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Good Man, Mad Man, Con Man, or God-Man? - Matthew 16:13-17

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No other person from history has generated so much controversy and speculation, as well as written literature, as Jesus Christ. Theologians, philosophers, poets and pundits have all weighed in concerning who Jesus is. What is often forgotten is that Jesus can never be overestimated! John said that the, "world itself could not contain the books that should be written" (John 21:25) about His accomplishments.

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11/17/2002
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Good Man, Mad Man, Con Man, or God-Man?
Matthew 16:13-17
Skip Heitzig
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No other person from history has generated so much controversy and speculation, as well as written literature, as Jesus Christ. Theologians, philosophers, poets and pundits have all weighed in concerning who Jesus is. What is often forgotten is that Jesus can never be overestimated! John said that the, "world itself could not contain the books that should be written" (John 21:25) about His accomplishments.
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Rediscovering Our Foundations

Rediscovering Our Foundations

We live in an age where truth has become a relative term. But the Bible leaves no room for doubt when it comes to the absolute nature of truth. Unfortunately, our culture is vastly biblically illiterate. In this series, Pastor Skip Heitzig gets back to the roots of our faith, looking at what the Bible has to say about God, Christ, the Trinity, mankind, the church, heaven, and hell. Learn to stand on a firm foundation in the midst of an unstable culture.

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  1. The Identity of Jesus
    A. The Buzz Around Town
    1. John the Baptist
    2. Elijah
    3. A Prophet Like Jeremiah
    4. An Illegitimate Child (John 8:41)
    5. A Good Man (John 7:12)
    6. A Deceiver (John 7:12, Matt. 27:63)
    7. A Madman (John 7:20)
    B. The Claims of Jesus Himself
  2. The Essentiality of Jesus
    A. A Question to Ask
    B. A Warning to Heed

Transcript

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Turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 16. Sunday School can shape a child's future. It reinforces the vital lessons that parents teach children. And Sunday Schools are notorious for using the rhetorical question. Usually such questions have but one answer, the answer is a single "Jesus." You know, "Who's living in your heart?" "Jesus." "Who's the savior of al??" "Jesus." Etcetera, etcetera. Well let me take you into a Sunday School at a church in Kentucky where the teacher is trying to give a lesson on Noah's Ark and wants to involve these 4-year-olds in the lesson. So she says, "Tell you what, I'm going to describe something to you and you guess what it is." And so she begins, "I'm furry, I have a bushy tail, I like to climb trees." The kids stared back at the teacher with a blank look. She continued, she said, "I like to eat nuts, especially acorns." Again, blank stare. She knows this isn't going very well. She drops a few more hints, "I'm usually brown or gray, sometimes black, even red." No takers. Then she turned to a little perky 4-year-old that the teacher knew always had the answers, "Michelle," she said, "what do you think it is?" Michelle looked over at her classmates hesitantly and she said, "Well I know the answer has to be Jesus but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me."

In a series on "The Foundations of Our Faith," you'd certainly expect a study or two on Jesus Christ. After all he is the answer. He is God's answer. He is God's answer, he is our answer to sin, to eternity, he is the answer to the world's problem of suffering ultimately, he's the center of prophetic scripture, the hope of Israel. A. W. Tozer was right when he said, "We don't preach Christ with a comma after his name as though waiting for something else. We don't preach Christ with a dash after his name as though leading to something else, we preach Christ period. Period. But who is Jesus? Who was he? Was he just a good man? Was he a mad man? Was he somebody who tried to delude, misrepresent himself to the people? Or, was he the God-man? There's always a steady stream of theories concerning Jesus Christ. All the way from I read he was a magician who practiced hypnosis, he was a guru, a world traveler. One report even said they believed Jesus was the husband of Mary Magdalene, with whom he sought to procreate a secret lineage to rule the world.

