What I Believe About Jesus Christ

In this message today, I'm going
to be speaking from John chapter 5. There are several verses,
beginning with verse 17 through verse 29 that I'll be using. And I'm speaking on this subject,
and I'd like very much for you to listen carefully and prayerfully. And if you're able to do so,
take down some notes. I'm going to be speaking to you
on the subject, what I believe about Jesus of Nazareth. What I believe about Jesus of
Nazareth. Now again, the text will be found
in John 5. I'll be reading several verses,
beginning with verse 17 of John 5 and going through verse 29. On what I believe about Jesus
of Nazareth. Now outwardly, to the human eye,
Jesus of Nazareth appeared to be just an ordinary man. You know, we see pictures of
Jesus Christ and they'll have halos over his head and some
kind of light shining from his face or behind his head, but
that's not the case. In fact, Isaiah said in chapter
53, verse 2 and 3, speaking of Christ. This is a Messianic prophecy
in Isaiah 53. And speaking of Christ, Isaiah
said, he had no form nor comeliness. No form nor comeliness. And when
we see him, now listen to this, there is no beauty. that we should
desire him, he is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces
from him. Instead of being attracted to
him, we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised
And we esteemed him not. Now actually, Jesus of Nazareth
was born to a very poor, unknown family, unrecognized and unknown. I know that Mary and Joseph were
of the house and lineage of David, but they were from the nation
Israel. And they were a very poor people,
a very unknown people, Mary and Joseph both. And he was born
when Mary and Joseph came to Bethlehem. And she was nine months
with child, expecting that child any moment. And there was no
room for them in the inn. And they had to go to a stable,
to a manger. And there he was born in a stable
and laid in a manger, surrounded by animals. And then when he
was just a few weeks old, the angel of the Lord appeared to
Joseph and told him to take the child. and go down into Egypt. And so by night they slipped
out and he carried Mary and the infant into Egypt to escape the
wrath of King Herod. And then he grew up, Jesus Christ,
and when he came back from Egypt, they were told to stop in a little
town called Nazareth. And there Jesus was brought up
in a small out-of-the-way town called Nazareth. working as a
carpenter, earning his living by the sweat of his brow. In
fact, they called him the carpenter. And another thing, outwardly
to the human eye, he was just an ordinary man. He, like other
boys in the town, Jesus had brothers and sisters. Mary had other children
after Christ was born. Christ was born before Mary knew
a man. He was virgin-born, the Son of
God. But after he was born, she had other children. And the scripture
said even his brothers did not believe on him. And this man,
Jesus of Nazareth, began his public ministry at 30 years of
age, attended by 12 ordinary men, just ordinary men, Peter,
James, John, Matthew, None of them of great prominence, no
influential, powerful leaders, no religious leaders, just twelve
ordinary men walked with him and ministered with him and to
him. And the power of God was upon
this man, Jesus of Nazareth, and he spake as no man had ever
spoken. That's what they said about him.
He spake as no man has ever spoken, and he performed miracles. such
as no man had ever done. Nicodemus, the Pharisee, said,
well, no man could do what you do except God be with him. And
yet, in spite of this, his claims were rejected by all of the recognized
leaders of Israel. Everybody who was anybody turned
thumbs down on Jesus Christ. He said, I am the Messiah. You
remember he told the woman at the well. She said, when the
Messiah comes, He'll show us all things. He said, I did speak
to them. He told them he was the Redeemer
of Israel. I've come that you might have
life and have it more abundantly. And yet they rose up against
him. Popular opinion turned against Jesus of Nazareth. And the mob
brought him to Pilate, urged on by the religious leaders.
They brought him to Pilate and asked Pilate to put him on trial.
for treason. Pilate said, what has he done? And they said, well, he says
he's a king. He's a king. And so Pilate delivered
him to the soldiers, Roman soldiers, were the cruelest of cruel people. They were professional soldiers.
And they were most cruel, bloody men, bloodthirsty men. And they
took Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and sported with him through
the evening. They brought him there into the
soldier's hall. First they scourged him with
39 stripes, 39 lashes with a whip. And then they took his robe off
of him and put an old scarlet robe on his shoulders and a reed
in his hand and a crown of thorns on his brow. They said, well,
if you're king, you need a crown. If you're king, you need a robe.
