Who is Jesus: Jesus’ True Identity

Speaker 0 00:00:05 Well, it is awesome. Get to jive, uh, dive into, jump Speaker 1 00:00:10 Into and dive into turns into jive. Yes. There you go. Uh, is it awesome that we get, get to dive into this new sermon series once more, we're going to be in this for the next three weeks remaining. And it is this subject is who is Jesus. Last week, we talked about the accepting Christ as Jesus accept everybody. That of course is the wrong question to ask. The right question is not just Jesus, except me. The right question is to, I accept him. And this week, our question that we are going to ask is similarly, uh, understood by our culture in a whole lot of different ways. Now you may be surprised at some of the things that we talk about this morning. Maybe some things that you didn't know about, and hopefully these are going to be educational moments for you this morning, but this is a subject in our culture. Speaker 1 00:00:56 That is actually more and more unclear when it should be coming more and more clear who Jesus is. I mean, we have the Bible, we have Jesus Christ himself. You know, who's, who's a witness to us and we have the holy spirit. We have the church, we have the constant barrage of people reminding us who Jesus Christ is in scripture. It makes it very clear actually in Colossians one verse 15 and 16, it says, Jesus is the image of the invisible God. There, there are verses galore in scripture that tell us the identity of Jesus Christ. And so today we're going to take a moment and talk about who does Jesus think that he is now? So how many of you like the, who done it? Movies? I'm talking about the movies where you, you you're like watching it. You don't know who actually did the deed. If it was a crime or who actually did the, whatever it is that we're trying to figure out. And then at the end, it's all of a sudden it's, it's held back, it's held back and then revealed at the end. Like some of these movies, you probably have your favorites. I have mine as well. The sixth sense. I don't know if you're up for a sixth sense kind of a movie, but that is one that's amazing. Right? Cause you're, you're holding onto there and Speaker 0 00:02:07 You go, why is everybody acting really weird? What's going on? Speaker 1 00:02:11 He's well, I wanted to blow it for you just in case you haven't seen it yet, but that's a good who done it. Matrix is another one. You know that alternate reality. That's one of my favorite ones is called the usual suspects. I don't know if you've seen that or not, but that's a, that's an old, old one, but, uh, but a goodie oldie, but goodie. These are all movies that have identities of people that are held back there that you don't know what's actually going on. And then all of a sudden it happens at the end and you're going, oh, I didn't see that coming. Jesus. Life is completely the opposite. All through Jesus' life. He is constantly telling us who he is. There is no big reveal in Jesus' life where people go, I didn't see that coming. I didn't know. Jesus thought he was, God, Jesus makes clear in his ministry all the way through his life that he knows who he is. Speaker 1 00:03:04 Jesus is God himself. Now you may hear that. And you may think to yourself, I don't know if I actually believe that because it is becoming more and more popular to believe that Jesus was not God. And you may be thinking yourself, boy, those are not the circles I run in Jesus. Of course Jesus has God. Well, it's interesting how the world is changing. Jesus constantly claimed to be equal with God. He claimed to be the only way to heaven. He claimed to be the food that fell from heaven. The bread that fell from heaven that gives us spiritual life. Uh, people in Jesus' day had a hard time accepting. This are you're thinking to yourself. Well, Craig, it's no wonder people had a hard time accepting this. That's just a hard claim to believe. And you're absolutely right in Jesus' day. It was the same thing. Speaker 1 00:03:52 Look at this verse in John six 41. So the Jews grumbled about him because he said, I am the bread that comes down from heaven. They said, Hey, isn't this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose mother and father, we know. How does he now say I have come down from heaven church. Why did people have a hard time believing that Jesus was God because they knew his mum and dad, did you get that? They weren't buying this whole. I was impregnated by the holy spirit idea. They knew Mary. They knew they could go over to Mary and Joseph's house, knock on the door and talk to Jesus, mother and father. And now Jesus is saying very clearly I am God. And they're saying, I can't possibly be true. We know this guy's parents. How could somebody like this claim to be God, not only that, but his entrance into the world was less than Sterling. Speaker 1 00:04:50 If you know what I saying? I mean, he was born out of wedlock. I mean, it wasn't the best pass. Mary and Joseph have kind of made a name for themselves. Oh sure. He was, he was born of a Virgin chair. We all know the story, but who's buying that. And so when Jesus came along and said, oh, by the way, I'm God, there's a lot of obstacles. Belief obstacles. People had to go over to swallow this idea. And times haven't changed. People still have a very difficult claim with the idea that Jesus is God other religions talk about Jesus. They even liked Jesus. Some of them elevate him to apostleship or discipleship or even a profit ship. Some of them elevate him because they like him, but they do not elevate him to the place of God, because it is simply too narrow minded and listen church in our increasingly pluralistic society. Speaker 1 00:05:54 This idea of Jesus being God is not going to be highly accepted. In fact, if I would venture to say, I'm not the prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I would venture to say is becoming more and more and will become more, more popular to question the deity of Jesus Christ. The sense of disbelief leave is not new. This is why by the way, John writes his gospel. I don't know if you know this, but all of the gospel writers write their gospel for a specific purpose. Matthew, mark, Luke. They all have their reasons for writing. And I don't have time to go into all of them, but they all have their reasons, their audience that they're writing to John does as well. John writes his gospel about 60 years after Jesus ascended. And you know, what's happening 60 years after Jesus ascended and went back to heaven, rose from the dead and went back to heaven. What's happening is people are having a hard time believing the story. Speaker 2 00:06:50 That's all, all Speaker 1 00:06:51 The way through John's gospel. If you're wondering why we quote John's gospel a lot is because John constantly reminds his readers. He constantly reminds last Jesus is God. Here's just some, some of the favorites. You remember John three 16 for God. So loved the world he gave his only son. Whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. But no at the next verse says, God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world. But that in order that the world through him might be saved. How does the world get saved church through Jesus Christ? It is very clear to the Gentile Samaritan woman who was getting water from the well Jesus spoke to the Gentiles, told them the same thing the woman said to him in John four 25. I know the Messiah is coming. He who is called the Christ. Speaker 1 00:07:46 When he comes, he will tell us all things Jesus said to her in verse 26 today, I who speak to you. Am he? And anybody confused. Next one, the people who loved religion, John five 18, this is why the Jews were seeking the more to kill him. Why were the Jews always trying to kill Jesus? You guessed it because not only he was breaking the Sabbath, but look at this church. He was even calling God his own father making himself. What equal with God. You wonder why the Jews constantly wanted to kill Jesus because they knew what Jesus was saying. I am God to the religious rulers in John, five 39. You read the scriptures, listen to this. This is one of my favorites. You read the scriptures. These are guys that are teaching God's word to the people. You read the scriptures because you think that in them, you have eternal life. Speaker 1 00:08:37 And it is they that bear witness about who church me yet. You refuse to come to me that you may have life. Jesus actually thought the entire Bible was written about him. Now that's narcissistic or true. It's gotta be one of the two Jesus is saying to the people that teach the law constantly that teach the Bible constantly. What you're teaching is all about me. He's not hiding it. And many of his disciples in verse 60 of chapter six, it says, oh, sorry, does coupon? Yes. To the religious Jews. Sorry, sorry, sorry. John. Five 45. Do not think that I will accuse you to the father. There is one who accuses you Moses all the old Testament scriptures of whom you have set your hope for you. Believe if you believe, jeez, sorry. If you believe Moses, you would have believed me for. He wrote of what Moses wrote about Jesus. Speaker 1 00:09:36 Jesus is not hiding this. This is not a who done it. Moment. Jesus is constantly saying all the way through scripture. And John just, just bashes us over the head with this idea from, from the very first chapter in the beginning was the word and the word was with God. And the word was, God, John makes it clear to us. This is this only up to like six chapters in John. And he is telling us, listen, you need to know one thing Jesus thinks he's got. And so do I. In fact, his disciples understood it so well that they got scared of following him in verse 60 of John six. It says when many of his disciples heard it, they said, this is a hard saying who can listen to it? And it says in the next verse, many of them left. Tim gotten to Johnny. This is one of the most blatant ones. John eight 58 says Jesus said unto them. Truly, truly I say to you, that's like, this is as true as it gets. Truly, truly. There's two in a row here. Truly, truly. I'm saying to you before Abraham was, I am now who's called the, I am church in the old Testament who introduced themselves to Abraham calling himself. I am. Who was that? Speaker 2 00:10:53 God y'all way. Speaker 1 00:10:56 Okay. And Jesus said before, Abraham was, Speaker 2 00:10:59 I am Speaker 1 00:11:03 Moses got this introduction of God. The first time calling him the I am. And now we have Jesus taking the very name of God and make no mistake. They knew it because if you keep reading in John eight, the Jews tried to kill them again. There too. It's a regular occasion where Jesus says, I am God. And it's a regular occasion where people are trying to kill him because he is saying he's God, CS Lewis tells us. There's only three ways to understand what Jesus Christ is saying. When you examine Jesus Christ, you that come down one of three ways, he's either lying. He's a lunatic or he is the Lord. God has to be one of the three. And I'll add one more because it's becoming more and more popular today. ELO is kind of wrapped up in the other ones. He was either, he might've been in your opinion, maybe a good teacher or a good fella and times have not changed people in Jesus' days thought the exact same thing. Speaker 1 00:11:57 So I found a passage in John seven that, that actually sits on each one of these things like, is Jesus a good fella? Is he a good teacher? And that's all he is. Is he a good prophet? Is he not more than that? And we will find out this is just one passage in a plethora of passages where we find Jesus makes claims to be God. Now some background of John seven, this is the feast of <inaudible>. Do you like that word to coat? Do you want to say that word? Because it sounds cool. Say the word cerakote, cerakote. The feast of Sokoto. This comes after the day of atonement and the day of atonement was a time when everybody was confessing their sins. And the day of silicoat, the feast of Sokoto was a time to celebrate. They've heard now that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, Jesus comes to Jerusalem for the celebrations. Speaker 1 00:12:52 And here's what happened. John seven verse 11, the Jews were looking for him at the feast saying, where is he? And there was much muttering about him among the people. What do you see there? People are talking about what they're talking about. Jesus. There was much muttering about Jesus among the people. In other words, people are chatting and rumor has it. Jesus is here now in this big crowd that is there for <inaudible>. Everybody is looking for their parents and their loved ones that are traveling from afar to come and celebrate. But they're also looking for one other person and that is Jesus Christ. Speaker 2 00:13:29 Now the reason Speaker 1 00:13:31 They're looking for him is because they've heard about him. There's no social media. There's no Facebook. There's no, newscasting, there's none of that. This is all word of mouth. People were talking about Jesus Christ. So everybody is there, there their families. And they're looking also for this guy that they've heard so much about. Jesus has already talked to Nicodemus in John chapter three. He's already made several claims to be God. And so they're interested to know where is he? Have you seen them? I know mom and dad are over there, but have you seen this guy? They called Jesus. I heard he's here today. Like, what does he look like? We looking for exactly. And Jesus was a good man. He was a good teacher. And some people thought he wasn't much more than that in John seven, verse 12. And there was much muttering about him among the people. Speaker 1 00:14:15 While some said, he's a good man about the middle of the feast. Jesus went up to the temple and began teaching the Jews. Therefore marveled saying, how is it that this man has learning when he has never studied? Do you get the idea? Some people, when they're muttering about