Who Is Jesus?
Good morning. Good to have You here. December 22 I mean, it's Christmas Eve. It's just two days away. Love for you to be with us our Christmas Eve service Tuesday night. Well, there's a church that was putting on a children's Christmas play, which included the story of Mary and Joseph coming to the end. And you might know the story. They get to the end, and there's no room for the myth at the end, the end, so then they have to go into the manger. But one boy really wanted to make the part of Joseph, but when the parts were handed out, he didn't like the part he was given because he was assigned to be the innkeeper. And I can relate, because in my kindergarten play, I was the innkeeper, and they just told me to look mean, and so I did. Didn't have any speaking lines. He was upset about this, but he didn't say anything to the director, and during all the rehearsals, he thought about what he might do the night of the performance to get even with a little boy he didn't like, who got to be Joseph? So the night of the performance, Mary and Joseph, they came walking across the stage. They knocked on the door of the inn. The innkeeper opened the door roughly and said, What do you want? And Joseph said, we like to have a room for the night. And suddenly, the innkeeper threw the door open wide and said, Great, come on in. I'll give you the best room in the house. So the little Joseph actor wasn't sure what to do, so he thought for a few seconds, and he looked inside the door, passed the innkeeper and looked around and said, No, wife of mine is going to stay in a dump like this. Come on, Mary, let's go to the barn. Just like that, the play was back on track, just like that mad little boy hijacked the Christmas play, and the other the other child had to get it back on track, the truth of who Jesus is, the truth of what Christmas is about is often hijacked by our culture, by our society. We don't get to change the truth of who Jesus is, because we might not like it. We don't get to change the story. We don't get to ad lib the lines if we don't agree with it. We are called to receive the story, to read the story, believe the story, and then to tell the Christmas story. And today we are looking at Luke chapter 24 which is not a Christmas passage, per se, because we're finishing going through the entire year of 2024 looking at the life of Jesus and the day we look at his ascension into heaven. But it does have something to do with Christmas, as we will see. So we're in Luke 24 starting at verse 36 as they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, Peace to you. But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit, and he said to them, Why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet that it is I myself, touch me and see for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet, and while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling. He said to them, have you anything here to eat? And they gave him a piece of boiled fish, and he took it and ate before him. Then he said to them, there, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, And He said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance. And forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem, You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the Promise of My Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, blessing God, Heavenly Father, we we thank you for bringing us here today, these few days before Christmas, we're able to come in here and worship you in spirit and in truth as we think about the days ahead. Lord, I pray as we look at this pastors today, we would better fully understand just who Jesus is, that you would fill me with your Spirit today and preaching, that your words would be, that my words would be your words that are that the people in here today, that we would all receive your word, and that you would fill us today with understanding and approval of what you've told us, Lord, we love you. We ask these things in Jesus name Amen. Wanna give you three things we see, three truths about who Jesus is that we see in this passage of Scripture, three truths that about who Jesus is that we see in this passage of Scripture, first, Jesus is not a spirit but fully human. Jesus is not a spirit but fully human. Verse 36 says, as they were talking about these things, well, what things were they talking about? These disciples were discussing how they had just encountered Jesus on the road, and as these two disciples came across Jesus and spoke to Jesus, they didn't know who he was at first, but then they realized who he was. And it says that he explained to them, throughout the entire Old Testament, in the scriptures, how he was the Messiah, and explained to them the gospel. And it says that when this happened, their heart burned within themselves. They believed they were convicted of their sin, and they believed in who he was, and they were excitedly telling the other disciples this, and as they're telling them this, there's Jesus again appearing. He says Peace to you. Verse 37 says, but they were startled and frightened and thought that they