[Gary Antion] I have lots of Facebook friends. A lot of them are former students of mine,
some of them not in the Church, some of them in the Church. They're my friends on Facebook. I also have actual friends. You might wonder of that, but I do have actual
friends, really good friends, who are close to me, and I feel close to them. So that's great and awesome and wonderful. Sometimes they're the same. Some of the ones on Facebook are same as the
ones that are my actual friends, but what if Jesus Christ were your friend on Facebook? What would His profile look like? You know, when you open it up, you see a picture
of them, and it tells you all the stats about them, things that they want to share. What would Jesus Christ's profile look like? I bring this sermon because I think during
the days of Passover time and Days of Unleavened Bread, it's a great time to say, "Do I really
know Jesus Christ?" The apostle Paul had contact with Him. Probably the epistles of Paul give us the
last words you might say because he was taught directly by Jesus Christ for three and a half
years. And he said… he quoted what Jesus Christ
said to him. And that was, "Do this in remembrance of Me." Passover is about remembering Jesus Christ,
and as a corollary or a relatedly, yes, what He did for us is there. But I find myself sometimes in preparing for
Passover, I'm doing a lot more things about me. Passover is not about me. Passover is about Jesus Christ. It's about remembering Him. And, yes, as a related aspect what He did
for me and being grateful for that and examining myself as to whether I'm trusting Him, whether
I'm looking to Him, whether I believe Him, whether I'm letting Him lead my life, whether
I'm giving my life to Him so that He can continue to lead me. It's very important for us to know Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul said after he gave up everything
in the book of Philippians 3. He said, "I count it all but dung but a pile
of manure, all that I've been, all that I've done." He already said Philippians 3:10, "That I
might know, that I might know Jesus Christ." So it's my hope and my desire, and I did a
lot of study on this, a lot of study, and I had more scriptures that I could possibly
read to you so that's why I gave you a handout. If you didn't get one, I think our ushers
have one for you. It's duplexed front and back, and you can
use that for studying. Use that for looking up. That gives you the profile of Jesus Christ
that I'm going to speak about, a profile of Jesus Christ. What would He look like? What would He be like? What would He do? What did He do? What was He all about? Did He like any activities? Did He like any sports? What was His favorite food? That I don't know. Fish maybe. It seems that's the only thing I see Him eating,
fish and bread. What did He do when He walked this earth? So let me give you… let me say when I open up my Facebook and
I see a picture, some pictures I see of people are only outlines, only an outline of a person's
head and maybe his or her shoulders. They don't really show much of themselves. So, if you had Jesus Christ… and by the
way, if you would look on Facebook, search Jesus Christ, you see like four. There are four Jesus Christ's on there. I didn't look anything about them. I don't want to know anything about them,
but just I saw them on there. There are four. So if He were your friend, what would He look
like? What would his picture be? Well, it would be just an outline of an ordinary
man, because Jesus Christ was an ordinary man and because Jesus Christ did not want
people to worship His image. He wants people to worship Him for who He
is, not for what He looks like. And so you find regarding a picture Luke 4:29,
Luke 4:29. When Jesus Christ was being pursued, He was
able to pass through the crowd without anybody even being able to point Him out. Luke 4:29, "And they rose up and thrust Him
out of the city; and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built," that's
verse 29. Verse 30 we're coming to, "that they might
throw Him down over the cliff.” And verse 30, "Then passing through the midst
of them, He went His way." So He was able to just get lost in a crowd. Now, take a typical picture that we see that's
been foisted off on our world of Jesus Christ, the long hair, effeminate looking individual,
not strong-looking, effeminate looking individual, and say to yourself, and long hair and a halo
and wearing whiter than white clothes because He washed them in Tide. He had whiter than white. Even though He was a carpenter, carpenter
carrying bricks and carrying wood and having dust fly up in His face and mortar get… He always had a whiter than white. Is that what Jesus looks like? And you'd say, "Follow the man with a halo." "Follow the man whose locks are flying in
the wind,” but they couldn't. So if you look at His picture, He'd be a very
ordinary man. In fact, Isaiah 53:2, which was a prophecy. Isaiah 53:2, a prophecy of the servant of
God, verse 2, we read, "He shall grow up before Him," He, the servant, grew up before God
the Father, "as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we
see Him, there is no beauty, no handsomeness that we should desire Him." Jesus Christ did not stand out as some macho
man. Jesus Christ was an ordinary-looking man. He was about 30. So every picture you conjure of Him, He lived
