TOTALLY AWESOME 3 Dr. Paul Fedena - Do You Know Jesus?
TEXT: Hebrews 1:1-3
INTRO.:
A. I am not trying to get anyone to doubt their salvation, simply to examine or to find out what you really KNOW about our Savior…
B. O.K., let’s say you are secure in what you did to claim Jesus as Savior. Other than knowing Him in that way, what else do you really KNOW about Him? Last time we tried to get you to understand what the Bible says about Jesus in the basics, but what do you really KNOW about what the Bible teaches about our Lord & Savior, God’s only begotten Son? And what are some of His ministries as well as His attributes?
C. Last time we spoke of Jesus as Creator, the God-man, our Example and our Savior. Today we want to go deeper. How much do you know, not only about His earthly ministries, but His present day ministries and activities and His blessed Person? We spoke briefly about His crucifixion, which was HIS PRIMARY MISSION, but it doesn’t stop there, so, let’s pick up where we left off.
I. JESUS, OUR SAVIOR:
A. He Had to Die by Crucifixion:
1. He had to fulfil all the O.T. prophecies, pictures, types, symbols (like the brazen serpent, etc.) 2. On the cross, in spite of His sufferings, physical exhaustion, beaten and bleeding body, He cried out with a LOUD VOICE: Tetalestai! “It is finished!” (But…not quite.)
B. He Had to Rise Again!
1. His resurrection was really the completion of His PRIMARY MISSION. 2. But is there any O.T. Scripture that prophecies His resurrection?
a.Psalm 16:10 is pretty definitive where it predicts: “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” b. Jesus was emphatic that He, like Jonah, would rise after 3 days, thus the book of Jonah itself is a prophecy of Christ’s resurrection.
Matt 12:39,40 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
NOTE: If Christ’s mission ended on Calvary, we could not be saved. His resurrection is what seals our salvation.
1 Cor 15:16-23 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
II. JESUS, OUR PROPITIATION:
1 Jn. 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
A. Jesus’ Resurrection Secured Our Salvation:
1. The word in Greek for propitiation is hilasterion meaning toappease or satisfy. 2. It directly applied to the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant in the Tabernacle or Temple.
a. When the blood was sprinkled on Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement it changed the Judgment Seat into the Mercy Seat. b. The blood of our Savior did the same for every sinner who accepts Christ’s blood.
B. Jesus’ Resurrection Sealed Our Eternal Life:
1. Only sinless blood, like the blood of innocent animals in the O.T., could satisfy God’s righteous demands for those offering the sacrifices. 2. But the blood of animals could “never take away sins” but simply cover them temporarily.
Heb 10:12-14 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
III. JESUS, OUR PROPITIATION:
A. Jesus’ Present Ministry as Our Intercessor:
Heb 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
1. Think of it…Jesus praying for us! 2. We are to pray for one another, but to think that God Himself, in the Person of Jesus our Savior prays for us is beyond my comprehension.
NOTE: We often promise to pray for each other…but sometimes we forget…He never forgets, because God cannot forget. Not only that but He lives in the future as well as the past and present, so He already knows how the things He prays for will turn out! In fact He when He prays that secures the outcome.
B. Jesus, Present Ministry as Our Advocate:
1. While our old nature corrupts us and Satan condemns us, Jesus stands between them both and becomes our Advocate. 2. An Advocate is like a defense lawyer; when our old nature corrupts us and Satan condemns or accuses us, Jesus “objects” on the basis of His shed blood in our behalf.
1 Jn.2:1 My little children, these things I write unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
ILLUS.: Role playing: 1. Satan, the Accuser charges a believer of sins of the mind and sins of the flesh. 2. Jesus, as the Advocate, stands and objects on the basis of His shed blood. 3. The Judge of all the earth rules in favor of the Advocate and rules the Accuser out of order and throws the case out of court while the... 4. Advocate then stands beside the sinner as the Comforter!
CONCL.: 💥Jesus, in His past ministry is our Savior and our Propitiation, but in His present ministry He is our Mediator and Advocate!
💥In His future ministry He will be our Judge for our works since the day of our salvation. He will also be our King of Kings and Lord of Lords for the Millennium and beyond.
💥The question is DO YOU KNOW JESUS – REALLY? In all His roles, offices and ministries? Or do you know Him at all as your Savior?!