Who Is Jesus?

Introduction

When Ed was asking everybody to sing out, Sherry was saying, but I can’t. Her voice is shot. After this weekend, and your preacher is running on fumes. In fact, I was asked about the seeming brevity of my sermon this morning. I guess that means I’ve been getting long-winded of late. But I told several. I was at the end of my outline. I was done. And so I wrapped it up. But you’ll pay for that tonight. No, just kidding. Don’t mean to scare any visitors. We have some visitors with us, and we’re glad you’re here. If it were not for our visitors, this would be one of the most paltry crowds in Sunday night history, at least in the last several years, for the Decker Prairie Church.

A wide range of circumstances have occurred that have caused many of our group not to be present. Good thing Richard Mary Jane decided to come back after a long absence. And then the Berkner children have come home to see Charles off to Norway today. Charles was here, and they left before my sermon, and I thought, wow, I didn’t even get a chance to start. And they were leaving. But Charles was taking a flight to Norway, but it’s good to have the Berkner, the older Berkner. We still have one. The older Berkner children with us and the soon-to-be Berkner. It’s good to see all of you tonight.

And that person is Bill O’Reilly. And every one of you watches Fox News, right? But in recent days, he has become not only the king of cable TV news, he has become a publishing powerhouse on the subject of history. His first two books sold five million copies. Killing Lincoln and killing Kennedy. But his latest book will be the most popular and controversial of all. As it is entitled Killing Jesus. In this book, he does not call Jesus the Son of God or the Messiah because he says this is not a religious book. Some of his facts in this book even directly contradict the Bible, and we’ll be talking about that a little bit tonight. Though he got the idea for this book in the middle of the night.

And because he awoke in the middle of the night with this idea of continuing his theme, and yes, he uses the word killing simply as a sensational thing that gets people’s attention. And so he’s done it in his first three historical works about the deaths of great men. But he got this idea in the middle of the night for the third in his series of history books. And because he is a Catholic, he said that he must have been directed by the Holy Spirit to write this book. Interesting. And again, more thoughts on that. He says in an interview on 60 Minutes last Sunday night, you’ll remember I was here. So how did I watch that 60 Minutes episode? DVR, of course. I heard that Bill O’Reilly was going to be interviewed regarding this book, and so I was watching that this week.

And in this interview, he said of Jesus as he was looking from a merely historical perspective, he was a regular guy. Very afraid, scared to die, O’Reilly said. He got angry and a little violent. And he was absolutely livid when he overturned those money changers. Why was he executed? The question was asked. Not because he claimed to be God, says O’Reilly. Droves of people claim that, but because he interrupted the money flow. The book examines the final days and the final 36 hours of Jesus’ earthly life. And apparently in the book, which I have not read, apparently in the book, there is a gory and graphic depiction of the crucifixion. And he says it is important to understand the brutality of the day, especially directed toward an individual who did absolutely nothing to deserve it.

He includes in his book two quotes of Jesus from the cross. I have not yet identified which two of the seven that they are, that he believes are historical and real, but there is one that he definitely did not include, but the New Testament says he spoke upon the cross in Luke 23. Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Now he says Jesus may have said that, but he didn’t say that on the cross. And the reason why he didn’t say that on the cross is because the nature of crucifixion was that the one who was dying would be suffocating, failing to get breath, and it would not be physically possible for him to utter these words while he was dying.

That’s what he and his special researcher, who was also a part of the show, and they showed him and they communicated back and forth and did all the legwork together. He said, We didn’t think Jesus could say that as he died. Of course, he was there, right? But Jesus didn’t say, Father, forgive them, that they do not know what they are doing. And so then the interviewer, Aaron, says, Well, what people are going to say is that the Bible says, Father forgive, but Bill O’Reilly says that’s not true. So I should believe Bill. And Bill’s response was, if you want to take the Bible literally, it is your right to do that. And so by implication, Bill O’Reilly does not take the Bible literally. And so she asked, Is this the gospel according to Bill?