into His 30s, because we find in Luke 3:23, He began His ministry. He was about 30. He was about 30 when He began His ministry. 1 Corinthians 11:14 tells us from the apostle
Paul, who had been trained by Him. Right. For how many years? Three and a half in Arabia when He appeared
to Paul. If Jesus Christ had long hair and you were
the apostle Paul, would you write, "It's a shame for a man to have long hair," if you
had been taught by Him for three and a half years? Would you say that about your Lord and Savior? He wouldn't. He didn't. So, 1 Corinthians 11:14 tells us that. So when was He born? About 4 B.C. Give or take a period of time. And in Isaiah 7:14, He was prophesied to be
born of a virgin, a virgin giving birth to a son, a virgin giving birth to a son in Luke
1:34. Let's take a look at that. Luke 1:34. By the way, our booklet that we have on Jesus
Christ is awesome for all the details you get even more. I didn't go to that for details. I happened to find it. I had it before at home, and I misplaced it. I happened to find it yesterday when I needed
it just to check out one other point, but it gives you a lot of that information. But Luke 1:34, “Mary said to the angel,”
that told her she's going to… about to have a child. She's going to be able to be the mother of
the Son of God. And verse 34, “Mary said to the angel, ‘How
can this be? How can I have a child since I do not know
a man?’" And when they talk about somebody knowing
someone in a female-male relationship, they talk about having relationships with them
in a marital or sexual way. “How can this be?” And, of course, Jesus Christ was accused by
others, those detractors by saying, "We be not born of fornication." So, they had a pretty good idea, and, of course,
Joseph knew. And if you read in Matthew's account, it said,
"He knew her not his wife.” He was betrothed to her as engaged, but he
did not know her until Jesus Christ was born." So, He was born about 4 B.C., and He was born
of a virgin. Now, I won't go into the Catholic teaching
about the perpetual of virginity because she wasn't or how He was born and still retained
her virginal membranes. I'm not going to go into that. Where was He born? Where was His birthplace? I was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, but
my parents resided in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania and then Claysville for a little, but then
back to Bridgeville. So Bridgeville is my hometown, but Canonsburg
hospital's where I was born. When you ask about Jesus Christ, where was
His birthplace? It was Bethlehem of Judea. In Micah 5:2, we find that prophecy. Micah 5:2. Micah 5:2, "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah…" Apparently, there was another Bethlehem farther
to the north, and so they wanted to distinguish the Bethlehem of Judea is where Jesus was
born. So He says, "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth
to Me One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting." The one that's going to come to you is from
everlasting because God is from everlasting to everlasting. Jesus Christ gave up being a part of the God
family to come here as far as being spirit being and be born. Let's see if I want to give anything else
on this. Yes, Luke 4:16. Luke 4:16 But where was His hometown? Luke 4:16, "So He came to Nazareth, where
He had been brought up." So if you say, "Where was Jesus’ hometown?" Nazareth. “And as His custom was, He went into the
synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.” And that's when He read the famous scripture. Some of them took it and were condemned by
it as well. But Luke 4:16 says, "He was brought up in
Nazareth of Galilee." So He was a Galilean. He was a Jew. You have that scripture down there. Hebrews 7:14. It's evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah. So Jesus Christ was a Jew. He was also of the lineage of David. Luke 3:23 and 31. He was of the lineage of David. So, when you read in Isaiah 11 talks about
a branch out of the rod of Jesse, and so He's connected to David and Jesse, who was David's
father. What about His family? Did He have a family when He walked this earth? Yes. His Father was God. You can find that in Luke 1:31. Luke 1:31. The
angel said, "Mary, you found favor with God." You'll picture yourself you girls as maybe
a teenager 13, 14, 15. They married in those days that young. Maybe she was unusual and a little bit older. But God comes to her and says, that angel,
"You have found favor with God. You'll conceive in your womb," verse 31, "and
bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son
of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David." And verse 33, "And He will reign over the
house of Israel forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end." So, He was born. And it says in verse 35, "And the angel answered
and said to her,” after she said, “I don't know a man.” "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the
power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be
born will be called the Son of God." So who was His Father? His Father was God, God the Father. Now, Joseph had said of Him that He was supposed
to be… He was supposed to be the Son of God. Notice in Luke, again, Luke 3:23. Luke 3:23 in this genealogy of Jesus Christ. “Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at
about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph,” so it gives you a legal
genealogy, and then the other one is the actual genealogy in Matthew of both of them end up