Who was Jesus? That's the very question that Peter asked the disciples. It's an examination you might say after about two, two-and-a-half years of ministry. It's a test that has two questions: one is general and one is personal. One is option, if you get it right the second answer is pass or fail. "Who do men say that I am?" "Who do you say that I am?" Now what I love about this and we'll get into this is Peter out of all of these guys is the only one who gets it right. Keep that in mind, yes Peter, the one we always ditz is the only guy that gets an A on the test. And Peter is the one who will write, "We did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made know unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were eyewitnesses of his majesty." Back in the 1960s and 70s some of us were a part of what we call The Jesus Movement. That's just a title given to great revival that I pray to God continues on throughout our history. And it's called The Jesus Movement because it wasn't a denomination or a brand or a flavor, it was all about Jesus. So people said, "Oooo, this is unique, this is The Jesus Movement." No, the Jesus Movement starts here. We'll read about it. In Matthew 16, verse 13, "When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples saying, 'Who do men say that I the son of man am?' And so they said, 'Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' But he said to them, 'But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ, the son of the living God.' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Blessed are you Simon Barjonah, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father who is in heaven.' And I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.'" The identity and essentiality of Jesus Christ. First question: Who do men say that I am? You know if anybody else were to ask that question, it would be construed as arrogant. If I were to say, "Who do people say that I, Skip Heitzig am?" You'd say, "Who cares who you are?" Who do you think you are? But this is Jesus and it's appropriate, "Who do men say that I the Son of Man am?" Now Jesus had been training them as I mentioned for two, two-and-a-half years, this is right about that mark of his ministry. They'd watched his miracles, they'd heard his messages. What had they retained? What had they learned? Who did they believe him to be? And so he takes them away, about twenty-five miles north of the Sea of Galilee, as far as I can gather, this is the summertime and it's hot all over Irael, but especially Galilee being about 700 feet below sea level. Mount Herman is 9,600 feet high. The foot of Mt. Herman or Hermon is where the Jordan River begins and it's lush, green, quiet,, cool plateau. It's as if Jesus gets his guys away from the hustle and bustle to a very significant place for R and R, but more than that. Caesarea Philippi was significant to the Jews because I mentioned the Jordan River began here. It flowed, literally what it looked like, out of the rock, and gave life to all of Israel. So it was important to the Jews. There were also about fourteen different paban temples on that one site, various worship centers. There at one time was the worship center of Baal, Ba-al, the Old Testament god of fertility, the sun god. It was a high place. Herod the Great even built a temple of worship to Caesar Augustus because he was regarded as god, deity, Caesar of the gods. The Greeks renamed this area panneas because according tot their legend, the Greek god Pan was born in a nearby cave. You can still see those caves today if you visit. In fact, it's still called Banneas to this day because the Arabs can't pronounce the Ps. So instead of Panneas, after the Greek god, it's Banneas. But here's my point, it is as if Jesus deliberately takes his disciples to an area known for, soaked in, a religious atmosphere. The backdrop of all things spiritual and significant, to contrast that with himself as being unique. Now they'd listened to him dor two and a half years. He'd been doing all the talking. Now it's their turn. He wants to hear their answers. Hey boys, let's have a talk. What's the buzz around town?" "Who do people say that I am?" It gets them talking. And it's very revealing.

There was a mom who took her daughter to the pediatrician for a checkup. The pediatrician is trying to engage the little girl to talk a little bit, because the girl seemed scared or quiet. So the doctor does the doctor thing, takes his otoscope, looks into the ears and says, "Am I going to find Big Bird inside there?" The girl says nothing. The doctor takes a tongue depressor, looks down the child's throat, "Will I find the Cookie Monster down there?" The girl is not amused, says nothing. Finally he takes the stethoscope to the heart and says, "Will I hear Barney inside there?" At this, the little girl speaks and says, "Oh no sir, Jesus is in my heart. Barney's on my underpants."

Let's see what the disciples say. They said, "Some say John the Baptist. Some Elijah, other Jeremiah or one of the prophets." It's amazing that in so short a time there are so many different opinions about Jesus going around and every one of them is wrong. It goes to show you that if you're going to make a decision about Christ based on other people's opinions, you'll probably be wrong.

I know a little bit about gossip. When we first came to this town, it was a very interesting thing to observe the general public's opinion of us. Mark, you remember well, I can see you out there, you remember the growth. We were called a cult, "Who are those people meeting in that apartment thing?" "In that storefront? Only cults meet in storefronts." I remember a minister in town, sort of felt sorry for us and he was trying to give us some advice, so he said, "Okay, you're going to have a Sunday morning service. Now, when are you going to take the offering?" I said, "Well we're not really going to take a formal offering, we're just going to have a coffee can." "What?! It'll never work." "What about pledge cards? Do you have the pledge cards ready? You know when you have your first Sunday service, you need to pass out those pledge cards to get your budget going for the next year." I said, "Oh, we don't believe in pledge cards, we're not going to do an offering formally or pledge cards." He said, "You will never survive. You'll never make it." One pastor in town, still around, felt so sorry for me, he decided he would buy me a robe just to lend credibility to my poor ministry. People would take me more seriously if I had a robe. And all sorts of rumors about my bodyguards, etcetera. I don't have any by the way. Now the rumor mills were flying around Nazareth and Galilee, Jerusalem, about Jesus. Some said he was John the Baptist, why? Well they were related, they were cousins, right? They had different ministries but there was a similarity of style between John and Jesus. John the Baptist was a fiery no-compromising kind of a preacher. By the way, so was Jesus. John's first message was one on repentance, so was Jesus. John wasn't afraid to confront the Pharisees and the leaders, neither was Jesus. John did and said some pretty outlandish things. So did Jesus, he overtuned the tables of the moneychangers. By the way, that is not how most people in modern times picture Jesus Christ, as a fiery zealous uncompromising preacher. We have a Sunday School version tucked away in our minds. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild; Look upon this little child." While Jesus is over in the corner with a whip in his hands overturning the tables of the moneychangers. We wear the bracelets, "What would Jesus do?" Look at what he would do! I'm not advocating violence, by the way. So why would they say Jesus was John the Baptist if John the Baptist by the time this happens is dead. Herod you remember had him killed, had him beheaded. Well, it was Herod Antipas who started the rumor. He looked at Jesus' ministry and said, "It must be John the Baptist. He's back." That's why thse miraculous powers are at work in him. He's come back with a vengeance. And he felt guilty.