Jesus, they simply think he's a good teacher. He's a good fella. He's a good guy. Sound like our culture today. Some people thought he was not a good fella. They thought maybe he was a deceiver in verse 12. It says, other said, no, he is leading the people astray. He's a liar. Speaker 2 00:14:48 He's, he's Speaker 1 00:14:49 Lying to people leading them. He is a false prophet. Other said in verse 19, Jesus was a lunatic or he was possessed. Jesus said, why do you seek to kill me? And verse 20 says, the crowd answered. You have a demon to yet this their culture and our culture are surprisingly similar. Some people thought he was a good fella. Some people here today probably online and probably the people that you walk with and rub shoulders with probably thinking that Jesus was a good fellow, but I don't know if he was more than that. Some people might say, oh, he was a good teacher. We should really listen to the teachings of Jesus, but they wouldn't go much further than that. Other people would say, no, Jesus, he's a liar. He's not who you think that he is. And the scriptures that you're reading about him, they lie about who he is too. That whole Christian thing, following Christ, that is a big lie. And other people might think no, Speaker 2 00:15:44 Jesus was a little kooky. Here's a little Speaker 1 00:15:47 Crazy in the head. He thought he was God. And only crazy people think that they are Speaker 2 00:15:52 God Speaker 1 00:15:54 In Jesus' day. As in ours, you had people on all of those sides of the fences. Let's look at each one of them. This will be fun. Jesus was a good teacher and nothing more. Now listen, when people taught in Jesus' day, they would always quote other people. Have you had teachers like this? Have you had professors like this? That they quote other writers? Or they say, you know, somebody read, somebody wrote something about this and it's on page. So I had a professor in my seminar. He would always remember the page number on the book that he read about the subject that we were talking about. And it was like a page 55, somewhere in the middle. You can find it there. And it was like, holy moly, this guy is incredibly smart in Jesus' day was the same thing. You would always quote other rabbis. Speaker 1 00:16:41 You didn't, you didn't say anything of your own. You used other people's stuff. And especially if you were trained under a rabbi, like let's say you're in rabbi was rabbi Jim, you would always quote rabbi Jim. You know, rabbi Jim says blank. Jesus never quoted rabbis. In fact, he sometimes quoted the old Testament, but he never quoted other people in, in, in contrast, Jesus didn't quote other people. He taught like this, you have heard it said, but I say to you, do you understand the contrast there? You have heard other rabbis say this, but I'm going to, I'm going to do some clarification for you. I'm saying to you this, or like we just read truly, truly I say to you, this is how Jesus taught. And it constantly amazed the crowds because nobody taught with that kind of authority. Matthew seven verse 28, when Jesus finished these sayings, this is by the way, sermon on the Mount longest vert, longest sermon that we have of Jesus Christ. Speaker 1 00:17:46 And here's how it finishes. When Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching before he was teaching them as one who had what church authority. He taught them as one who had authority, not as their scribes. In other words, Jesus was saying, you've heard it said, let me clear it up for you. You've heard it said, I got to tell you, this is the way that it is truly, truly. I say to you, Jesus was speaking with authority and everybody understood it. And when people we're we're recipients of this kind of teaching and they couldn't refute it, they were defenseless. Jesus' teaching is one of the most powerful tools that he had in scripture. In fact, there's a verse in John seven verse 45 that says this. The officers came to the chief priests and the Pharisees. This is by the way at the feast of silicoat. Speaker 1 00:18:34 When Jesus is at the temple and the Jews hate him, the Pharisees hate him. So they wanted to try and grab him to put them in jail, get rid of him, shut him up, put a mask over his face. That's what they wanted to do. Officers came to the chief priests and the Pharisees who said to him, why did you not bring him? Why didn't you grab him? Why didn't you put them in change? Look at what the officer said. The officers at the temple said, no one ever spoke like this man. We're afraid not of Jesus. They were afraid of his method of teaching. Cause he didn't teach like the scribes and he didn't teach like the Pharisees he taught as one with authority. Speaker 1 00:19:17 His teaching was powerful enough to drive fear into his enemies hearts. That's pretty powerful teaching. Don't you think it was as teaching powerful about, well, again, he's usually just teaching about one thing over and over and over again. He is God, he is the Messiah. Jesus said, what you're hearing from me is as if you're hearing from the gods God's mouth himself, that was authoritative. And that was frightening to some people, the most crucial point of his teaching. If he was God, the most crucial point of his teaching is that he was God, which means that now listen carefully. You cannot believe Jesus was a good teacher. If you do not believe he's God, the reason is because his main curriculum was, remember, remind everybody that you're gone. Now. Here's what I want you to teach. It says this in this lesson plans constantly. If you've got a teacher that teaches good, you think you're saying, yeah, this guy was a good teacher. And he thinks he's God and he's teaching he's God. And he's aligned. Listen, if you've got a teachers that means a lot to you. My guess is there's a lot of trust there between you and that teacher. If that teacher ever lied to you, you probably say, that's not a very good teacher. Get it. If Jesus is saying, I am God, and I'm going to teach you now and you can live with the fact that he's a good teacher. That it's, it doesn't make sense. It's a logical cause Jesus taught that he was God. Speaker 1 00:20:56 If you ask people today, most people will claim that Jesus was a good teacher, but he was not God. And that is in congruent. Illogical. Let me tell you a few in the Hindu religion, they do not believe that Jesus was one with the father. When Jesus says I am the father of one, they would say that Jesus is simply elevating his thinking to understanding a greater consciousness, higher consciousness, where he could be one in thought and essence as the father. And you can too. That's the, that's the thing with Hindu. You want to elevate your mind above the, the flesh. So the Hindu religion would say, Jesus, wasn't actually saying he was one as one. He was the father. He simply saying he's elevated his state of conscientious. Being to being one conscious higher consciousness with the father. They do not teach that. Jesus was God. Speaker 1 