I'm bringing today what I believe
to be a most important message. It's a message to you from the
Word of God, and yet it's a message out of my own heart and experience. I'm using the first person for
a title. I'm saying I believe, I personally,
individually believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. I believe that. I don't just
profess it, and I don't just preach it, but I believe it. In Matthew 16, verse 13, the
Scripture says, And when Jesus of Nazareth came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying unto them,
Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? What are the people
saying? the religious leaders and others.
Whom do they say that I, the Son of Man, am? And the disciples
replied, well, some of the people out there say that you're John
the Baptist who's come back from the dead. And some say you're
Elijah. Some of the Jews thought that
Elijah would make another appearance in the last days. And some say
you're Jeremiah or one of the prophets. And then he said to
his disciples, But whom say ye that I the Son of man am?" And
Peter replied, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now outwardly to
the human eye, Jesus of Nazareth appeared to be an ordinary man.
an ordinary person. In fact, they called him the
Nazarene, they called him the carpenter, they called him a
wine-bibber, they called him a gluttonous man, they called
him the friend of sinners. Isaiah said this prophecy about
the coming Redeemer. He said, he hath no form, no
comeliness, there's no beauty about him that we should desire
him. He's a man of sorrows, he's acquainted
with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him, he is
despised and rejected of men." Everybody who was anybody turned
thumbs down on this man Jesus of Nazareth. Well, really, he
was born to a poor unknown family. There was no room for them in
the inn. Here Mary was expecting a child
and they went to their home cities to be taxed and there was no
place for them to spend the night and no place for her to have
her baby, so she went down to a stable. And this man, Jesus
of Nazareth, if he'd had a birth certificate, it would have said
on there, he was born in a stable and laid in a manger. That's
a very humble beginning. That certainly didn't make him
anybody. And then he was a little baby. They carried him into Egypt.
He had to flee his own nation to escape the wrath of Herod.
who had decreed that every Jewish child under a certain age was
to be killed in order to destroy this supposed messiah or king
of the Jews. And then he grew up in a little
out-of-the-way small town called Nazareth. And even one of his
disciples, when he was told that Jesus came from Nazareth, he
said, well, can anything good come out of that place? And then
he began his ministry, having worked as a carpenter for no
telling how many years in this little town of Nazareth, but
he began his ministry attended by a few poor, uneducated, unlearned
fishermen and other men, and his teachings about God and sin
and salvation and eternal life, his teachings and doctrines were
rejected. He offended people by what he
taught. He didn't offend them so much when he healed the sick
or made the blind to see, or the lame to walk, or the dead
to live. That didn't bother them too much.
In fact, when he fed the hungry, they were quite grateful. But
it was what he said that offended people. There was always a division
because of his doctrine. There was always a division because
of what he preached. His teachings about God and sin
and salvation were rejected and denied by all the religious leaders. When some of the people would
listen to what he was preaching, their religious leaders would
say, well, none of us believe on him. You haven't seen any
of the Pharisees believe on him, have you? You're not to listen
to him. He's never learned. He knows
nothing. He's cast out devils by the power of the devil. Finally,
even popular opinion turned against him, this man Jesus of Nazareth.
Finally, popular opinion turned against him, and the very people
who had cried, Hosanna, Hosanna, to the one who comes in the name
of the Lord, those same people on that Friday cried, Crucify
Him. Crucify Him. We will not have
this man to reign over us. And so they crucified Jesus of
Nazareth on a Roman cross. He died. And they buried Him
in a borrowed tomb. He never owned a piece of land.
He never owned a home. He never traveled over 90 miles
from the place where he was born. And they buried him in a borrowed
tomb. And the religious world, the religious leaders thought
that they were through with this man called Jesus of Nashville.
And I tell you, if he had been an ordinary man, they would have
been through with him because he'd be in the grave and his
bones would still be there. But he's no ordinary man. And
the Father raised him from the dead. And he appeared to his
disciples and to others, one time above five hundred brethren
at once. And God the Father exalted him
to his right hand and said unto him, You sit here till I make
your enemies your footstool. And Peter said on Pentecost,
This same Jesus whom you crucified, God hath made. Lord and Christ. Now, what do you think of Jesus
of Nazareth? Now, what do you really think?