saw a spirit. They assumed Jesus, because he had died and has now been resurrected, was some type of disembodied spirit, perhaps an angel, perhaps a ghost, as we would call it, of some sort. But His resurrected body, His form, was very real and very human. Look at verse 38 and he said to them, Why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts, see my hands and my feet that it is I myself, touch me and see for his spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet, and while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling. He said to them, have you anything here to eat? And they gave him a piece of boiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. Now it seems like, if you read this, he's he's letting them look at his hands and his feet, and while they're looking, it seems like he says something like, Hey, by the way, I'm hungry. Can you feed me? That's really not what he says? He never says he was hungry. He says, Do you have anything to eat? He might have been but he says, Do you have anything to eat? And what he's doing is he's proving to them that he, too can eat food. A spirit doesn't eat food, but a fully human body can. And so he says, Do you have some food? I'll prove it to you. And they gave it to him, and he eats it. Yes, he had died, yes, he had been resurrected. But he goes to great lengths to show them, even eating fish that might not even taste it good. We don't know what it tasted like, but it's broiled and he ate it to show them who he was. And in eating, he shows the disciples, through his scars and through his eating, that he was just like them. He was not just a spirit. This teaching is on the you can call the doctrine of the humanity of Christ, that He had human characteristics, that he was fully God, but fully man. And so how did Jesus display the. Human characteristics. Well, several ways. First, we see that he was born, which, of course, is what we celebrate every Christmas the truth. This truth tells us that salvation through Jesus, ultimately, must come from the Lord. Salvation can never come through our own human efforts, but must be through the work of God Himself. Our salvation only comes through this supernatural work of when God sent His Son to the earth in the form of a baby. Look at Galatians four. But when the fullness of time had come, that means, in God's timing, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law. That's us, so that we might receive adoption into his family as sons. So we see that this was his plan to to be born a woman. But furthermore, he wasn't just born of a woman, he was born from a virgin. Now many have tried to explain this away and eliminate this truth, but it is indispensable from our faith. The Virgin Birth made possible the uniting of the full divinity of God and the full humanity in one person. This is how God chose to send his Son into the world as a man. Think of other ways that God could have sent his son, no other ways could have done so in such a way to unite God with man. If God had just sent Jesus from heaven, if he had just come down from heaven, or just appeared from heaven with no birth, it would be hard for us to see how he was fully man. If Jesus had two birth parents, it would have been hard for us to see how he was fully God. But having a human mother who carried him to term and delivered him, and a father known as the Holy Spirit allows this possibility, fully man, fully God, and the virgin birth also makes possible Christ's true humanity without inheriting the curse of sin, we're all sinners by nature, by by choice. We're predisposed to it, and we choose to do it through Adam. The Bible says we've inherited a type of illegal guilt and a corrupt nature. But Jesus did not have a human father. He is not a son of Adam like we all are. So he didn't have this type of nature. Look at Luke one. Luke, one tells us this. 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 caught holy no human Father, Holy Spirit is the Father, the Son of God. Some have said that. Well, for this to be the case, then Mary too must have been also sinless. But at least ask us, Well, well, what about her mother, and it never really ends that way. Just keeps going back and back. The only way to answer this question is that somehow the work of the Holy Spirit prevented this transmission of sin from Mary to Jesus, unless that's asked the question, is anything impossible for God? No. Secondly, he had a human body. He had a human body. John four six says he became tired. John 19 said he became thirsty. Matthew four said he was hungry. Matthew four also said he was physically weak. Luke 23 said that he died a physical death. Luke 24 said when he rose, he had scars we just saw where it said he ate fish. He had a human body, and he will exist in this human body now forever he is in that human body now he will always have the nail pierced hands to remind us for eternity of our salvation, he became incarnate in flesh 2000 years ago, and he will remain in flesh forever, fully man, yet fully God. Third, he also had a human mind, and has a human mind. Luke two said that he increased in wisdom as he grew up. As we all should think about this, Jesus had to learn how to eat. He had to learn how to talk. He didn't come out the womb talking like my son did. I'm joking, because he never quits talking, not because he's Jesus, certainly not Jesus. He He had to learn how to talk, he had to learn how to read, had to learn how to write, he had to learn how to he had to learn how to obey his parents, and he himself is even limited in knowing the day of his coming back, he says, Only the Father knows, I myself do not know. So even though he's God, he still has a human mind. Even though he knows all, he doesn't know everything, which is another unfathomable thing to think about. He had a human mind. And for he had human emotions. John 12 says that his soul was troubled. 