Do We Know Him? The Real Jesus Christ

So I titled this message kind of wrestling with the title to be honest with you. So I started with do you know him? the real Jesus Christ. Then I was thinking almost a better question is do you really know him? We know him by titles. We know him by offices. We know him by roles and responsibilities.

He's savior, elder, brother. He's king of kings and lord of lords. He's high priest. We know Christ these ways. But how well do we know him? I've been thinking about that. I was asked years ago, if you grew up in worldwide many years ago, I don't know if the newer generation, if you younger people would recognize this, but when when I was a kid, the way we grew up, we knew the father, many of us thought we didn't know Christ as well.

It wasn't that the church was against Christ in any way, but there was a proclivity, at least in some congregations, to avoid being a Protestant church and letting Christ Christ rule every sermon, every Sabbath. And so many of us and and I what was funny was I hadn't thought much about that until young lady that I young lady she's my age that's a little self- serving as a description all of a sudden a gal my age last year as you some of you might remember she got baptized and she asked me a question she said and she asked

this in somewhat of a a little bit of embarrassment but she said I feel like I don't really know Jesus Christ and she said I don't know what to do about that. And I said, "So she and she's my age, so she grew up when I grew up. So when she left the church, she was 16." And she's looking back at what she remembered coming back at in her late 50s, looking back at what she knew when she was in the church.

And she really felt like she knew God the Father, but she didn't feel like she knew Christ. And I thought that was a very interesting dilemma. And I would and then I could reflect back and go, I I kind of have that same feeling when I grew up. All of that led me to write for her a a who is Jesus Christ paper, if you will, letter, if you will, or something like that.

And so I drafted that for her. And I wanted to share with you some of what I went through because I thought this is as relevant right now as it has ever been. That we need to know who Jesus Christ is. Really know who Jesus Christ is. I'm going to begin today over in John chapter 1. Jesus Christ should have been known. But John having the advantage of looking back over decades in the early to mid 19 or in the early to mid 90s a that first century church.

And John looking back over his life all the way back over 60 years being in the church and having served and having taught been taught directly by Jesus Christ can look back and reflect on and then he makes comments when he writes his gospel that are really meaningful. He writes for us here in f in John 1:es 10 and 11 talking about Jesus Christ.

He says he Christ was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. He came to his own. Who were his own? The Jews. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. I think that's intended to be sobering. John's looking back to say, "This is what I saw.

" They should have, what did they have? They had the scriptures. They had the teachings. They had the knowledge. They had the temple. They should have known because the scriptures pointed absolutely towards a coming lamb to die for our sins. They had Isaiah. They had the prophets. They should have known. They didn't know him. So the question I wanted to ask today is, do we know him? Do we really know him? Because knowing Christ is more than knowing his titles.

The titles are true about him. His offices, his roles, his responsibilities are all true. But how well do you know somebody simply because you know what office they hold? God wants us to know his son. I'm going to turn over to John chapter 14. There's an important reason why we need to make sure that we know who Jesus Christ is.

John 14 6 and 7 verse 6 says Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my father also. And from now on you know him and have seen him. Knowing Jesus Christ is to know the father. What's interesting to me is the correlary for those of us who identify with the idea that maybe we didn't think we knew who Christ was by comparison to the father.

And that then if we knew the father, we knew Christ. They are the same. They are one. If we've seen one, if we've known one, if we have, this is what Christ is saying. If you know one, you know the other. But to know him in the context of this message, what I mean by that is I'd like to look carefully at who he was as how he was revealed in what he did, how he felt, how he acted in the moment.

It is easy for us to read through scriptures and to see a passage about Jesus Christ. Really, it's easy to do this about anything. we get comfortable reading our Bibles to the place where we read quickly. I've been trying to encourage us to slow it down, read carefully. There are so many things that are said within a single scripture sometimes that if we don't slow down, we'll miss them.

