THE UNIQUE JESUS!!!
1. Suppose I had the only BANANA in the world. And it fell my lot to
describe this banana to you. How would I go about it? Probably, I
would begin by saying, "It's yellow." "What's yellow?" You have no
reference point. New knowledge must relate to old knowledge. Our
knowledge grows as we compare new knowledge to old knowledge.
2. It is hard, yet it is soft. It has an outside cover. "Like an
apple?" No, not exactly.
3. "What is its texture like?" "Hard to describe."
4. "What does it taste like?" "It is unique. I don't know how to
describe the taste. It is altogether different from anything else."
5. It is one of a kind. When comparing it to something else, there is
a complete inadequacy. Nothing like it.
6. Have you ever conceived of describing a banana to someone who has
never seen or tasted one??
BODY:
I. JESUS -- A UNIQUE PERSON!!
1. When it comes to understanding the Son of God; He who came to
this earth and took a human form; became flesh as Jesus did, you
have a uniqueness that is like no one else.
2. He had flesh--he became a man--and we can compare him to other
men, because we have a reference point. We have seen men and if
we would see Jesus we would see A MAN. John (1:14) said, "And
the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his
glory, glory as the only begotten from the Father), full of
grace and truth."
3. BUT, he was not just a man, not just flesh. We look at Him and
say He is flesh, that is all he is -- THAT'S WRONG.
4. John said that we behold "HIS GLORY." There is something that is
different. A man, YES, but more than just (or only) a man.
5. Mary was told: "And they shall call his name Immanuel, which is,
being interpreted, God with us" (Matt. 1:23). Thus, a man; but
also God. Jesus was God-man.
6. So now, we compare Him to God and we learn some more things.
But, what reference point do we use to compare Him to God???
There is only one being in all the world; only one that has ever
existed; only one of a kind---AND THAT IS JESUS!!!
II. WHAT IS GOD LIKE?
1. Has your child ever asked you, "Daddy, what is God like?" Now,
that's a tough question. To what do you compare God, to a child?
2. Child says, "We go to church and worship God. The Bible talks
about God. Now, tell me what God is like." With their limited
experience and knowledge, how do you explain God?
3. You might say, "In some ways Daddy is like God, yet very
limited. Daddy represents a kind of authority, a kind of rule.
He is going to provide for you, to care for you because he loves
you; he tells you what you are supposed to do and not to do."
4. To a child, there is the beginning of a degree of understanding.
5. HOW WOULD YOU EXPLAIN WHAT GOD IS LIKE?
(1) You might use such terms as ETERNAL. But, what do you know
of eternity? In your experience, do you know anything about
time that is not measured? Time that is unending?
(2) We seek to use illustrations to compare:
(a) Suppose an ant travelling around the middle of the earth
(25000 miles); wearing a path until the earth was cut in
half. Then, eternity would just be beginning.
(b) We just have nothing with which to compare eternity.
(3) God is all powerful, omnipotent, omnipresent; How can we
understand these attributes? God spoke, and this universe
came into existence. Explain that!!! NO, believe it.
(4) How do I understand God and His nature?
(5) How do I understand Jesus and His nature? What is a
reference point that I can look upon and say, "He is like
this." I confess to you, I CANNOT.
(6) The problem that we face in so many places today is that man
comes along and wants to explain Jesus. They say He was
altogether human. One man said, "Jesus was just a man." A
man like you and me, only a man. -- THAT'S FALSE, WRONG.
(7) Was He a man-- Yes, yes, the Bible makes that very clear as
we noted in John 1:14. In Heb. 10:5, "But a body didst thou
prepare for me..." But, was He only a man??? OH, NO!!!
(8) We need to be extremely careful in our attempts to explain
how God dwelt in the flesh. We get into an area that is
beyond our comprehension. We begin to speculate. And before
long we are affirming things contrary to what the scriptures
tell us about Jesus.
III. THE UNIQUENESS OF JESUS:
1. Let us go back to the first century. Many saw Jesus. They would
say, "Here is a man." He has a body just like you and me. I can
see Him, I can hear Him speak, He sounds like a man. He sleeps,
He eats, He becomes tired and weary,
2. We see Him crucified: He is in agony. He cringes as the stripes
are put on His back. Blood flows when the spear enters His side.
3. When He was raised from the grave, they looked and saw the print
of the nails, Thomas felt where the sword had entered. "My Lord
and my God."
4. Here was a man. BUT, THEY SAW SOMETHING ELSE ALSO. Never a man
spake like this man. Never a man did what this man did?
IV. THE IMPOTENT MAN. (Matt. 9:1-8)
1. "Thy sins are forgiven thee." Who can forgive sins. Only God.
2. That you may know that "the Son of man hath authority on earth
to forgive sins (then saith he to the sick of the palsy), Arise
and take up thy bed, and go into thy house..."
3. Did Jesus forgive this man of his sins?? Who would deny that?
And, if He did, do we not have God on earth, exhibiting the
characteristics and abilities of Deity?? Indeed, He was flesh;
but, He was also Deity. God in the flesh, with the power of
God-nature.
V. "I AM."
1. When Moses was sent to the Israelites, He asked, "What shall I
say to them. And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM; and he
said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath
sent me unto you" (Ex 3:14).
2. Jesus in his confrontation with the Jews in John 9, uses the
same terminology with reference to Himself. The Jews could not
accept this fact. They said, Thou art not yet fifty years old,
and hast thou seen Abraham? "Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was born, I am" (vs 58).