13 says his spirit was troubled. Matthew 26 says his soul was sorrowful. He understands what it is to be troubled like we are. He understands sorrow and grief. His sorrow was so strong at times he thought it was going to kill him. He marveled at the faith of the Centurion. He could marvel at things. He wept over the death of Lazarus. His heart was full of emotion, with loud cries and tears. Hebrews tells us. It also tells us He learned obedience. How do you learn obedience without sinning or being corrected? I don't know, but Jesus did, and he took on more and more responsibility in his life as he aged and Hebrews four also tells us that he was tempted in every way that we are, every way to being tempted to sin. He was it's not a sin to be tempted. It's a sin to act on it, Jesus was tempted yet never sinned. So whatever struggle or temptation we have, Jesus has been there. He's been tempted yet He never sinned. So he's he is not a spirit. He is fully human. Secondly, the other side of the coin that he's not just a teacher, but he is fully divine. Not just a teacher, but fully God. Many people like to say that Jesus was just a good man. He was just a good teacher, a good person to follow, but that's not the way the Bible presents him. That's not the way he presents himself. Verse 44 says that he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and in the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. So he reminds his disciples, what he had told them, but before what he said were just words to them. We know this because they didn't. They were constantly missing what was going on. They they never really sunk in. It's kind of like when you're parenting, you tell your children things and doesn't really sink in. And finally, it kind of clicks. I remember my own self. I remember I grew up in the church. I grew up sleeping in the balcony during the sermons as a kid, and at some point, at some point, my brain started listening, and at some point I started understanding the words that was being preached. At some point, I was convicted of my sin and and and turn and place my faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. But for many years I was there were just words to me, because look at verse 45 then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. God has to open a person's mind to understand His Word. If you read the Bible, it's just an academic exercise. It's not going to be much benefit. You can just read these words and put the words together. It might help you organize your life. It might help you be a moral person. It'll make you a great Pharisee, a great legalist. But unless we read the Bible with our ears. Open ears to hear, as Jesus says in hearts, to understand we truly won't understand. See, a teacher can teach you many things, but only God can open your mind to understand what he's truly saying in the scriptures, look at Hebrews four. The Word of God is living and active. It's sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. God's word is active, which is why many people do this with God's word. They close it because they know it is. They start reading it. Their mind gets open. They thought that's too much. I don't know if I want this, because we know. Up God's word, and it's living, and it's active, and it's going to pierce our soul. It discerns our thoughts, it knows our intentions, and it lays us bare and we seem exposed, and we know what we do wrong, and we know when we failed, and we know who we need in Jesus Christ, that's the word of God. It shows us that we are deficient, morally speaking, in God's universe, it cuts us open and we become aware of our failings, and it shows us that we must run to Christ for salvation. And the disciples were starting to experience this transformation in their mind upon the resurrection of Jesus, they were finally starting to get it. Yes, they followed around with them for three years. Yes, they had fierce loyalty to them, but they all abandoned him on the day of his death. And then he comes back resurrected, and shows them and teaches them more. And now it starts to sink in what he says in verse 46 thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day he rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name of All nations. Beginning from Jerusalem, You are witnesses of these things. So he says, Here now is what you're going to