make him Lord of your life.
4. Conclusion
1. Who is Jesus! He is the fulfillment of all the O.T. prophecies.
2. He is the long awaited Messiah. The second in the Trinity. He is God, the Son of God and God the Son who became Lord when He died for our sins and rose from the dead on the third day. 
3. He is Alpha the Omega the beginning and the end, the lion of Judah, the king of the world, the Savior for all mankind, the righteous one, the ancient of days, the blessed one, the everlasting Father, the eternal one, the word who became flesh, God-man, Jehovah God, the beautiful one, and lover of our soul!!!
4. Believe in Jesus and you will be saved