Who IS This Guy? - Part B

We're dealing with a fundamental issue and it is the fundamental issue in the entire gospel of John or believe 879.

The fundamental issue is the title of this message this morning. Who is this guy? John gives us that portrait of Christ. And he gives that portrait over and over again. He's the messiah. He's the lord. He's the savior.

He's god and a human body. So that we would believe and in believing we would have life welcome to connect with Skip weekend edition Who was that masked man? That was the question people often ask when the lone ranger rode off into the sunset after once again saving the day That was certainly the case for jesus despite centuries longing for and watching for the messiah When jesus showed up in the scene and started doing the things the messiah was predicted to do people still asked the question Who was that masked man?

Well, maybe not that exact question because you know jesus didn't wear a mask, but the point is they didn't recognize him But we'll see if we can't find out why today in connect with Skip weekend edition But first let's find out more about this month's connect with Skip resource offer. Is there archaeological proof that jesus existed? Did jesus ever actually claim to be god? Is jesus really the only way?

There's a good chance. You'll be asked tough questions like these at some point. You may ask these questions yourself That's why we want to send you josh and sean mcdowell's new book evidence for jesus to help you answer crucial questions about the life death and resurrection of jesus christ Was that truth? challenged in the presence of knowledgeable witnesses especially antagonistic witnesses Peter on the truth phone. He says men of israel listen to these words you leaders jesus and nazarene a man attested to you not just to us See he threw it right back and the antagonist said attested to you by god with miracles and wonders and signs Which god performed through him in your midst just as you yourselves know I'll tell you this folks if those antagonists had not seen those witnesses miracles and signs Peter would have been lucky to have made it out there alive instead of what happened historically Thousands were added to the church Evidence for jesus will help you confidently answer tough questions like is there evidence that jesus was real Did jesus actually claim to be god? What makes jesus unique from other religious figures did jesus really rise from the dead and why does that matter? evidence for jesus by josh and sean mcdowell will join classics like more than a carpenter and evidence that demands a verdict that have Shaped christian apologetics.

We'll send you a copy of evidence for jesus as thanks for your gift of fifty dollars or more this month To reach more people with the teaching and resources of connect with skiff heitzig So be sure to request your copy of evidence for jesus today when you give online securely at connectwithskip.com Offer or call 800 922 1888 If you'll open your bibles to john chapter 8 who will join Skip heitzig as he continues this study? winston-churchill had quite a mouth on him he He had an edge to him It was hard to dispute with him. He had that reputation on one occasion Someone that he knew george bernard shaw the playwright in england was opening a new play opening night in london And sent two tickets to sir winston-churchill with the note bring a friend If you have one Not to be outdone winston-churchill wrote back and declined going on the first night he said i'll attend the second night If there is one Right back at him Well, he became known for that and probably the most famous repartee between winston-churchill and another person was the lady asked her A member of parliament and she tried to belittle him publicly on one occasion She said sir, if you were my husband i'd put arsenic in your tea And he shouted back if I were your husband I'd drink it That was winston-churchill Okay on another occasion again in public he had a little too much to drink And she shouted out above the crowd sir.

You're drunk And he looked back at her and said madam. You're ugly And in the morning, I will be sober You know why we laugh at that Because we like it That is our human nature coming out tit for tat eye for eye jib for jab Here's what is amazing not christ To this verbal attack, he simply denies what they said and gives the truth Verse 51 is also astonishing to me. Look at what he says to them again right after their attack most Assuredly, I say to you if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death You know what?

This is this is an invitation to them Even in this late stage of their Animosity and their rejection as far as they've gone already in their rejection. He still holds out his hand to them Say I know you don't believe in me But for your sake I wish you would because if you would believe what I say, you would never see death Now this is this is an invitation We've come across many times so far in the gospel of john quick review. John 3 16 to nicodemus Jesus said for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish But have everlasting life same truth Different words To the crowd in Galilee in John chapter 5 he said this is the bread of heaven that if anyone eats he will never die Same truth different words So gracious so beautiful so if you have any of those irregular people in your life They put you down.

You don't like being around them because they do just again think back to this Somebody put it so beautifully love your enemies. It'll drive them nuts If you look now at Verse 51 and down a few verses we come to a second accusation that they bring against Christ The first is that he's an evil imposter a false prophet not really true Jewish in nature a heretic the second is that he makes promises He can't keep he's an incapable promoter like the politician who makes promises and it happens every election. I don't care who it is Promises are made and never kept Look at what they say verse 51 most assuredly I say to you if anyone keeps my word He will never see death and then the Jews said to him. Well now we know that you have a demon Abraham's dead and the prophets and You say if anyone keeps my word he shall never taste death Are you greater than our father Abraham who is dead and the prophets are dead?

