Jesus

1. 
   
   How do we know Jesus wasn't just a really great teacher?
   
   
   
   
2. 
   
   What do you mean when you say Jesus is God?
   
   
   
   
3. 
   
   What did Jesus do for me?
   
   
   
   
   

1. 
   
   How do we know Jesus wasn't just a really great teacher?
   
   
   
   

Matthew 17:5 says, “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, ' This is my Son, whom I love. With Him I am well pleased. Listen to him.”

• 
  
  Jesus is more than just a great leader, a good influence, or a great prophet. He is the Son of God. When you understand this profound truth, the only adequate response is worship. When you have a correct understanding of Christ, you will obey him.
  
  
  
  

Luke 24:6-7 says, “He is not here, he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' Then they remembered His words.

• 
  
  The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the central fact of Christian history. On it, the church is built; without it, there would be no Christian Church today. Jesus's resurrection is unique. Other religions have strong ethical systems, concepts about paradise and afterlife, and various holy scriptures. Only Christianity has a God who became human, literally died for his people and was raised again in power and glory to rule his church forever.
  
  
  
  
• 
  
  Why is the resurrection so important?
  
  • 
    
    Because Christ was raised from the dead. We know that the Kingdom of heaven has broken into Earth's history. Our world is now headed for redemption, not disaster. God's mighty power is at work destroying sin, creating new lives, and preparing us for Jesus's second coming.
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    Because of the resurrection, we know that death has been conquered and we too will be raised from the dead to live forever with Christ.
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    The resurrection gives authority to the church's witnesses in the world. Look at the early evangelistic sermons in the book of Acts. The apostles' most important message was the proclamation that Jesus Christ had been raised from the dead.
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    The resurrection helps us find meaning even in great tragedy. No matter what happens to us as we walk with the Lord, the resurrection gives us hope for the future.
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    The resurrection gives meaning to the Church's regular feast, the Lord's supper. Like the disciples on the Emmaus Road, we break bread with our risen Lord, who comes in power to save us.
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    The resurrection assures us that Christ is alive and ruling his Kingdom. He is not legend: He is alive and real.
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    God's power that brought Jesus back from the dead is available to us so that we can live for him in an evil world.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  

• 
  
  Christians can hold widely varying beliefs about politics, lifestyle, and even theology. But one central belief unites and inspires all true Chrstians: that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
  
  
  
  

John 5:31 says, “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid.”

• 
  
  Jesus claimed to...
  
  • 
    
    be equal with God (John 5:18)
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    give eternal life (John 5:24)
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    be the source of life (John 5:26)
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    judge sin (John 5:27)
    
    
    
    
  
  
  

• 
  
  These statements make it clear that Jesus was claiming to be divine – an almost unbelievable claim, but one that was supported by another witness, John the Baptist.
  
  
  
  

Philippians 2:5-11 says, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Who, being in very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made inhuman likeness. And being found in appearance as a man. He humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. In heaven and on Earth and under the Earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”

• 
  
  These verses are probably from a hymn by the early Christian Church. The passage holds many parallels to the prophecy of the suffering servant in Isaiah 53. As a hymn, it was not meant to be a complete statement about the nature and work of Christ. Several key characteristic of Jesus Christ, however, are praised in this passage:
  
  
  • 
    
    Christ has always existed with God.
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    Christ is equal to God because he is God (see: John 1:1, Colossians 1:15-19)
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    Though Christ is God, He became a man in order to fulfill God's plan of salvation for all people.
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    Christ did not just have the appearance of being a man – He actually became human to identify with our sins.
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    Christ voluntarily laid aside His divine rights and privileges out of love for his father.
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    Christ died on the cross for our sins so we wouldn't have to face eternal death.
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    God glorified Christ because of His obedience.
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    God raised Christ to His original position at the Father's right hand, where He will reign forever as our Lord and Judge. How can we do anything less than praise Christ as our Lord and dedicate ourselves to his service?
    

2. 
   
   What do you mean when you say Jesus is God?
   
