Intro:
-Jesus of Nazareth is the single most influential person in world history.
-The way we count time is centered around his life: Before Him, and After
-He is a key figure in the two largest religions in the world
-Important: what we know about Jesus… What we Believe about Jesus… impacts everything
-People ask me: “What’s the difference between these two religions?”
-Answer is often: “What they believe about Jesus.”
-There are tons of scriptures we can look at, so we are going to examine just a few.
-We are going straight to the source: we are going to look at what Jesus Himself said.
Matthew 9:2-3
“Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, "Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven." 3 "Blasphemy! This man talks like he is God!" some of the teachers of religious law said among themselves.”
-Teachers of the law had it right
-You can only forgive a sin if it is against you (Against God and His creation)
-ex) Joe punches Jack in the nose, I can’t step in and forgive Joe
John 8:52-59
“At this the Jews exclaimed, "Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?" 54 Jesus replied, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." 57 "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!" 58 "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.”
-Says he existed before Abraham (1000’s of years old)
-Goes even further: “before Abraham was born, I AM”
-2 big points:
-1st: claiming Divine Name of God (Exodus 3:14)
-burning bush, Moses
-2nd: Jesus is eternal (verb forms)
-Lev. 24:16: punishment for blasphemy is stoning
-They realize that he is saying things that only God can say
John 10:24-33
“The Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." 25 Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one." 31 Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?" 33 "We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."
-They ask him to plainly say whether or not he is the messiah
-He says he already did: They didn’t believe
-vs 30: The Most Explicit Ever!
-It doesn’t get more basic than that.
-Again, going to stone him for blasphemy
Conclusion:
-Jesus is polarizing
-People either wanted to stone him
-Or people wanted to worship him
-Either Lord or Lunatic
-No middle ground:
-Not a “good moral teacher”
-Not a prophet
-Lots of times moderation is a good thing
-But not with Jesus
-You either have to take all of Him and let Him become the Lord of your life, or you have to reject Him
-And I for all of the reasons above (and that we've covered over the past 4 weeks), I don’t recommend the second one…
Works Cited
-Tim Keller's Gospel Christianity study.
-Jesus of Nazareth is the single most influential person in world history.
-The way we count time is centered around his life: Before Him, and After
-He is a key figure in the two largest religions in the world
-Important: what we know about Jesus… What we Believe about Jesus… impacts everything
-People ask me: “What’s the difference between these two religions?”
-Answer is often: “What they believe about Jesus.”
-There are tons of scriptures we can look at, so we are going to examine just a few.
-We are going straight to the source: we are going to look at what Jesus Himself said.
Matthew 9:2-3
“Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, "Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven." 3 "Blasphemy! This man talks like he is God!" some of the teachers of religious law said among themselves.”
-Teachers of the law had it right
-You can only forgive a sin if it is against you (Against God and His creation)
-ex) Joe punches Jack in the nose, I can’t step in and forgive Joe
John 8:52-59
“At this the Jews exclaimed, "Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?" 54 Jesus replied, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." 57 "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!" 58 "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.”
-Says he existed before Abraham (1000’s of years old)
-Goes even further: “before Abraham was born, I AM”
-2 big points:
-1st: claiming Divine Name of God (Exodus 3:14)
-burning bush, Moses
-2nd: Jesus is eternal (verb forms)
-Lev. 24:16: punishment for blasphemy is stoning
-They realize that he is saying things that only God can say
John 10:24-33
“The Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." 25 Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one." 31 Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?" 33 "We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."
-They ask him to plainly say whether or not he is the messiah
-He says he already did: They didn’t believe
-vs 30: The Most Explicit Ever!
-It doesn’t get more basic than that.
-Again, going to stone him for blasphemy
Conclusion:
-Jesus is polarizing
-People either wanted to stone him
-Or people wanted to worship him
-Either Lord or Lunatic
-No middle ground:
-Not a “good moral teacher”
-Not a prophet
-Lots of times moderation is a good thing
-But not with Jesus
-You either have to take all of Him and let Him become the Lord of your life, or you have to reject Him
-And I for all of the reasons above (and that we've covered over the past 4 weeks), I don’t recommend the second one…
Works Cited
-Tim Keller's Gospel Christianity study.
Awesome man - Love the passages you chose!
Definitely not JUST a "good moral teacher".
"You either have to take all of Him and let Him become the Lord of your life, or you have to reject Him."
My question - Do we really take all of Jesus? What does taking all of Christ really look like? So often I'm convicted that I'm not truly making the most of the time I have in this world for Christ. I feel as if I'm often too concerned about the future or my personal well-being and not prioritizing the work of the Kingdom.
Are we truly surrendering our lives to Christ? It's challenging our salvation, i.e., not taking automatic grace for granted and assuming that we have salvation regardless of how we leave... I don't believe that's very Biblical.
It's tough.... But I don't know if I'm truly taking all of Him, and that probably means that I'm not... Man.
AJ