Salvation and The Church: Who is This Jesus Who Saves Us?

Today’s message summary of January 6, 2019 from Pastor Gus Brown:

Who is this Jesus who saves us?  A lot of us may not be able to explain who He is.  Some of us confess Him because we have been told to do so–perhaps your mother and father–even though we may still be uncertain as to why we do it.  We may confess Him to get others to believe we follow Him.

It is a matter of one’s heart that we need to begin to understand who He is and where He came from.

Luke 23:24-25

So Pilate decided to grant their demand and released the one they were asking for, who had been thrown into prison for rebellion and murder. But he handed Jesus over to their will.

 

Many have taken to task the effort to discredit, dishonor or disgrace the name of Jesus. If Jesus can be proven to be only a man, then what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:14-17 would be true:

1 Corinthians 15:14-17

“…and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith. Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified wrongly about God that he raised up Christ–whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.

 

He is declared to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead.

Romans 1:3-4

…concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh and was appointed to be the powerful Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead.

 

John gives us a historical view that no other writer gives us. He is led by the Holy Spirit to write these truths concerning Jesus’ pre-existence.

God had to intercede in the writing of this and other texts.  You have to decide on your own whether or not God’s Word is truth.

If you desire to truly know Him, He will reveal Himself to you.

2 Peter 1:20-21

Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

 

The Word of God teaches and gives instruction, and to correct myths and heretical teaching for the sake of training a person how to live as a Christian (the proper conduct of a child of God). Righteousness only comes from God, but the instruction of His Word shows us how to live as we  live for Him.

John is going to speak on a subject that God, through the Holy Spirit, provided. He was given this knowledge to pass on to us. It was provided as an answer to correct those who speak against Jesus being God.  (There were even a number of naysayers back then.)

If we were to remove Jesus’ deity, His pre-existence, His resurrection, and all we have left is a man named Jesus who people made into a god–one who we say can save us, but in reality cannot do so.

John 1:1 begins with the words, “In the beginning.” This was before anything existed.  It goes in line with Genesis 1:1.

John 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

 

John gives a summary, or conclusion of Genesis 1:1:

John 1:2

He (Jesus) was with God in the beginning.

 

Then, John gives us another clue concerning Jesus:

John 1:3

All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.

 

Without Jesus, nothing was made.

Colossians 1:16-17

For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and by him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.

 

Paul, through the Holy Spirit, includes this information about the deity and pre-existence of Jesus Christ.