Tell me. Tell me what you think. Who is He? Who is Jesus of Nazareth? Your own personal, individual
opinion. Who is He? Who is this man called
Jesus Christ? And what did He do? What did
He do? He was born and lived 33 and
a half or 34 years and died. What did he do? And let me ask
you this, why did he do what he did? Why? Do you know why? Why did God send his son into
the world? Why didn't he just appear on
the scene like Melchizedek? You know Melchizedek, the high
priest of the Most High God? Abraham was coming back from
the slaughter of the kings and Melchizedek met him, probably
on the road. The King of Salem, without beginning
of days or end of days, without heritage or parents, neither
having mother or father, a high priest of the Most High God,
King of Peace, and He gave to Abraham the bread and the wine.
Why didn't Jesus Christ, the Son of God, just come down here
and meet us on the road like Melchizedek of old, get it over
with and go back to glory? Why did He go through all of
this agony and suffering Huh? Thirty-three and a half, do you
know? Where is he now? Does he have any relationship
with us now? Are we dependent upon him in
any way now? Well, let me tell you from the
Scriptures what I believe about Jesus of Nazareth. Will you listen? I'm not a novice now. I've preached
for a little while, thirty-five years. Been pastor of the same
church about thirty-four years. But I want to tell you what I
believe about Jesus of Nazareth. First of all, I believe. Now
grab hold of your seat there. I believe that this man called
Jesus of Nazareth is very God of their God. I believe he's
God. Yes, he's a man. Every bit a
man. Bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh. But he's the God-man. If you
could say it in one word, you'd have it better. He's God. He never ceased to be God. He
knew men's thoughts. Every attribute of God is revealed
in the person of Jesus Christ. Omnipresence, omnipotent, omniscience,
all of the justice, righteousness, love, holiness, all of these
attributes are the attributes of Jesus Christ. And yet, he
was a man, limited to a place, born of a woman, subject to his
parents, able to feel cold and heat, thirst and hunger, tempted
in all points as we are, yet without sin, able to die, to
bleed and die, sweat and go through agony, man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief, but he's the God-man, God-man. Two natures in one. Every bit God, yet man. This
is what the Old Testament prophecies taught. Isaiah 7, 14 says, Behold,
the Lord himself will give you a sign. A virgin shall be with
child, and thou shalt call his name Immanuel, God with us. This child of the virgin, he's
God with us. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all things
were made by him, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us. And my friends, Jesus of Nazareth
is God Almighty. I didn't say he was an ambassador
from heaven or a messenger from God or a son of God. I'm saying
he's God. The Lord our God is one God,
yet three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. There are three
that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Spirit, and the Word. Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 says
unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and This child
which is born is a body that never walked on this earth before
Jesus of Nazareth had a body that was never seen on this earth
before in that body born of Mary But unto us a son is given not
born but given He already dwelt in heaven and he came down to
earth and inhabited the body he said, of which he said, a
body thou hast prepared me. Unto us a child is born, a son
is given, and his name, his name, the name of this child shall
be called Wonderful Counselor, Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. That's
what the Bible says. And the New Testament writers
said this, under the Son, the Father said, Thy throne, O God,
O God, is forever. Thomas, when Christ appeared
to him, fell on his face and said, My Lord and my God, my
God. When he was crucified, the centurion
stood back and said, Surely this man, was the Son of God. So I believe emphatically from
my heart that Jesus is God Almighty in human flesh. When He was here
on this earth, God walked among us. He said to the disciples,
He that has seen me has seen the Father. I and my Father are
one. The Scripture says He's the exact
image. He's the expressed image. of
the Father. No man knoweth the Father, but
the Son, he to whom the Son will reveal it. What else do you believe
about this man, Jesus Christ? Well, secondly, I believe he
is the Christ. Now, I wish somebody, I wish
people today knew something about Jesus of Nazareth other than
a way to curse. Christ Almighty, they say, or
Jesus Christ, or, you know, Do you know what the word Christ
is saying? C-H-R-I-S-T. He is Jesus of Nazareth. But
Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. You know, the woman at Samaria
said, is not this the Christ? When they went out to hear John
the Baptist, they asked him, are you the Christ? Our Lord
asked the Pharisees, what think ye of the Christ? They said,
well, the Christ will be the son of David. The Christ is an
office. Jesus is his name. Christ is
his office. You see, throughout the Old Testament,
from Adam to Malachi, there's the promise of promise, promise
after promise, prophecy after prophecy, of God's Messiah, of
God's Deliverer, of God's Redeemer, who would come to earth to redeem
a people. When God said to Adam, the seed
of woman will bruise the serpent's head. When he said to Abraham,
I'll raise up from you a seed, unto him shall the gathering
of the people be. He's called the son of David.