do. You must repent and place your faith in me. Repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin. Our culture likes to love teach about, well, just have a faith and believe in whatever you believe in, and you'll be okay. But that's not what the Bible teaches. It says you must you must repent. You must turn around the direction you're going. You must turn to Jesus, and in that, in that act is faith. That is what you are to preach, and you're going to proclaim this to all people, and that is what we are to preach as Christians, repentance of sins and faith in Jesus Christ. But we don't have to do it ourselves. Look at verse 49 and behold he says, I am sending the Promise of My Father upon you. Stay in the city until you're clothed with power from on high. We are witnesses. We have the power to say these things. People get nervous and they get, they get befuddled and they get, they get thick tongue. They don't know what to say, because they're doing it in their own power. And Jesus says, when you have the opportunity to witness, I will give you that power. I'm not sending you out there without a net, without a helper, I'm with you, so stay and wait until Acts chapter two. He says, wait until the day of Pentecost, and I will clothe you with that power the Spirit gives us the power they need to proclaim. We need to proclaim the message. Just a teacher can't make these promises, just a teacher can't give this type of enlightenment. Just a teacher doesn't have this type of authority. But he was a teacher who was fully God. So quickly, here are a few ways He was divine. First, he was all powerful. He was all powerful. Matthew eight, he said to them, Why are you afraid? Oh, you little faith that he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there's a great calm. The men marveled, saying, what sort of man is this that even wins and waves, wins and see obey Him? Many of us, maybe have heard this story many times, and I think we forget the Marvel it would have been to see a man just waking up. When I wake up from a nap. I'm not in a good mood, waking up from a nap, coming out and saying, What's the problem here? Peace be still, doesn't sin, and the sea and waves obey him, and they're Marvel than they should be. Who has that type of power? Who has that type of power to be woken up from a nap and not sin, first of all, but then to come out and then to rebuke the wind and the sea. Secondly, he was all knowing. Mark Two says this immediately, Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they just questioned with themselves. Said to them, Why do you question these things in your hearts? Can you imagine speaking of Jesus looking at him face to face, eye to eye, and him knowing everything you're thinking. He knew what Judas was going to do. He knew how Peter would fail and then be. Restored. He knew it all when he spoke to them, to me, that makes it even more amazing how he could forgive people, knowing what their motivations were, knowing who they were, knowing your intentions, he was all knowing third he was authoritative. When Jesus taught, he did not say like the other prophets, Thus saith the Lord. He would say, I say, if I got up here and started saying I say, and not the Bible says it would be a problem. He would say, Well, Pastor Charlie, well, why is he talking like that? I say you should do this. You'd be like, I say, No. God says, Jesus didn't speak that way. He didn't say. God says, he says, Here's what I say, go do it. Only a blasphemer or God Himself would speak that way, which is why he was arrested for blasphemy, but he was God, and he was authoritative. And every time he spoke and said, Truly, truly, I say to you, do this, he's saying he's God. Many people like to say he never claimed to be God. He claimed to be God all throughout the New Testament, in multiple in many ways, he was authoritative. He was fully man, yet he was fully God. He was not just a teacher. He was God in the flesh. And finally, number three, Jesus is not a mortal, but fully eternal. I try to find another word all week, other than mortal. It's something I think with maybe tell me one better. He wasn't. He's immortal. I mean, that's what he is. He's He's eternal. He's not immortal. He's not temporal. Look at verse 50. And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. And while he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple, blessing God, which is what we're doing today, in the temple, in the church, blessing God. Now when Jesus was carried into heaven, and it's fascinating to me that his ascension gets these three verses. I mean, here he is, and then he leaves. And they just describe it like it was no big deal. But when he was carried into heaven, he demonstrated these attributes. He demonstrated his humanity, how he demonstrated his humanity because he was carried away physically. He did just disappear. He didn't just beam up somewhere or teleport. He was a physical person who had to physically be raised to heaven, carried away, and he did. And secondly, in so doing, he also demonstrates his divinity, and that he physically was carried away. Me and you can't