Who is Jesus

Who is Jesus?

Who is Jesus? Jesus Christ who are you? We can't escape him. We try to run from him but there he is. He keeps popping up everywhere. Our greatest philosophers write about him, our greatest historians write about him, our greatest poems and plays are about him, our greatest architectures are about him. 

Even in Russia when it was a Soviet Union, if you go to the Kremlin, it's all filled with paintings and pictures about Jesus. You go anywhere in the Russia (Soviet Union) and you'll see images in art and much of the music has to do with Jesus. They can't escape him

Jesus Scripture

He was a man just like you but he was more than that, he claimed to be the unique only begotten incarnate son of God. In fact he claimed pre-existence. 

The scripture says in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God. Before time began he existed. He said before Abraham was I. 

No wonder they got angry, no wonder they threw stones at him, no wonder they tried to kill him and no wonder they eventually did crucify him. He stood and said I am God.  Was he who that he claimed to be the son of the Living God?

Well we know some things about him we know he was a man. Jesus was completely human. He was representative of man because the Bible says he was identified, he was numbered with the transgressors.

We know that he was hungry, we know he got thirsty, we know he got tired, we know that he had the joys of friendship, we know that he wept at the tomb of a dead loved one.

We know that he had all the characteristics of a man and yet very interestingly the Bible says that he never committed a sin in fact he stood in front of the people of his generation and he said I've never committed a sin. Wouldn't that be something for a man to come along 33 years of age and say who of you have ever seen me commit a sin?

Jesus was tempted in every point like as we are. He went through every temptation you've ever been through. There isn't a trial or our testing or a temptation that Jesus has not been through before you and he resisted them and overcame them all.

Son of God

One day he asked his disciples who do men say that I am and Peter answered and said well some of them say you're John the Baptist come back, are you a Jeremiah? You're Elijah? He said I'm really not interested in what the people say I'm interested Peter in what you say, what do you say. 

Peter said thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God and Jesus said Peter you've done well you've passed your examination. But Peter those are not your thoughts. That thought to Peter came from God. He has always existed from everlasting to everlasting.

He is God the Bible says and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. In other words, the Word of God, the eternal God, became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ and lived like a man among us. That's what the Bible teaches and when you come to Jesus Christ you have to accept that he wasn't just another revolutionary, he was not just another great man, but he was God in the flesh.

Teachings of Jesus

All the ethics that he taught never a man speak like that man. When you get hit on one side he says turn the other cheek. He never said what to do after that but he did say forgive seventy times.

How about the little irritations from your wife or your husband? Do you forgive him or her seventy times seven? The secret of a happy marriage is “two good forgivers”. And that's what it is, two good forgivers, people that can forgive each other. Jesus taught that we're to forgive.

He taught a revolution in the way we're to live. He taught us that it wasn't just our outward actions that God judges but it's the inward.

Moses said that in the Ten Commandments ‘Thou shall not commit adultery’ but I tell you that if you even look on a woman to lust after, you've already committed it. Moses said ‘Thou shalt not murder’ but I tell you if you have hate in your heart against your brother without cause you're already guilty.

He lifted man's ethics to the highest plane and demanded that we live that kind of a life he himself lived. The scripture says that he judges the inside. The Attorney General of the United States once said, that America is imperilled more from within than without and so are you today in your personal life.

David said in sin did my mother conceive me. Jesus said, out of a heart proceed evil thoughts and murders and adulterers and thefts and blasphemies. All the evil in the world comes from the human heart that's got to be changed. And that's why Jesus said you must be born again you must be converted, you must have a new beginning and he can do it. 

How do you explain Jesus? Jesus Christ are you what you say you are? You know they only brought three charges against him to crucify, they said this man loves sinners that was one charge. The second he healed on the Sabbath day. On the third he claimed to be the son of God. Was he the son of God? 

By God’s authority Jesus came unto them and spoke unto them saying all Authority has been given to me. I know one thing he forgave sin and no prophet ever did that. Jesus himself forgave. He said thy sins are forgiven.

Authority of Jesus

Jesus had authority over nature. One day, one night he was in a storm. The Lightning was flashing. The Thunder was roaring. The sea was raging. The wind was blowing. 

The disciples were afraid and Jesus was asleep in the boat. And he stood up in the boat and said please be still. The Lightning quit its flashing and the Thunder quit its roaring and the rain ceased to fall and the wind quieted down in the sea and nature obeyed him. 

There's something up here more powerful than nature. Jesus could take a storm like that and turn it around. He could take the lightning and throw it back in the cloud. He has power over nature. Why? Because he's the god of nature. Those his laws are screaming about him, they tell that Jesus is God.

He had authority over disease. I read somewhere that some years ago Mao Zedong in China claims to have cured 80% of all the deaf people in China and one of those men that came back on the ping pong team said that Mao Zedong is the Jesus Christ of China.

Jesus did make the blind to see, he made the Deaf to hear, and he made the dumb to talk. He raised the dead. According to the record, he had authority over demons. 

If you ask me do you believe in demons I surely do. And Jesus confronted demons time after time, he could cast them out and people that were insane under the powers of demons would regain their sanity. And then look at the death he died did ever a man die like Jesus? 