He said your throne will be forever. Your son will sit on your throne
forever. It's not Solomon. He said he'll
be a prophet like Moses and a priest like Melchizedek, but all of
that wrapped up in one word. The Christ. He's the Christ. You see, that's what they rejected.
That's what they denied. That's what these religious people
during our Lord's ministry rebelled against. He said he was the Christ.
He said he was the Christ. And Acts 10, 43 said to him,
give all the prophets witness. And this is what Peter's declaring
in our text when the Lord said, well, well, whom do you say that
I am? And Peter said, you're the Christ.
Peter was saying the whole Old Testament scriptures all 39 books
and hundreds of chapters and promises and prophecies and patterns
and pictures and types Were fulfilled in this one man standing in front
of him. You're the Christ You're the Messiah The Christ is not
more than one the Messiah. That's what that's what he's
saying You're the Christ the Son of God and our Lord said
this if you believe not that I am he That I am He, that I am the Christ.
You'll die in your sins. Brethren, that's where this whole
battle's fought. That's the battleground. Who
is Jesus Christ? If He's not who He said He is,
He's an imposter. Not only that, but a liar. Not
only that, but a vain man whose soul's in hell and body's in
the grave. And He said, I am the Christ. Because the woman at the well
says, when the Christ comes, he'll tell us all things. And
he looked at her and he said, I that speak to thee am he. I'm the Christ. I believe that
Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. Now, not only that, but I believe
that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the second Adam. You say,
where is he going now? What's he talking about? I wish
more folks had some understanding of the Bible. and less understanding
of tradition and custom and whoop-de-doo religion. I wish they had some
foundation in the Word. If you had some foundation in
the Word, you'd know what I mean when I say that Jesus Christ
of Nazareth is the second Adam. Listen to 1 Corinthians 15. The
first Adam, you know who that is, don't you? That's old Adam
that lived in the Garden of Eden. Adam, red earth, first man. Made of the soul. The first Adam
was made a living soul. The second, the last Adam, a
quickening spirit. The first Adam, this is all in
1 Corinthians 15, 45. The first Adam is of the earth. Earthy. God took him out of the
earth. The second Adam is the Lord from heaven. In Adam all
die. So in Christ, the second Adam,
shall we all be made alive. And my friends, clear and plainly,
this is teaching, federal headship and representation. And I know
a lot of preachers just get all uptight when you talk about federal
headship and representation, and a lot of Bible teachers and
a lot of people out yonder get upset, but I tell you this, It's
the Word of God. The whole fifth chapter of the
book of Romans teaches federal headship, representation. It
says, by one man sin entered this world, and death by sin,
so death passed upon all men, representation. As in Adam, all
die. By the offense of one, judgment
came upon all men, as in Adam, all die. By one man's transgression,
judgment and condemnation passed upon all men, By the disobedience
of one, we were all made sinners, representation, federal headship.