If you're king, you need a scepter. And then they sat him on a stool.
and they bowed before him and ridiculed and made fun of him.
And then the scripture says they plucked out his beard and then
they blindfolded him and they said, well, he said he's a prophet.
And they blindfolded him and they hit him in the face with
their fist and said, prophesy who struck you. And after they
had had their fun and had beaten him and mocked him and ridiculed
him and he suffered at their hands, they brought him back
before Pilate. And Pilate turned to the people and there stood
Jesus of Nazareth with that crown of thorns and that scepter in
his hand and that mocking robe and he said behold your king
and they said we have no king but Caesar and Pilate still wanting
to get this man off his hands he said to the people well it's
customary to release at this time of the year a prisoner Now
we have a prisoner, Barabbas, a noted criminal, convicted criminal. Whom shall I release unto you,
Barabbas or Jesus, which is called the Christ? And they said, give
us Barabbas. Well, he said, what shall I do
with Jesus, which is called Christ? And they said, let him be crucified.
And then they nailed him to a cross between two thieves. danced about
the cross, a multitude of people were there. Even his disciples
forsook him and fled. No man stood with him. Even the
Heavenly Father deserted him as he was hanging on that cruel
cross. And they laughed about the cross, and they shot out
their lips, and they said, well, he bleated, and God will see
if God will have him. If you be the Christ, come down
from the cross. They said all of these things.
And finally Jesus of Nazareth died on that cross, and they
took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb, a borrowed
tomb of one Joseph Arimathea. And that's the last the world
saw of him. Now believers saw him. He arose again. He appeared
to his disciples and 500 brethren at once, but the world never
saw him again. And my question is this, who
is this Jesus of Nazareth? Who is this man called Jesus?
What have we to do with him? Well, if you have your Bible,
turn there to John chapter 5, and I want to read some scripture
and just tell you what I believe about Jesus of Nazareth, what
I believe about this man, this man of sorrows, acquainted with
grief, this man who hath no form, no comeliness, no beauty that
we should desire in him. This man of whom it is said,
we hear as it were our faces from him. He's despised and rejected. Let me tell you what I believe
about him. And you jot these things down if you'd like to.
But there, first of all, verse 17 and 18 of John 5. I believe,
first of all, Jesus of Nazareth is God Almighty in human flesh. That's what the Word of God teaches.
I'm not talking about he's a son of God or a messenger of God,
though he is. He is, Behold my servant, in
whom my soul delighteth. Behold the messenger of the covenant.
Behold, he is the son of God. But he is, verily, God Almighty. That's right. He's God Almighty. Listen to what he says here in
John 5.17, right there, the scripture you're looking at. He said this,
he said, my father worketh hitherto. Jesus answered them, my father
worketh hitherto and I work. What's he saying? My father and
I work. My father and I work. Well they
knew what he was saying. Because right then the Jews sought
to kill him. Because he made himself equal
with God. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. Isaiah 714 declares this, Behold,
the Lord himself shall give you a sign, a virgin shall conceive,
and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Immanuel,
God with us. God with us. And that's quoted
in Matthew 1 in the New Testament. And then Isaiah 9 6 declares
this, Unto us a child is born, in a manger, in a stable, to
a virgin. A child is born and his name,
the name of that child, the son given, is Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And then 1 Timothy chapter 3
verse 16 declares this, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in human flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. And 2 Corinthians 5.19 declares
this, God was in Christ. What are you saying, preacher?
I'm saying this, that Jesus of Nazareth is God Almighty, whom
the heavens cannot contain, and yet he came down to this earth
in human flesh. To the son he saith, thy throne,
O God, is forever." In other words, the ancient of days became
an infant of days. And he who made woman was made
of a woman. And he who made the son worked
as a carpenter by candlelight. And he who made the fields of
wheat fasted. and went without food. And he
who made the rivers from the cross cried, I thirst. And he who made the trees planted
that one on which they nailed him. And even the ore from which
they made the nails they drove into his hands, that was made
by him. And his hands dug the cave in
which he lay. Jesus of Nazareth is the only
man who picked out his own mother who chose the day and the hour
and the place where he would be born, and the nation. He's
the only one who set the bounds of his life, the years that he
would live, the place he would die, the time that he would die,
and then laid down his own life and raised it from the tomb.
