Section Four: Witnesses who have a Personal
Relationship.
Lesson Eight
Lesson Title: Witnesses that 'Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of the Living God'.
Text: John 20:30-31 'And many other signs truly did Jesus
in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might
have life through his name.'
Introduction: John's Gospel was written so that we
might believe and receive eternal life.
John wrote His first epistle so that the believers might have fulness of joy.
We are to be
witnesses to bring people to Christ and build up the body of Christ.
A witness is
someone who is able to confirm or deny the word of another.
Witnesses of
Jesus testify that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God'.
How was John able to show that Jesus is the Son of the
Living God?
1) Knowing Him personally.
2) The miracles He witnessed.
3) The words he heard Him say.
Introductory Story: Eyewitnesses at the scene of an accident.
Police put
out an appeal for witnesses.
The facts can
only be known through the testimony of those who saw the accident.
1) A witness must have first hand knowledge.
2) A witness must be able to recall what
happened
3) A witness must be able to express what he
or she saw or heard.
In a
courtroom the testimony of the witness will be challenged.
In some cases
the witness is threatened or called a liar.
The disciples were witnesses to who Jesus is:
1) First
hand witnesses - they saw, heard, and touched Him.
2)
Recalled what happened
3)
Wrote to express what they had experienced.
4)
Empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Main Points
1. Most important question: Who do you say
Jesus is?
The disciples
knew Jesus from personal experience.
But personal experience was not enough on its own. They could only know who Jesus is if
their eyes were opened by the Holy Spirit.
a) Caesarea Philipi. In the place named after earthly rulers
(Philip the tetrarch and Caesar) Jesus asked them if they recognised who He
is.
Matthew 16:13-18 'When Jesus came into the coasts of
Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the
Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art
John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias,
or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye
that I am? And Simon Peter
answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. And Jesus answered and
said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it
unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou
art Peter (petros), and upon this rock (petra) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it.'
b) The Foundation of the Church is 'Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of the Living God'.
The foundation is not Peter - 'Peter'
(Greek: petros meaning a stone); the rock (petra meaning a rock or large stone) is Christ,
1
Corinthians 3:11 'For other foundation can no man lay
than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.' The Church stands on the foundation that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of the living God.
See also 1 Corinthians 10:4.
'The Christ' meaning 'the anointed one' -
His ministry, Isaiah 61:1-2
The Son of the
Living God - His person.
To be a witness to the Lord Jesus Christ
requires that our lives be built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ.
2. The church bears witness to who Jesus in
the power of the Holy Spirit.
a) The baptism with the Holy Spirit empowers
the church to be the witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 1:8 'But
you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye
shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.'
The
promise of the Holy Spirit baptism is given to 'all that are afar off,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call', Acts 2:38-39.
This
includes the body of Christ today.
b) The
baptism with the Holy Spirit provides boldness to bear witness to the Lord
Jesus Christ in the face of persecution.
Acts 5:32 'And we are his witnesses of these
things; and so is also the Holy
Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.'
Acts
8:4-5 'Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the
word. Then Philip went down to the
city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.'
c) The
early church went everywhere speaking about Jesus.
They
did not go everywhere talking about what they were doing. Acts 8:35 'Then Philip opened his mouth, and
began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.'
3. We must be like Jesus to be
witnesses.
Those who are not Christians need to know Him by experience
in order to come to the knowledge of who He is.
a) The world should encounter Jesus through
the words that we speak.
The officers sent to arrest Jesus testified
that no one else was like this Man. John 7:46
'The officers answered, Never man spoke like
this man.'
b) The world should encounter Jesus in the
way believers die. John Wesley
said 'those who oppose us have to agree that we Christians die well.'
The Roman centurion and those with him
bore testimony when they saw the earthquake after the crucifixion of Jesus that
'truly this was the Son of God',
Matthew 27:54.
c) The world should encounter the person of
Jesus through the ministry of the body of Christ. Acts 4:13 'Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and
perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they
took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.'
The
world should experience the love and life of Jesus through the body of Christ,
‘As He is, so are we
in this world’, 1 John 4:17.
Summary:
To be a
witness to who Jesus is:
1) We must know Him through a personal
relationship.
2) We must be baptised with the Holy Spirit.
3) We must be like Him. The unsaved will recognise
that He is the Son of God when they have a personal encounter with Him.