And what I want to do again today is slow down and read some things about Christ that reveal their character explains some of what we saw in the video today. Who they are in mercy and love, compassion, revealed to us in the lives of these brethren of ours, how God took care of them, how he takes care of his people, and why he does it the way he does.

I'm going to walk through I'm going to give you Oh, I shouldn't say number, should I? Because it some people are like that many. I'm going to give you seven good examples. Se but they're good examples. Okay, we're going to This is the bulk of the message. I'm not going to go here's seven of these and 23 of these and another 19 of those and we'll be here for the rest of the afternoon.

just going to we're going to walk through seven examples to see who Jesus Christ is by looking specifically at things he did and why they show and reveal the real Jesus Christ. I'm going to begin with Mark chapter 1 so that you know where we're going. Mark chapter 1. And now we're late in the chapter. Okay.

So verses I'm going to start here in verse 40 and I think we'll read through uh 42. Yeah. So verse 40-42 it says now a leper came to him imploring him kneeling down to him and saying to him if you are willing you can make me clean I the first time I I'm going to stop there for just a minute because I want us to think carefully about what we're just been we've just been presented a picture of something I don't know if you know of any lepers.

Have you met somebody who technically has leprosy? I've never met somebody that has that. I've met people with skin diseases. We met somebody what last year a young lady who had severe eczema. I mean, these are real these are real conditions and painful and difficult to live through.

I've never met somebody who had severe leprosy. you know, in in that society of Christ's day, uh it it's not the way that we would treat a a skin disease today. You get it treated, you're on some kind of medication, you might have a bandage or some covering over it. You're not ostracized from society because of it. But in those days, it was far more serious to have a skin disease.

A person if you go back and you read through the commands that are required in let's say in Leviticus a person with leprosy was required not only to go to to the priest to have it diagnosed and so forth but when it was diagnosed they were cast out of the society. They were put outside the camp. You could not come back in.

You were unclean. In fact, so unclean you had to literally say the words unclean, unclean so that people around you knew to avoid you. This was just elevated at the time of Christ. There were people that would throw rocks at a leper to make sure that they knew you don't come near me. The Pharisees declared that the safe boundary and the nearest safe boundary if you were upstream of a leper was 6 feet.

If you were downstream, it was 100 ft to 150 ft away. You were not welcome. A leper comes to Christ and he kneels before him. He knows where he is in society and he knows that he has no chance of becoming back a part of that society unless Christ heals him. And what did he say? He looks up at Christ and he says to him, "If you are willing, you can make me clean.

" He doesn't have doubt. He knows Christ can heal him. Christ has a choice. That's what's interesting about how the story unfolds. It says in verse 41, "Then Jesus moved with compassion." I think the first point we ought to really stop and ponder for just a minute is how often the scripture describes Christ as moved with compassion.

We're given an example right here. The leper kneeling before him, pleading with him. Christ's heart is reaching out to this individual. Do you know how we know that's true? It tells us, yes, he was moved with compassion, but he shows his compassion. Jesus moved with compassion, stretched out his hand and touched him.

The one thing you were not to do with someone with leprosy was touch them. They're already outcast. They're not welcome. He shouldn't be anywhere near them. He knelt right in front of Jesus Christ and rather than throwing rocks at him, kicking him away, screaming and yelling at him that he's a leper, unclean, unclean, Christ moved with compassion, touched him.

The master, the savior, the God of the Old Testament touched him. You know how often we touch each other in communication? Why do we do that? It's connective, isn't it? It's funny. Now that I say these words, I want you to pay attention to how often you see it happen. Two people talking and one will touch the other.

They might come close to one another while they're having conversations. As many times as I have seen this, you probably recognize this instantly. Have you ever looked across a room and seen two women holding hands with each other and talking? touching connects us to people. It says, "I care about you. I want to understand what your point is.

I I want to make this point carefully with you and I want to make sure you understand what I'm saying." We use touch to connect. Christ touched him. It's not a small thing. It reveals the heart of Jesus Christ. It also says that he accepts what society had rejected. Christ accepted. If we want to get to know Jesus Christ, we start with stories like this that tell us something about where he is, his tenderness, how he feels, and how he is moved with compassion to touch.