00:21:58 The Mormons do not believe that Jesus was God, either. They believe he was a son of God created by God. He was a Messiah for humankind, but he was not God Jehovah's witness. Do not believe that Jesus was God. They teach that Jesus was the son of God. Jesus might've been even a God, but he was not the God and may have changed. Versus by the way, the Jehovah's witness has changed versus in their Bible. They'll say they use the same Bible as us. They do not. They've changed versus in order to reflect their preconceived ideas. The Ramadan Ramadan is the uh, time of year that we're actually in right now. Islam celebrates a Stein. Ramadan. What does Islam teach about? God? Even the Koran says that Jesus is not God in the Koran. It says in Syrah four, one 71, Allah is the only God far be it from his glory that she, he should have a son. Did you read that? Cause he's listening that carefully. That's right out of the Koran SIRA five 75 says the Messiah. Speaking of Jesus Christ is the son of Mary and is only an apostle Speaker 2 00:23:09 All of Speaker 1 00:23:09 The religions of the world. And you can pick any of them, have a view of Jesus because he existed. You can not prove that he didn't. Their view of Jesus. However, is tainted and broken. If they do not teach that Jesus is equal and one with God. And let me take you to the right to the bottom of bottom line. There is only one religion that teaches that Jesus is God himself. And that religion is Christianity is the only religion on the planet that teaches that Jesus is one with God. So listen to church. You cannot believe that Jesus was a good man or a good teacher and nothing else because he can not be a good man. If he's lying to you, he cannot be a good teacher. If his teaching is false, you tech, technically you call that a false teacher, a false prophet. And in the new Testament, you know what? In the old Testament, you know what you did with false prophet, what do you do with Paul's profits, your stone, them. That's why they wanted to kill Jesus. They thought he was a false Speaker 2 00:24:16 Teacher. So let's get rid Speaker 1 00:24:19 Of this idea that Jesus was just a good guy or a good teacher. He could not be a good teacher. If he's teaching that he has gone. Let me, let me put it to you. Just this way. Two questions that you can ask anybody or even yourself, do you believe that Jesus was a good teacher who taught good things? Most people would agree with that second question. Do you believe the Bible? And it says, there's no other way to God, except through Jesus Christ, his son, most people will not agree with that. Do you know what Jesus taught? Jesus taught. There's no other way to heaven. There's no other way to God, except through him, John 14, six, I am the way the truth and the life read it for former church. Speaker 1 00:25:04 No one comes to the father, except through me. Jesus cannot be a good teacher and lie to you like that. So either he was telling the truth and he is a good teacher and he is God or he's not God. And he's a false teacher either. Jesus did not teach good things. And he was a false teacher or Jesus did teach good things. And his main teaching was about himself being God. All right. So that's the whole good teacher thing. Let's go to the liar thing. Maybe Jesus was a good teacher. He just lied about some things. Okay. I have a problem with that statement right off the bat, but let's say that that's possible. Somebody is able to be good to good teacher and still tell lies. Maybe he had to tell the lies to lend authority to his Speaker 2 00:25:51 Teaching. I've Speaker 1 00:25:53 Had a lot of good teachers in my life and I gotta tell you, I don't know what I think about them. I don't know if I would put them in the good teacher category. If I knew that they were lying to me on a regular basis, I may not define them as a good teacher anymore. But if Jesus was a liar, his lies would have been revealed. And his lies. If he lied, if he was a liar, his lies were never revealed. Okay. Where they couldn't find one thing to accuse you do. You know, he got all the way to his trial. That's 33 years of his life. He got all the way to his trial. They bring him into the trial and they try and accuse him of breaking Moses law so that they could kill him. They wanted to prove he was a false teacher. Speaker 1 00:26:37 So they got in there and they tried to prove it. And they had tons of material and they talking about the material and they kept going through it and they couldn't find one thing that was false. They couldn't find one thing that he said that would, that was not, that had not come true or was not true in and of itself. Matthew 26, 59. Now the chief priests and the whole council were sending, seeking. They weren't even finding witnesses. They had to find false witnesses. They were seeking to find false testimony against Jesus. Then they might put them to death, but they found none though many false witnesses came forward. And the last two came forward and you know what? They accused him of something that he taught out of context. Jesus said in three days, if you tear this temple down in three days, I'll build it back. Speaker 1 00:27:26 And what they said was he was talking about this temple that Herod built. When in reality, we know so stalking about his own body and being killed rising in, in three days, listen, pilot couldn't even find anything wrong with Jesus' teachings. Why pilot washed his hands? Because he said, I cannot find anything wrong in this man. The Jews wanted him dead in pilot. Didn't want anything to do with it. So they killed him. All right, last one, lunatic, Jesus, might've been a loonie. Maybe he was a human being who claimed to be God. And that makes him a lunatic. You might find somebody at your, in your life at some point claiming to be God. When you find that person, you might think that they're a little loony. I mean, if you find somebody that said that they were Patrick Swayze and you looked at them and you go, nah, I'm not seeing it. Speaker 1 00:28:18 You're not Patrick Swayze. Right? You, you, you, you logically understand that this person is illogical and maybe a little crazy. Here's a couple of things. Number one, Jesus did not behave irrationally. There's nothing Jesus did that would put him in the loony category. And you should know in Jesus' day, there was lots of lunatics around you. Remember Jesus has always casting demons out of, out of people who were demon possessed. How did they act church in scripture? You remember how the demon possessed people act. They were always breaking chains or living among the tombs are screaming out uncontrollably at people. People avoided them like the plague because they acted the weird Jesus never did. Jesus was always in control. Jesus was always, always, uh, he never fit that bill. He was always under control. His character constantly displayed his claims to be God that were, make him not a lunatic, but accurate number two, maybe Jesus thought maybe Jesus was loony