And he responded, We believe that the oral history of the Bible is largely accurate, but we are not taking it literally. At the end of the interview, when he asked what he learned in writing this book, O’Reilly responded, Jesus of Nazareth was the most famous human being who ever lived on the planet, and he had no infrastructure. And he goes, it’s never been done. He had no government, no PR guy, he had no money, no structure, nothing, but he became the most famous human being who ever lived. Well, as a result of that brief interview, which I’ve summarized for you, I came up with tonight’s title for the lesson Who is Jesus? Are we to believe Bill O’Reilly’s historical portrait of Jesus? Or should we trust the biblical portrait of Jesus?

1. The Bible Is the Holy Spirit's Message

And I want to make just a few observations about that interview and about this book and about thinking in regard to the Bible generally, and make a few important points to you tonight. Number one, when we discuss the question, who is Jesus, the first point that I want to make is that the Bible is the Holy Spirit’s message. And young people, I want that to be impressed and imprinted upon your mind. As we’ve been studying in our class this morning in our adult auditorium class about the influences of Satan, there were all there have been all of these sources of intellectual thought that have contributed to a lack of respect for the Bible’s message and an undermining of its effect in people’s lives. And the thing that we must always stand squarely on is that this book comes to us from God.

It is the Holy Spirit’s message to us. And I want to take you to 2 Peter chapter 1 and verses 16 and following. When one of the eyewitnesses to these events, one of the eyewitnesses to the historical person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Apostle Peter. Just as Jesus is a literal historical figure, at least O’Reilly’s book would suggest that is so. We’re talking about a very real person in history, just like Kennedy and just like Lincoln. But Peter also is a real historical person. And these books are written by real historical eyewitnesses. And he says, For we did not follow cleverly devised tales. When we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

We saw these things. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory.

And there were three people there, right? Three, the inner circle of the apostles, Peter, James, and John were there witnessing that occasion. And Peter wanted to build a tabernacle for each one for Moses and Elijah and Jesus, but that’s when the Father says from heaven, this is my beloved Son. Listen to him. Peter is saying, I was there. He is corroborating that gospel narrative event. And he’s saying, I heard that majestic voice from the majestic glory in heaven. That’s what I’m telling you, things that I saw with my eyes. And we ourselves heard this utterance when we were with him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word made more sure. And you might need to underscore that word in 2 Peter chapter 1.

Made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention. As to a lamp shining in a dark place. And certainly this message is a lamp shining in a dark place in our world until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation. Now he’s not saying there we don’t interpret the scriptures. The idea of interpreting the scripture has to do with analyzing what it’s saying, reading it, and understanding it. Everyone interprets the Bible. I know people don’t interpret it the same way, but that doesn’t mean that every interpretation is okay. And that’s not what Peter is saying in 2 Peter chapter 1. He’s saying that the message we delivered was not in any way concocted and manufactured by us.

It wasn’t my interpretive analysis that brought this message to you. It is not a private interpretation. You know, Paul didn’t say, well, this is the way I’m going to look at it, and this is the way I’m going to talk about it. Peter says, Well, this is the way I’m going to see it, and this is the way I’m going to talk about it. That’s what they’re saying. It wasn’t like that. And if you don’t understand verse 20, well, at least you should understand verse 21 when he says, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will. But men, moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. Interesting. Bill O’Reilly, who is claiming to be guided by the Holy Spirit in the writing of his book, and yet he calls into question the message which is absolutely written by the Holy Spirit.

According to an eyewitness, Peter. And according to other eyewitnesses, like John and Paul. Why accept only two statements of Jesus on the cross? Why accept any of them at all? If you’re going to throw out Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing. Why not just throw all of them out? Who gets to decide? Who gets to decide which statements of Jesus are legitimate and which ones are not? This becomes a very subjective endeavor. Where the whims of the one doing it gets to decide, well, that’s a legitimate statement, and that’s not a legitimate statement. And then if we’re going to throw away five of the things that Jesus said on the cross because he could not have physically done it, I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been crucified, and I haven’t seen anybody crucified, and so I don’t know what would be possible or not.