The second person he said he was was Elijah. You might ask, well Elijah's been dead by this time 900 years, why would they think it's Elijah? You know there was a prediction, the very last chapter of the Old Testament, Malachi, chapter 4, god said, "Behold I will send to you Elijah before that great and notable day of the Lord and he will turn back the father's hearts to the children and the children back to the fathers. It was always anticipated, still is in the Passover feast that Elijah would come before the Messiah comes. The Jews said, "When Elijah, the Messiah will not be far away." And that's why at every Passover, a door is kept slightly ajar and there's an empty chair there at the Passover supper just in case Elijah pops in. Eliljah was the greatest prophet. Elijah was the prophet in the Old Testament who performed miracles, like raising a woman's son from the dead, drying up the earth with a drought and causing it to rain again. All sorts of miracles with this prophet, Jesus was a miracle worker. And perhaps they saw the ministrys similarity and thought, "He must be the forerunner of the Messiah. He is like Eliljah the prophet." Then, they thought some that he was like Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. Now I find this one interesting because that was the buzz going around town. And here is an opinion not baased on fact, not based on scripture but based on purely an unsubstantiated legend. Here's the legend. It was believed by some that when the Babylonians came in and destroyed Jerusalem hundreds of years before that Jeremiah the prophet went into the temple, took the ark of the covenant and the altar of incense and hid them in a cave in Mount Nebo, just across the Dead Sea, so that the Babylonians wouldn't take it. And according to this legend, they said, "Before the Messiah arrives, Jeremiah will come and produce these articles of furniture and by doing so restore them to their proper place and bring in the glory of God to the nation of Israel once more. This must be Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

I meet people all the time who base their beliefs about Jesus Christ exactly the same way people did back then, on unsubstantiated legend or myth. They tell you their belief system. "Well why do you believe that?" "Well, I just do." "Well, have you ever researched it, have you ever done any digging?" "I just know I'm right." "Really? You're going to face God with that lame position." "Uh-huh."

I read a report about a French Canadian cult who claimed that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a cloning. A cloning, Jesus' resurrection was a cloning performed by aliens who created the human race in a laboratory DNA experiment about twenty-five thousand years ago. No evidence of that, it's pure legend, it's pure hearsay. But it's postulated. Not long ago I was at Krispy Kreme donuts for church after church and we started talking to a guy and we were telling him about Jesus and the gospel and he got very definitive when he said, "Look, everybody knows we all came hre because of aliens." "Oh, we did? Do you know that to be true?" "I do." "Have you researched it?" "No." But he was willing to believe a myth, a legend, hearsay, some weird thing he heard off the radio or television and is willing to believe that through life and stake his eternity on it.

So they said, "You're like Jeremiah. We know the legend. Or one of the prophets." There's something else by the way. It could be that they saw something in Jesus that reminded them of Jeremiah, that's why they went back to this legend. Jeremiah was very compassionate, wasn't he? He was called the weeping prophet, he wept over Jerusalem in the book of Lamentations. Jesus also was marked by compassion. He looked at the crowds and had compassion on them, the gospel writers tell us, because they looked like sheep who had no shepherd. And Jesus would weep over Jerusalem soon, "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered you." And so there was a similarity between Jeremiah, the compassionate weeping prophet and Jesus.

Now those are three that are mentioned here. I want you to go quickly to John chapter 8 for just a moment. Let's look at some more. There's seven opinions I found total in the New Testament I want to show you. John chapter 8 is, if you know your New Testament is one of the heights of confrontation in Jesus' ministry. He is speaking to Jewish leaders who are all up in arms because after all, "Abraham is our forefather. We can trace our lineage to Abraham. They make a big deal out of this. Look at verse 39, John 8. "they answered and said to him, 'Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you are Abraham's children, you would do the work of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father, which he will later on say is the devil." Notice their response. "Then they said to him, We were not born of fornication. We have one father, God." That is a slur. We have another word in English for it which I won't say, you know what it is, an illegitimate child. You see, they knew all about the betrothal of his mother Mary to Joseph and that she turned up pregnant before they were ever married. And that Joseph y wasn't his real father. And so they were saying, "What right do you have, you're not even in legitimate in birth. And you're lecturing us leaders, sons of Abraham?"

