Sermon Tone Analysis

What do you believe about Jesus Christ?

That seems like such a silly question to ask a bunch of Baptists.

But it is the most important question any man must answer in his life.

Jesus thought it an important enough question to put to his disciples.

* /"When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.

15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."/

(Matthew 16:13-16, NIV)

Who a man thinks Christ to be is still a fundamentally important question.

Was he a great teacher?

Was he an eschatological prophet?

Was he a revolutionary?

Was he merely a Galilean rabbi?

Was he a cosmic spirit guide?

Or is he the /"only begotton of the Father, full of grace and truth"/?

(John 1:14)

Just like a good foundation is the key to a solid structure, so the deity of Jesus is foundational to our faith.

If we take away the deity of the man called Jesus, we destroy the whole structure of Christianity.

That doctrine is built in.

It is central.

It is foundational to the whole structure.

Who is Jesus Christ?

!

I. HE WAS A MAN WHO WAS GOD FROM ALL ETERNITY

#. the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Cor.

1:9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord

#.

Jesus is called the Son of God 40 times throughout the Scriptures

#. though our Lord never referred to himself as the Messiah or the Christ, he made it obvious to all who listened to him that he had no doubt as to his own identity

#. in one of many conversations with the religious leaders of his day, Jesus told them

* /"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?

Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am."/ (John 8:56-58, NIV)

#. now then, some of you are familiar with that innocuous little title I Am

#. when Moses asked the voice speaking to him from the burning bush, /“Who shall I tell the Hebrew slaves is sending me to them?” the voice responded, ‘Tell them ‘I Am’ has sent you.”/

#.

I Am became the personal name for God in the Jewish culture

#. Jesus was claiming to be Jehovah-God!

#. the Jews knew exactly what Jesus was asserting about himself and they sought to kill him for it

* /"For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God."/ (John 5:18, NIV)

#. if you ever hear some pseudo-intellectual say, /“Well, you have to understand, Jesus never claimed to be God,”/ just dismiss them as the uninformed idiot they are and go your way

!! A. JESUS WAS TRULY HUMAN

* /"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."/

(Ro 1:1-7, ESV)

#. in this opening statement in his letter to the Christians at Rome, the Apostle Paul asserts that ...

* Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s long-time Messianic promise that came through the prophets and the holy Scriptures

* Jesus is a flesh-and-blood descendent of King David

* Jesus is, by declaration of God Himself, the only begotten Son of God, and this is attested to by his miracles, the Holy Spirit and the resurrection

* Jesus is Christ the Lord

#.

Jesus, of course, is our Lord’s proper name

#. growing up, he would have been known to the home-town folks simply as Jesus bar-Joseph, Jesus the son of Joseph

#. in Matthew and Mark’s Gospels, we have the account of Jesus returning to his home town of Nazereth where he began to teach about the Kingdom of God

#. the Bible tells us that his former neighbors were both astounded and offended by the things he said

* /“And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?

Is not this the carpenter’s son?

Is not his mother called Mary?

And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

And are not all his sisters with us?

Where then did this man get all these things?”"/

(Mt 13:53-56, ESV)

#. the name Jesus identifies Him as an historical person, not a pious figment of the early church’s imagination

#. it was a name that was a prediction of his ministry and work

* /"But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”/

(Mt 1:20-21, ESV)

#. the name Jesus reminds us of His full humanity

#. any time Jesus’ humanity is either denied or misconstrued heresy soon follows

#. to deny his humanity is to nullify his redemptive ministry

#. without Jesus’ humanity we do not have a sympathetic Mediator

#. without Jesus’ humanity we do not have a redeemer who perfectly obeyed the law so that he might become a spotless sacrifice for us

#. without Jesus’ humanity we do not have a bloody sacrifice that covers the sinner’s sin

#. to misconstrue his humanity is to nullify his divine nature

#. some will argue that if Jesus was to fully experience humanity, then He had to be like one of us in very way – meaning that He had to have sinned

#.

Jesus was fully human, but there are definitely points of discontinuity between His experience as a human and ours

#.

Jesus never sinned

* /"Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."/

(Heb 4:14-16, ESV)

#. it is precisely because Jesus was without sin that we have confidence to draw near to God throne of grace

#.

Jesus did not have to sin in order to be as fully human as you or I are

* ILLUS.

Most of you have heard the old adage that, “To err is human.”

We’ve forgotten that to err is not human.

To err is to be fallen.

To err is to be sinful.

To err is to do the works of the devil.

Erring was not God’s original plan for humans.

We’re not more human when we sin; we’re less human.

And Jesus is not less human because He doesn’t sin; He’s more human.

And one day He’s going to make you more human than you are now.

#.

Jesus’ humanity is absolutely essential to His work as a Savior

#. to say I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord is to confess that Jesus was fully human, but totally sinless

!! B. JESUS WAS FULLY DIVINE

#. in his prologue in his letter to the Christians at Rome, the Apostle Paul refers to Jesus Christ four times in the first seven verses

#. if you are not careful, and many Christians are not, you might think that Christ is Jesus’ surname

#. it is not!

#. it is His title

#. it’s a significant title – it tells us that Jesus is God’s Anointed One, the Messiah, the Savior-King

#. the apostle John goes even beyond that

#. he tells us that Jesus was and is the eternal Word

* /"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."/ (John 1:1, NIV)

#. if you've got a correctly translated Bible the noun Word should be capitalized

#. it is a translation of the Greek logos which meant /"speaking, a message, or words."/