be carried away. He physically left the earth. Now this word carried up. I did a Greek study on this. You know what it means. It means carried up. It means lifted up to a higher place. And this wasn't some metaphorical description, it actually means physically carried into an area above the stars. Now, where is this heaven? As you as science gets better and better learning the scope and size of our universe. It's just can't even fathom the size of it, the scope of it, millions of stars and things like this. You hear them talk about but see, God transcends even the size of the universe. Since he created it, he created all there is. He created everything that exists. And there's some place above the stars that is heaven, where God resides, where Jesus is right now at the right hand of the Father and reigning. And that's where he is. And it shows His eternality. Now he won't be there forever. The Bible says that there'll come a day when he comes back his second coming, and until then, he's preparing a place for us to live in what's going to be called the new heavens and the new earth, which I believe will look very similar to our current Earth, but better and sinless and wonderful and Even magical to us, and he's preparing a place for us right now. Now, some translations say he's preparing a room. Others say mansions, and I'm going with mansions, and we each get our own mansion. My wife doesn't like that, because she thinks we should share, but I told her, you can come over anytime, right? You're welcome just, just come over anytime. Am to my mansion, and I'll visit you. You visit me, but we each get our own because we're saved individually. We're saved by our own faith, and we each get our own mansion, and he's preparing that place for us. Today, we will see him as the disciples saw him nail pierced hands, scars in his feet, scars in his sides, because He is eternal, and we will reign with Him eternally because of who he is. Now, Tuesday night is Christmas Eve. Many churches have Christmas Eve services. Ours is one where we actually celebrate Jesus. No, I've done all kind of Christmas activities this week, seen the lights. I've been all through all these little playground things or, you know, Park things and stuff. Sometimes you change the name to holiday things like that. It's Christmas. There's many people who can go to these events, and they get lost into the whole Christmas aspect of it. Those are talking about Jesus. I mean, I took my my son yesterday to see the Grinch, who even is the Grinch. It's just a little fun thing that's got nothing to do with Jesus. Christmas is about Jesus. And there are many people, if you ask them about what Christmas is about, they'll say family, they'll say gift giving. They'll say something about maybe the guy, a guy named Jesus, who might have lived. We don't know, but many people, even if they're not sure who Jesus is, if you say, hey, my church has a Christmas Eve service, would you like to come? They'll come because it's a cultural thing that we do, just like anything else in our culture, many people will come. And it might be someone that you know it might be the opportunity that they receive to finally hear about what the true meaning of Christmas is about. Don't assume just because they live amongst corner they've heard about Jesus Christ. Have you seen the traffic out here recently? People from all over the place, all over Don't be assumed that they've heard about Jesus. Christmas Eve is the time where people's hearts are open, and maybe their minds will be opened by the Lord to hear about the true meaning of Jesus, Christ, who he really was, fully man, fully God, eternal. If they too place their faith in Him, turn from their sins, earn His forgiveness through his work, they too will have a place prepared for them. Heavenly Father, as we close our time together today, we thank you so much. I thank you that we have a culture that does celebrate Christmas because even if it's commercial and loses the point many times, it gives us a great opportunity to tell people about the true meaning. And yes, the meaning gets lost in the hustle and the bustle and the time and the dinners and the activities, but it's great opportunity for us to remind people, or to let people know for the first time, that Christmas is about the birth of your Son, Jesus Christ, fully man, fully God, and only through His sinless life and through His death on the cross, can we be made right with God? So Lord, that's what we celebrate this Christmas season that your son came, that you sent your son to us, that whosoever should believe in him wouldn't perish, but would have eternal life, everlasting life, Lord, we thank you that you prepare a place for us. We look forward to the day that you come back. But until then, we have a mission, a mission to go and tell others about the true meaning of Christmas. Who Jesus Christ is so Lord, we know you'll be with us as you've promised. You'll clothe us with your spirit and send us forth, Lord, to a world that's lost and dying, but desperate, desperate for the truth. But we love you. We ask these things in Jesus name amen.