having David in their lineage and coming out of Judah. But I thought it's interesting, as was supposed
that Joseph was His father. It's interesting that Joseph drops from the
scene drops from the Gospels pretty early that we don't hear any more about him. And was that maybe to give Jesus Christ the
chance to understand what it was like to be kind of the head of a family, having to step
in as the oldest son to look after the family? His mother's name was Mary. Mark 6:3 tells us another bit of information
in His profile. Mark 6:3, Jesus Christ had four brothers and
at least two sisters. He could have had three or four but doesn't
tell us how many sisters. It just says “sisters” plural. But Mark 6:3, "Is not this…" After Jesus Christ had stood up to speak,
and they said, "What wisdom this man speaks with. What clarity! What inspiration!" But verse 3, "Is not this the carpenter?" Keep that in mind because we say what was
Jesus… what did He do for work. "Isn't this the carpenter, the Son of Mary,
the brother of James, Joses, Juda, and Simon?" Now, we don't know much about Simon and Joses,
but we do know Jude and James because they were brothers of Jesus Christ. Two books were written by them. “'And are not His sisters here with us?’ And they were offended at Him." His own brothers and sisters were offended
to have Jesus Christ there. And again, talk about perfection. How would it be to live with a perfect sibling? They never make a mistake. They never show up late. They never forget to make their beds. They never forget to clean the bathroom. They never forget to do their chores. They never forget. They never lie. They never do the wrong thing. That would make it hard. I'll tell you big comparison. I know one girl who was really good. She had a sister younger than she. This girl at 12 could bake bread, sew, knit. Take care of little children… babysit at
12. We used to call her her first name, but I
won't say it but her first name and then we call her the Deaconess. At 12 years old, she could do all that, and
she was very upright as a person. Her younger sister was not. About three years younger, she gave her family
fits because she figured, "I can't ever be as good as my older sister." So they were offended at Jesus. They didn't love Jesus in His own household. He didn't have the support except from Mary
and Joseph for a little while till He was 12. They gave Him support, but the others did
not. So He did have a family. He was rejected by His siblings. They didn't like Him. Did He have friends? He had lots of friends, lots of friends. He had at least 4,000 at one time. He had 5,000 at other time, and He had many
more who came around Him looking to be healed and looking to be fed. So He had a lot of I would call them casual
friends, friends who came. Maybe user friends who wanted what He had. But I don't call them good friends, great
friends, but they were there, a lot of friends that He had. Many came around Him. Luke 2:52. He was loved by people. I thought that's interesting. Let's read it. Luke 2:52, "And Jesus” after His staying
behind in Jerusalem, and His parents came back to get Him, and He was sitting there
questioning the professors the big shots of knowledge, the doctors of the law and Pharisees
and scribes. Anyway, verse 52 of Luke, "And Jesus increased
in wisdom and stature," He grew up. He grew in knowledge, "and in favor with God
and men." He was liked. Crowds thronged around Jesus Christ. He was well-liked. He wasn't well-liked for what He preached
at least by the Pharisees and scribes who turned the people against Him because they
were afraid of Him, but He was well-liked by them. After all, He did heal people. We'll talk about that in a little bit. Four thousand five… He had some close friends, very close friends
in John 11. John 11:3 and 5. John 11:3. “Now, His friend Lazarus laid sick, a certain
man.” And verse 3, it says, "Therefore his sisters,
Mary and Martha, "His sisters sent to Him, saying, 'Lord, behold, he whom You love…
he whom You love is sick." Verse 5, "Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister
Mary, and Lazarus." So, Jesus Christ was very close to them. And besides that, a lot of women came… more
emotional who hear the message, who respond, who could understand. Remember, God is not just one. He's one sex. He's at least known as man. Known as a male figure, but He can tune into
women. He could tune into men. And because He could do that, a lot of women
throng. You could find many of the women. Mary, Mary Magdalene and many others came
around Him and were His friends. So Jesus Christ had friends. Some of them were very close. One disciple in particular… He loved all of His disciples, but one in
particular, John. In John 21:20, John 21:20, you often read,
"There was a disciple whom Jesus loved." Now, I think that He loved all of His disciples. He was God in the flesh, and God is love. So He loved all of His disciples, but He loved
one of them especially. And it singles Him out. It says, "And the one whom He loved." But notice John 21:20. This is after He asked Peter, "Do you love
Me? Do you like Me, Peter? Do you love Me with agape love?" And Peter said, "Of course, I'm fond of You." And He said, "Peter, do you love Me with an
agape love?" Peter said, "I told you, Lord, I'm fond of
You." He didn't have an agape love. Finally, Jesus changed the word, "Peter, are