But I’m going to trust a reliable source, the Holy Spirit, who tells me that it was possible for Jesus to utter those seven statements on the cross and that he did so. And if I start throwing some of them out because I say it’s physically impossible, then why not throw them all out? You know they’re all sort of pithy and short. It’s not like they were paragraphs that Jesus spoke on the cross. But even if there was a paragraph recorded that he spoke, could I come along later? Oh, because of crucifixion, you couldn’t do it. This reminds me of an event that happened now, I can’t believe this. This shows how old I am, people. Over two decades ago, in the early 90s, there was a lot of hooplaw and media coverage of this event called the Jesus Seminar.

And I’ll tell you what these guys did. Theologians, mostly, I think, from the Western United States. Theologians that worked at universities, theologians, young people are people who teach about the Bible but often misuse the Bible, especially the ones that we call liberal theologians. There are some for conservative theologians, but the liberal theologians, and that’s where this group of 200 scholars came from, they came to vote on the legitimacy of the Bible, and particularly the words of Jesus in the New Testament as to whether or not he actually said those or not. And here’s how they determined it. They each had a ballot box and they dropped beads. And if a red or pink bead was dropped by the 200 scholars, then that was considered a more legitimate statement of Jesus.

But if they dropped a gray or black bead, then it was most likely not an accurate portrayal of real history, but the bias of the New Testament authors. And after six years, and this was in the papers, this received a lot of medium attention, they decided that Jesus actually said 17% of all the words attributed to him in the New Testament. That roughly 80% of what is recorded in the New Testament that Jesus spoke are not really accurate. It’s the result of bias of the New Testament authors, and they ruled out, and this becomes significant, they ruled out the almost the entire John account, including John 3 16. One of the most famous verses in the Bible. When Jesus said, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.

They ruled out almost the entire gospel of John. I find that interesting, and I want to come back to that in a second. This book, folks, and again, young people, let me underscore this again. This book comes to us from the Holy Spirit. Eyewitnesses who claimed inspiration, who performed miracles to demonstrate the validity of their message, and first century believers devoted to Jesus Christ believe these messages to be inspired of God. Paul said, the things I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. And so here’s what I want to affirm to you that no matter what liberal theology comes up with, or however many Bill O’Reilly’s that there are that question the biblical record, and they have an agenda for doing that. They have reasons driving them to this.

2. All Reported Events in the Bible Happened

I’m here to tell you that all reported events, and I should have underlined it. I made it all caps. I’m saying this very loudly. All reported events in the Bible happened.

How can we trust any of this document if we cannot trust it all?

If I can’t trust all of this, I’m walking out that door, and you’re going to have to get a new preacher. No cheering. Don’t wish that. Because the implications would be in regard to the Bible. I mean, I’m not going to preach this message. If some of it is not reliable, if some of it is not true, this document cannot be trusted at all. Because God paints Himself in this book. As a God of truth who cannot lie. It occurs to me in the preparation of this lesson as I was looking at all the passages at how much that’s emphasized in the Bible. Again, if you’re going to start picking and choosing what you want in this book and what you don’t, you’ve got to understand that the God who is painted in this book is painted as a God of truth.

That means what is true and reliable and right. He is a God of truth who cannot lie. And all of the claims and all of the promises are based upon that reliable fact. Titus chapter 1 and verse 2, when Paul begins his letter to Titus about the knowledge of the truth, which is in accordance to godliness, he says, in the hope of eternal life, which God who cannot lie, promised long ages ago. We have an anchor for the soul that is sure and steadfast, that lies within the veil, the Hebrew writer says, Because Jesus went in through the veil for us and brought us to access to God. And so we have an anchor for the soul that is sure and steadfast, and we may have strong encouragement.

Why? Because it is impossible for God to lie. Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 18. I want you to look in the Psalms with me at a couple of verses here, and I am just touching the proverbial hymn of the garment to all the verses we could look at. But these will be sufficient. Psalm 119 is one of my favorites. Psalm 119 and 16. And this is even before the entire word of God is written. This is just in relation to part of the Old Testament. But this is what is written about the Word of God, about the scripture. As Paul called it. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. In 2 Timothy chapter 3. But as that scripture was being unfolded and written, here is this praise of God’s work in Psalm 119 and 16.

