Jesus The Son Of God

Jesus the Son of God

Luke5:17-26

– These are the words of Napoleon Bonaparte:

I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I have founded empires. But upon what did we rest the creations of our genius?

Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love. And at this hour millions of men would die for him.

Although it has been 2,000 years since Jesus walked the dusty roads of Palestine, the words of Napoleon are more true today than when he first

spoke them. “At this hour, millions of men would die for him.”

A. It is a fact that the men and women of

the world are instinctively drawn to

Jesus.

1. Many people do not know him well, but what they know, they like.

2. It is rare to find a man on the street who will speak ill of Jesus

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH JESUS

A. What was Jesus really like? What was it like to be around him?

1. What kind of person was he?

2. How did he deal with the problems of life? How did he treat people?

3. What would we have seen if we had been there in Galilee by the sea or in Jericho or in Bethany?

4. What was Jesus really like?

B. In order to answer those questions, we have to

go back to the only records we have–the four

gospels.

THE GOSPEL OF THE UNDERDOG

A. No gospel answers that question better than Luke. It is the gospel of the individual. It is full of real stories about real people.

1. In Luke’s gospel we see Jesus dealing with a tax collector up a tree and with a prostitute who washed his feet

with her tears.

2. We see him with the rich young ruler who went away sorrowful and with the woman who touched the hem of his garment.

B. We know that Luke was a physician.

1. It has been said that a minister sees men at their best,

2. a lawyer sees men at their worst,

3. but a physician sees men as they really are.

C. Luke saw men as they were and loved them all

D. His gospel is the story of Jesus written by a kind and compassionate family doctor.

E. To my mind, he has given us the most appealing picture of our Lord.

1. If you want to see Jesus as the Messiah read Matthew;

2. if you want to see Jesus as the powerful Savior, read Mark;

3 if you want to see Jesus as the Son of God, read John.

4. But if you want to see Jesus as the man for all men, read Luke

BAITING THE HOOK

Our first close encounter with Jesus comes from Luke 5:17-19 It is the story of a miracle and a controversy.Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man

17 One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

A. One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there.

1.And the power of the Lord was present to heal the sick.

2.Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus.

B. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

C. As we study this little photograph clipped from Luke’s mental scrapbook, the players in this drama come clearly in focus.

1. First, there is Jesus who is teaching the people.

2. Second, there are the Pharisees, the professional teachers of the law.

D. They have come from all over Galilee, have made the long, hard trip to Capernaum to check out this new man from Nazareth.

E. Who are they?

1. They are full-time students of the Old Testament and of the Jewish tradition.

2. They were legal experts who made their living by splitting hairs in 40 different ways.