Branson: The Person of Christ

This was presented by Voddie Baucham. We must understand Christ in order to understand the gospel.

Voddie told a story of meeting someone who was reading a New Age book. He asked about Jesus, she shared that she accepted Jesus too. He asked who he was, she responded that Jesus was a great man and a great prophet. (Is that all?)

Jesus is:

• God in the flesh ("I and the Father are one")
• Our only access to God ("no one comes to the Father but by me")
• Jesus will return again and judge the world ("I am going to prepare a place for you")

You can accept him as these three items, or you can quit re-inventing Jesus!

• If you are wrong on Christ, you are wrong on the Gospel (and you are lost)
• If you are wrong on Scripture, you are wrong on the Gospel (and you are lost)
• If you are wrong on the Resurrection, you are wrong on the Gospel (and you are lost)

The resurrection of Christ is the most attested fact of ancient history. If you deny the resurrection there are conclustions that you must accept:

• Not even Christ has been raised
• Our preaching, and faith, is in vain
• We are mis-representing God, who raised him (I am a liar, false witness, blasphemer)
• Your are still in your sin (our sins are not paid for, we still must live up to the standard of perfection)
• There is no hope (we are dead like dogs, there is nothing after death, no hope, no joy, no heaven)

But, Christ has been raised, our preaching is the power of God! Nothing is bigger than a dead Jesus, no matter what problem we have.

Matthew 7:1 is the new John 3:16. It is the verse that everyone knows. It is quoted as "Judge not, lest ye be judged". Yet if we read the rest of the passag, it says after we remove the log from our eye, then we remove the spec from our brother's eye. So, in the end we still judge.

It is sinful when we don't judge our brother!