Welcome to Affirm Foundation presented by Princeton Ministries with Dr Ken Smith. This is Carol Smith, Ken’s wife. Please enjoy.

Who Is Jesus? according to former altar boy, Martin Scorsese, who recently released the last temptation of Christ, we find that Jesus, temptation of Christ, we find that Jesus has been presented through the media of the movies as being a man who was weak, who was a type of dithering guru leading a ragtag group of revolutionaries. And that according to Scorsese, that Jesus was fundamentally confused about his role. That he was fundamentally confused about the message that he was to deliver and certainly was unclear about the mission that he was to accomplish. According to the last temptation, Jesus persuaded Judas to betray him. And Jesus in anguish says, and I quote, I am a liar.

I’m a hypocrite. I’m afraid of everything. Lucifer is inside of me. So is the account of Martin Scorsese in The Last Temptation. The centerpiece of the film by those who have seen it is a half hour segment at the close of the film where Jesus in a hallucination is approached by Satan himself and the final last temptation of Jesus is whether or not Jesus will in fact accomplish the work of being a Messiah or will he simply be a man and will he continue the life of a man and get married and have a family?

And that is the last temptation that Jesus would face. Well, according to the last temptation, in this state of hallucination, Jesus renounces at least in his dream, his role as Messiah. He in fact, during this dream, marries Mary Magdalene and they live a rather ordinary life. During the temptation on the cross, Jesus is shown as having sex with his wife. Later, after Mary Magdalene dies, according to this account, Jesus marries Mary of the Mary and Martha team and according to that last temptation, he later commits adultery with Martha.

Now Christians have been gathering by the 1,000 outside of theaters protesting this film. They call it blasphemous. That it is a presentation of the life of Jesus that is so out of the biblical record that it simply is fantasy, imagination. Bill Bright of Campus Crusade offered to raise enough money to simply buy the film and all of its copies back from Universal and he then would simply destroy all of the copies. Universal did not take that offer.

Even in the Catholic Church, there is tremendous concern about film. Mother Angelica, a Roman Catholic nun, is calling for protests. There are untold 100, perhaps thousands of priests who are gathering at various sites around the country leading protests. There are untold 100, thousands of Protestants who are concerned about this film. Richard Asling, the religion editor of Time Magazine, a an centuries, an unorthodox vision like Scorsese’s might have prompted heresy trials and burnings at the stake.

At the eye of the storm of this film, The Last Temptation, is the thunderous question, who is Jesus Christ? The question has been around since the ministry of Jesus. Among his followers, there was confusion as to actually who he was. Some thought perhaps he was going to usher in a political revolution, others thought that there would be great social changes that Jesus would initiate, some thought he was the Messiah. But it is interesting that according to scripture, it was Jesus himself who for the first time asked the question, who do men say that that I am?

The question comes from the lips of Jesus and he receives diverse answers. Now, according to the documents that we have, and I would remind remind you that aside from a few brief references in other ancient manuscripts, the New Testament is the only source that we have of information concerning the life, the ministry of Jesus Christ. And it is through the New Testament that we get the greatest picture, the most complete picture of the life of Jesus. And yet there seems to be across the land tremendous ignorance on the part of Americans of that biblical picture of Jesus Christ. 58 percent of Americans do not know who it was who preached the Sermon on the Mount.

50 percent of Americans are unable to list more than one of the 4 Gospels. Similarly, close to 50% of Americans are unable to list more than 5 of the 10 commandments. When George Gallup asked the question at random of Americans, who is Jesus? 80% of Americans believe that Jesus is the Son of God. 80%.

Well, that would seem encouraging at first. But then the question was asked, do you believe that Jesus Christ is God among men? Of that same group who said that they believed in Jesus Christ, 58% said that they were unclear or certain that Jesus was not God. And so we find that there is a broad understanding across the country of Jesus as the son of God. But yet when we ask more precisely, do you really believe that he was God?

That for 58% of those people there is uncertainty as to how Jesus was God. It It is from the New Testament that we find the source document that would answer the question, who is Jesus? And if we ask Jesus, who are you? We find a number of very clear statements that Jesus gives about himself. He says, I am the good shepherd.

I am the vine. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. Jesus said of himself, I am the resurrection.

He who believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Jesus did something in his preaching that very few ministers will ever do. And that is that as you analyze his sermons, his teachings, over and over again, Jesus preaches about himself. He talks about his authority. He talks about the qualities that he has had from the beginning of time.

He talks about the place that he has in the final judgment. Jesus tells us, I was from before the beginning. It is Jesus who says, who ever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my father. It is Jesus who says of himself, I will sit on the throne transcend the transcend the law of Moses, that he would come even with the spirit of that law. It is Jesus who declares that he has power over death.