That's the first atom. By man came death. The first
atom is of the earth, earthy, and as we have borne the image
of the first atom, I'm thanking God it doesn't end there. There's
a second atom. There's a new race. There's a
new covenant. There's a new kingdom. And that's
the second Adam. He's the head of it. The first
Adam is the head, the beginning of the whole human race. We all
trace our roots back to our daddy Adam. Back to our father Adam. But thank God there's a new kingdom
and a new race by God's covenant of mercy in Christ Jesus. And
it says this, by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, even
so by the obedience of one Christ shall many be made righteous. It says here, by one man, by
one man's offense, judgment came upon all, so the free gift came
by one man. As in Adam we die, in Christ
we're made alive. You see, if we deny our fall
in Adam, we must reject our restoration in Christ. So I believe that
Jesus Christ is the second Adam. He's that glorious man from heaven. By man came death, by man came
the resurrection. By man came judgment, sin, and
condemnation, by a perfect man. And listen to 1 Timothy. There's
one God and one Mediator between God and men. It didn't say God
and man, it said God and men. And that is the man, Christ Jesus. Do you know there's a man in
heaven? The God-man that I've been talking about all along
is at the right hand of the Father, and he's our advocate, intercessor,
and Mediator. Now listen to me. What I believe
about Jesus Christ, I believe that He holds the eternal destiny
and the fate of all men in His own hands. That's what I believe. He's no weakling. Scripture says
in John chapter 3 verse 35, the Father loveth the Son and hath
given all things into His hands. John 17, 2, our Lord was praying. He said, Thou hast given me power
over all flesh, over all flesh, that I should give eternal life
to as many as Thou hast given me. He said to His disciples,
All authority in heaven and earth is given unto me. Go ye and preach
the gospel. John 5, 21, He said, The Son
quickeneth, maketh alive whom He will. No man knoweth the Father
but the Son. and he to whom the Son will reveal
him." My friend, the great question is not what will you do with
Jesus. There's not a thing you can do
with Jesus. The question is, what will Christ
do with me? Somehow we got this turned around.
I don't know who did it or when it happened, but somewhere it
got turned around down the line, yonder, because our Lord stood
before Pilate in what was perhaps his weakest moment, if you can
call God having a weak moment. But he was a man, his hands tied,
his back lacerated, headed for a cross. And Pilate asked him
a question, he didn't answer him. And Pilate said, answerest
thou not me? Don't you know I have the power
to crucify you or let you go? And our Lord did answer him then.
He said, you could have no power over me at all. except it were
given you from my Father." Now you think about that. I know
there's a lot of plea going around today. What will you do with
Jesus? Let me tell you something. When you were born into this
old wicked world, Christ was enthroned at the right hand of
God, exalted and given a name above every name. And that's
where He'll be when you're dead and in hell. You're not going
to do one thing with Jesus Christ. You're not going to add to His
glory. He's independent of his creatures.
We need him. He doesn't need us. He said,
I didn't come to be ministered unto. I came to minister and
to give my life a ransom for many. The fate of every human
being is in the hands of Christ to do with what he will. God
turned the world over to Christ. Now, that's true. And I tell
you, the effect that will have upon men of some wisdom and judgment,
they'll be like the thief on the cross. He looked over at
the Savior and he said, uh, this man's done nothing amiss. I'm
getting what I deserve. Lord, you're not going to stay
dead. You're coming into a kingdom. Would you remember me? He wasn't
debating about what he was going to do with Jesus. He wasn't debating
about whether he's going to let God into his heart or not, whether
he's going to let God's wonderful plan be worked out in his life.
That man's in trouble. He was dying and going to hell.
And he said, Lord, would you remember me? Lord, be merciful
to me, a sinner, the publican cried. My friends, I believe
that all honor, praise, and preeminence has been given to Jesus Christ.
Not to us, but to Him. The Scripture says that all men
should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that
honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father that sent Him.
Let all the angels of God worship Him. God hath highly exalted
him, and given him a name above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess
in heaven, earth, and hell, that he is Lord to the glory of God
the Father. He's the Lord, King of Kings. Not sweet little Jesus boy, or
some pitiful frustrated reformer. He's the Lord. Lord our righteousness,
the Lord our substitute, the Lord our mediator, the Lord our
King, the Lord our God. What I believe, I believe that
all Jew and Gentile, male and female, young or old, who will
hear his voice as Lord, will hear his voice as the voice of
authority, and the voice of lordship, and the voice of redemption,
and the voice of the Father, and the voice of glory, hear
his voice, his word of the gospel, and believe in their hearts that
he's the Christ, I believe they have eternal life. shall never
perish shall never come into condemnation because in Christ
they've already been judged and died and they're free from the
curse penalty and condemnation of the law He that heareth my
word and His is the word of power my friend not just plea power
He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me Hath everlasting
life and shall not come into condemnation, but it's passed
from death and to life There'll be a resurrection, my friend,
and they're going to hear His voice in the resurrection. There'll
be a judgment, they're going to hear His voice. There'll be
an eternity, and there they'll hear His voice. What think ye
of Christ? Whose Son is He?