because he thought the entire Bible was about him. Speaker 1 00:29:28 Well, that would put him in the loony category. Don't you think if I thought the entire Bible were written about me and I was serious about it, you would have major issues with me. Think about it. Like you've read the whole Bible. I'm going to tell you those are all me. I mean, you'd look at me and you think that's a little loony, right? Jesus was clearly under the assumption that the entire Bible was written about him. John five 46. If you believe Moses, you would have believed me because Moses wrote of me and that's loony. But the leaders of the day couldn't even nail him on this one. Speaker 1 00:30:07 They wanted to, but Jesus has fulfilled way too many old Testament prophecies, and they couldn't nail him on anything. Number three, Jesus could also be called crazy because he thought he had the power to forgive sins. Now again, because we're, we're, you know, used to the church atmosphere. We're Christians and we go, yeah, of course, Jesus has the power to forgive sins. I want you to just think about that idea for a second. These are not sins that are done against Jesus. These are sins that are done against two different people. And Jesus has nothing to do with them. CS Lewis wrote on this to listen to this, unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comical. We do not have much difficulty in imagining how a person can forgive an offense against himself. If a person should hit you, you have the right to forgive him. Speaker 1 00:30:59 Don't mention it. You might say particularly if the other person was sorry, if he steals from you, you can also forgive him. But suppose that person should go around hitting other people, thousands of them and stealing from them. In that case, you have no right to forgive him. And you should regard highly anyone who thought he had this right? Crazy. This is precisely what Jesus did. It'd be like Jonathan and me up on the platform. And Jonathan rips me off. He steals something, steals my car and drives it around when he's going to Starbucks and smashes into the corner. And he walks back and he goes, Craig, I smashed up your car. I'm going, what? You smelling something like, oh, well, yeah. He said, um, I'm not going to do anything about it. I took it. When you were asleep. Before when everybody was working, I went to Starbucks and I stole it and I went to go get, and I'm not doing anything about it. I'm going, you have offended me brother. I need a car. What did, what did you do? Yeah. He uses a sledgehammer. Yeah. Now, now I don't want to go to the parking lot and just check it up. How would you feel if pat came into the room and said, whoa, hang on a second. Jonathan, did you steal Craig's car? Jonathan says, yeah, I did. And Craig says, yeah, come on. He's offended. Me and pat looks at Jonathan and says, Jonathan, I forgive you. Speaker 2 00:32:18 <inaudible> how Speaker 1 00:32:22 Would I feel? I'm going, wait a minute. I've been, I've been wrong. I've been offended. Right? Jesus did this all the time. Oh, you guys are having a fight. I forgive you. Oh, you guys having a fight? I forget. And people are going, wait a minute. That doesn't sound right at all. No, we call that person crazy because Jesus knew an offense against our brothers, sisters, primarily an offense against God. And he was Speaker 2 00:32:51 God. Speaker 1 00:32:53 So he comes to us and he says, listen, all of your sins can be forgiven. And he did this all the time. I'll give you one story. Mark two in verse three, they came to him, bringing him a paralytic, carried by four men. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic son, your sins are forgiven enough. You bring a paralytic to somebody who can heal parallel, parallel, parallelism. Then you would want him to heal the paralytic, not to forgive sins. What does Jesus do? Forgives us sin. Doesn't heal him. Physically heals him spiritually. Now this was a big problem for everybody in the room because they're looking at this when they're gone. All right, Jesus. We know you can do like miracles, but you do not have the right to forgive sin. Only God can forgive sin mark two seven. They said, why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming who can forgive sins, but God alone. And they were Speaker 2 00:34:00 Right. Speaker 1 00:34:03 No one has a power to forgive blanket sins on this planet. Only God can do that. Jesus knows this. You know what? Jesus does mark two verse nine, which is easier to say, Jesus said to them to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven. Or to say to him, rise up, take up your bed and walk. Don't read any further, which is easier. Church. It's easier to say your sins are forgiven because prove it like God forgave my sins, whatever. That's like a, it's like some esoteric reality somewhere. But it doesn't really, if I want to see something real, which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or get up and walk in verse 10. But so that you may know that the son of man has authority on the earth to forgive sins. He said to the paralytic, I say to you, rise up, pick up your bed and go home. And you know what happened? He rose up, he picked up his bed and he went home and you know what? The rest of the people in the room said, this must be God. And God has the power to forgive sins. Church. Listen, miracles were a major problem for people who claim to be God, because if you don't believe their God, how do you explain the miracles? Speaker 1 00:35:16 These miracles, where the main problem Jesus was constantly healing. The sick giving sight to the blind, that making the dumb speaking, he was constantly casting out demons. Do you wonder why he did miracles? All of them is because it was on board. It wasn't on his calendar. Wasn't on his, his agenda of things to do today. It wasn't because he, he wanted to make everybody's lives easier. Jesus was constantly doing miracles. You know why it up his message miracles always back up the message. That's why in the new Testament, the disciples were given the ability to do miracles and not today. But in those days they were given the ability to be because they were establishing a church brand new church, never been down the earth before and they needed miracles to back up the message. Jesus use miracles to back up the message. Moses used miracles to backup his message. What did Moses do hand in its leprosy hand in its clean staff on the ground. It turns into a snake. Really cool parlor tricks, right? Not to impress Pharaoh, not to keep up with magicians, not to make everybody go, oh, do another one, do another one. It's a miracles back up the message. And when Jesus did miracles, it backed up his message in church. What was Jesus' message. I am God and everyone knew it and they couldn't refute his miracles. Speaker 1 00:36:34 This again, there's so many scripture verses to back up all of this. I only picked some out because I don't have time to do them. All. John 10 24, the Jews gathered around him and said to him, how long will you keep us in suspense? If you're the Christ, please just tell us plainly Jesus answered them. I told you, I've told you, this is not a who done it movie. I've been saying this all along. Your not listening. I have told you plainly and you do not believe. It's not the lack of me telling it's a Mac lack of you believing the works that I do in my father's name, bear witness about noon. You know what? Those works were miracles. Speaker 1 00:37:22 The miracles were so incredible. They couldn't disappear. The man. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together in the council and said, what are we going to do for this man performs many signs. If we let them go on like this, everyone's going to believe in him. And the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. And that's why they killed them. Jesus' miracles always backed up his message and his message was that he was, God, finally, the critics just had enough. They couldn't refute his teachings. They couldn't declare him loony. They couldn't refute his miracles. So they just wanted him gone. Ignore it. It'll go away like that. Bump that you don't want to go to the doctor to get checked out. If you ignore it, it'll just go away. John 10 31. So the Jews picked up stones again to stone him, Jesus answered them. Speaker 1 00:38:16 I've shown you many good works from the father. For which of these are you going to stone? Me and the Jews answered him. It is not for the good works that we're going to stone you, but for blasphemy because you a mere man, make yourself out to be, God, can you sense their frustration? They just shut him down. They know what he's preaching. They know what he's teaching. They know what he's doing. They see the miracles. They can't call him a liar. His it's just too powerful. His teaching is, is powerful and it's changing the world. It's creating fear in his enemies. So they just want him to be gone. So they pick up stones to stone him. And he said, what are you going to stone me for a cast note, this demon Healon is blind person. What are you going to do? What w what is stone to me for? Speaker 1 00:39:02 Listen, not for any of that. We're just tired of you. We're tired that you keep saying your God church, there's one final option. Maybe Jesus was telling the truth. Maybe he really is God. And in Jesus' day, it was the same as it is today. Some, some will believe go down to verse 31 in John chapter seven or main passage, let yet many of the people believed in him, oh, this is so good. And they said, when the Christ appears, will he actually do more signs than this man has done? In other words, haven't we already seen enough. Speaker 2 00:39:40 We believe Jesus is God himself. This last Speaker 1 00:39:46 Group of people don't forget about them because they started way back in Jesus' day. And they continue to today. And they're called the church. These people who believe that Jesus has gone. This has made so clear to us in this passage in John chapter seven, as well as throughout the entire scripture is very hard to refute. Not if we're honest about Jesus and his teachings. Let me tell you about the feast of Sokoto. John seven is when this takes place, Yom Kippor has just happened. Forgiveness is offered and then psychoed comes seven days later, this was a celebration of being forgiven. The celebration of knowing that God is with us and has forgiven us. God was present with his people. So coat was a celebrate Tori occasion. It was like, if somebody comes to you, if Jonathan finally did come true, come up to me and say, Craig, you know what? I did take a sledgehammer or your car. It was me. And I'm really sorry. And I would say, you know what, Jonathan, I completely forgive you. You you're, you're completely forgiven. And Jonathan doesn't have to bear the guilt anymore. He doesn't have to hide the lies anymore. And Jonathan hasn't done anything to my car. He's a, he's a good fella. Speaker 2 00:41:04 But Speaker 1 00:41:04 The relief that we get when somebody says, listen, you are forgiven. I forgive you. This is what the feast of silicoat represents. It represents that Jesus, that God is in the midst of his people and forgiveness is there. They still can be one with him. It was celebrated by living in tents for seven days. The reason they lived in tents for seven days is because it was a rematch reminder to them of what it was like living in the wilderness. You remember when God came to them, they would put their camp around. And I don't know if you know this, but their camp was always in a circle. And in the center of the circle was always a tabernacle is a movable tent tabernacle and above the tabernacle in the daytime was a pillar of fire, uh, was a cloud, a pillar of cloud. And then the nighttime was a pillar of fire. Speaker 1 00:41:53 Do you know why that was in the center of the camp is because that fire and that cloud by day represented the presence of God was still among his people. And they in their tents could peel back the outside of their tents, their little 10 flaps and look out in the, and the parents could show their kids. Look, look, see that cloud. It never leads us. It never leaves us. It always leads us. It never leaves. And they could peel back that, that flap of the tenant nighttime and say, now kids, before you go to bed, look out there and see that pillar of fire to reminded us that God is still with us. And when they got out of the wilderness, they did these feet, this FISA circled for seven days, they lived in tents so that they could be reminded that God is still with them. When Jesus came to us, we called him Emmanuel because it means God with us. And I have to say, I believe it is in the middle of that celebration that Jesus walks in and reminds those folks. God is Speaker 2 00:42:52 Here. Speaker 1 00:42:54 It was during the feast as a coat that Jesus walked in. The midst of the people in the middle of this crowd, walks into the middle of them and reminds them that God is with them still in the person of Jesus Christ in John seven 37, the same verse, Jesus walks into the middle of them. And he raises up his voice on the last day of the feast. The great day, Jesus stood up and cried out. If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as the scripture has said out of him, his heart will flow rivers of living water. Jesus is standing in the middle of the presence of his people, reminding them. God is still with him this time in a very powerful way, because some of them in verse 40 said, when they heard these words, some of the people said, this is really the prophet. And others said, this is the Christ. Some people still believed Jesus was telling the truth. Jesus was God. One with God, the father, he was the only begotten son of God, meaning that he is first place among Speaker 2 00:44:06 A life Speaker 1 00:44:08 Existence, preeminent. Overall, he is the only sacrifice who died for the sins of the world. And he is the only way to get to heaven. There's only one