Go back to chapter 7, John 7, verse 12, "And there was much complaining among the people concerning Jesus. Some said he is good. That's what people said of him, he's good, agathos, he's a good upstanding fine honorable person. That's what the word means. He's a good person. Now you ought to know something, that when Jesus began his ministry, just about everybody thought he was good, even the Pharisees in Jerusalem, the leadership who now is against him, all of them thought Jesus was a good guy. Nicodemus said, "We know that you are a teacher come from God. Nobody can do the things you do unless God is with him." So he began with this reputation and still there is people are saying, "Oh he is good. Nothing wrong with Jesus." This is I find the most common belief that people have of Christ today. This is the most common American belief about Jesus: He is a good man, nothing more, spoke great words, he's a fine example. He was a wonderful teacher, he spoke to his generation. But that's it, he was just a good guy. Even the German rationalist Strauss said of Jesus that he is the highest model of religion. Reignon, the French atheist even paid a compliment to Christ when he said, "Jesus ws the greatest among the sons of men."

But look in the same verse, we have a sixth belief about jesus. "Some said he is good, others said, 'No, on the contrary, he deceives the people.'" Some said he was good and then in the same conversation there's a group of people saying, 'No, he's a deceiver.' The word 'deceives the people' means he causes people to fall away from the truth and wander into error and sin. It's a very strong word. The Jewish Talmud describes Jesus Christ as being "the illegitimate son of Mary (whom they fancy for some reason was a hairdresser) Jesus was called Panthera by some. Jesus learned the magical arts while in Egypt and instigated ad rebellion." That's his description, a deceiver. That was the accusation they brought to Pontius Pilate after the resurrection. The chief priests and Pharisees said to Pilate, "Sir we remember that while he was still alive, that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.'" When they wanted to have him crucified, their accusation in Luke 23, "We found this fellow perverting the nation, forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ the king." Well, what a gamut, man, what a variety of opinion. John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets, a good guy, bad guy, deceiver.

There is a group called The Jesus Seminar, I'm sure you've heard of them by now. It's a group of guys, gals, that meet in Arizona twice a year and they decide all on their own what words of Jesus he really said. They vote on them, they vote on them as they're immersed in their scholarship. And there was an article in Time magazine some time back where they said of Jesus, "He may have been a carpenter, probably he was illiterate, he belonged to a low caste of artisans. He didn't preach salvation from sin through sacrifice. He never cured any diseases. As for the other miracles, no loaves and fishes, no water into wine, no raising of Lazarus from the dead and certainly no resurrection for himself." It's all deception in other words.

Now I want you to hear those accusations. Once again, some said he's an illegitimate child, he is a deceiver and he is a pervert, he perverts the nation. Talk about having accusations misunderstood ideas about you leveled against you. Now why am I spending time on that? For this reason, because some of you right now tonight are in the midst of a situation where you feel terribly mismarked, misunderstood, accused, people you love, people you know, they're saying things about you. You've tried to no avail. You need to know you're not alone. Your savior, not everybody said, "Good guy. Prophet. Elijah." But, "A deceiver, one who perverts the nation." All in fulfillment in scripture. Isaiah said, "He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not."

There is one final one, John chapter 7, look at verse 19, Jesus is speaking, "'Did not Moses give you the law yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?" The people answered and said, "You have a demon." Can you imagine saying that to Jesus Christ? "You have a demon who is seeking to kill you.' Jesus answered and said to them, 'I did one work and you all marvel.'" You ought to know that the ancient Jews relegated any abnormal behavior to them as demon possession. If it was weird or eccentric they would say, "He's demon-possessed." In other words, "He's nuts. He's nuts and he's a madman because he's demonized." That was their superstition. By the way, it wasn't just these guys, did you know his own family thought he was a madman? His mom, his brothers, when they came to get him because he was so busy and he couldn't eat. It says, "When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him home with them. 'He's out of his mind,' they said." So, there's the opinions of Jesus, everything from a good man to a con man to a madman, running the gamut.

