Never forget who Jesus is

We must never forget who we believe in.

Jesus is the eternal Creator, who was in eternal fellowship with the heavenly Father before the beginning of the world.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. Jn 1:1–3 NIV

What Jesus was, he is also today, with boundless power and creative force.

“To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. Rev 2:8 NIV

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” Rev 1:8 NIV

He is the holy Son of God, without sin and without blemish.

and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Lk 3:22 NIV

Jesus heals all our diseases because he is full of mercy and love.

A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Mk 1:40–41 NIV

When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.

This was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.” Mt 8:16–17 NIV

Jesus is the good shepherd who cares for and protects us.

He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young. Is 40:11 NLT

Not only does he care for your life, he sacrificed his life to save your life.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Jn 10:11 NIV

The holy Son of God sacrificed his life to take the punishment for our sins.

For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Rom 5:10 NIV

Through his death, he took our sins upon himself and passed on his righteousness to us.

For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us! 2 Co 5:21 The Living Bible, Paraphrased

He gives eternal life to those who believe in him and trust him with all their heart.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.
Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Jn 11:25–26 CSB

Why did Jesus Die?

 Why did Jesus die 2000 years ago?
He did not have to die. Because he was God's eternal Son, he was immortal.

The first people were immortal before the Fall. God warned them not to eat the forbidden fruit. If they did, they would lose their immortality.

And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Gen 2:16–17 NIV

The first Adam was created without sin and was therefore immortal, but when he sinned he became corrupt and mortal. Since then we have all been born with a corrupt and mortal nature.

Jesus was born without our corrupt nature. Paul wrote that Jesus is the last Adam, the heavenly seed for a new humanity.

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 1 Cor 15:21–22 NIV

Jesus willingly gave up his physical immortality to suffer the punishment for my sin and yours.

His last word on the cross was the voluntary sacrifice of his earthly life.

Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last. Lk 23:46 NRSV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

Jesus and Other Religions

 God has given us the Bible. The Bible is God's map, a totally reliable revelation. In the Bible, we find everything we need to recognise God.

In the Bible, we read that God created everything.

In the Bible, we read that many people believe in a god or gods that are different from the God of the Bible, but they are false gods.

This idea is horrible and repulsive to post-modern tolerant people, but that is exactly what the Bible says.

Many religious people claim to believe in the Ten Commandments, but they don't understand what that really means. The first commandment excludes all the other world religions.

“You shall have no other gods before me. Ex 20:3 NIV

Buddhists do not believe in an almighty creator.
The Hindus believe in many gods.

“This is what the LORD says— Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Is 44:6 NIV

Muslims also believe in an almighty God who created everything, controls everything and is supposed to be the judge of all people.

But is the God of the Muslims the same God? Is the God of Mohamed the God of Israel? The muftis and imams would find this idea repulsive.

But Jesus identified himself with the God of Israel.

But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you,
‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” Mt 22:31–32 NIV

Many post-modern people speak of the Abrahamic religions. The father of the Arabs was Ishmael, not Isaac and Jacob.

In our time, countless Muslims are converting to Jesus, but in the Bible the King of Israel, one hundred per cent Jew and Son of God, is not an Islamic prophet.   

Jesus said to him: ‘I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

The Qur'an teaches that Jesus was a prophet of Allah, but not the son of God.

The God in the Qur'an is Creator and Judge, but there is no Father God in the Islamic scriptures.

In Islam, Allah is the ruler God and judge but not a father. He has no children. This is said to contradict his nature.

‘Believe in Allah and his Messenger (Muhammad), but say nothing of a trinity. There is only one God, far from him, that he has a son. Verily these are unbelievers who say: Allah is Christ, the son of Mary. Whoever joins someone to Allah, Allah excludes him from paradise, and his dwelling place will be hellfire’ (Suras 4, 172; 5, 73f.)

But the core of our Christian faith can be found in this wonderful statement by Jesus.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

Do you find this teaching too narrow-minded? But have you read the Bible yourself?

It is not wise to reject a book if you have not read it.

There are also people who think they believe in the Bible to some extent, but also in other religions to some extent.

But have you really read the Bible? I know Christians who were convinced Muslims until they read the Bible for themselves.

Who is Jesus?

 Jesus lived in Israel as the eternal Son of God.

As a child, he lived in an obscure village. He was not recognised as the almighty God and he did not reveal his identity.

Everyone knew that he was born shortly after his parents' wedding. He was therefore regarded as an illegitimate child. He had to win the respect of his neighbours with humility and patience.

At the age of thirty, he was baptised by his cousin. John the Baptist baptised him in the Jordan.
What did that mean?

People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.
Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the Jordan River. Mt 3:5–6 NIV

Baptism in the Jordan was a sign of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus had no sin, but he came as Saviour and Redeemer. He identified himself with us.

But then something dramatic happened.

As soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.

And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Mt 3:16–17 NIV

Jesus prepared himself for this by humbly living as a human being. In this he is our role model.

In doing so, he also exemplified God's heart and character. God is loving by nature and also humble.

Three years later, Jesus revealed another side of his nature.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jn 14:6 NIV

How can a man say that?
A man who dares to say such a thing must be crazy, or a deceiver who wants to found a sect to enslave his fellow human beings.

But Jesus is universally respected as a good man and a sincere teacher. If you take his story and his teachings in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John seriously, you can in no way dismiss him as a fraud. His character is obviously genuine.

A humble, kind and loving man who claims to be God can only be God.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jn 14:6 NIV

Jesus also said:

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Mt 11:28 NASB95

After his cruel execution on the cross, Jesus came back.