name given among men, given under heaven, whereby we must be saved. And that is Jesus Christ. No one else fits the bill. Jesus was a visible tabernacle of God, sent to mingle with his creation origin. He was a theologian of the third century, tells a story that he went to a village to see this huge statue that they had created. They had erected this massive statue and they put a face on the top of it. And it was so high that the people couldn't make out. What the face was. Was it angry? Was it, was it loving? Was it, was it, was it humble? Was it meek? I can't say it's so high up there. I can't see it. Speaker 1 00:44:59 Nobody could see the face of the statue. So what they decided to do is they cut down the statue. They miniaturize the statue so that the face could be seen. And this is the self-administration miniaturization of God. When we see Jesus, it is God condescending to our disbelief, to our inability to believe that God is still with us. And so God took on flesh and walked among us. When we talk about Jesus Christ, we are talking about, oh God, you might say these things are hard to accept Craig and you are right. And again, in my estimation, they're going to get harder to believe in our culture yet. This is why the world, this is why God has taken the time to explain to the world. And to us, Jesus is his son. Jesus says, I am. If you have seen me, you have seen the father. I mean, pick a verse. They're all over the place. These are only a few that I was able to give to you this morning in the gospel, the gospels are full of these, unlike the who done it, where we are concealing things, Jesus never concealed who he was. In fact, he did the very opposite. Well, Craig, that might not be enough for me. If I could just see Jesus risen from the dead. That's what it would take to convince me. Speaker 2 00:46:28 Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:46:29 There are people in scripture that fit that bill too. And Jesus said in Luke 16, verse 31, if they do not hear Moses in the profits, do you know where Moses and the prophets are found by the way in the Bible, if they do not hear Moses in the profits. In other words, if they do not the believe, the written word of God, neither will be. They be convinced if somebody should rise from the dead, can you believe somebody would be that disbelieving? And yet we live in a world Speaker 2 00:46:58 Where they are. Speaker 1 00:47:00 God gave us a son. His teachings were powerful. He did miracles. That could not be ignored. He rose from the dead. He left us an empty tomb. He rolled a stone. God, the father rolled the stone away for us so that we could look inside and see, he's not there. God has gone to incredible lakes. They had to pay off the guards to lie about what happened Easter morning. Cause they couldn't refute what was happening in church. If you take a realistic view of, of Jesus Christ, you can not get past the idea. You can not get past the truth. That Jesus is God who did Jesus think that he was? He thought he was God. And if you're following a religion that teaches anything different from that, you know, you were in the wrong Speaker 2 00:47:43 Place. Speaker 1 00:47:45 People will constantly ask me. Well, Craig, how do you know Christianity is the right religion? Easy. One question. What does your religion do with Jesus Christ? What does your religion teach about the identity of Jesus Christ? Because Jesus taught his identity was that he was God, what do you Speaker 2 00:48:01 Believe? That's pray father. We know that you have given us your word that has Speaker 1 00:48:10 Well continues to lead us into all truth. It has been a powerful force that we go to, to remind us about who you are, what you taught. Not too many people today would even be able to say that you weren't a real person. It's just impossible to refute. There's way too much evidence. And what you taught father. If we take the time to read it was father. You, you, you have told us in your word, your son is God. One with you. God, the father, God, the son and God, the holy spirit. So Lord, I thank you for leading us into truth. For those of us that know you as our savior, thank you Jesus, for leading us into truth. And I pray that you would use us as a megaphone in our world today to keep that truth Speaker 2 00:49:06 Going because Speaker 1 00:49:08 Only that truth has a power to change lives. Speaker 2 00:49:12 You are the resurrection life. Speaker 1 00:49:15 Anyone who believes in you will not perish, but have eternal life. Thank you for all of these verses and hundreds. More like them. Speaker 2 00:49:24 Thank you for Speaker 1 00:49:25 Miniaturizing yourself so that we could get a clear picture of the God that we love. Speaker 2 00:49:31 And we serve. Thank Speaker 1 00:49:34 You for demonstrating that you are meek and mild and gentle. Thank you that your invitation is open for all who believe thank you that there's no one that you will cast out. Thank you. That to all who call upon your name, you will called sons and daughters of God. Thank you. That that invitation is still powerful and open today. And may, may more people, especially the darker the world gets around us. I mean more people find their way to the light. May you draw them as only you can and convince them of the truth. Speaker 2 00:50:05 God is with us. Speaker 1 00:50:08 Thank you for Jesus. Thank you that we get to sing his praises. Thank you that, uh, we get to have a church centered around this truth. May you use us ever as a megaphones of this truth in our generation in Jesus' name? I pray. Amen. Well, we come to the end of our service and every time we finish up with our service together, and this is another time that we're going to do that without giving too much introduction today, I think enough has been said about who Jesus actually was. God came to us in the form of Jesus Christ, flesh and blood, by the way, the main reason he needed flesh and blood is because he needed that to come out of him. When he was killed, he needed that flesh to be pierced and that blood to flow. That was perfect Speaker 2 00:51:00 Blood. It was a perfect body. Speaker 1 00:51:04 You are looking at an imperfect person. If I could pan the camera around, you would see a bunch of imperfect people. If you're at home, you can look around and see a bunch of imperfect people that live with you. The difference is Jesus was perfect completely without sin from the moment he was born until the moment he died. And because of that, when we killed him that perfect blood flowed out of those perfect wounds. When we come to communion, it's a reminder to us. That is the only sacrifice that was able to forgive the sins of the world for a good man. Some would dare to for good man, someone dare to die for a righteous man. Some would, maybe somebody would give their lives. But Jesus came to give his life for sinners, Speaker 2 00:51:57 For Speaker 1 00:51:57 People who are imperfect, who disappoint him constantly, just like we've done over this past