you fond of Me?" And Peter said, "I told You, I'm fond of You." Peter wasn't capable, and then Jesus said,
"You're going to probably be crucified upside down. Men will take you the way… will take you
and carry you where you don't want to go." And tradition says, "He was crucified upside
down," because when they were going to crucify him, he said, "Don't do it the way my Lord
and Savior. I'm not worthy." So, tradition. Whether it’s true or not I can't verify
crucified him upside down. But then he said to Jesus… it said in 20,
"And Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned
on His breast at the supper, and said, 'Lord, who is the one who betrays You?’" Verse 21, Peter asked the question. “Seeing him, he said to Jesus, 'But Lord,
what about this man? Well, you told me I'm going to die. Well, what about the one you love?’ And Jesus said, ‘What is it to you? Mind your own business. If I want him to live until I come back, so
be it.’" So, gossip goes around then gossip went saying,
"He's not going to live…” I mean, “He will live until Christ comes
back. He won't die.” That's what talks about gossip. But notice in verse 24, "This is the disciple
who testifies of these things," the one that Jesus loves, who wrote this book, John. John was the disciple Jesus loved. And when you read the Gospels and when you
read 1, 2, and 3 John and Revelation, but 1, 2, and 3 John particularly, you find a
lot of love coming from John. The apostle John got the message. He “badda book,” and he “badda boom”
if you've seen that ad. He got the message. He “badda book,” and he “badda boom,”
whatever that means. But anyway, he “badda book.” He “badda boom.” That's what they advertised for, what is it,
Choice Hotels. He got it. He had it. He would lie right by Jesus when I guess they
reclined. One head this way and the other's head would
be this way so they face to face when they're reclining after their meal or during their
meal. And they would signal to John, “John ask
Him, who is it that will betray You? Who is it that will betray Him? John, you have an in with Him. Ask Him.” So John was his really close friend. He loved all the disciples though. John 13:1. John 13:1, "Now before the Feast of the Passover,
when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father,
having loved His own who were in the world," listen, "He loved them to the end." Jesus's love did not stop with Peter denying
Him. It did not stop with Thomas, saying, "I don't
believe He's resurrected unless I could touch the holes in His hands and in His side." He didn't stop loving them. He loved them to the end. And I think it's important for us to know
we have friends. There are some friends that are awesome, stick
with you, but not all the disciples did. John 6:66. Not all the disciples were in it for the long
haul. They were in it until the going got rough,
and Jesus said, "Nobody can come to Me unless God the Father calls them." But in John 6:66, John 6:66, "And He said
to them, 'No man can come to Me unless it's been granted to him by My Father."' But He also talked about the persecution,
also talked about eating my flesh, drinking my blood. But in verse 66, it says, "From that time
many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more." How sad must that have been for Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, right in their midst, giving them the truth, showing them the truth, living
the truth, walking with them, eating with them, praying with them, miracle after miracle
that He did, and many of them quit walking with Him. And that's what He told His disciples, His
close core. He said, "Are you going to go away too?" And they said, "Where will we go? You have the words of the everlasting life. Where will we go? Who's going to give that to us?" They had the right answers, and they did right
except some of them rejected Him, two, only temporarily. His disciples He loved, John 15:15, He called
them His friends, "I share with you. I tell you." So, again, did Jesus have friends? Yes, He did. He had close friends. He loved His friends, and He loved them to
the end, His disciples particularly. What kind of activities did Jesus Christ have
and engage in? I would say His favorite sport was wrestling,
not the fake wrestling, the professional. My brother Dave and I used to watch professional
wrestling, Lou Thesz and some of this really good buddy. What was his name? Baby Boo Boy or whatever. We'd watch them. They get into the rings, and they grind each
other's head… ears against their butt, and they would get them done, body-slammed them
and all. We knew all the moves, hammerlock. We knew everything. My brother Dave and I knew all of them. We watched them, and we emulated them, except
we didn't fake it. So my brother Dave has a cauliflower ear from
me giving him real headlock, and he could get me down on the ground. He's three years and nine months older than
I am. So for it to be fair, he sat on his butt in
the middle of the room, and he could scoot around really fast with his legs and scoot
around. I was short for my age. A bit regular normal for my age, but not as
tall as he was. He grew really tall fast. And he sat on the floor, and I stood up, so
I could move around. I could maneuver around. And if I could get him in a headlock, oh,
I could hold. He would give up. But if he got me down on the floor, I was
dead meat. He had me down on the floor, it was it because
he's bigger than I was, heavier than I was. And one time, he had me in a hammerlock. He was on top of me, and he was crying, and