I found one final thing that I'm not going to include in a special category. But speaking of madmen, there's a guy who wrote a book, he's a Semitic scholar, John Alegro is his name. And then name of the book is The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross. I know it's a weird sound because it's a weird book based on a very weird premise that Jesus Christ wasn't historical at all, Jesus Christ was a codename for an hallucinogenic mushroom taken by the first century Christians. It puts a whole new spin on evangelism, doesn't it? "Dude, you want some Jesus?" See, there are as many opinions of Jesus as there are people it seems. But, it's always important to ask Jesus what he said about himself. What are the claims of Jesus? Now this is important because once you look at them you rule out so many of the other opinions. Jesus made such incredible claims no one else made, Confucious never claimed to be God. Buddha never said, "I am the only way, the truth, and the life." Mohammed and the others never made the kind of claims that Jesus made. Now given his claims, there's no way according to C. S. Lewis and we've quoted this to you before. There' no way given the claims of Christ that you could ever say that Jesus was "a good guy, a fine example, a wonderful teacher." C. S. Lewis says and by the way he is a once-agnostic professor of renaissance literature at Cambridge University, converted to Christianity. He said, (quote) "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said, wouldn't be a great moral teacher. He'd either be a lunatic on the level of a man who says he's a poached egg or else he'd be the devil of hell. You must make your choice, either this man was and is the Son of God or else a madman or something worse." Do you ever ever ever in reading the New Testament recall Jesus saying something like, "I just want you to know, I'm a fine wonderful example and a good moral teacher and a nice guy. And people like me." No! Here's a sampling of his claims: To the Samaritan woman he said, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give will never thirst." To the crowds in john 6, Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. Anyone who eats of this will live forever." To the leaders in John 8, Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness." In John 8, again to the leaders, "I am from above, you are from below. I am not of this world." And in the same chapter, "Before Abraham existed (or was) I existed (or I Am)." In John 10 he said, "I am the door, those who come in through me will be saved." John 11, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even though he dies, yet shall he live." And John 14, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Same chapter to Phillip he said, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." And in John 18 to Pontius Pilate he said, "You say that I am a king and you're right. For this reason, for this purpose I was born." So put them all together, just this sampling, what does Jesus claim about himself? Well, he says he's the quencher of thirst, satisfier of hunger, light of the world, that he's from heaven, that he predates Abraham, that he's the door of salvation, that he's the exact representation of his Father and that he is the king. A good man won't say those things about himself unless they're true, and he's not just a good man. A madman wouldn't live like Jesus lived serving and loving and pouring out hissself for people's salvation. And a conman wouldn't suffer the ignominious death and suffering of a Roman cross. Those are the claims of Christ. So you've got seven opinions in the New Testament about Jesus Christ, all of them wrong. Then you've got the claims of Jesus Christ. Oh, P. S. thousands of people, millions of people for thousands of years have trusted in Jesus Christ and they have a uniform testimony that he changes their lives and forgives their sins. Hmmm, there must be something to those claims after all.

Go back to Matthew, we'll close this up, that is the identity of Christ according to Christ and according to others. But he presses it further to something more essential than even that. He said in verse 15, "But who do you say that I am?" Oh now, it's personal, forget about others, forget about third person standoffish, "I'm not aloof any more," take that off the theological shelf, personalize it. What is your Christology? Disciples, who do you say that I am? "And Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' And Jesus answered and said to him, 'Blessed are you Simon Barjonah, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father who is in heaven." In other words, "You get an A, Peter. You're right, blessed are you, right on man. You've got it."

I am personally glad that of all the disciples there Peter got it right because you know what? Peter has been the object of scorn by so many people for so long, and in some cases rightly so but maybe we're a little overboard. I think that in heaven there's going to be a long line of preachers waiting to apologize to Peter for all the things they've said about him perhaps. Of all the guys, Peter got it right. All the seven opinions have been wrong, Jesus says, "Peter, you're right. You got it right." "You are the Christ," Peter said. Now I probably don't have tell you this, but in case you don't know, Christ isn't his last name. Some people think it is, Jesus, that's his first name. Christ, that's his last name. He lived at the Christ house. That was the family name. It wasn't. It was a Greek word, a rendering for the Hebrew meshiach, he is the Messiah. "You are the Christ." From an earthly Jewish perspective, "You are the redeemer we've always hoped for." But from a heavenly divine perspective, "You are the Son of God." Not "A son of God," not "A child of God among many." The unique Son of God.

Now I'm asking you as we close to make it personal: Is Jesus Christ your redeemer Messiah? Is he your hope, personally? Or is he just your parent's redeemer? Your parents' and grandparents' hope? Your girlfriend's redeemer? You see the first question anybody can answer. "What are peoples' opinions?" Oh, you can add to that. But, "Who do you say that he is?"

Now that's the question and I close with a warning. It's not written here but I'll tell you why this question is so essential. From Jesus' own lips to the leaders at Jerusalem, in John chapter 8, Jesus said, "For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins." John chapter 3, "He who believes in him is not condemned, he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." Do you see that answering that question, that issue is the most essential life issue. Who is Jesus Christ to you? Because if you don't believe he is who he said he is, let me tell you something, you will die in your sin. I know it's not preached about much but there is a hell that is eternal, that is the consequence of all those who hear and reject the truth of Jesus Christ. People don't like to hear it, people don't like to believe it. Oh, they love to believe in heaven. They don't want anything to do with God while they're alive until they're dead, then "Would you bury my relative and say he's in heaven?" Well let me tell you something, if you don't believe he is who he says he is, you're going to die in your sins and you're condemned already. And that's not why Jesus came, he came to redeem and to save and to be your king. And so, the bottom line of all the foundation of t he faith, the Christian doctrine is who is Jesus Christ to you personally?

Hear about the old guy that had trouble hearing even though he wore a hearing aid? Went to his ear doctor, doctor took the hearing aid out, the guy could hear beautifully. His hearing improved immediately. Why? Because he wore the hearing aid for twenty years in the wrong ear. What a drag, man, what a waste.