You only thought you were done with school, young people. Here’s some math. You ready for some math? Well, if you’re not ready, listen anyway.

And every one of thy righteous ordinances is everlasting. I like that word sum, a term in regard to addition. And when you add it all up, the total of it, the total of it is God’s truth. The total of God’s word. Every one of his righteous ordinances is everlasting. And so when we come to the New Testament, we can’t just say, well, I think that’s authentic. I’ll take that one. Well, I don’t like that one. And so I’m going to reject it. And that’s really how subjective it becomes. One more passage, Psalm 31. And I actually just found this afternoon. But I had to include it. And I’ll tell you why. Psalm 31 and verse 5. Where it says, Thou hast ransomed me, O Lord God of truth.

Does anybody know why I chose Psalm 31 5?

You’re getting tired. I know. It’s been a long day. Because this is a statement Jesus quoted on the cross. The first part of that verse says, Into thy hand I commit my spirit. Jesus’ final statement. Or one of his final two statements from the cross. Into thy hand I commit my spirit. Thou hast ransomed me, O Lord, God of truth. And what does Jesus call himself in the John narrative? What about all those I am statements? I think that’s one of the reasons, by the way, that John got X in the Jesus seminar. It’s because that’s where we have all of those statements that an average regular guy couldn’t say. Now I’m looking at the context of what Bill O’Reilly said there. He was a regular guy.

And I don’t think he meant that to be demeaning necessarily. I think what he meant that was that he was flesh and blood and had feelings just like we do. And the Hebrew writer talks about that. He was made like his brethren in all things. And maybe that’s what he meant by a regular guy. But there are things that Jesus said that made him anything but regular. When he said, I am the light of the world. I’ve said this before. If I came along and I said and I started preaching, and I somehow got this on television, Tony Mock, I am the light of the world, I would be considered, and rightfully so a fanatic in a nutcase and should probably be institutionalized. Or to say, I am the door.

It’s all about me, people. Go through me. I am the door. I am the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. And all of those I am, I am the bread of life. But then he says in John 14 and verse 6, in that famous revelation of himself to his disciples, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. If only certain statements and a portion of the history recorded actually happened, which statements regarding conduct should be heeded. Which ones are authentic and which ones should be rejected? And let me tell you what the answer to that question is. The ones I want. The ones I approve of, the ones that I like, the ones that work for me, those are the ones that are going to be considered authentic.

But the things that are high and challenging and distasteful and that we don’t like, those things are going to be rejected. It all becomes very subjective just the way people like it. I get to be the boss and determine what I want to believe and do. And that’s why we have people coming along today as they’ve done in recent generations and said, well, you know, not quite as bad, perhaps, as the Jesus seminar, but at the end result, just as bad. Well, I believe in everything Jesus said, all the red letters, but I want to tell you something about those epistles. That’s Pauline. Whenever you hear somebody say, that’s Pauline, that’s usually the first stepping stone to we really don’t have to regard that very highly because it’s not from Jesus.

I’m not saying it’s wrong to say they’re Pauline, but I’m saying that’s generally what has followed a statement like that. It’s like some artificial distinction that some attempted to make several years ago between the words gospel and doctrine. And dealing with the difficult problems of fellowship. Some came up with this novel and great idea that there’s a difference between gospel and doctrine. And that all we had to agree upon to be in fellowship was gospel, basically, the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. And everything that was doctrine, well, we could differ about that. We didn’t have to agree on all of that. And there are some things that we are not necessarily going to agree on everything. And I think 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 10 is misused in that regard.

But I’ll tell you, we’re absolutely going to have to believe the same things when it comes to entrance requirements into the kingdom, what makes one a Christian and how one approaches God in worship. We’ve got to come to some agreement about what is truth in regard to that and how we’re going to operate as a local church within the parameters of God’s authority. And what is holiness, you know, those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. I can’t come along with that and say, well, you have an idea about that, and I have an idea about that, and homosexuality is okay. No, it says clearly that those who do that shall not inherit the kingdom of God. That can’t be a matter of a difference that we accept or tolerate.

