Jesus (part 1)

Lesson 4
Jesus Christ
Introduction
Last week we looked at the first person of the Trinity, God the Father. Tonight we are going to look at the second person, God the Son. We are going to talk about Jesus.
We are going to do this in two ways: Who He is and What He did.

A. Who is Christ (person of Christ)
There are two terms that describe Jesus the person: He is a man and He is God.

1. Jesus was a man
The Scriptures reveal that Jesus "being made in human likeness, and being found is appearance as a man." Philippians 2: 7b-8a
But what sort of humanity was it? Was He actually human or just looked that way?

a. Humanity was real
First, the humanity was real. He expressed emotions, He had need for sleep, He ate, He cried, He laughed, He hurt (Although the Scriptures do not mention it, I am sure He even used the bathroom.)
John 15:11
Matthew 26: 37

"I once showed to a class several dozen art slides portraying Jesus in a variety of forms-African, Korean, Chinese-and then asked the class to describe what they thought Jesus looked like. Virtually everyone suggested he was tall (unlikely for a second-century Jew), most said handsome, and no one said overweight." (87)-Philip Yancey The Jesus I Never Knew

b. Jesus’ humanity was unique

1. Unique origin
His birth was different than ours. In Matthew and in Luke we read that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary.
William Hendricks better calls this the virginal conception because it was the conception and not the birth that was different. (Layman’s Library of Christian Doctrine: Who is Jesus Christ)

2. He was Sinless
A second way that His humanity was unique was that He is sinless. This means that unlike you and me He lived without sinning.
Hebrews 4: 15
His sinless is important in many ways, but the most important is that is only by being sinless that He was able to take on our sins.
2 Corinthians 5:21

2. Jesus is God
One of the struggles of the early church came from those who denied Jesus’ humanity. For them it was unthinkable, and impossible, for God to become human. So they argued that Jesus only looked like a human but really wasn’t one.
In our generation the opposite has become the argument. We can easily accept that a person named Jesus existed , but there is much debate over whether he is also God. The strongest argument coming from those whose who say Jesus never claimed the title. Nor did His followers see Him as God. Such an example is the DaVinci Code.
But in Scripture we find the opposite to be true.

a. Claims

1. Jesus
Jesus claimed to be in relationship with God: Luke 2: 49
He claimed to know God: John 8: 19
He claimed to have pre-existed John 8: 58
He allowed His followers to worship Him John 20: 26-28

2. Jesus’ followers
His followers believed Him to be God. John at the start of His gospel shares this. Paul testifies to this in a number of places two of them being: Colossians 1: 15 and I Timothy 3:16.

3. Jesus’ deeds
Another thing that testifies to Jesus divinity is the actions in His life. He demonstrated control over nature and the super natural. He healed diseases and sickness. He even showed control over death. The greatest testimony was His own resurrection.