Jesus wants to give you a whole new life. He wants to give you an eternal and intimate fellowship with God.

This is hard to understand. That is normal. We are only human. Our human mind cannot comprehend this, but we can experience it with God's supernatural help.

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ Je 33:3 NIV

WHEN GOD SPEAKS TO YOU ...

Jesus was God when He walked on this earth as a man but He did not walk around as God in a human body. 

• He was God with a human soul in a human body. 

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 

• but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Philippians 2:5-7 (NIV) 

Jesus lived as a man who lived in an intimate personal friendship with His Heavenly Father. 

So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. 

• For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 

• For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. John 5:19-20 (ESV)

Jesus loved His disciples and taught them by His love and His example how to have a close personal relationship with God.

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; 

but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. John 15:15 (NKJV) 

The life that Jesus lived is our example, not just in humility, kindness and virtue but also in supernatural faith. 

• His disciples learned to live with the same kind of faith, hope and love. 

• Then they taught the early church to connect to God in the same personal way.

Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Peter 1:1 (NASB) 

Peter called himself a bond servant (or slave) of Jesus, but he was also a close personal friend of Jesus. 

• It is this combination of humble devotion and personal friendship which produced the supernatural transforming power of Peter's faith.

God is inviting you and me now, to come close to Him as friends, not as equals but not as religious servants either. Religion leads us into customs and traditions, into binding duties and predictable pious habits.

The Pentecostal movement began over a hundred years ago with a powerful experience of the Holy Spirit, who released believers into amazing liberty, love and power. 

• Yet now we see so many Pentecostal churches leading believers into traditions and predictable patterns of behaviour, man following man rather than each sheep hearing the shepherd's voice.

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me..." John 10:27 (NASB) 

When you hear the voice of God and He hears your voice, there is a personal connection that sets you free in the Spirit and releases the power and love of God on this earth.

When Jesus resisted the temptations of Satan in the wilderness, He quoted the Hebrew Scriptures.

But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'" Matthew 4:4 (NASB) 

Jesus loved the Scriptures and we must too. The Bible for Him was not just the Book of God, although it was and is THE BOOK OF GOD.

• Jesus was also listening to THE VOICE OF GOD... to every word proceeding out of the mouth of God.

• Jesus was the greatest of all Bible teachers but He did not only teach Bible truth. He spoke what He heard from Heaven.

Jesus is inviting us to enter into the same kind of personal connection to God, where each one of us HEARS what God is saying NOW.

• When you hear what God is saying to YOU and act on what He says to you, HIS power and love is released in your life and flows through your life to others. 

• When God speaks, don’t be afraid to do what He says.

• When God speaks and gives you a message to share, don’t be afraid to speak to others.

JESUS, MUSLIM PROPHET OR THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD?

God so loved the world...

Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 
This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. 
And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 1 John 5:5-6 (ESV)

When the beloved Apostle John wrote these words, there were false teachers who declared that The Son of God did not really die on the cross.

The “Christ Spirit” came on Jesus when He was baptised in water and the same “Christ Spirit” departed back to heaven before the man Jesus was crucified and poured out his blood. So these false teachers said and they deceived many.

About 500 years later an Arabian religious leader named Mohammed came and taught the Arabs also to honour Jesus (Isa in Arabic). But Mohammed’s Isa is not the Jesus of the Bible.

The Muslim Isa was the son of Mariam and he was a great prophet and miracle healer. But Isa in the Koran was a man and not God. He did not die on the cross. Another man took his place before the execution.

• In Islam, Jesus did not die for your sins. Allah has no son. 

• Allah did not sacrifice his son to pay the penalty for your sins. 

  • Muslims are taught they must try to be good obedient Muslims in the hope that their good deeds might outweigh their sins. If not, they will burn in hell. 

• This terrible uncertainty is a thousand times worse than the Roman Catholic fear of a time of temporary punishment in Purgatory. 

• In Islam there is only one way to sure you are going to Paradise. You must shed your own blood for Islam.

Mohammed taught a Muslim martyr can go directly to paradise by shedding his own blood in holy battle against the infidels. 

• In the Palestinian territories in the Holy Land, Palestinian televison shows sexy girls calling teenage boys to become suicide bombers or terrorists. The reward is the assurance of a very carnal salvation, the instant transportation to Paradise where they can immediately lose their virginity with sexy girls and continue in the same manner for ever and ever.

But the Bible tells us that salvation comes not by pouring out your own blood but by believing in the Holy Son of God who poured out His blood on the cross to pay the penalty of your sins.

• If you believe and trust in the Son of God,

• if you are willing to receive the grace of God to transform your character,

• if you are willing to receive the supernatural eternal life that God gives as a free gift, 

  • you can not only be saved but you can be sure you are saved.

Jesus was born by water and blood. 

• As a natural human baby, he left his mother’s body with the flowing of water (amniotic fluid) and blood. As a Jewish baby boy he shed his own blood when he was circumcised and he was of course washed with water.
• As a young man he was baptised in the River Jordan and the Spirit of God came upon Him to empower Him for His supernatural ministry.

• As He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, His sweat came as water and then blood. 

• When He was whipped by Roman soldiers, the blood poured from His back.

• When they pushed a crown of thorns onto His head, the blood flowed again.

• When He gave up His spirit on the cross and died, a Roman solder thrust a spear into His side and out of the wound flowed water and blood, a sign of extreme torture and trauma.

All this is recorded in the Holy Bible, which was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. 

Many Muslims have read the Bible and the Koran side by side and decided the Bible is not mistaken. 

They have been converted to Jesus Christ by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God who inspired the Jewish and Christian Scriptures but who did not inspire the Koran.