I was crying. I was crying for hurt. He was crying because he was hurting me. He wanted me to give up. “Give up, Gare!” I wouldn't give up. So, finally, I think we called it a match,
and he won. If I got a headlock on him, I could win because
we thought that's the way you did it. We thought they were real. They were really doing it. We didn’t body slam each other. We weren't big enough to do that, but we did
all the other moves. We knew what to do. And if I could get him in the headlock, that
was the one thing I had. So Jesus Christ wrestled, and He wrestled
with Jacob. Genesis 32:24-30. How would you like to wrestle with the One
who was the God of the Old Testament who became the Jesus Christ and the New? In Genesis 32:24. I'll get there in a minute. 32 verse 24, "Then Jacob was alone, and a
Man…” my New King James capitalizes Man because it was God appearing as a Man. "And a Man wrestled with him until the breaking
of day." That was a long time. They were wrestling. That was a great match. "And now when He saw that He did not prevail
against him, He touched the socket of his hip." Now, He said, "You know what? I know how the human body works. So I'll cause his hip to go out of joint. There. Now I've got him. He's not able to move quite so well." "And the socket of Jacob's hip was out of
joint as he wrestled with Him." "And He said, 'Let Me go."' That's what the God of the Old Testament said,
“‘Let Me go, for the day breaks. I don't want to be here during daylight. I need to go.’ But he said… Jacob said, 'I will not let You go unless
You bless me! I'm holding on. I've got you in a headlock or I've got You
down. I'm not going to let You go unless You bless
me.' And He said to him, 'What is your name?' And He said, ‘Jacob.’ And He said to him, 'Your name shall no longer
be Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.’" "Jacob asked Him, saying, 'Tell me, what is
Your name? Tell me Your name, I pray.’" He didn't know he was wrestling with the God
of the Old Testament. "And He said, 'Why is it that you asked me
about My name?' And He blessed him there, and Jacob called
the name of the place Peniel, Peniel."' Why'd he called it that? "For I have seen God face to face, and my
life is preserved." He didn't know he was wrestling with the Lord
God of the Old Testament, who appeared as a Man, probably a well-chiseled man and wrestled
all night. He said, "I've wrestled with God," pretty
awesome. I'd say wrestling probably is His favorite. Public speaking would have been another one. John 7:45, they said, “Never has a man spoken
like this!” Probably public speaking was a big one. Fishing, fishing. He knew exactly where to tell the disciples
to throw their net, “Children…” after His resurrection He said, "Children are you
looking… you don't have any fish yet?" He was on this shore, and they were out in
the sea. He was resurrected, of course. This was the resurrected Jesus. He'd seen them a few times. And He said, "Why don't you put your net on
the other side? You'll probably get them over there." And in the meantime, He had a barbecue going. He had some fish on the grill, it was a fish
fry, and He had some bread for them. And then when Peter realized who it was, he
recognized the way He said those words, "That's the Lord." He girded himself and jumped into the sea
and swam to the shore. It wasn't that far away and others came in,
and the boat barely making it in because the boat was being tugged at by the great fish
that he had in the nets. And when he came there, He said, "Bring me
some more fish. We'll put some more fish on the grill." So, He had a grill out for His disciples with
fish, and many times, He was on the waters with them. So I would take it He liked fishing as well,
at least fishing for men more than fishing for fish. His employment included healthcare. Healthcare, Matthew 9:35. Matthew 9:35 Jesus Christ was in the healthcare,
and He didn't have to use any medical or any medicine, any drugs. Matthew 9:35, "And Jesus went about all the
cities and villages, teaching," is another job and employment that He had. You'll see that in this section. He was also preaching and “teaching in their
synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every
disease among the people.” Jesus was in healthcare. He took care of people. He healed them. He also as a… let me get that section out
here for you because I have it. What else did He do? He was a carpenter. He was a teacher. He was a caterer. He had a catering business. He took care of 4,000 people at one time. He fed 5,000 another time. He supplied the food. So you had, “He's a caterer! Wow!” And He was hospitable as well. “Sit down. And you disciples serve them. You disciples serve them fish and bread and
in abundance.” When I grew up, I learned from my parents,
if I invite somebody over to my house for something, I try to have enough food for everybody
and then some. I've been to some homes, and I'm not judging
the people. Not here in this area, but in some other people's
homes in the past. They invited us for dinner. So we sit down. “Okay, time to eat.” We sit down. But I'm looking and I see there's six of us,
and there's six potatoes. There's six of us, and there's six pieces
of chicken. There's six of us, and there's six stalks
of broccoli. And it was interesting that I didn't get it. They didn't pass the food. We passed our plates, and then they put one