Whom do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered if I honor myself my honor is nothing It is my father who honors me of whom you say that he is your God Yet you have not known him but I know him and If I say I don't know him, I'll be a liar like you But I do know him and keep his word hmm, the first accusation is that he was the Samaritan the second accusation is that he is making promises that are outlandish that nobody can keep Who do you think you are You greater than Abraham Now this question this follow-up question is to be expected because of what Jesus said You see they go back to Abraham. Wait a minute now Abraham.

He's dead. But Abraham actually heard God's voice and obeyed God's voice but he's dead and the prophets they heard God's voice and they spoke of God's words and They're dead and now you come along and say whoever listens to you Will never die if they listen to God and they're dead Who do you think you are? Well, they're they're setting him up for the bomb to drop Who do you think you are you greater than our father Abraham now? Here's what we're dealing with here We're dealing with a fundamental issue and it is the fundamental issue in the entire gospel of John or believe 879 the fundamental issue is the title of this message this morning.

Who is this guy? John gives us that portrait of Christ and He gives that portrait over and over again. He's the Messiah. He's the Lord. He's the Savior.

He's God and a human body So that we would believe and in believing we would have life That's heaven's perspective Their perspective just in this chapter is number one. You're an illegitimate child born of fornication verse 41 Number two, you're a Samaritan heretic and now number three you are demon possessed I'll say one thing Wherever Jesus went he was certainly controversial He sure stirred people up He stirred their emotions up. There was not a whole lot of neutrality Because he would divide that crowd. In fact, he said I came to divide By the way Do you know that Jesus still does that I? Could prove that next time you're in a crowd not a church crowd Maybe a movie crowd maybe a crowd of neighbors Mention the word Jesus Christ in a voice loud enough that they can hear or overhear and not Not in any kind of derogatory fashion, of course because very sort of used to that But just talk about how much you love Jesus Christ and just watch what happens and how they react to that He is controversial. I discovered Encyclopedia Britannica that has articles on lots of things their article on Jesus Christ 20,000 words are devoted to Christ in Encyclopedia Britannica 20,000 words that's more than their article on Aristotle more than their article on Alexander Cicero Caesar Buddha Confucius and Muhammad put together you know why that is I think here's the reason because Jesus said the kinds of things nobody else said and he made such claims that nobody else dare make and If the claims that Jesus is making these claims are not true then he is the worst of all liars and He is the megalomaniac of all megalomaniacs His story and Philip Schaff said this testimony if it is not true must be downright blasphemy and madness And so there's a couple options That's their perspective Number one. He's an evil imposter or number two. He's an incapable promoter Look at verse 56 Jesus says something different This is your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and He was glad then the Jews said to him you're not even 50 years old and Have you seen Abraham? Now up to this point in this conversation I'll just put it this way.

Jesus was only throwing grenades now. He drops the bomb Now he says something so unmistakable Because they keep saying well, who are you? Well, who are you?

Well, who is this guy? Who do you think you are? Are you greater than Abraham? And he said most assuredly verse 58 I say to you before Abraham was I Am not I was I am They knew exactly what that meant.

I'll show you as we go notice the next verse Then they took up stones to throw at him But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple going through the midst of them. And so he passed by He said Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw that he was glad in other words It was Abraham who recognized my superiority and my priority not vice-versa. You're talking about Abraham He's the guy and he's our father. He's the superior one What I want you to know is Abraham the guy you keep pointing to recognize I Was superior and the priority He rejoiced to see my day now we could talk about what that means there's a whole lot of debate when and how did Abraham ever see Jesus and See the day of Jesus and get to rejoice in that there's a lot of speculations and it fills the pages of many commentaries I've read at least six different viewpoints. I just want you to know that's really not the issue It's a sidetrack issue The real issue is what he says about himself in verse 58 before Abraham was I am Another translation puts it this way Before Abraham ever came into existence I Am Why did he say I am because that was what God said to Moses when Moses in Exodus 3? Was sent to the children of Israel as their deliverer and Moses said so God What do I tell these people when they say who sent me? God's answer was simple. I am that I am You tell them I am Sent you So he uses that name of God that self-disclosed name of God before Abraham ever existed I Am this is a direct claim to deity Some people every now and then I'll meet a person who'll say well Jesus never claimed to be God other people made him God Later on and churches did that and I always ask them what Bible are you reading? He said it over and over and over again and that is the premise of John in this whole gospel is That Jesus always said it And now it's the most direct way of saying it Before Abraham was I am Ego, I me I am I Tell now we have seen that he claimed several things about himself. This is just the gospel of John So far he said he was the quencher of human thirst He was the satisfier of all hunger He was the light of the world that he came from heaven not from earth that if you believe in him, you will never see death and now that he predates even Abraham Now if you were to say that I'd say you're nuts if I were to say that you'd say I'm nuts For anybody to make these claims they would be nuts Unless they're God The eternal creator Later on, by the way, you'll see it Thomas the doubting disciple comes to believe Jesus and he says something that Jesus does not correct, but he accepts Thomas says my Lord and my God If Jesus is not God folks, he deserves an Academy Award because he sure acted like it and He sure claimed that he was over and over again and the crowd knew that's what he meant That's why in verse 59 they took up stones because that was the punishment for blasphemy now Either this was blasphemy or it wasn't blasphemy. Would you concede that point?