And then he says to him, I am willing and he heals him. Be cleansed, he says. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. This is the Jesus Christ we need to get to know. The second example I want to look at here is in Luke chapter 7. And we'll we'll pull a number of examples out of Luke.

Interesting that the that the physician Luke did a lot of work in recording miracles that involved healing, cleansings, and those sorts of things. Here's a unique story that he shares with us in Luke chapter 7 beginning in verse 11 because it also reveals something else about Jesus Christ. Luke 7:1 says, "Now it happened the day after.

" Now what happened before this was Jesus had healed the centurion's servant. So the next day, the day after that he went into the city called Naan and many of his disciples went with him and a large crowd. Something that is very important for us to understand is that we can miss what that is saying. It's telling us that Christ did not go places alone very often.

Who else at that time is walking around with an entourage described like this? His work isn't hidden. People won't they won't stop following him in throngs. Here it's described as crowds. Well, do you describe a would you call this room crowded? I would not call this room crowded. Now, if I were in the center of that and a whole bunch of people were all around me, I might call that a throng.

A crowd is a lot more than that. I think we all would agree that that's what we think of when we think of crowds. And so Christ, whatever he did was visible. It was seen. Verse 12 says, "And when he came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a large crowd from the city was with her.

" So when they when they they did not bury at this time they did not bury their the dead in within a city. They took them outside of the city and in smaller villages, smaller towns and so forth. The the village would usually all go with or you know in the sense of a lot of people would go and it you see that it's describes in that way a large crowd was with her.

Now, of course, at this time, you also had professional mourers, people that were paid to to be mourers. But in this case, it's not describing them as just being paid uh mourners. So, she's being followed. So, she's she's known somehow. And when they're carried out, so they're carried out on a here, it's just you're going to see that it's described as a coffin. It's not a coffin.

It's an open platform made of wood essentially, more like branches, and they run beams across it. And so you hold the beams, but nobody touches the platform that's created. And the body is laid across the top of the surface. It's wrapped in linens completely. A cloth placed over the face. And you didn't touch the body. You didn't touch the It's called a beer.

B I E R. You don't touch either of those. No one touches them. You carry them by the poles. It's This is important for context. It says in verse 13, "When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep." Pause again because there's a lot compacted in such a small thing. Nobody said to Christ, "Hey, look over here and see this widow who's being who's grieving her dead son.

He looked and saw despite the fact that he's surrounded with a whole bunch of people who all probably have questions and want to have his attention, want to talk to him. He sees the widow. She's lost her husband. That's what makes her a widow. Who's supposed to take care of her? Her son. She has one and he's dead now.

Who's going to take care of her? She's mourning all kinds of things in real time. Christ sees all of that. Then he came and touched the open coffin and those who carried him stood still. The pulpit commentary notes on this says the following. It was pollution for the living to touch the beer on which a corpse was lying.

the bearers in their amazement that one so generally respected and admired as was Jesus the teacher of Nazareth at this period of his career should commit so strange an act would naturally at once stand still to see what next would happen that was purposeful on Christ's part to touch that beer when all of society said no one does that and he didn't do it in isolation he did it in front of everyone on. They're all watching him.

The whole procession stops while Christ is now taking actions. And he says, "Young man, I say to you, arise." You imagine the stranges of that situation. You're one of the carriers. It doesn't say they set him down. It says he touched the beer. They're holding it. They just stopped moving. and he sits up. I guess at that point they probably set him down unless they tip him over.

But it's an interesting thing to to consider when I think about these things. It says, "So he who was dead sat up and began to speak." I just man, it would be so interesting to have been there. Watch that. and he presented him to his mother and then fear came upon them all. I wonder why. That would have been something remarkable saying, "A great prophet has risen up among us and quote, "God has visited his people.