on each. When dessert time came, they had cookies. Guess how many? Six. I find it interesting that when Jesus showed
the hospitality to 4 and 5,000 people, He didn't just make enough food for them. There were extra amount. So they gathered up baskets full of bread
and fish. So that was interesting just to recognize
Him as a caterer. Another thing He was was a messenger. He was a messenger. Remember Malachi 3:1. The messenger John came to prepare the way
for the Messenger of the Covenant who was Jesus Christ. So He was a messenger. He sends message through him and God told
him what to say and gave him that information. He was also a prophet. It's amazing. If you look up “Jesus prophet,” you'll
find about 15 or 20 times where they said, "Are you the prophet? Are you the prophet to come? Is He that prophet? Who is this prophet? Is He a prophet?" Another one said, "Jesus, a prophet." So He was able to prophesy. He was a teacher. He was a preacher. Plus He was a carpenter to start with. So He had a lot of activities by His name. What was His purpose in coming? Did He have an aim in life? Does He have a plan in life? John 3:16 tells us what the plan was for Him. John 3:16. You know this scripture, but I'll read it
anyway. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life." What was His purpose? He came into the world to save the world. He didn't come into the world to judge it. He will be Judge in the future when He sets
up His Kingdom and in the resurrection. But He came into the world to save the world. Those who would be willing, He died for them. He tasted death for everyone. He was willing to go through a horrible death,
and I'll share that with you in a moment. But He was willing to do that all for us. Hebrews 2:9 says He tasted death for every
man and for women too. He tasted death for every person so that when
you come to baptism when you go under that water, His sacrifice is for you, for you,
for me when I was baptized, so His purpose. And He also brought into the world grace and
truth. He stood up for grace and truth. That's John 1:17. The sacrifice for us, He became our Savior,
1 John 2. Let me read that one. 1 John 2, "And not just for us but for the
whole world also." 1 John 2:1-2, beautiful verse, "My little
children…" And that's always a loving term when you make
anything a diminutive when you lower it in a sense of… It's a very loving term. "My little children, these things I write
to you, that you may not sin. I'm trying to encourage you to stay out of
sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with
the Father." If you do sin and you've accepted His sacrifice
already for you at baptism for all your past sins, you certainly have Him available for
all of your present sins. He said, "You have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous." His righteousness can be given to you in a
sense of giving you the strength to get back on the path, forgiving you of your past and
giving you the strength to get back on the path. "And He Himself is the propitiation,” this
is verse 2, “for our sins, and not for our sins only,” the Atonement, “but also for
the whole world." So Jesus Christ came into the world not just
merely to save Christians or people who would become Christians but to save the world when
their time came to be an available sacrifice. There's no other name… Acts 4:10-12. There's no other name given under heaven whereby
you can and must be saved. So Jesus Christ came into the world with a
mission, a mission to bring peace, a mission to bring a message of hope, a mission to tell
people, "This isn't it all. You can be a part of My Kingdom to come." And He was telling this to a slave people. What else did He do? He came to build His Church. Matthew 16:18, "I will build My church, and
the gates of hell will not prevail against it." He came into the Church to establish a means
by perpetuating His teachings and by showing the world that it can be done. He came into the world to preach the gospel. Mark 1:14-15. “After John was put in prison, He preached
the gospel of the kingdom.” He preached a message of hope to slave people
that they don't have to be in slavery for the rest of their lives, that they could come
out of that slavery and be free. He came to depose the devil. The devil was acknowledged as the god of this
world. Ephesians 2:2. 2 Corinthians 4:4. And Jesus deposed him. It was prophesied in Genesis. After Adam and Eve sinned, He said, "Yes. Satan the devil, that serpent was there, and
he messed with you." He said, "He'll bruise My heel, but I'll bruise
his head." Now, if you bring a club and you want to hit
me, I'd much rather have you hit me on my heel than on my head. Jesus said, "He'll bruise My heel,” yeah
he brought Him to the crucifixion, but He said, "I'll bruise his head." Jesus Christ would depose him. And in Matthew 4:1-11, He said, "Get out of
here Satan. Get away. Leave Me alone." Satan slunk away. And that epic battle between the god of this
world, Satan the devil, who was one time a cherub, an anointed cherub and the one that
he was there to serve, Jesus Christ or the one that became Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ
beat him and beat him badly. So He deposed him. He's not yet out of his office. That's coming. And Jesus Christ came to set us an example. 1 Peter 2:21, He set us an example. In that case, it's an example of suffering,