What have you been listening to? Who are you listening to that has helped form your opinion, your worldview about who Jesus is? You been listening to your college professors? Some of them are good, some of them aren't. You know what? Your college professors are going to stand before God to give an account. You been listening to your unsaved friends? Every one of them individually will stand before God one day. Marilyn Manson will stand before God. Every member of the ACLU will stand squarely before God. Every member of them media, every songwriter, every poet will have to stand before God to answer. And so will you.

One person said, "One of the reasons people find ithard to be obedient to the commands of Jesus Christ is they're uncomfortable taking commands from a stranger."

So I ask you, is that what he is to you tonight? A stranger? A good guy? A prophet? Whatever title you have relegated him to, he's a stranger to you. He's not your personal savior who came to redeem you from your sins. Friend, it is time, now is the time. If you've been sitting on the fence for a long period of time and you've just been watching and you have been doing the theology sort of arm's length, third person, Jesus would say to you tonight, "Who do you say that I am?" And your answer, be careful how you answer, will determine your eternity.

Heavenly Father, we're not content to study a bunch of texts about the foundations of the faith from a microscopic or telescopic or laboratory perspective. It must become ours. It must be personal or it is useless. We can wrangle and wrestle and philosophize but tonight, with this issue it must be personal. The same approach Jesus had then he is approaching us with tonight. As we look around our world and hear all of the differing opinions as to who Jesus was or is, there are many who are still saying, "He was just a prophet. An ascended Master, one among many." Som who are saying, "Well he was a good guy." Others saying, "He was a liar, a deceiver." What do we say?

And tonight Lord as we search our hearts before you the living God before whom we will all one day stand, I ask that you would now touch hearts, speak to those lonely ones who need a friend, show them you'd be their best friend. Speak to those Lord who are immersed in guilt because of a habit that they feel is unconquerable, show them how powerful your Holy Spirit can be in their life. Lord, those struggling because of a failed marriage and they feel so unloved, convince them of your great love, reach out to them now. And ultimately Lord, bring every one who is not yours personally into a relationship presently for all eternity.

Lord, we ask you know to do in these seconds what no song or preaching could ever effect and that is the conviction of sin, the desire for righteousness and that beautiful cleansing that comes when one turns to you.