" They saw a miracle. They knew it. They understood he was dead. This wasn't fake. They knew he was dead. But Christ noticed. He noticed the whole situation and he knew exactly what to do. That tells us an awful lot about where his heart is. And once again, how did it begin? He was moved with compassion for a woman suffering.

Christ was moved with compassion. This is the Christ I want us to get to know over in chapter 19 of Luke. Chapter 19 again late in the chapter. Verse 41 says, 'Now as he drew near to Jerusalem, this is where he's headed. He says, 'Now as he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it. If you're a parent, I'd be willing to bet you've wept over your children at least once.

a decision they've made, a mistake they've made, a choice they've made, you knew was going to hurt them, and you had no ability to prevent that. It's one of the what's one of the rare experiences of being a parent that's extremely valuable and extremely difficult to go through. Christ is the parent of parents.

It is the same being that John describes for us in the first chapter of John. It's the word, the creator being who created all things and that nothing was made that wasn't made by him. Every human being matters to him. It was the same being who entered into a covenant relationship with Israel. all of Israel, including Judah, that same being who went through centuries with them, watching them choose poorly, mistake after mistake after mistake, suffering the consequences of their sins in curses after curses after curses, and

the whole time desiring for them to be blessed, wishing that they would just make the right choice. He's looking at them now. Right at the end, he says, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you, and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you to the ground.

And they will not leave in you one stone upon another because you did not know the time of your visitation. The Messiah was in their midst. They did not know him. They did not believe him. They did not follow him. Christ sees our bad choices and he feels them. That's obvious. You know, you don't weep unless you care deeply when someone makes a mistake or unless you recognize when someone's made a mistake that you've been through with somebody you do care deeply about.

That tells us something important about Jesus Christ. He's not indifferent when people destroy themselves. He can watch it and he will let us. That doesn't mean he doesn't care. In the same way a parent cares when a child makes a decision, you know, is going to hurt them. But they did not know the time of their visitation.

This is the savior we are trying to get to know. He deeply cares about the people who are fallible, who make mistakes, who sin, who fall down. He doesn't rejoice in that. His tears over Jerusalem show us the heart of a savior who does not delight in judgment. The consequences are the consequences. He's not happy about it.

He cares about our choices. He also doesn't forgive sin, but he is gentle. John chapter 8, beginning here in verse one. We'll read through. Uh we're going to read through verse 11. So verse one says, "But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives." "Now early in the morning, he came again into the temple and all the people came to him and sat down and taught them.

" He sat down and taught them. So we see the role that he's in right now as teacher. Now the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman caught in her adultery. And when they had set her down in the midst, they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery in the very act." Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned.

But what do you say now? John knows full well exactly what was going on. He's recording again 60 years later and John makes this comment. He says, "They said this, testing him that they might have something of which to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger as though he did not hear." So when they continued asking him, he raised himself up and he said to them, "Okay, he who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.

" It's a rather challenging proposition from Christ because any honest man knows we're not perfect. We've all got some sin. Which is the person who will stand up and say, "I have no sin." Pick up a stone and throw it at her. Don't play chess with Christ. That's the lesson I took from that right away.

But again, he says this and then in verse eight, it says, "He stooped down and he wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest, even to the last. And Jesus was left alone. And the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised himself up and saw no one but the woman, he said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?" And she says, "No one, Lord.

" Now he says to her, "Neither do I condemn you." Pause. Why would he say that? We have to remember that Jesus Christ himself admitted he was not sent here to judge the world. He was sent here as the lamb of God to die for our sins. That was his function. That's why he came not to judge the world. So he says the truth.

I don't condemn you. But he says go and sin no more. That is the complete plan of God for human beings. What is the result of the sin if she does not sin no more? If she goes back to her sins, condemnation, if you want no condemnation, go and sin no more. That's what he's saying. It is the nudge in the right direction.