And so then this whole discussion revolved around, well, what exactly is gospel and what exactly is doctrine? Those are two words that you can’t pull apart. Teaching, doctrine, and gospel are intertwined concepts. So upon what basis? Do you embrace the red letters of Jesus and reject the words of his apostle? Paul.

3. Jesus Is All That He Said He Was

And Jesus is all that he said he was.

One of my favorite miracles in the Old Testament is 2 Kings chapter 6 when Elisha makes that axe head float. You ever seen an axe head float? Have you ever seen an anchor float? Have you ever seen an anvil float? If God could make an axe head float, could he make those other things float? He absolutely could. I believe that happened. And oh, there’s a lot of people. There’s no way a man could survive three days and three nights in the belly of a fish. Really?

Really? And if you reject that, and I preached this here before, if you reject that, you have to reject Jesus because, and I’m pretty sure the Jesus seminar people X that one. Because Jesus validated that story just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man shall be in the earth. You’re gonna have to get rid of that too. How many times have you pictured in your mind as I have when we’ve read the biblical accounts of like Jesus feeding the 5,000? It’s like it’s like I’m standing there with the apostles. What are we going to do with the fact that we don’t have any bread? And I see them all sitting down in companies, and then I see, I see them go collect the fragments because Jesus wants to show a miracle that was done.

And the 12 baskets full of fragments. We started with just a few loaves and a couple fish. And 12 baskets of fragment. I’m standing there watching that in my mind’s eye. I’m watching Jesus walking on the water. I’m watching Peter sink. And when I teach those stories, folks, and when I teach those stories, young people, I believe they happened. All of them.

And if I didn’t believe that again, I need to just bolt out of this door and go watch the cowboys lose. Jesus is the King of kings. He’s the Son of God. It is not a noble sentiment to laud him as a great man and the most influential human being that ever lived and a prophet.

It is not a noble sentiment to label him that and to detract from all that he claims that he was. In fact, that dishonors him.

4. The Promised End of History Is Reliable

He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, or he is none of it. And should be rejected. But we know. But we know that’s not true. And that he is true. And I’ll tell you where all of that leads in the final point tonight. And that is that the promised end of history is reliable. Because all of the other things are true. Where all of this is going is true. Mockers and scoffers notwithstanding. And all of it is based on the fact that there was a time when God judged the world with a flood. And there is evidence geologically for that. There are people who acknowledge a geological global flood. Of course, there are some who deny it. But there are others who see evidence of that.

But even if there aren’t, I believe it happened because this book says it happened. And that judgment is a foretaste of a final judgment when he will destroy the world with fire, according to 2 Peter chapter 3. And the only reason why it hasn’t happened is that God is waiting for sinners to repent. And we as the believers of God are looking to and hasten. The coming of the day of God, 2 Peter chapter 3. And what this says is the promised end of history is reliable, that the judgment before the throne of Christ is unavoidable. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, I wish I had time tonight to go through all the passages that speak of the wrath of God. The very real wrath of God towards sin, the judgment that he’s going to bring upon disobedient people, upon sinners.

But that is not what he intends for us. But since we are of the day, 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 8, let us be sober. And maybe this lesson will sober us, having put on the breastplate of faith and love. And as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. A day of wrath that is promised in Colossians chapter 3 and verse 6, as a result of impurity and passion and evil desire and greed, which amounts to idolatry on account of these things, the wrath of God is going to come. In Romans chapter 2 and verse 5, as he speaks of the destructive and imprisoning nature of sin. He says, Because of your stubbornness, Romans 2 and verse 5, an unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds.

To those who by perseverance in doing good, and that’s where you and I come in. To those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, their end result, he says, is eternal life. But to those who are selfishly ambitious and who do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath, and indignation. I want to tell you, those are passages that people want to reject and say are not true. But again, if we’re going to reject those, we’re going to have to reject them all. And one final verse in 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 10. Actually, I’m changing my mind. That’s the final verse. 2 Thessalonians 1 and verse 10. That he comes, Jesus comes, to be glorified in his saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, for our testimony to you was believed.

Conclusion

Others will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the glory of the Lord and his power. And are you ready for that very real day that is coming? If you need to respond to his invitation to be saved and learn of him, do so now as we stand and say.