but also in 1 John 2:6, He set us an example that we should follow. We should walk the way He walked. 1 John 2:6, "He who says he abides in Him…” “I'm a Christian. I'm in Christ,” “…himself also to walk
just as He walked.” Now, it doesn't mean how longer gate He took. It was a three-foot, two and a half foot between
paces. No. How did He walk? What did He do? How did He live? And other translations will tell you to live
as He lived. That's what He meant. So, He set us an example of what to do and
how to live life. He came for that reason. Some of His characteristics that I'll share
with you, He was strong. Remember He cleansed the temple. He threw them out. Not they threw them out. He threw them out. He wasn't some wimp. And when He looked at them with His piercing
eyes, I'm sure He had. "Get those animals out of here. Don't make my Father's house a den of merchandising. Get out of here," and He threw the tables
over and whipped it. You know, if I were money changing at a place,
and somebody grabbed my table and threw it over, and my coins go flying all over, I'm
not going to be in a very good mood. I'm not going to be thankful Mr. Nitzberg. I'm not going to be thankful. I'm probably going to be very upset at that
time. If He weren't dynamic and strong… remember
He was a carpenter. Carpenters did a lot more than just finished
carpentry. They did stone work as well. He was strong, but He was also tender. He could take little children up in His arms
and bless them and hold them tenderly. I've seen some new dads hold their kids, and
I don't know that kid thinks, "I'm going to fall any moment now." “No, no what do I do with this little four-armed
or four feet and arms person? What do I do with this little person?” And if they don't hold them tenderly and they
don't hold them securely, that kid feels like he's going to fall. Jesus Christ will take them up into His arms. He was tender. He was humble, Philippians 2 tells you. He could have come as a prince. For wasn't He a prince to God? He could have been born like… who was it? Why am I losing that one? Anyway, in India, like Buddha. He could have been born in a princely home,
but He wasn't. He was born, and He came to set us an example
of humility and service. Philippians 2:5-11, He was zealous. John 2:17, He was compassionate. He saw that leper along the side of the road,
and He had compassion on him. He felt for him, and He intervened and healed. So Jesus Christ was smart. He was able to sit among all those learned
men and ask them questions for a couple of days before His folks realized He wasn't with
the group, the family, on their way home. He was able to ask questions. And, you know, when He answered people, the
skeptics who kept trying to pin Him down, they dare not ask Him any more questions because
He was smart. He had the wisdom of God. He was direct. Remember Matthew 23, "Woe to you and woe to
you. Woe to you and woe to you." He knew how to call a spade a spade, and He
did when He needed to. And He was not deceitful at all. Of course, who was the great deceiver? Satan the devil. 1 Peter 2:22. 1 Peter 2:22. Speaking about Jesus, "For to you, you were
called, because Jesus also suffered for you, leaving on an example, that you should follow
in His steps," verse 22, "who committed no sin…" so He was faithful to God, “…committed
no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth." He never tried to mislead people. Oh, He didn't answer their questions sometimes
if He thought their questions were foolish, and they were trying to trap Him, but He had
no guile, no guile at all in His life. So those are some of the characteristics. I'm want to switch now to a section about
His death and bring this to a conclusion. Jesus Christ had character. He told His Father, "I've completed the work. I finished the work you gave me to do." He was a finisher. In John 15:9-10, He said, "I've kept My Father's
commandments." He was awesome. He was able to tell God, "No, not what I want,"
even though He could envision what was going to happen, because after all, had He not been
the God of the Old Testament had He not seen hanging on the cross how people suffered,
and He knew that was what was ahead for Him because the Old Testament talked about Him
being lifted up. So Jesus Christ had character. He had great character. He looked to His Father, and He said, "I look
forward to being glorified again with You." He never sinned once. What about His death? Romans 5:6-11. Romans 5:6-11, "For when we were still without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." So Christ didn't come into the world to save
the good people. He came into the world to save people who
want to be good, people who see that they're not good but want to be good. "For scarcely for a righteous man will one
die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us,
in that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been sanctified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled
to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled,” we've been
made… the slate has been wiped clean, “we shall be saved by His life." Jesus Christ said “He ever lives to make
intercession for us.” Hebrews 7:25 “ever lives to make intercession
for us.” So, even though He lived a good life, even
though He had great character, even though He helped lots of people, Hebrews 12:2 tells
us, "For the joy that was set before Him…” what's that joy? I think it's you and me. I think it's all the people that could be
