JESUS IS_________ [PART 1]

John 1:1-3

When I think about who Jesus is, that hymn "Something About That Name" comes to mind! "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus... there's just something about that name!" See Jesus is ________!

• The Great One
• The Second Person of the Trinity
• The Messiah
• The Son of God
• The I’AM of all Creation
• The Great Teacher
• The Great Shepherd
• The very Word of God made flesh
• The First and the Last
• The Bread of Life
• The final amen
• The Great High Priest
• He is the image of the invisible God
• The Judge of the living and the dead
• The Name above all names
• The Alpha and Omega
• The Beginning and the End

      No one can compare to Him for He is infinitely worthy of all our praise and adoration.

We need stop and ask ourselves the hard questions! Was Jesus just a man like you and me? YES. 

HE HAD A HUMAN BIRTH! In Luke 1:35 “And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” HE HAD A HUMAN MIND! In Luke 2:52 “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” HE HAD HUMAN EMOTIONS! In John 12:27 "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.” BUT! Here is where I put “but” to the previous question! YES HE WAS A MAN LIKE YOU AND ME! BUT COMPLETELY SINLESS. In 2 Cor 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Sadly the world doesn't look at Jesus in this light! The Bible says they only saw him as a man, a miracle worker who met there need as John wrote in chapter 6 of his gospel. To this fallen world Jesus, is nothing more than a children’s tale to tell at bedtime…… like “Jack and the Beanstock.”

• Some would say “Jesus is no more than angel created by God.”
• Some would say “Jesus is a small puny deity created by God”
• Some would say “Jesus is folklore, made up tale to help the weak”
• Some would say “Jesus is a god like the rest of us”

Again, sadly these ideas are wrong and my heart breaks because of their blindness to the beauty and truth found in His name. He wasn’t some man who could build solid furniture and tables! He was much more than this. He is the second person of the Trinity…..fully God and fully man! He had all the same characteristics as the Father and the Holy Spirit inside the Godhead. Paul wrote about Jesus this way! Col 1:16-19 “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,”

This is what makes Jesus unique above or separate from His creation. He is the one who took part in creation. He is the One who life into existence. He is the One who is keeping your beating right now. Jesus was fully God and fully man who came to earth [which He created] on rescue mission to die for His sinful rebellious creation [You and me]

He came to save us from ourselves. We come to one of the most well written gospels about who Jesus was and is in my opinion “The Gospel of John” A letter written to display the glory of the Son in His humanity to tell the world that He is the God incarnate. What I love about John’s gospel is that he doesn’t waste time getting to who Jesus is. Not that the other gospel didn’t revere or display the glory of Christ…..the focus on John’s gospel is the man who Jesus was and is…….God incarnate deity.Throughout the next few weeks leading into the New Year…….We are going to see for ourselves the underlining theme that displays Jesus not only as a man but as the Son of God who is God in the flesh. One of the first precious truths about Jesus we see John write about……. is a key truth to understanding this gospel letter, and that is Jesus is…….

THE ETERNAL SON [V1-V3]

What does that mean?

• Before light, water, the moon, and stars were put into their rightful places……He was there.
• Before plant life, flowers and trees were put into their rightful place…..He was there.
• Before animals, insects, fish, and birds were put into their rightful place….He was there
• Before angels were created……He was there
• Before Adam breathed in his first breath …….He was there
• Before you were created……He was there

As Psalm 90:2 says “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” See He was much more than some man…….He was before all things! Remember what Jesus said to the Pharisee’s “before Abraham was, I AM” Which could possibly be translated “I will be what I will be” This is gives us clear indication that Godhead [Jesus the second Person of the trinity] is completely independent of His creation. Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology book defines it this way “God is independence is defined as follows: God does not need us or the rest of creation for anything, yet we and the rest of creation can glorify Him and bring Him joy. This attribute of God is sometimes called His self-existence or His aseity [from the Latin words “a se”, which means “from himself”]. Scripture is very clear in several places that God does not need any part of creation in order to exist or for any other reason. He is completely self-sufficient, and absolutely independent. For example.......

Acts 17:24-25 “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”

Job 41:11 God says “Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.”

Ps 50:10-12 “For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. "If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.”

This is what John’s opening statement is directing us too (v1-v3) The fact that Jesus was there when the earth was without “form and void”. [Gen 1:1-2]. Which means “not finished in its shape and as yet uninhabited by creatures” And what’s amazing God would decorate His creation in 6 days! That’s how amazing our God is……that’s how amazing Jesus is! He was in the beginning….He lived outside of time and has no beginning because He always existed. (v1) “was”  is an important word here! The “verb” highlights the eternal pre-existence of the Word [Jesus] Meaning it has no end or beginning because Jesus is God incarnate. So when Jesus came to this earth He never ceased to be God but took on a genuine human nature/body and voluntarily refrained from His independent exercise of the attributes of deity.That’s amazing! And as a reminder Paul penned these beautiful words……..Phil 2:6-11 “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

You might be asking yourself what does this have to do with me? How can I apply this passage to my life? By embracing the grace that was given by Jesus in His humiliation and exaltation. By understanding that an independent God who spoke all things into existence ….completely perfect and sovereign who needs nothing from us chooses to come to this earth and saves fallen undeserving sinners like you and me. That in eternity past Jesus would come and lay down His life for your sin, so that you could live with Him for all eternity. That in eternity past, Jesus would leave His glory, to give us a living hope through His death and resurrection. That in eternity past Jesus would reveal Himself to you for the simple reason He can! He’s God.

The gospel is much more than a man dying for our sin! And I'm not minimizing that major importance...... It’s about a God who is infinitely worthy and deserving of our praise even if He sends us to Hell….But the beauty is that He came to earth to save sinners which I am the chief of them all. He came in His humanity by lowering Himself to die for our sin. Why?  Because He can and He chose to! He is WORD and the WORD was with God and the WORD is God. The Self existent One who loved you despite your ugliness of sin and rebellion. Church family! Embrace this truth this morning and fall to your knees to the Eternal Son of God who is our Saviour. Jesus is the eternal Christ who came to save sinners.