Additional Messages in this Series

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9/15/2002
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Does the Truth Really Matter?
2 Timothy 4
Skip Heitzig
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Today I begin a new series I am calling Rediscovering Our Foundations. I am concerned about the vast biblical illiteracy that exists in our country in general and in our churches in particular. Truth is commonly seen by our culture as relative and not fixed. Often sentiments such as, "Well, that is your truth, but it's not my truth," are expressed by many. But if truth is absolute, then why not stand up for it? Why be embarrassed about it? What do you really believe about God, the Trinity, Christ, mankind, the church, heaven, and hell?
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9/22/2002
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Is Anybody Up There?
Hebrews 11:1-40;Romans 2:1-29
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We all remember the scene in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy and her three friends come to approach the Great Oz. Out of the corner of their eye they notice a man pulling levers behind a curtain, working the mechanical, smoke-breathing Oz. The man then reacts by announcing, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" But how can they not? The man is the explanation for everything to them. They discovered that Oz didn't really exist! So how do we know that God exists and isn't a fabrication or projection of our own imaginations?
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9/29/2002
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The Bible - From God or From Men? - Part 1
2 Timothy 3:15-17
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In this series, Rediscovering Our Foundations, it's time to consider your own personal foundation. What is the final resting place for your cares, concerns, griefs, surprises and sorrows? Where do you turn for answers to life's deepest questions? What is your authority? How sure are you that the Bible is the inerrant and inspired Word of God? Can you articulate to others the difference between the Bible and other "sacred" religious works?
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10/6/2002
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The Bible - From God or From Men? - Part 2
2 Timothy 3:15-17
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Last week, we discovered exactly what the designation "Scripture" referred to and how books of the Bible were considered as part of the inspired text. We also learned what inspiration means and how God used humans in His process of having exactly what He wanted written down. But anyone can claim inspiration for their work. Yet how do we know that the Bible is the authentic Word of God? Moreover, how can we share with others its uniqueness so they, too, may listen to its message and apply it?
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10/13/2002
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The God Who Knows It All!
Psalm 139:1-6
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A little boy climbed his neighbor's apple tree when he saw their car leave. He didn't realize that while he was stuffing his pockets full of apples, another neighbor was watching through a pair of binoculars and saw the whole thing! God isn't spying on people, trying to catch them doing something wrong; but God is aware of everything. Such a truth has a profound effect on us: it can either be very comforting or else extremely unsettling.
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10/20/2002
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Are You a Big-Godder or a Little Godder?
Psalm 139:7-24
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11/10/2002
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Wholly Holy!
Skip Heitzig
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In this current series, Rediscovering Our Foundations, we've considered some key attributes of the God we know and love. He is omniscient (knows everything); He is omnipresent (everywhere present); He is omnipotent (operates at full power). But there is another key attribute that is seldom considered, yet is fundamentally key in understanding the Bible—God's holiness. Let's observe one man's encounter with this holy God and what it means to us.
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12/1/2002
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A King Among the Critters
Luke 2:1-7
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In our current series, Rediscovering Our Foundations, we've come to the person of Christ. Last time, we considered His identity; today, we contemplate His nativity. For the next few weeks, we'll look closely at Jesus' birth, His early years, ministry, and death on the cross, which was the very purpose of His birth. It's my hope that we'll all emerge with a fuller understanding of Jesus and a deeper desire to worship and serve Him. Today, let's look at the strange circumstances of His birth.
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12/8/2002
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Jesus - The Boy With a Purpose - Part 1
Luke 2:1-52; Matthew 2:1-23
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Jesus' upbringing and boyhood has been the subject of much speculation and endless controversy throughout the centuries. Myths have developed about Jesus based (interestingly enough) on what isn't written. The Bible gives us five cameo glimpses of Jesus from early boyhood to age 30. We'll look at three of these today and then two more next week. We discover that Jesus' whole life was marked with purpose.
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12/15/2002
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Jesus - The Boy With a Purpose - Part 2
Luke 2-3
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We don't give much thought to Jesus growing up, developing into adolescence and then into manhood. But of course He did. Luke is really the only New Testament author who gives us information about these early years. He speaks generally about Jesus' growth as well as specifically about Jesus' capacity as a young boy of 12. At each stage of His life, Jesus demonstrated He knew His purpose for His life on earth.
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12/22/2002
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A Lamb at the River
Matthew 3:1-17; John 1:1-51
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When Jesus turned 30, He presented Himself to the nation of Israel in public ministry. His first appearance, however, seemed so out of character for the kind of Messiah that people were anticipating. What was He doing getting baptized in a river with everyone else? John was about to find out—and so was everyone else.
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1/12/2003
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The Holy Spirit: Invisible, Personal, Powerful
John 14-16
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Today in our series Rediscovering Our Foundations, we consider the Holy Spirit. Most of us have heard of Him, but who is He exactly? What does He do? How important is the Holy Spirit to your personal life, your family life, your work or your leisure time? Perhaps A.W. Tozer was right when he said, "For multitudes of Christians profess today the Holy Spirit is not a necessity. They have learned to cheer their hearts and warm their hands at other fires." It is my sincere prayer that will change for us in the few weeks ahead.
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1/19/2003
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The Gracious and Holy Hound of Heaven
John 16:5-11
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Having understood Who the Holy Spirit is (Person, not just power; Deity, not just dignitary), we now find out what He does, specifically what He does in the world of unbelievers. Since the greatest gift God ever gave to the world was His only Son (John 3:16), it stands to reason that the greatest sin one can commit is to reject the Son (John 16:9). How does the Holy Spirit both sentence the world as prosecutor and yet lead people away from judgment? And what role do we play in all of this?
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1/26/2003
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I Need Somebody, Help! Not Just Anybody
John 14-16
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To live one's life for God in an ungodly world sounds like mission impossible, right? It would be as if we had to do it without help. But be strengthened by this thought: God never intended for us to do it alone! That's why He has provided His people a Helper, the Holy Spirit. This ever-present divine Person is very busy helping God's people become all He wants them to be.
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2/2/2003
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Brand-Spankin' New Apostles!
Acts 1:1-8
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The legendary missionary to India, William Carey, didn't see obstacles; he saw opportunities. He was the "Let's go for it!" kind of guy. In fact, one of his most famous sayings was, "Attempt great things for God; expect great things from God." Carey did both and saw results! The Holy Spirit can take ordinary men and women and do extraordinary things with them. He is the God who "makes all things new" (Revelation 21:5). Such a truth can only create a sense of wonder and excitement in the heart of a child of God. After all, what new thing could God do through you?
