Rev. David Holwick B
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey (adapted from 7/23/89)
January 11, 1998
Mark 8:27-29
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I. Who is Jesus?
A. Everyone has their own image of Jesus.
1) TIME magazine cover story a few years ago.
a) Montage of images of Jesus down through centuries.
b) Generated more letters to editor than any other story.
1> Article does not come to a conclusion.
2> Implies everyone sees a different Jesus.
2) Sentimental image in the church.
a) Jesus is the guy holding the lamb or knocking on a door.
b) Sunday School image, memories of stories.
1> Image can seem imaginary, otherworldly.
3) Skepticism from radicals.
a) "Jesus Seminar" gets a lot of press.
1> Debunks popular views about Jesus.
2> Basically, nothing for certain can be known of Jesus.
b) But uses weak arguments and is oversold.
B. Jesus is significant.
1) Encyclopedia Britannica has more on Jesus than any other
religious figure or political leader, over 20,000 words.
2) As a globe-trotting basketball player once observed,
"I've never been to a country where players respond to a
missed shot by cursing Confucius, Buddha, or the
Maharishi.
The only name I ever hear taken in vain is Jesus Christ."
#3425
C. We all face a basic question: is Jesus who he said he is?
1) And if he is, what are we going to do about it?
2) As Jesus himself asked, "Who do people say I am?"
II. Did Jesus really exist?
A. Only extreme skeptics doubt his existence.
B. Historical evidence for Jesus.
1) Early Jewish and Roman sources refer to Jesus.
a) Thallus, Tacitus, Pliny, Josephus.
1> Historians and politicians.
2> Dates are from A.D. 52 to 120.
b) They are not "believers" but accepted his existence.
C. What the evidence does NOT do.
1) The evidence we have seen thus far DOES NOT prove Jesus
to be the Son of God.
2) It does establish that he lived and died during the first
century, and must have done something significant to
gain such notoriety.
III. The Jesus of the Bible.
A. All our basic knowledge of Jesus comes from the New Testament.
1) Can it be trusted?
2) Common to see it as layers of myth on kernel of truth.
a) The history of the church shows how the real Jesus
can become unrecognizable.
b) We color Jesus by our prejudices, racism, philosophies.
c) Catholic scholar Hans Kung:
"For not only dust, but also too much gold can
cover up the true figure."
#3810
3) Why the New Testament can be trusted.
a) Those who wrote it put themselves in a bad light.
b) They believed in what they wrote, enough to die for it.
c) Uniqueness of Jesus' image still comes through.
1> Even Christians have a hard time living his
teaching, so cannot be too corrupted.
B. The minimum view of Jesus in the Bible.
1) Peter's sermon to non-Jews. Acts 10:38
"God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and
power, and how he went around doing good and healing
all who were under the power of the devil,
because God was with him.
2) Discouraged disciples on way to Emmaus. Luke 24:18-21
"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet,
powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.
The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be
sentenced to death, and they crucified him;
But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to
redeem Israel."
C. Can more be known about Jesus?
IV. The basic views of Jesus of Nazareth.
A. Jesus was a good man.
1) He did good things. Acts 10:38
a) Healed people.
b) Multiplied food. (Even beats ShopRite's Can-Can sale.)
c) Blessed little kids.
2) Problems:
a) The Bible also reveals a hardness about Jesus.
1> He whipped people.
2> Cursed a fig tree.
3> Preached more on Hell than anyone else in Bible.
b) Jesus was too extreme to be "good."
1> He had radical ideas about God.
2> He had radical ideas about himself. John 10:30
A> He separated himself from disciples.
1: My God and yours; not "ours."
2: (not "one of boys")
B> Claimed to be God, in words and actions.
B. Jesus was a religious teacher.
1) Even most Jews in this area would see Jesus as a
misunderstood reformer of first century Judaism.
a) Much in common with OT, especially prophetic tradition.
1> Some of his teaching is unique.
2> Golden Rule: do unto others. Actively love others.
A> (Jews had negative version)
b) Other religions readily accept Jesus.
1> Hinduism - another guru.
2> Islam - a great prophet, only surpassed by Mohammed.