The Jews understood what He said. They took up stones therefore
to cast at him. They understood that He made himself God.
3. QUESTION: How can God lose God-nature? How can deity cease to be
deity? Was Christ deity on earth? Indeed, He was. And He showed
the characteristics of deity; by the things He did, and the
things He spoke. God-nature is unchangeable.
4. Whatever we may say or understand about Jesus; His uniqueness;
how God could dwell in the flesh, we will never accept a
position or a conclusion that says that when Jesus came in the
flesh, He became less God. You cannot change God-nature, because
an essential part of God-nature is His eternity. He WAS; He IS;
and He shall EVER BE.
VI. "ABOUT MY FATHER'S BUSINESS." (Luke 2:49.)
1. At the age of 12 years, you remember the incident that took
place when Jesus was left behind in Jerusalem. After three days
His parents came and found him in the temple. They had sought
Him sorrowing. Jesus response, "How is it that ye sought me?
knew ye not that I must be in my Father's house (K.J. 'about my
Father's business')." Which father did He speak of?
2. Those skilled in the Law were "amazed at his understanding and
his answers" (vs 47). Are these the words of an ordinary 12
year old boy? Jesus knew who He was. Mary, His mother, knew that
this son was more than just a man. (vs 51).
VII. THE WOMAN AT THE WELL. (John 4:25, 26).
1. Jesus meets the woman of Samaria, discusses the "living water,"
and her marital status. He then states that "God is spirit; and
they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth." The
woman then saith, "I know that Messiah cometh (he that is called
Christ); when he is come, he will declare unto us all things.
Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he."
2. Jesus identified Himself as the Messiah. Was He just an ordinary
carpenter from Nazareth, just a man. I THINK NOT!!!
VIII. PETER'S CONFESSION. (Matt. 16:14-20)
1. What do men think about me? There were different answers given
as to what men thought?
2. Who do YOU say that I am? "Thou art the Christ, the son of the
living God." YOU ARE SO RIGHT PETER. "Blessed art thou, Simon.."
You have spoken correctly. I AM THE CHRIST. Just a man, Oh, No!!
IX. TEMPTED IN ALL POINTS LIKE AS WE ARE. (Heb. 4:14).
1. The scriptures tell us that Jesus "was tempted in all points
like as we are, yet without sin."
2. Some have concluded: Since God cannot be tempted with evil (Jas
1:13), therefore, in order for Jesus to be tempted, he had to
dispose himself of being deity. If he were deity, then he had a
distinct advantage over us when he was tempted. And how could He
be "tempted in all points," and still be God.
3. Being tempted "in all points" cannot possibly mean he faced all
of the same situations in exactly the same manner as all others.
As an example, He was never tempted to lie to cover up a sin,
because he knew no sin. He was never tempted to beat or abuse
His wife, because he never had a wife. He never had to struggle
with alcohol or cocaine addiction, because he never was an
addict nor an alcoholic. Thus, in this sense, he was not tempted
in the same identical points as the wife-beater, addict, or
alcoholic are tempted.
4. In fact, all men's lives are different in the temptations which
we all face. We do not all have the same appetites for the same
temptations. What may entice one man may have no enticement to
another. Our lives are different, our temptations are different.
So, this cannot possibly be the idea of "tempted in all points."
5. The truth of the matter is: We are all human, and our lives, our
very nature, is tempted through "the lusts of the flesh, the
lust of the eye and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16). We all
have our own "Achilles heel," our own weaknesses, our own
temptations. Does that mean that some of are more human, or less
human than the other?? No, but we are all tempted in all points.
So was our Master.
6. Our commonality is not that we all have the same individual
desires, but that all of us are in a fleshly body, subject to
its limitations, fraught with it frailties, and we must all deal
with its appetites as we each face our own individual choices.
Jesus had all of that--He was human. He was tempted just like we
are tempted. In all points.
7. When the scriptures state that "the Word became flesh," it does
not say the he "ceased to be deity." He could and did receive
worship (Matt. 14:33). The fact that he received worship without
rebuking those who so acted states one of two things: (l) He was
God, or (2) he therein sinned by accepting worship. I have no
problem choosing between these two. He obviously thought the
divine characteristics that equated him with the Father still
remained even while he was in this fleshly body.
8. We individually overcome temptations. Some of us more than
others. I do not have to sin. It is by choice when I do. What I
do successfully SOME of the time, Jesus did ALL THE TIME. Satan
tried, Christ was tempted, but He was not enticed. He did not
sin. Though housed in the body of the flesh, fully human; yet
still deity.
(Much of last section taken from article by Jere E. Frost)
Conclusion:
1. To Him, before he came to earth -- to Him, while He was here on
earth -- to Him as He now reigns in heaven -- to Him who changes
not -- to Him, my Lord and my God, all praise and glory, both
now and forever.
2. I have often said, "You explain the virgin birth to me, and I
will explain how God dwelt in the flesh." There are some things
that I accept by faith. The scriptures teach that God became
flesh. I believe that. They also teach that He was tempted in
all points as we. I believe that. I may not comprehend or
understand, but I believe it.
3. This perfect man demands that I surrender my will to His will.
I must obey His every command. And until we do, we are yet in
our sins, and if we die in our sins, where He is we cannot go.
(Developed from a lesson by Jim Everett.)
Return to Index
Home