Why Identify with Jesus

1. Read: Acts 4:10-12

2. About the Text:

1) The background to these verses is conflict between the culture and the apostles.

2) They were teaching that Jesus was the true savior.

3) This is the basic conflict between Christianity and all cultures.

4) Who is going to save us?

5) This isn’t just a “spiritual” question; it is a life question (John 10:10, 20:30-31).

6) Does true life come from Jesus or from some other source?

7) The culture always wants to be your savior instead of Jesus; it wants to be life.

8) With who or what will we identify?

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. Jesus saves us from sin and guilt.

1) “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

2) Do we take forgiveness of sins for granted?

3) People in the world do not deal with sin and guilt as lightly as Christians.

4) We are blessed to be forgiven.

5) We can let it go and move on.

6) Many in the world cannot and do not because they do not have forgiveness.

2. Jesus saves us from dead works.

1) “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:14).

2) What dead works?

a. Everything that is not covered by the blood of Christ is all tainted by sin.

b. “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6).

c. One could do all of the “good” in the world, but to die lost erases it all and renders it meaningless.

3) Our works are not meaningless in Christ.

a. In Christ every good work is remembered and acknowledged.

b. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

c. “For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister” (Hebrews 6:10).

3. Jesus saves us from fear.

1) “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

2) “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

3) “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18).

4) “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live’” (John 11:25).

1. He is the ideal person.

1) The world will say there is no ideal person.

2) They will say you are what you make yourself to be.

3) But God created us in His image.

4) “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27).

5) “And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45).

2. He is the standard for right and wrong.

1) Jesus lived a sinless life.

a. “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5).

b. “Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth” (1 Peter 2:22).

2) He lived a sinless life so we could be righteous in Him.

a. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

b. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).

3. He gives us the path to true life.

1) “God wants me to be happy.” Based on whose plan? Yours or God’s?

2) “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:6).

3) “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40).

1. He is the Ruler of the nations.

1) “And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Revelation 1:5).

2) “Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” (Revelation 19:15).

2. He is the Head of the church.

1) “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence” (Colossians 1:16-18).

2) “far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:21-22).

3. He is Lord and King.

1) “that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:14-15).

2) “These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful” (Revelation 17:14).

3) “And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:16).

1. We should identify with Jesus because . . .

1) He is the Savior of Humanity

2) He is the Standard for Humanity

3) He is the Sovereign for Humanity

2. Invitation