   
   

Hebrews 1:1-3 says, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representationhh of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

• 
  
  God used many ways to send his messages to people in Old Testament times. He spoke to Isaiah in visions (Isaiah 6), to Jacob in a dream (Genesis 28), and to Abraham and Moses personally (Genesis 18; Exodus 31:18). Jewish people familiar with these stories would have not found it hard to believe that God was still revealing his will, but it was astonishing for them to think that God had revealed himself by speaking through his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the fulfillment and culmination of God's revelation through the centuries. When we know him, we have all we need to be saved from our sin and to have a perfect relationship with God.
  
  
  
  
• 
  
  Not only is Jesus the exact representation of God, but He is God himself, the very God who spoke in Old Testament times. He is eternal. He worked with the Father in creating the world (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16). He is the full revelation of God. You can have no clear view of God than by looking at Christ. Jesus Christ is the complete expression of God in a human body.
  
  
  
  

3. 
   
   What did Jesus do for me?
   
   
   
   

Mark 15:31 says, “In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. 'He saved others,' they said, 'but He can't save himself.'”

• 
  
  Jesus could have saved himself, but he endured this suffering because of His love for us. He could have chosen not to take the pain and humiliation. He could have killed those who mocked him, but He suffered through it all because He even loved his enemies. We had a significant part in the dram that dark afternoon because our sins were on the cross too. Jesus died on that cross for us, and the penalty for our sins was paid by his death. The only adequate response we can make is to confess our sin and freely accept the fact that Jesus paid for it so we wouldn't have to. Don't insult God with indifference toward the greatest act of genuine love in history.
  
  
  
  

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

• 
  
  When we trust in Christ, we make an exchange: our sin for his righteousness. Our sin was poured into Christ at his crucifixion. His righteousness is poured into us at our conversion. This is what Christians mean by Christ's atonement for sin. In the world, bartering works only when two people exchange goods of relatively equal value. But God offers to trade His righteousness for our sin; something of immeasurable worth for something completely worthless. We should be grateful for His kindness to us.
  
  
  
  

Colossians 1:12-14 says, “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the Saints in the Kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the son. He loves, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

• 
  
  Paul lists five benefits God gives all believers through Christ:
  
  
  • 
    
    He made us qualified to share in His inheritance (see also 2 Corn 5:21)
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    He rescued us from Satan's dominion of darkness and made us His children (see also Colossians 2:15)
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    He brought us into his eternal kingdom (see Ephesians 1:5-6)
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    He redeemed us – brought our freedom from sin and judgment (see also Hebrews 9:12)
    
    
    
    
  • 
    
    He forgave all our sins (see also Ephesians 1:7)
    
    
    
    

Hebrews 9:22 says, “In fact, the Law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

• 
  
  Why does forgiveness require the shedding of blood? This is no arbitrary decree on the part of a bloodthirsty God, as some have suggested. There is no greater symbol of life than blood that keeps us alive. Jesus shed his blood, gave his life, for our sins, so that we wouldn't have to experience spiritual death, eternal separation from God. Jesus is the source of life, not death. He gave his own life to pay our penalty for us so that we might live. After shedding His blood for us, Christ rose from the grave and proclaimed victory over sin and death.
  
  
  
  

In Matthew 1:17) The text says “ Those there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.”

_Jesus was the Messiah, the one for whom the Jews had waited to save them from the Romans, but they didn't recognize Him because his Kingdom was not an earthly one and His real purpose as God's anointed was to die for all people to free them from sin and death, and Matthew wrote his book to Jews presenting Jesus as the Messiah, the promised descendant of David who would reign forever. (Isaiah 11:1-5), so Matthew is filled with messianic language (Son of David) and Old Testament references (53 quotes and 76 other references) to prove Jesus is the Messiah.

-In Luke 24:44) The text says “He said to them “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled, that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms”.

_The Law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms is a way to describe the entire Old testament. In other words, the entire Old Testaments points to the Messiah, for example, His role as prophet was foretold in (Deuteronomy 18: 15-20), His sufferings were Prophesied in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. His resurrection was predicted in Psalm 16:9-11 and Isaiah 53:10-11.