It is Jesus who says that he will return to judge the world. It is Jesus who says, no one can know God the Father except through me. Jesus says of himself and his activity shows that he had power over Satan. He said, all power is given to me in heaven and in earth. In the book of Colossians, the Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus has all power, all dominion over all of the created authorities that exist.

Jesus declares that he alone can forgive sin. Not only do we find in scripture that Jesus tells us who he believed he is, but we also are shown what he did. So along with the statements of what he believed are the activities, the everyday events of his life. During that 3 year ministry, what do we see? We see that he made blind people see, that he made deaf people hear.

He made the lame to walk. That he was able to walk on water. We find that whenever Jesus goes to a funeral, there’s the most amazing thing that happens. The dead corpse gets up and comes back to life. We find that Jesus is able to feed 5,000 with just a few loaves and fish.

The Scriptures tell us what Jesus said. They show us what Jesus did, but it’s also interesting to notice what is missing from the New Testament account. Because along with what he said and what he did, we also notice things that he never did. Jesus never once sinned. And he asked the question, which of you convinces me of sin that no one was able to find a flaw in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

Pilate, just before the crucifixion of Jesus, concluded, I find no fault with this man. Judas, having received 30 pieces of silver and thinking that he was ushering in the political kingdom of Jesus, concluded, I have betrayed innocent blood. You notice that Jesus never once apologized for anything he did. Why? Because every thing he did was correct without a flaw.

He never did anything that was wrong. Do you notice that Jesus never once asks for the counsel of other people? Unlike you and I who so often need the counsel of other people where scripture even encourages us as we face some decision to try to find counsel from godly people. Jesus never sought the counsel of other people. Why?

Because he was the Son of God and needed only to consult with the Father. Also we find missing from the life of Jesus that never did he once regret missing an opportunity. How unlike you and me, where we look back to yesterday and last year and wish that we could have done it differently. Jesus never once regretted having missed a single opportunity. Unlike many writers, unlike many people who speak in public, Jesus never once changed a single thought, sentence, or word about any of his teachings.

For 3 years, they stood perfectly in harmony, never having to revise, never to have a new edition published, but from the beginning every word that came out of his mouth was perfect and in harmony with every other word that he would utter. Notice too that Jesus never cursed. He never lied. He never adultery. He never murdered.

He never broke in deed or in thought any of the commandments. Instead, he was totally obedient to the Father. If we ask the question, who is Jesus? Then let the record speak for itself. John the Baptist said of Jesus, Behold the lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the world.

It was Peter who stated, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. It was Thomas who doubted the resurrection of Christ, who finally was able to put his hands in the hole in his hand where the nail had pierced. And Thomas would declare, My Lord and my God, it has been said by William Bade off in an encyclopedia of religious quotations, and I quote, A man who can read the New Testament and not see that Christ claims to be more than a man can look all over the sky at high noon on a cloudless day and not see the sun. Who is Jesus? Napoleon, in the latter years of his life was exiled on an island and during that time he studied the religions of the world.

And he came to this conclusion about Jesus. Across the chasm of 1800 years, Jesus Christ makes a demand which is beyond all others difficult to satisfy. He asks for that which a philosophy may often seek in vain at the hands of his friends or a father of his sons or a bride of her spouse or a man of his brother. Jesus asks for the human heart. He will have it entirely to himself.

He demands it unconditionally and all who sincerely believe in Him experience that super natural love towards Him. Who is Jesus? The scriptures make it very clear that Jesus is the Son of God without sin, without blemish, in the activity of his life and in the secrets of his heart without sin, that he died on the cross and that on the 3rd day he was raised from the dead and that now Jesus Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. And that Jesus, at this moment, is waiting for the nod from the Father. That the last sheep has been brought into the fold and that it is time for Jesus to descend from his heavenly throne and before as he came as the Lamb of God, humbly serving and giving his life for this world, that Jesus will return as the Lion of Judah and that we all will appear before his judgment seat, that all of those who have lived and died will be asked, Who do you say that I am?

And that if you do not know Christ in this life, then with his left hand Christ shall point to you and he shall say to you, thou art a goat, depart from me for I have never known you. And to those who by faith have trusted in him, he will say to you, thou art a sheep. Come to the place that I have prepared for you. Jesus asks you and me, who do you say that I am? Let us pray.

Our God and our Father, we are assaulted from every side with new and novel ideas of who Jesus Christ is. And Father, we pray that any opinion, any insight into Jesus Christ would be based only upon your word for it is your word alone where we learn about Jesus. Father, help us to know Jesus more, to love him more, to serve him more, to the end that we might come before him and hear from his lips, Well done, good and faithful servant. We thank you for Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Thank you for listening to A Firm Foundation presented by Princeton Ministries. This programming is supported by you, the listener. You may go to our website, Princeton ministries.org, or send your donation to Princeton Ministries post office box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 0853. That’s Princeton Ministries post office box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 0854 3. The Lord bless you, and doctor Smith looks forward to hearing from you.