John 8:27-30
1.Who does the world say Jesus is?
- The Disciples are walking with Jesus and he asks them- “who do men say that I am?”
- I believe that Jesus is an all knowing, all omnipotent savior,
- You need to have a solid understanding of what you believe if you expect to share JESUS
- So he asks them and they say Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, one of the prophets
- Those three definitions are so limiting!
- Saying that Jesus is John the Baptist is minimizing his divine Nature
- Saying that he is Elijah is minimizing him as merely a prophet
- The men were operating with limited understanding of who Jesus was. They are trying to give him some sort of special status, but they are missing the MAIN POINT of who Jesus is-
- They agree that there is something special about him- “Preparing the way” or “A Prophet”
- Its not just about what they ARE saying, its about what they are NOT saying
- They are not saying what is the answer- Jesus is God, 100% man 100% God and the Savior of the universe and THE Christ! Christ means “chosen one” or “anointed one” Christ is the chosen one of Israel- the Savior of all mankind!
- This is standard practice for people of this world that want to try to describe who Jesus is in very limited understanding- You meet these people at work, school, even in church!
- When someone is respectful they’ll say things like “I believe that Jesus was a good man”
- But he was MUCH MORE than a “good man” He was GOD
- John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
- When you have someone who is somewhat religious “I believe that Jesus was a prophet”
- But it wasn’t that he said great things about God, which he did- he WAS the WORD of God
- John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
- When you have someone who doesn’t read their bible “I believe that Jesus was a teacher”
- Yes he taught, but his teaching wasn’t just to teach, there has been many teachers throughout time
- John 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
- When you have someone who wants to just take the good parts “Jesus came to teach us how to love”
- The Mission of Jesus wasn’t just to teach us how to love, it was MORE than that.
- John 3:36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
- The Problem with wrong descriptions of Jesus
- Here is the Biggest problem in modern day Christianity- There is a false agape Gospel that is being perpetuated today that isn’t grounded in scripture that attempts to present Jesus as less than what he was to free people to live however they want with little to no consequence
- I realize that I talk about this all the time- but as a growing church- its important to constantly remind people of this-
- They push LOVE and ACCEPTANCE and Minimize TRUTH and REPENTANCE
- And I don’t preach TRUTH and REPENTANCE because I enjoy beating my bible-its because I believe in the bible way of Salvation– I believe in LOVE but acceptance isn’t the main point
- Luke 13:3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.
- You must turn away from Sin- You must forsake the World. You must live for Jesus if you want heaven
- Its not enough to put on a bumper sticker and hope for the best- Baptism doesn’t save you- if you haven’t repented- you’re just merely taking a warm bath!
- Embrace the TRUE Gospel
- It is an all encompassing, all consuming, submission to the will of God in your life
- Ray comfort airplane- Parachute brings you to first class, you’re uncomfortable, have to put your legs in the aisle, everyone asks you why you’re wearing the parachute
- vs the tail section doesn’t exist, you would understand why you’re wearing it and not care
- You put up with the problem of the parachute when you know its saving you.
- The Jesus of the false agape Gospel:
- The false agape preaches Niceness over Calling out Sin, Unity over dividing holy and unholy,love at the expense of truth ALL BECAUSE THEY DON’T KNOW WHO JESUS REALLY IS
- People don’t want to believe that the Gospel is a gospel of dying to yourself and living for God
- It’s a trick process of being accepting of everything and everyone for an extended period of time and waiting for the moment when you can apologetically and accidentally let someone know that they need to die to themselves and live for Jesus
- Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
- Being on the football team– Loved it- Uniforms, games, etc etc, except football is violent sport
- If you don’t like violence you wont like football because it is physically violent sport.
- And if you don’t like dying to self, you’re not going to enjoy living for Jesus
- Here’s the problem- The false love gospel hasn’t produced righteous living
- Mark 1:15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
- Any Gospel that only has “Believe” and doesn’t have “repent” is false- it’s a half-gospel
- The Gospel is a gospel of leaving the world and going to Jesus and if you’re not leaving the world for Jesus are you really saved? YOU MUST KNOW THE REAL JESUS
- Have a correct view of who Jesus is that bible based
- So who do you say that Jesus is in your life?
- Is he the salve to your guilty conscience? You really don’t have any desire to change, you just use the Jesus juice to forget the pain of the week
- Is he the means to control your relationships? This is the “I’ll have a good marriage and kids” Gospel. If Jesus can bring a love to me, I’ll serve him
- Is he the “Get me a job Jesus” I’ll serve Jesus as long as I have a job that will pay my bills and gets me to be able to do what I want
- Is he the “As long as he doesn’t ask me to do anything uncomfortable” Gospel? Psychopsychology has made its way into the church that people think that there is some sort of special considerations for individual personalities that will exclude them from the demands of the Gospel
- There is no where in scripture that displays that.
- Is he the “If you’ll heal my body” Jesus? The “Get me some friends” The “Make me happy” The “as long as you don’t ask for my money” or the “Ill say I’m following you but you and both know I do whatever I want” Jesus
- WHO DO YOU SAY HE IS??
- HE IS KING! HE IS THE CHRIST! HE IS THE CHOSEN ONE OF ISRAEL!
- He must be your savior, your king, your Lord, your guide, your shepherd.
- This is what Peter said “You are the Christ” and we see that and we declare YES YES YES GOOD JOB Peter! You’re exactly right!
- But here’s the problem- Peter later denied Christ 3 times- Yes, we was restored, but when Jesus needed the most help, Peter failed the test! He denied Christ and chose to protect himself- he didn’t step up when he happened
- His confession wasn’t enough to sustain him when it mattered the most
- Merely saying the words “you are the Christ” isn’t enough. And I understand that the scripture says “if you confess with your mouth” but you also must “Believe in your heart” You cant just say the words
- If its just words, its just lip service. Matthew 15:8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.
- Don’t pay lip service
- How do you not pay lip service? Proclaim Christ and then live for him!
- It means, what job you have, where you live, what you buy, what you watch, how you spend your time, what you believe!
- There are things that I choose to believe because they are in the Bible! I’m not brain washed, I’m blood washed!