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2/9/2003
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Unholy Responses to the Holy Spirit
Ephesians 4:30
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You might say that we live in the "Age of the Holy Spirit." Jesus promised Him to us after He was done with His own earthly ministry. We have seen that He is very active both in the world among the unconverted and in the church among God's own people. But He has one overriding goal-to bring glory to Jesus Christ in every life. What does that mean to us? It means a total surrendering to Him. As Oswald Chambers said, "The Holy Spirit cannot be located as a guest in a house. He invades everything." But what happens when people don't respond to Him rightly? Then what?
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2/16/2003
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How Can Three Be One?
Matthew 28:16-20
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1+1+1=1. Is this new math? No, it's the doctrine of the Trinity. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. At the very heart of the Judeo-Christian faith is the belief that there is only One God. Yet the Bible clearly teaches the plurality within the Godhead—three persons who are distinct from one another yet perfectly One in essence. What are we to make of all this? Why is it important? And more fundamentally, how should it affect us personally?
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2/23/2003
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The Exceedingly Un-Holy Spirit
1 John 5:19
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Satan, the prince of darkness, has been around a long time. He has studied mankind for thousands of years, marking his strategies according to what he sees in us and what God's plan for the world is. He hates what God loves; he fights what God establishes. And let's remember, he's got help! Other spirit beings have joined his rebellion and control the system known in Scripture as the world. John even said, "the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one" (1 John 5:19). What should we know about this arch-nemesis of God in order to stand against him?
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3/2/2003
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Touched by an Angel
Luke 1-2
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As even the title suggests, angels have become popular in modern culture. But whether we know it or not, we've all been "touched an angel." Martin Luther helped us to understand their role by remarking, "An angel is a spiritual creature created by God without a body, for the service of Christendom and of the church." He was partially correct, but angels serve an even greater role than being strictly for the church. Their ministry goes beyond us and is principally concerned with the glory and majesty of God.
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3/9/2003
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Man, Has God Got a Plan For You!
Genesis 1-3
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Alexander Pope once remarked that, "the chief study of man is man himself." That may be true, especially in our culture, but this could also be the reason why mankind is so desperate and spiritually thirsty. Looking only to ourselves rather than beyond ourselves can get pretty lonely! But why are we here? What is the purpose of mankind inhabiting this planet? How can I fulfill the God-given destiny that He originally designed for me?
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3/16/2003
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From Creation to Corruption
Genesis 2-3
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How did we, as the human race, get into the colossal mess we find ourselves in? Was it always this way? And what do Adam's actions, acted out so long ago, have to do with us in this modern technologically advanced age? Am I at all responsible? Can the effects ever be undone? Let's look at these issues in the opening chapters of Genesis.
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4/27/2003
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Church-Building 101
Matthew 16:13-20
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The church was God's idea; it was never man's notion. Jesus Christ is the founder, director, architect, owner and builder of the church. But there is an awful lot of confusion about what a church is supposed to look and function like. Today, we look at the first New Testament mention of the church and look at our spiritual origins. As we are Rediscovering Our Foundations, let's also rediscover our spiritual roots as the people of God.
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5/4/2003
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What Jesus Wants His Church to Be - Part 1
John 17
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The church is not a place, but a people (a called-out assembly of people who gather together and whose heartfelt conviction is that Jesus is Lord). Jesus laid claim on the church—it belongs to Him ("I will build My church"). So then, what does He want His church to be like? What should mark us overall? In Jesus' longest recorded prayer before His crucifixion, He prays for four characteristics that are to mark the people of God. Today we look at the first two.
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5/25/2003
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What Jesus Wants His Church to Be - Part 2
John 17
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Church shopping and church hopping have become one of American Christians’ favorite pastimes. We want a church that suits us, helps us, and pleases us. But since Jesus paid for it, it’s His church (Acts 20:28). So what does He want from us? What should the people of God be like? What ingredients and activities ought to be part of our makeup? In this series, Rediscovering our Foundations, we must rediscover the foundational purpose for our existence as His church.
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6/1/2003
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How to Build a Beautiful Body
1 Corinthians 12:3-22
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6/22/2003
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The Last Days
2 Peter 1-3
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On October 30, 1938, the day before Halloween, the novel War of the Worlds was made into a radio broadcast featuring Orson Welles. As millions of Americans were listening, the play was performed so it would sound like a news broadcast about an invasion from Mars. Many thought they were hearing an actual news account of an invasion from Mars and concluded this was the end. Some even committed suicide as their final fatal act! In Rediscovering Our Foundations, what can we know about the last days of this world and what can we do to prepare?
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6/29/2003
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I'll Be Back
John 13:31-14:6
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A little boy was trying desperately to tell his friends about what Jesus' return would be like. He described Jesus' coming in glory as being "greater than Superman, Batman, and the Power Rangers put together!" Of course even that would be an understatement. Jesus came here 2000 years ago and then left; but He promised to return. What will it be like? What difference should it make to us right here, right now?
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7/6/2003
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The Burning Question
Revelation 20:11-15
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Hell is an eternal and biblical reality that has been relegated to the junk pile of modern myths. Woody Allen once said that hell is the abode of all people who annoy him. The word hell is used on a daily basis in people's dicey language patterns—usually as a fill-in expletive. Of all the Christian doctrines unfolded in Scripture, hell is the toughest one to handle. Most love the notion of a blissful heaven awaiting them; few cling to the idea of a literal hell to punish the lost.
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7/13/2003
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Heaven: Our Final Frontier
Revelation 21:1-27
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Captain Kirk and his starship Enterprise weekly traversed the galaxies on the famed Star Trek episodes. That was fiction! But one day you will inhabit the recreated millennial earth in a glorified body and then explore the vast kingdoms of heaven in the eternal state. That is reality! It will be so different than what you're used to that it's linguistically impossible to convey its vastness. But there's enough here to whet the appetite for heaven!
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There are 29 additional messages in this series.
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