It is the same nudge God gave to Israel in the Old Testament when he said, "Choose life." If you want to live and your children to live, choose life. He's not indifferent. Christ isn't sitting there entertained by all of our terrible decisions wondering what are you guys going to do and oh this is all entertainment to me it's far more important to him than that choose life is taking sides I want you to live I want you to succeed I want you to be happy only one way to that choose life go and sin no more it's funny to me the came yesterday, today, and forever

back to chap to Luke. And for those who were worried that this might just be a whole lot, it's only we're already on number five. So, here we go. Luke chapter 7 again. I'm going to start here in verse 36. Let's notice this interesting story that really reveals a lot about where Christ's mind is and comfort that we should take from who he really is.

This this being we are trying to get to know today. Verse 36 of John chapter 7 says, "Then one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him." Okay. And he went to the Pharisees house and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner. When she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil and stood at his feet behind him weeping.

She began to wash his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. and she kissed his feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, note he spoke to himself, saying, "This man Christ, this teacher of Nazareth, this prophet, this man, if he were a prophet, this is the accusation, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him for she is a sinner.

This is just human nature. It's really easy for us to point the finger at the bad guy, the other guy, the person who's got the problem. We can be remote from other people's problems and see them and categorize them in a in a in a certain way. That's easy for human nature to do. He's just being human. But how did he see her? as a sinner? Did he see her as a daughter of God? You know, I you're probably doing what I'm doing, which is as I'm going through each of these examples, I'm looking for the application for myself. Do I see

myself in either of these? Do I see myself in Christ in my response, or do I see myself in the Pharisee in his response? How did Jesus see her? Verse 40 says, 'And Jesus answered and said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. This feels like a first, middle, and last name moment. Or for us parents, first name, middle name moment.

You're probably in trouble if Christ says, "I have something to say to you." So he says, "Say it, teacher." Verse 41, "There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. 10500 diner dinari the other 50. So there's a big dis disparity between these amounts. That's quite a bit. One is 10fold more than the other.

It's a large debt by comparison. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him more? Simon answered and said,"I suppose the one whom he forgave more." Christ said to him, "You have rightly judged." Then he turned to the woman.

Now he's still speaking to Simon. So he turns to the woman and he's looking at her and what she's been doing. Verse 44, he says, "Do you see this woman?" Well, clearly he did. Called her a sinner. Knew exactly who she was. Christ says, "I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet." Push pause and just realize what he's saying.

Not every home out there had a servant to wash your feet. Most often times they set water out for you to wash your own feet. This was the standard way that you would do this. And so he says, "But you put no water out for my feet, but she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair, with the hair of her head.

You gave me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore, I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.

Then he says to her directly, "Your sins are forgiven." The one with the authority to forgive, forgave. Why? One of the most important lessons I've learned since becoming an elder counseling people for baptism is not everybody says the words I'm sorry when they repent. Some people can't put words to those feelings.

She had no words for her repentance. Did she not repent? If you're crying enough that you have enough tears to wash the soil from someone's feet, and I mean both feet, you've been crying. She's been repenting. She is repentant. That's what Christ sees. Not the outward I'm sorry, which can be from a false place.

He's looking at what's in here. And what's in here was manifested to him. He couldn't deny it and he didn't deny it. And he said plainly, her repentance got her forgiveness. How bad of mistakes do we have to make that the moment we stop and simply repent, God is right there to forgive? That's what he's telling us.

This is who Jesus Christ is. Turn over to chapter 8. We're still in the book of Luke. This one for us men's a little harder to understand in terms of the condition, but in terms of what he did, not at all. Towards the end, we're going to pick it up in verse 43. Christ has been beseeched by a man to come and help his 12-year-old daughter is is dying and he's being beseeched to come.

And Christ again is surrounded by people. And in the midst of that request, a woman having a flow of blood for 12 years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of his garment. You imagine? I can't I don't know what what what this thing this condition she's going through is like.

