ONLY JESUS Part Two
INTRO Christianity is all about Jesus. Acts 11:26 (NKJV) And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. Christian means “little Christ” or follower of Christ or of Christ. If we are followers of Christ, we should have the correct beliefs about Christ.
The third tenet of our statement of faith reads: We believe in the Deity of Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father to make intercession for us, and in His personal return in power and glory.
There are eight individual phrases here. Last week we looked at the first three. Today we will examine the rest.
4. We believe in His miracles.
Jesus declared that the miracles are enough to believe He is God!
John 14:11 (NKJV) Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
Miracles are God’s statement of approval.
Acts 2:22 (NKJV) Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know.
Chuck Swindoll makes the following observation:
Jesus Did What Only God Can Do
When people say they are God, we take them to a psychiatrist. They're delusional! Without proof of His deity, Jesus’ claim would be empty; worse yet, it would be lunacy. So to show the world who He was, He performed deeds that only God could do.
He raised people from the dead. (Mark 5:41; John 11:38-44)
He healed people. (Matthew 9:35; 11:4)
He performed miracles, such as calming the storm and feeding thousands of people. (Mark 4:35-41; 8:1-9)
He exorcised demons and defeated Satan. (Mark 1:27; Luke 4:1-13)
He accepted worship. (Matthew 14:33)
He gave authority to His disciples to do miracles. (Matthew 10:1)
Each healing, miracle, or exorcism that Jesus performed provided additional testimony that He was the long-expected Son of God, the Savior of the world. (Isaiah 35:5-6).
For many years there has been a concerted effort to bring all miracles in question. People recognize that if Jesus didn’t do miracles, He cannot be God. Not only that, He cannot do miracles in our lives. What hopelessness! We must believe that God is able to perform miracles for us today!
We will take the next two tenets together.
5. We believe in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood.
6. We believe in His bodily resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (NKJV) For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
According to Paul, this is the Gospel, the Good News that we proclaim. This is our only message!
1 Corinthians 15:1 (NKJV)
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand.
This is the gospel that was proclaimed throughout the Bible.
Isaiah 53:3-6 (NKJV) He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Notice that we believe in His bodily resurrection. He was not a ghost, a myth, a fabrication. He got up, folded His clothes, rolled the stone away, and walked out! He overcame death, hell, and the grave. If He can do that, He can handle anything that comes along in our life!
1 Corinthians 15:55-58 (NKJV) O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord
7. We believe in His ascension to the right hand of the Father to make intercession for us.
Acts 1:9 (NKJV) Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
Romans 8:34 (NKJV) Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
1 Timothy 2:5 (NKJV) For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
Hebrews 7:25 (NKJV) Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
8. We believe in His personal return in power and glory.
John 14:2-3 (NKJV) In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
Acts 1:11 (NKJV) Who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
What is our response to all this?
1 John 3:2-3 (NKJV) Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
MINISTRY TIME
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