Jesus Christ

Focal Points:

•Who the Bible says Jesus is.•Jesus Christ is no myth.•Jesus Christ was born to save us from our sins.

Who’s who

Who do you consider the most significant people of our nation’s history? What have they done to better our world? How have they fallen short of truly making our world better?

We need a true Savior

It will take a different sort of person to save us from the evil that has come into the world because of sin.

No man can redeem the life of another

or give to God a ransom for him—

the ransom for a life is costly,

no payment is ever enough—

that he should live on forever

and not see decay.

Psalm 49:7-8

God Provides

God needed to provide a Savior for us, because we couldn’t save even ourselves, let alone other people.

Messiah = SaviorMatthew 1:18-23

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

Matthew 1:18-23

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 1:18-23

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means “God with us”).

Jesus means “he saves”

What do you find incredible about this child? Jesus was not going to be an ordinary child. He had a great destiny to fulfill. He was going to save the world from its sins.

Who does the Bible say Jesus is?

Romans 9:5

[Jesus Christ] is God over all, forever praised!

1 Timothy 2:5

There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Jesus is both God and man.

Myth or Fact?

This all sounds too hard to believe, but look at the following passages…

Luke 1:26-33

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Luke 1:26-33

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.  But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.  You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Luke 1:33-35

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

The birth of Jesus is almost too much to comprehend. But that’s OK. I don’t need to understand it to know that it happened. God provides us with the truth.

In order for Jesus to save us, he had to be one of us but he also had to be God. He had to be God because only God is able to live a perfect life and then have his death count for all people. Let’s look at how Jesus saved us:

Luke 4:1-13

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

Luke 4:1-13

The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

Luke 4:1-13

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.  If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

Luke 4:1-13

The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Luke 4:1-13

When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Jesus

How does knowing that Jesus faced the Devil and won, give you hope? When you pray to Jesus, he understands what you are going through.

Hebrews 4:15

We have one (Jesus) who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.

Next let’s look at how Jesus gave a glimpse of his magnificent power:

Luke 8:22-25

Luke 8:22-25

One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.

Luke 8:22-25

The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”

He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.

Luke 8:22-25

In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

For what purpose did Jesus use his power?

Luke 5:18-26

Luke 5:18-26

One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus.

Luke 5:18-26

When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said,

Luke 5:18-26

“Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

Luke 5:18-26

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 

Luke 5:18-26

“Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 

But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” He said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”

Luke 5:18-26

Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Answer Jesus

So answer Jesus question: Which one is more significant: that Jesus can heal and calm storms, or that he forgives sins?

Jesus Forgives

Only God himself can forgive sins, because every sin is a sin against God. Because Jesus is God, he is able to forgive sins.

So in summary…

Romans 4:25Justification = Declared Not Guilty

Jesus Christ was delivered over to death for our sins, and raised to life for our justification.