I can't imagine that it is in any way pleasant because she has spent everything she had to to be healed of it and she had it for 12 years. And if you have a flow of blood, you are unclean. She's not as bad as a leper, but she's unclean. How desperate is she to become clean and recognized as a part of society again? Because if you're unclean, you're no longer welcome in society.

Remember, so she came from behind and touched the border of his garment. Like he could not have felt that amongst all of that throng of people, right? And immediately her flow of blood stopped. I we just have to take the word for that. I don't know I mean how John would know but apparent or Luke would know but apparently he knew. He is a physician.

Anyway, he's reporting that it happened. Okay. But here's what's interesting. Jesus said, "Who touched me?" Like the disciples are looking at the throng, the crowd that is surrounded him. There's a lot of people they're bumping and jostling him. And when so when all denied it, Peter, of course, Peter would be the one.

Peter and those with him said, "Master, the multitudes throng and press you." And you say, "Who touched me?" H how would we know? Jesus says, "Somebody touched me, for I perceived power going out from me." What a remarkable thing that is to see. To just stop and think about that. Here's just an element of Jesus Christ.

We have no idea what this means. He felt the power of healing go out from him to someone. I can't do that. I would love to do that. I would love on an anointing that you feel God's healing happening in that moment. I would absolutely love that. Of course, then we'd get vain and pride would puffed up our heads and all that kind of stuff. I get it.

I get it. God doesn't want us to be any part of that. We are the tool. I get it. Still, it would be cool. But Christ literally felt this come out of him. Now, notice what he does. Now, when the woman saw that she was not hidden, and I don't know how she knew this, but they're all looking around for her, and she's probably feeling guilty.

I doubt it's that Indiana Jones moment when the crowd parts and the the big bad guys got the big sword. I It's probably not that. But somehow she knows that they've spotted her. She saw that she was not hidden. So she came trembling. Why would she come trembling? Maybe she was worried that she should have asked permission.

She was presumptuous in her desperation to be healed. I don't know. Sure seems like it. It says, "And falling down before him once again, a moment of compassion on Christ's part, she declared to him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched him and how she was healed immediately." Now, I want you to notice what he says.

He said to her, "Daughter, that one word conveys an awful lot. The creator, God in the flesh, as Jesus Christ says to her, daughter." She's not his actual daughter. We know that this is how he views humanity. But also, Christ knows that her uncleanness has separated her from society. And he did something for her in that moment when he called her daughter in front of everyone.

Accepted beloved child. He brought her back into the society she had been rejected from because of her condition. That's Christ who sees where we are and what we need. That is a tender-hearted God being. And so Christ says, "Daughter, be of good cheer. You didn't do anything wrong. Your faith has made you well.

Go in peace. Your belief, your trust. Your action to reach out and touch the hem of the garment to receive healing has made you well. It's a remarkable story that helps us to see deeper into the mind of Jesus Christ. Where is he and what does he think about and how does he view us? The last one I want to give you is over in Mark, Mark chapter 3.

This also reveals an aspect of Christ, how he views how we judge one another, how we view our religion, how we view love. We we sang the hymn, by this shall all men know, if you have love for one another, that is not light to Christ. That is a big deal. And here we see an example of how the lack of that angers him.

Chapter 3 of Mark verse 1 says, "And he entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. So they watched him closely whether he would heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him." He said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward." Then he said to them, this is he's talking now to the Pharisees.

He says to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" You know, there are judgments that they make, the Pharisees, to break the Sabbath that they're perfectly fine with. They will circumcise an infant on the Sabbath to obey the command of the eighth day for circumcision, but they will not allow Christ to heal a man.

But they kept silent. And when he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. Do you think that the Pharisees learned a lesson? Oh, wow.

What a great thing happened here. Oh, no. Verse six says, "Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him." This is what made Christ angry. They had a form of religion, but there was no religion in their hearts. How do you say, "I believe in a merciful, loving God," and view Christ this way.