This was the only two possibilities. It either was or it wasn't if Jesus said what he said and He's not God Then he is a blasphemer Those are words of blasphemy But if Jesus is God Then that's not blasphemy what he said if it's true. It's not blasphemy. In fact If Jesus is God Then this crowd and their refusal to accept him and they're pushing him away and in their hardness of heart not to receive him They're the ones committing blasphemy Not Jesus They're the ones committing blasphemy Let's apply that to us if Jesus Christ is Who he claims to be? What should our response to Jesus Christ be? That question is answered by Paul the Apostle you can write this down and look at it. Later Colossians chapter 1 I'll tell you about it and I'll quote the verse Colossians chapter 1 Paul says here's Jesus Christ.

He's the Redeemer forgiving us of our sins He's the creator calling everything into existence and upholding it by his hand everything consists in him He's the regulator of the universe the creator of the universe the Savior of the world He's also the head of the church. That's us and Then he says that in all things He might have the preeminence. That's Colossians 1 verse 18 that in all things Jesus Christ might have the preeminence But that means his first place What Paul is saying is because Jesus is who he said he was and did what he did.

He deserves first place Does he have first place in your family in your marriage in your relationships in your business? acquaintances in your downtime on your vacations Does he have preeminence in your education and in your intellectual pursuits does he have First place in all these areas of your life what you watch what you hear what you do and nobody's looking Because if Jesus Christ is God the creator and the sustainer if all that is true And he deserves all of our worship and I just submit to you as we close. That's how we should live our lives Considering him and looking to him and pointing to him Sure a life might be easier to lower your expectations to the point where they're already met But that's a pretty mediocre way to live. God has called us to have higher expectations to achieve more now We can't do that on our own. But when we aim for Christ, he'll help us not only hit the target But hit the bull's-eye as well and with that closing thought we're going to have to wrap things up for today But before we go here's pastor Skip and Lenya, you know, sometimes when we're reading the Bible It's kind of like who was Jesus you talk about, you know The people then and dealing with who Jesus was then like it was tough on their Contemporaries of Jesus to figure out exactly who this guy was and maybe some of our listeners are trying to figure out today Who is Jesus?

I mean it could be just as much of an oblique concept or you know Kind of an out of left field. I know you remember my whole your whole testimony as I was raised in an atheist home I mean full-on and Raised on the power of positive thinking so the whole concept of God was very very foreign to me. So Where where should we turn for answers or what are some suggestions for our audience with those kind of people? Well, I guess if you want to find out if somebody is the first thing you do is ask the person I know that sounds a little esoteric and out there but you'd want to if Jesus is alive the Bible says if you seek him with all your heart that you'll find him and I think that if a person seeks the Lord and does an open-minded investigation They're gonna get answers But beyond that because that can be very subjective and experiential. What was the eyewitness testimony of Jesus? Find out what the others said who walked with him lived with him heard him speak saw what he did wrote about it and how that corroborated with other testimonial evidence and Start there, maybe I remember for me I read a book called evidence that demands a verdict by Josh McDowell who has since then become a friend and continues to do this Kind of ministry around the world There's books like that. There's the case for Christ by Lee Strobel That's an excellent and he sought to like disprove Jesus. I mean that was kind of his initial premise Yeah, Lee's wife became a believer Lee was an investigative legal reporter for the Chicago Tribune Did not believe in God did not believe in Christ We tried to debunk it and came to faith and that's sort of the story of a lot of people they have that journey of trying to Mythologize scripture and see it in naturalistic explanations and they themselves come to be believers. Well, Jesus is the rock And sometimes you fall on him and sometimes he falls on you and he has a way of making himself known He did for me, you know coming from a complete ignorant background and I'm so glad I saw the light and that he is my rock I'm glad you did too. Well, thanks for sharing that guys And remember if you'd like a copy of today's study It's available on CD for just four dollars plus shipping when you contact us at 1-800-922-1888 Or when you visit connect with Skip comm or write to us at p.o. Box 95707 Albuquerque, New Mexico 87199 next time we'll see if we can answer one of the big questions. Where's God when life hurts? So I hope you can join us right here in connect with Skip weekend edition a presentation of connection communications Oh Oh Oh Oh Connecting you to God's never-changing truth and ever-changing times