week Jesus game so that he could give his perfect blood in his perfect body to cover our imperfect lives Speaker 2 00:52:12 And our sins. Speaker 1 00:52:14 That's why Jesus can give us a blanket forgiveness, and only he can do it. I can forgive you of hurting me. Sure. But Jesus can forgive you Speaker 2 00:52:24 Of all sins past, present, and future. Speaker 1 00:52:29 You need Jesus to find that kind of forgiveness, any Jesus, to be able to put your head on your pillow at night and sleep Speaker 2 00:52:36 Guiltless with no shame. Speaker 1 00:52:42 So when you come to the table today and you take the juice and you take the bread, remember this is a reminder to us of the blood that was spilled and the body that was pierced for us. And when you take it, just remember, look around, you're sitting among people, just like you, sinners in need of grace, sinners in need of a savior. And when you drink, let it be a reminder. You are forgiven. And if you don't know Christ as your savior, I got to tell you it's that it's about the easiest format in the world. His forgiveness is available to all the question is, Speaker 2 00:53:19 Will you ask for it? That's up to you. Speaker 1 00:53:24 So if you need help with that, you can talk to Brent. He's going to be at the prayer booth afterwards. Talk to him afterwards. You can talk to me afterwards. You can text me or you can email me, email me. If you're at home, email VC, [email protected]. Uh, and I will get back to you. We would love to have a converse. I would love to have a conversation with you and help you understand how Jesus can forgive you of your sins. And when that forgiveness comes, that is quite a relief. Isn't it? It is quite a release before we do this, uh, we always take a moment and we bow our heads. Take a moment, pray to God. Maybe God has given you something today that has been just for you. Would you thank him for that? Just thank him for speaking to today, thank him for whatever he has visited, the topic he has brought to your mind. Speaker 1 00:54:11 Maybe something you need to confess, whatever it is he's doing way down, deep in here, have a conversation with him. I'll give him a moment to do that. Then come up and if you're in house, you can grab something, grab a cup. It has the bread and the juice in it. If you're at home, grab something, grab some crackers or juice or whatever you have. And then for refrigerator, the magic's not in the thing that you use the mat. In fact, there's no magic. The power is in what that thing represents. It represents Jesus Christ. So if you're at home, would you do this with us as well? We're going to sing a song and we're going to give you a moment of silence, sing the song, grab your, uh, stuff. And then I'm going to come up and read, wait for me to read this passage of scripture. Speaker 1 00:54:50 And then we all take together. And really you're doing me a favor because if you do that, it's a reminder to me, we're all in the same boat together. Sinners saved by a savior. Is that awesome? So take a moment and pray to the Lord and give him, um, your heart, your time. Your thanks silence of this moment, fathers. Good to be reminded as we have all morning that we were in desperate need and you came to visit us as an offer of salvation. Thank you father for that. Thank you for giving us your son. Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins. Holy spirit. Thank you for leading us Speaker 2 00:55:54 Into truth. Speaker 1 00:55:57 Now we take this communion. God, I pray that you would speak to each one of us together and remind us that it's only because of your blood, that we have hope of a future, that we know sons and daughters of God, that you have a great future. Sure. Plan for us once we understand why we're here because of you. Once we understand who you are, thank you for revealing your identity, not only 2000 years ago, but also us today who know you as our savior. And may you use us as ambassadors as only you can to help reveal your identity to more. May you grow your church through us? I pray in Jesus name, amen. Speaker 3 00:57:01 This quake before move by the sound of his voice. <inaudible> <inaudible> through it all through it, all my eyes through it all through it, all through it, all through it, all my eyes DDS. Well fuck <inaudible>. Even with my eyes and this mountain that some fraud will be thrown to the myths through it, all my eyes through it all through it all through it all through it, all my eyes. It is <inaudible> <inaudible>. We <inaudible> through it all my eyes through it. All <inaudible> passage of scripture we read from each Sunday is passage written by the apostle Paul Speaker 0 01:03:00 Who called himself the chief of sinners. He writes the church at Corinth and reminds them why we do this each week. And remember it's Speaker 1 01:03:08 Of this same savior, Jesus Christ. First Corinthians 1123. I received from the Lord. What also I delivered to you the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, took bread. When he had given thanks. He broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way. Also, he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this. As often as you drink it. And remember Speaker 0 01:03:36 Pros often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes church. Would you eat and drink with me and proclaim the Lord's death until we see him again, liar, lunatic, or Lord God. One of those three. The, so what for today is simply this. If God has revealed Speaker 1 01:04:16 Himself to you in the person of Jesus Christ, Speaker 0 01:04:19 What will you do? What is our calling? Our calling Speaker 1 01:04:24 Is a great commission. Go into all the world and preach the Speaker 0 01:04:26 Gospel. Every nation, baptizing Speaker 1 01:04:30 Them in the name of the father, son, and the holy spirit in line with you till the end of the age, until love that every verse in the Bible is about Speaker 0 01:04:36 Jesus. Every, every child after even the one we ride in Corinthians liar, lunatic, or Lord, if he is your Lord and the earth savior, let's turn this world upside down for him. Let's Speaker 1 01:04:51 Go out and remind people that there's more to life than Speaker 0 01:04:54 What they get in their paycheck or what they watch on the news or what battles Speaker 1 01:04:59 They fight in their own personal lives. Or even the most recent topic who's got the flu shot, or who's got the COVID shot in the vaccine Speaker 0 01:05:07 And who doesn't have the vaccine. There's so much more to life. Then we give it credit for thank God for Jesus Christ. Amen. God Speaker 1 01:05:16 Has been good us and I hope he's been good to you today. For all of those of you online, it has been a privileged sharing in worship with you this morning. I pray that the Lord Jesus has touched you and your family as he has with us in this place. God bless you, church. Have an amazing Speaker 3 01:05:30 <inaudible>. Please raise the song of Jesus Christ. <inaudible> the food time and space <inaudible>.