You desire in your heart to destroy this man. If we want to know Jesus Christ and we need to know Jesus Christ, why why is it really important for us to pause to learn these aspect of who he is? This tenderness, this concern, this compassion, it has everything to do with our roles in the kingdom of God. First fruits are called to be servants with Jesus Christ of mankind.

If we want to be effective servants, we need to be exactly like Christ was. We need to feel what he felt towards our fellow man. When Christ returns, we will no longer be fellow man. We will be spiritborn beings, kings and priests serving underneath Jesus Christ to bring God's government to this world. We need compassion and mercy and love for those people who will be hurting.

What will those people have been like coming out of the tribulation and the day of the Lord? What will they be feeling? How will they view the world and everything that they've been through? Do you think they might need some people who have some compassion and some mercy and some love to help them? And we go all the way through the millennium and we get to the other side and we have another resurrection.

We have Gog 2.0. All the armies of men who finally reject God permanently and Satan are removed. And there's a resurrection of every human being who has ever been born and suffered in this life, who lived in Satan's world, who will be brought into a world that doesn't have Satan anymore, but it does have us.

And it has Christ who set us an example of how we should be. This is why it's so important for us to get to know who Jesus Christ really is. To pour through the pages of the gospels and through Hebrew and the writings of the New Testament authors to see Jesus Christ the way they wanted us to see him, the way many of them knew him.

And all we have is their testimony to show us him. We have prophecies about what he would endure which help us to connect to what he was willing to go through. We have testimonies of those who watched it, who saw it, who walked with him for three and a half years to see this being for who he really was. And that's who he wants us to be.

So, we need to study who he is. He says to us in Matthew, as I wrap up my final point here, he says to us in Matthew 11 of I think for most of you a familiar passage. Matthew 11 28. He says, "Come to me all you who are who labor and are heavy laden." And that's all of us in this world today.

Those of us God has called out of the world right now. We come out of a world with our own heavy burdens. And he says, "Well, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Learn from me. I set you an example. Learn from that example. Become like me." He can't be accused of having been distant or remote or in some way past all that he did.

Luke chapter 6. Verse 40. Am I in the correct? Yeah. Luke 6 verse 40. A disciple is not above his teacher. He just basically told us we are disciples. We've been called out of this world and given God's spirit. We are disciples of Jesus Christ. And he told us to learn from him. And here he says a disciple is not above his teacher.

But everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. He's not teaching us to be like somebody else. He's teaching us to be like he is. I want you to note one final thing here as we turn over to Hebrews. Couple of passages I want to read with you today. Hebrews chapter 4 to see who Christ is right now. Hebrews chapter 4 15 and 16.

Well, let's read 14-16. Beginning at verse 14 of Hebrews chapter 4, it says, "Seeing then that we have a a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses." You know what's interesting? If you just push pause on that, we get to say the same thing.

When we're spirit beings, when Jesus Christ returns, we get to say exactly the same thing. We know what you've been through. We lived it. I can sympathize. So he says, "Therefore, we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet he without sin.

" But notice what he says. Then let us come therefore boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. When we have need, what Christ is telling us, what we're being told by the author of Hebrews is that Christ is waiting to help us. Come boldly before the throne.

You have an intercessor sitting right next to the father who loves you. He's not accusing. That's Satan. Christ sits there trying to help. Turn back to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2 17 and 18. Verse 17 says, "Therefore, in all things he had to be made like his brethren, us, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest.

" That's why we are going through what we are going through right now. Why we are living our life right now the way we are. What we have to go through to get there is that right there. that when we are serving under Jesus Christ that we might be a merciful and faithful people, priests and kings for Christ.

Here he says that he himself might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted. He is able to aid those who are tempted. This is why we study who Jesus Christ is because we need to be like Jesus Christ. That's the role we've been called to.

That's our future. That's our responsibility today. We need to study who our savior is. His roles are critical. his responsibilities, his duties, his titles irreplaceable. But beyond all of that is a man who walked this earth and went through what we've gone through and showed what's really in his heart. Let's be like Jesus Christ.