2) Problem:
a) Jesus saw himself as the only way to God.
b) He was not giving good advice, but absolute truth.
C. Jesus was insane.
1) Those closest to him believed this. Mark 3:20-21
2) So do some modern scholars.
a) Albert Schweitzer - Jesus was a deluded visionary.
He thought he was the Messiah, but was wrong.
b) Others: Resurrection stories are due to funny mushrooms
at the Last Supper.
3) Problems:
a) Could an insane person come up with these teachings?
1> They are impossible, yet have grabbed imaginations of
people for 2000 years.
2> Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Leo Tolstoy.
D. Jesus is God.
1) Only reasonable choice.
C.S. Lewis wrote:
"It is a very foolish thing when people say,
"I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher,
but I don't accept His claim to be God."
That is the one thing we must not say.
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus
said would not be a great moral teacher.
He would either be a lunatic -
on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg -
or else he would be the Devil of Hell.
You must make your choice.
Either this man was, and is, the Son of God:
or else a madman or something worse.
You can shut Him up for a fool,
you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon;
or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.
But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His
being a great human teacher.
He has not left that open to us.
He did not intend to." #931
V. What Jesus says about himself.
A. He saw himself as the Messiah and God's Son.
1) Not just statements, but parables reveal this.
B. He viewed his death as a religious sacrifice, an atonement.
1) It was not just an example, but a ransom. Mark 10:45
2) He saw this atonement as fulfillment of prophecy. Isaiah 53
C. He demanded faith and obedience from his followers.
1) He accepted worship and full commitment from disciples.
VI. What do YOU think of Jesus?
A. What you think of him can make a difference.
1) One of the most popular modern biographies about Jesus
was written 100 years ago by a man named Strauss.
He called it the "Life of Christ".
Strauss stripped away the supernatural stuff and focused
exclusively on the high ethics of Jesus.
One of those influenced by the book was a young Russian
who was studying to be a priest.
When he finished reading Stauss's book, he felt his eyes
had been opened.
Jesus had no more power or authority than anyone else.
The young Russian dropped out of the church and joined the
Communist Party.
His ruthlessness became legendary, and he rose to become
the leader of the entire Soviet Union.
His name was Joseph Stalin, and historians claim he killed
more people than even Hitler, perhaps up to 20 million.
#2456
B. Perhaps we can know Jesus best through his followers.
1) Original disciples made such an impact those around them
commented, "Weren't these with Jesus?"
2) I have been impressed by committed Christians.
C. Most important answer is one YOU give.
1) Popular MTV song by Joan Osborne is titled, "What if God
were one of us."
It goes:
"If God had a face what would it look like?
And would you want to see (it) if seeing meant that you
would have to believe in things like heaven and in Jesus
and the saints and all the prophets?"
#3425
2) Many don't believe in Jesus because they are afraid.
a) Jesus would require them to change, and they don't want to.
b) He must be your living savior, not just historical figure.
3) Everyone must come to a decision, a conviction.
D. Testimony of Ron Gordon.
Born in New Jersey.
Nominal Catholic family.
Heavy set, so everyone called him "Tiny."
His parents divorced, so he was sent to live with friends in
Ohio.
Fell into wrong crowd.
Heavy drug use.
Once took a Seconal tablet, cooked the contents,
injected it into his arm and experienced a black tunnel.
Another time, a drugged-out buddy shot a girlfriend to death.
Marriage weaned him off drugs, but not alcohol.
Escape from reality.
Attempted to have a child, but couldn't.
Doctor said if fertility drugs didn't work, only God could
help them.
His wife Susan took him to church.
Soon after, she got pregnant.
Ron thought he was in charge of his life, and it was going great.
-Then he got permanently laid off. No income.
Susan attended a Bible study at our church and accepted Jesus as
her Savior.
Ron was glad she was happier, but it wasn't for him.
One day he came across a book called, "JESUS: God, Ghost, or
Guru?"
For some reason, he bought it.
The book took away all his reasons for not believing.
On a Sunday afternoon soon after that, I sat with Ron in a
friend's living room.
I asked Ron if he was finally ready to commit his life to Jesus
Christ.
He said, "Yes," and prayed right there to receive him.
#932
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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