John wrote in John 1.14, the Word was made flesh. and dwelt among us, and we beheld
his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth." What do I believe about Jesus of Nazareth?
I believe what everyone has to believe who believes him. He
is God. He said, I and my Father are
one. All right, secondly, now look
at verse 20. I believe the love of the Father is upon the Son,
Jesus Christ. It's upon the Son, it's in the
Son, and it's through the Son. Now look at verse 20. For the
Father loveth the Son, the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him
all things that he himself doeth. Look at John 3, verse 35. It
says practically the same thing. The Father loveth the Son. and
hath given all things into his hands. And then when our Lord
was baptized, the voice came from heaven, This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased." Now think with me a moment. Think
with me. The love of God, what is it?
Well, the love of God is infinite. That is, the love of God hath
no depth nor height. It's infinite. The love of God
is everlasting. The love of God is unchanging.
The love of God is a holy love. And that love of God rests upon
and in Jesus Christ. That's what Paul wrote in Romans
8. In Romans 8, Paul said this,
nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is where? It's in Christ Jesus, our Lord. The love of God is in Christ
Jesus. Now the scripture plainly declares that God is angry with
the wicked. The scripture plainly declares
that God hateth the workers of iniquity. Now watch this, and
he that believeth not on the Son, the wrath of God abideth
on him. The what? Not the love of God,
the wrath of God. The wrath of God abideth on him.
Outside of Christ, I'm simply saying this, now the scripture
says here, The Father loveth the Son. That's where God's love
is. It's in Christ. It's upon Christ. It's through
Christ. That's right. And outside of
Christ, there's wrath and judgment and condemnation. There's no
condemnation to them who are in Christ. Now, Noah's day found
this out. There's the ark floating on the
water, and that's the object of God's love. And outside of
the ark, there's nothing but wrath and judgment and condemnation. Sodom and Gomorrah found it out.
God, by his love, lifted Lot out and then destroyed the city.
Jerusalem found it out. After Christ had been crucified
and risen and several years later, the Roman Emperor Titus came
in and totally destroyed Jerusalem. And somebody said, sowed salt
upon the sower. And all men shall someday, out
of Christ, find out about the wrath of God. I'm saying that
the Father loveth the Son. I'm saying God's love is a holy
love, it's an infinite love, it's an everlasting love, it's
an unchanging love, but that love is upon Christ Jesus, and
in Christ Jesus, and through Christ Jesus, and outside of
Christ. No man has any right or reason
to claim the love of God. It's in Christ. Now, that's true. Somebody says, well, I don't
believe a loving God will send men to hell. He won't. He won't. A God of anger and a God of wrath
and judgment and holiness will condemn men, but not condemn
men in Christ. There's no condemnation to them
who are in Christ. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ. And we're foolish to think that
we are objects of God's love when we're resisting and rejecting
and rebelling against God's Son, whom he loves. Now what's the
third thing? Verse 21, Jesus Christ quickens
whom he will. He quickens whom he will. It
says in verse 21, read it there, for the Father raiseth up the
dead and quickeneth them. Even so the Son quickeneth whom
he will. When our preacher, what's this
talking about? Resurrection from the grave?
No. This is a spiritual resurrection. You see that in verse 25 and
26. Look down at verse 25 and 26. The hour is coming, and now
is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God,
and they that hear all do not hear, but those who do hear shall
live. This is not the general resurrection,
this is not the resurrection of all men, this is a spiritual
resurrection, for men are dead in trespasses and sin. And the
hour is coming and now is, right now. The general resurrection
is not now, it will be when Christ comes. But right now this spiritual
resurrection is, and they that hear the voice of the Son of
God shall live. For as the Father hath life in
himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.
All are dead in Adam, dead in trespasses and sin. What does
the scripture say in Romans 5.12? By one man sin entered the world,
and death by sin. So death passed upon all men.
And you have to quicken who were dead in trespasses and sin. We're already quickened. We have
life with the power of God. So what Christ is saying here
is this. I'll quicken whom I will. I'll
save whom I will. I'll give life to whom I will.
The Son quickeneth whom he will. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. Our Lord went down into Samaria.
