Our Savior is not always the ultimate Answer Man. He is
many times the Great Questioner. In the Gospels, Jesus asked three hundred and
seven questions total. One hundred eighty-three questions were asked by a
variety of people.
Jesus chose to answer only three of those inquiries.
Asking questions was an important component of His ministry. Jesus’ questions provided
ways to help the listener better understand an important spiritual point that
needed to be made by Him. [i]In Matthew 16:13 (NRSVCE), Jesus asks His disciples a life-affirming question: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” This question is answered in the three hundred and fifty-three Old Testament Messianic prophecies that are satisfied in Jesus Christ. [ii]
1. We can know Jesus is God’s Son by His speech.
·
“The
people looked at each other,
amazed, because this strange teacher acted as One authorized by God, and what He taught affected them
in ways their own scribes’ teachings could not.” Mark
1:22 (VOICE)
· “Jesus is God spelling Himself out in language that men
can understand.” (S.
D. Gordon)
2. We can know Jesus is God’s Son by His actions.
· What should you call One who is unique, sanctified by and sent
from the Father into the world? I have said, “I am God’s Son.” How can you call
that blasphemy? By all means,
do not believe in Me, if I am not doing the things of the Father. But
examine My actions, and you will see
that My work is the work of the Father. Regardless of whether you
believe in Me; believe the miracles. Then you will know that the Father is in
Me, and I am in the Father. John 10:36-38
(VOICE)
· “I believe in person to person. Every person is Christ to
me, and since there is only one Jesus, that person is the one person in the
world at that moment.” (Mother Teresa)
3. We can know Jesus is God’s Son by His character.
· “We
don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through
weakness and testing, [and has] experienced it all (all
but the sin).” Hebrews 4:15 (MSG)
· “People talk about imitating Christ, and imitate Him in
the little trifling formal things, such as washing the feet, saying His prayer,
and so on; but if anyone attempts the real imitation of Him, there are no
bounds to the outcry with which the presumption of that person is condemned.” (Florence
Nightingale)
4. We can know Jesus is God’s Son by His resurrection.
·
“And if
Christ has not been raised from death, then your faith is for nothing; you are
still guilty of your sins.” 1
Corinthians 15:17 (ERV)
· “The tomb of Christ is famous because of what it does not
contain.” (Sam
Morris)
“Outside
of the cross of Jesus Christ, there is no hope in this world. That cross and
resurrection [are] at the core of the Gospel [It] is the only hope for
humanity. Wherever you go, ask God for wisdom on how to get that Gospel in,
even in the toughest situations of life.” [iii](Ravi Zacharias)
[i] Adapted from Jesus Is
the Question: The 307 Questions Jesus Asked and the 3 He Answered by Martin B. Copenhaver
[ii] For a full list of the prophecies fulfilled by Jesus,
please see go to http://www.accordingtothescriptures.org/prophecy/353prophecies.html. The probability that one person could have
fulfilled even eight of these prophecies would be only 1 in 1017.
That’s 1 in 100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000.
[iii] Inspired by the sermon Questions Jesus Asked: Who Do People Say that I Am? (installment one) Sunday, March
5, 2017 Pastor Dave Jansen CenterPoint Gahanna Church Gahanna, OH
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