The lightning flashed and the thunder roared and the earth began to shake and even the soldiers confessed that this must be the Son of God. Anyone that can see Jesus on that cross and not be touched has a heart of stone. 

They first took off his clothes then they took long leather thongs with steel pellets or lead pellets on the end and beat him across the back until he could hardly stand up. Then they put a crown of thorns on his brow and his face was bleeding and they laughed at him and they spit on him and they mocked him. 

With one snap of his finger 72,000 angels had already drawn their swords ready to come to his rescue and wipe this planet out of existence in the universe and Jesus said no to this end. He dragged and lifted and hauled that cross.

Jesus is for everyone: No Discrimination

Don't you black people ever forget one thing the man that helped Jesus carry that cross was a black man and don't ever forget another thing Jesus belongs to Africa as much as he does to Europe and Asia. 

He was born in that part of the world that touches Africa and Asia and Europe and Jesus was not a white man nor was he as black. We don't know what the color of his skin but it must have been a dark color like the people of his day because he was a man like them. Don't ever say it's a white man's religion or a black man's religion. It's a world religion. He belongs to the world.

Forgiveness

When he died on that cross and they nailed him they put the nails in his hands and you know what he said forgive them they know not what they do, forgive them. Could you forgive somebody that's putting nails in your hands and you know you didn't deserve it.

He didn't squirm, he didn't yell, he didn't scream. He just said Lord forgive him they don't know what they're doing. That's how he confronted the violence of his day and then on the cross he said my God why have you forsaken me. Then he dropped his head and said it's finished. What did he mean? He meant your plan of salvation was finished.

God can now forgive you of all your sins because Jesus had finished God's plan for your salvation. Because you see God knows every one of you by name he has the hairs of your head numbered.

God looks upon you as though you were the only person in the whole universe he sees you and you alone. And on that cross Jesus had the capacity to think of you and he loved you enough to stay on the cross.

Was there ever such love? Is that when he could have been rescued and taken back to heaven and to sit on his throne but he didn't? He said no I'm doing it for the joy that is set before me. Because he saw that he would be raised from the dead, he saw that they would be a gathering in the generations to come of a people for his name that would make up his body. 

He saw the day when we will reign with him in his kingdom. Yes, they laid him away in a tomb and that's where Jesus Christ the Superstar leaves him out.

Resurrection of Jesus

If you don't have the resurrection you don't have any gospel. Jesus Christ is alive and when they went out to the tomb that morning they heard the greatest news the world has ever known. He is not here. He is risen, he is alive today. 

The thing that inspired the disciples to turn the world upside down in their day is the resurrection. They went everywhere declaring that Jesus is alive. You know some of us Christians live as though Jesus is dead. He's not dead, he's alive.

I know you're going through your troubles and your trials and your temptations and your testings and your pressures and you're under satanic attack all the time constantly. I think in many ways in some ways it's easier not to be a Christian in this world because the devil may leave you alone.

The moment you receive Christ as Savior you're in for it unless you live on your knees and live in the scriptures and keep your guard up and have your spiritual armour on at all times. Because if you let down even one day as a Christian you're in trouble. 

The moment you receive Christ you see all the world is going this way. You turn around and start against the tide as a Christian and that's hard but you know it's hard to be a sinner too the older you get because the Bible says the way of the transgressor is hard.

I watch sometimes the programs on television where they have crime. I have never in my life seen criminals work so hard for the money they get. It looks like to me they could get a legitimate business and have a much easier time.

Jesus Christ is alive and if he's not risen from the dead, if he's not alive then there is no such thing as Christianity. We all can turn the World into much better place. It can be done with power of Jesus. That's it. 

Jesus coming into our heart. Even if I had no proof whatsoever no scientific proof that Jesus ever lived I still would trust him because of what he's done for me the joy and the peace and the security and the love that he's given to me. His grace that is mine today and then the satisfaction that he gives to those who have trusted him.

Who art thou Lord Jesus Christ?

Are you who you say you are? This is the question that every one of you today are going to have to answer who is Jesus. If Jesus claimed to be God knowing he wasn't God then he's a liar and we will have to say Jesus you're a liar you're a fraud and a hoax and you're the biggest fraud in the history of the human race or if Jesus thought he was God and did not know the difference then he desperately needed mental health. He needed several psychiatrists. 

The third alternative is that he was who he claims to be, God in the flesh. I believe that the evidence is overwhelming that he is who he claims to be, the son of the Living God. But I cannot prove it scientifically but I can prove it by the lives that he transforms every day I can prove it because in my heart I don't say I think I hope. I say I know and you know there's another element in our lives that we don't think much about and that's the element of faith.

You think of the faith that you have to have every day. You have to have faith that your wife didn't put poison in your coffee this morning, you have to have faith in her. She might have felt like it but she didn't. You have to have faith in the bank when you write a check and sign it. 

You have money in the bank, you have to have faith that the bank's going to pay it. You have to have faith in the government when you pull out a dollar bill. You have faith that back of it is a dollar that people will accept. It is money. Everything we do is by faith.

Conclusion: Jesus Christ is our Lord and God

Who is Jesus? Let’s put the same faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you will know who Jesus is. You accept him by faith and he comes into your life and into your heart and you know that he's who he claims to be.

Also read who is God, who is the Holy Spirit