And he chose a Samaritan woman and saved her. He met her deliberately
at the well. He went down into Bethany and
he called Mary and Martha and Lazarus. He went down into the
land of the Gadarenes and there he delivered a demoniac. He went
down into Jericho and called Zacchaeus, surrounded by people,
but he called Zacchaeus. He went to the cross and called
one thief. You know, the leper sums it up,
when he came to Christ and fell on his face worshiping him, he
said, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. Our God's
hands are not tied. He said, my ear's not heavy that
I can't hear, my arm's not short that I cannot say, can I not
do with my own what I will? The God of the Bible, the God
of the universe, the God who came to this earth as Jesus Christ
the Lord, is able to save whom he will. The Son quickeneth,
maketh alive, redeemeth, begets whom he will. Of his own will
beget he us with the word of truth. All right, here's the
next one now, verse 22. The destiny of all men is in
the hands of Jesus Christ. Read verse 22. For the Father
judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son. The
fate, the destiny of all men is in the hands of Jesus Christ.
Now that's not what we're hearing today. Today they're asking,
what will you do with Jesus? You're not going to do anything
with Jesus. Not a thing in the world. He came into this world,
we crucified him, and God raised him from the dead and exalted
him at his right hand, where he declared, Thine enemies shall
be made thy footstool. Sit thou on my right hand until
I make thine enemies thy footstool. The question is not, what shall
I do with Jesus? The question is, what's he going
to do with me? He has all power over all flesh. He prayed that in John 17. He
said, Father, thou hast given me authority over all flesh,
that I should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
me. The judgment of believers is
in Christ. Christ hath borne our sins, our
sorrows, our guilt, and paid our debt. And our judgment's
in him. There is therefore now no judgment
to them who are in Christ. Christ has taken our judgment.
There's no judgment. See, he is our judgment. He has
met every debt, paid every debt, satisfied the law and the holiness
and the justice of God, and there's no condemnation, no judgment.
So if we stand before judgment, Christ is already born. The judgment
of every other man is in the hands of Christ because God hath
appointed a day in which he'll judge the world by Jesus Christ.
And men who stand at that great day of judgment shall be denied
and rejected because they can't come up to that righteousness
of Christ. He's the measurement. He's the
judge. He's the judgment. Now watch
verse 23. I believe that Jesus Christ shall
have all honor, glory, and preeminence. It says in verse 23 that all
men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He
that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent
him. Let me tell you something. Jesus
Christ and God the Father are one in essence, they're one in
power, and they're one in purpose. And it's impossible to honor
the Father and not honor the Son. equally. It's impossible
to know the Father and not know the Son, because they're one.
It's impossible to worship the Father and not worship the Son. It's impossible to come to the
Father except in the Son. He said, no man cometh to the
Father but by me. Jesus Christ is God in essence,
in power, in purpose, they're one. And God said, let all the
holy angels worship him. To the Son, he saith, thy throne,
O God, is forever." He's going to have the honor and the power.
God has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above
every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow
and every tongue shall confess that he is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father. God has given all things into
his hands that in all things he might have thee preeminent. I believe that all men shall
honor the Son as they honor the Father. And then in the sixth
place, verse 24, now look at it. I believe all who hear his
word, hear his word, and believe on him, Jesus of Nazareth, hear
his word and believe on him, will have everlasting life. and
shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto
life." What does that say? Look at it again. Christ said,
He that heareth my word. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake to us by the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken to us by his Son. He spake to the fathers
by the prophets. He is spoken by his Son. Hear
his word. Hear the words of Christ. Come
unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, I will give
you rest. I am come that ye might have life, and have it more abundantly.
Woe every one that thirsteth, come to the sun, come to the
water, come and drink. He that heareth my word, and
believeth, believeth on the Father who sent him, who believeth on
the Son who came, who believes who he is, and what he did, and
why he did it, who believes where he is now, hath eternal life,
divine life, the life of God, and shall never come into judgment.
But it's passed from death unto life. Do you marvel at this?
He said in verse 28, do you marvel at this? Well, the hour is coming
when everybody who's ever died shall hear the voice of the Son
of God and come forth from the grave.

What I Believe About Jesus Christ

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What I Believe About Jesus Christ

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