benefited by His sacrifice, all the ones that are going to be with Him in His Kingdom. Hebrews 12:2, "For the joy that was set before
Him He endured the cross." Now, let me read to you this book called The
Day Christ Died. It's by Jim Bishop. By the way, I think it cost me 50 cents back
when I bought it years ago. But what He does, He goes through every hour
from the time of the last day of Christ's life. And some of it is fiction. Some of it is fictitious, is not always biblical. But He does a lot of research and checking
into what the circumstances would have been. I'm only going to quote you a couple of quotes
because it gets pretty gory, okay? If you see The Passion of Christ that Mel
Gibson put out several years ago? Wow! That was a powerful movie. It was one of the most dramatic that I've
ever been to. I find myself getting really angry and really
getting upset, and then I said, "I did that to Him. I did that to Him. The Romans were doing it to Him. The Jews were doing it to Him. I did that to Him.” It was very powerful. I want to read a couple quotes, one, from
The Day Christ Died by Jim Bishop. These are pages 302 and 304. “The scourging of Rome was more deadly than
the Jewish scourging.” Remember they told Him, "Okay. Take Him out and examine Him by scourging." “It was administered by a trained man called
a lictor. There were none in Palestine… naturally
in Palestine. He had to come from Rome.” “He used a short circular piece of wood
to which were attached several strips of leather. At the end of each strip, he sewed in a chunk
of bone or a small piece of an iron chain. This instrument was called a flagellum. There was no set number of stripes to be administered.” It wasn't 39 except 1, and you do 20 on one
side of the buttocks and 20 on the other side, 19 in case you miscounted. They could be hit anywhere. “The law said nothing about the parts of
the body to be assailed. The scourging had not taken more than three
minutes.” Three minutes with a trained lictor, beating
on you to bent… your body bent over and hitting you. And every time, that leather strap wrapped
around His body and ripped out flesh ripped out flesh. And they could hit Him anywhere, face, groin,
legs, belly, chest, anywhere. And when He came out of that, they stopped
it short of death. They had to watch His breathing because it
was so painful and so traumatic. Many people died of that. And yet they took Him out there and brought
Him before the people say, "Do you want us to release Him now? Who do you want, Barabbas or this man?" They said, "Crucify Him." And so they tried to load the crossbeam on
His shoulders to carry through the streets. In front of them would have been a sign saying,
"This is Jesus, claiming to be King of the Jews” or “King of the Jews," and parade
Him through the streets. He couldn't carry it. He fell under it, and then they grabbed Simon
of Cyrene out of the crowd, made Him carry it so that He could be crucified. Crucifixion. “The Phoenicians…” and this comes from
pages 320 and 321. “The Phoenicians were the first to devise
crucifixion.” You have this on yours. “They had tried death by spear, by boiling
in oil, impalement, stoning, strangulation, drowning, burning. And all had been found to be too quick.” The guy didn't suffer enough. “They wanted a means of punishing criminals
slowly and inexorably so man devised the cross.” “It was almost ideal because, in its original
form, it was as slow as it was painful. Men often live two or more days in the burning
sun, hanging there. And the condemned at the same time were placed
fairly before the gaze of the people.” So here was what they were accused of over
their heads or hanging around their neck depending, and they were hanging there. Asphyxiating, if they didn't push up against
the nails and their feet or their ankles, they'd had to drop dead because that was hurting
too much. Then they started to suffocate. “Secondary consideration was nudity. This added to the shame of evildoers, and
at the same time made him helpless before thousands of insects of the air, while carrion
birds and small animals held back until the crucified was dead.” Your Savior, my Savior did that for us. That's not the end of the story. Jesus conquered death. Three days and three nights later, He came
out of the grave. He appeared to several, and He ascended to
His Father. He told them, "Don't touch me yet." And He returned to His Father to become our
High Priest to make intercession for us. He said come to Him any time, and “He ever
lives to make intercession for us.” He was born to be a King. Remember we read that in Luke 1:30, born to
be a King. He didn't seem like He made it, did it? But He's coming back. Revelation 19, as “KING OF KINGS AND LORD
OF LORDS.” And He's going to fight His way back to this
earth. And He's going to bring peace to the entire
world, not just to Israel. And He will rule over all nations. Not just Israel, but He will be King over
Israel to start with. Daniel 7:13, you have that in your writings. The apostle Paul desired to know Jesus Christ,
"That I may know Him and the fellowship of His sufferings, and the glory that is to come." That's what He wanted, Philippians 3:10. Jesus Christ also said, "When you keep the
Passover, do it in remembrance of Me." I hope the sermon today has given you at least
a little better picture of Jesus Christ, the one that we all need to know and remember
at the upcoming Passover.
