Is This the Jesus You Trust and Follow?

Is This the Jesus You Trust and Follow?
message # 1 in the series
Getting to the Heart of the Gospel

Luke 1:26-38 (ESV)

²⁶ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” ²⁹ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

³⁴ And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. ³⁶ And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

1. Jesus is uniquely the of God. (vv. 32a, 35b)

2. Jesus is the promised Davidic –. (vv. 32b-33)

3. Jesus was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit and was born of a . (vv. 27, 31, 34-38)

4. Jesus is fully and fully — one divine-human person with two natures.

 The Doctrine of the Incarnation

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14, ESV)

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
(Colossians 2:9, ESV)

ESV Study Bible

“This is the most amazing event in all of history: the eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, infinitely holy Son of God took on a human nature and lived among humanity as one who was both God and man at the same time, in one person.” (note on John 1:14, p. 2,020)

Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (2nd Edition)

We may summarize the biblical teaching about the person of Christ as follows: Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man in one person and will be so forever. (p. 663)

“It is by far the most amazing miracle of the entire Bible—far more amazing than the resurrection and more amazing even than the creation of the universe. The fact that the infinite, omnipotent, eternal Son of God could become man and join himself to a human nature forever so that infinite God became one person with finite man—that will remain for eternity the most profound miracle and the most profound mystery in all the universe.” (p. 700)

J.I. Packer, Concise Theology

“Jesus is one divine-human person in two natures (i.e., with two sets of capacities for experience, expression, reaction, and action); and that the two natures are united in his personal being without mixture, confusion, separation, or division; and that each nature retained its own attributes. In other words, all the qualities and powers that are in us, as well as all the qualities and powers that are in God, were, are, and ever will be really and distinguishably present in the one person of the man from Galilee. Thus the Chalcedonian formula affirms the full humanity of the Lord from heaven in categorical terms.

The Incarnation, this mysterious miracle at the heart of historic Christianity, is central in the New Testament witness.” (p. 105)

Non-biblical views

1. Arianism – Jesus is a created being; not fully God
2. Docetism – Jesus only seems to be human; not fully man
3. Adoptionism – Jesus was adopted as God’s Son at his baptism; not fully God
4. Apollinarianism – Jesus had a human body, but not a human mind and spirit; not fully man
5. Nestorianism – Jesus was two persons in one body
6. Eutychianism – Jesus’ human nature was absorbed or swallowed up by his divine nature (forming a third kind of nature)
7. Great Teacher/Example – Jesus was a respected, human religious leader, but nothing more; not God
8. Myth – Jesus is a creation of the imagination of his first followers

Luke 2:10-11 (ESV)

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

5. Jesus is and .

So, how do you respond to this Jesus?

if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. ¹³ For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9-13, ESV)