If you had to pick that one single topic which comprised the core of Christianity it would have to be the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christianity is, after all, Christ-ianity. It’s about Jesus Christ. It’s not about Christians or cathedrals. It’s not simply about art or economics. The Christian world-and-life-view as it applies to all of life can be very persuasive but once you take out or strip away the person of Jesus Christ from it, none of it would make any sense whatsoever. Thus it is the Lord Jesus Christ in terms of who he was and what he did that forms the foundation, the basis, the core, the essentials of true religion.
As we think about the Lord Jesus Christ we have to think about the different phases that he went through. For example, his miraculous birth which was entirely unique and unlike any other birth in history. His was the only virgin birth that actually took place. This is a miraculous birth that reveals who he was in terms of his divinity, his being the Messiah of God’s people. Then of course we move from his miraculous birth to his incredible life, to his victorious death, to his powerful resurrection from the dead, his astounding ascension, his triumphant session, his heavenly intercession, his sovereignty over all, his glorious return, his final judgement on all, and his eternal kingdom. This is simply the story of the Lord Jesus Christ from alpha to omega, from a to z. These are the different aspects of his person and work that comprise the biblical picture of who Jesus Christ is and what he is doing among the children of men.
Now we want to turn and examine his incredible life. We’re speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ being irresistible in the sense that there is such an appeal about the Son of God that more people on this planet claim to follow him, believe in him, and trust him for their eternal salvation than any other human being in recorded history. More songs have been written about the Lord Jesus Christ, more books composed, more theater, more drama, more art, more law, more politics, more anything of any aspect of life has been done in the name of Jesus Christ than anyone else in recorded history. Those who are believers know the Lord Jesus Christ has an irresistible appeal. They can’t help but love him and trust him and honor him. The reason they love the Lord Jesus Christ and they trust him for their eternal salvation is that he is utterly irresistible because of his person and because of his work. Not only because of his miraculous birth but also because of his incredible life.
I think we can state that he lived as no one else had ever lived. He lived the kind of life that perhaps you and I wish we could have lived. Certainly we should wish that we could have walked in his footsteps and lived the life this man lived. He lived an absolutely incredible life, a life beyond belief. A life that demands faith and trust in what he said. There was no contradiction between the life and the lip. When you deal with the lives of other religious figures you will always find a contradiction between what they say in terms of how we ought to live and what they do. Because being part of fallen humanity all of us ultimately cannot live sinlessly and perfectly. We fail to keep our own personal standards. We fail to implement what we really believe. We have crisis when we give way and don't do what we know we ought to do. Or we are just plain hypocritical in small degree or large degree. One can think of the expose` of Zen master Rama who said, “No drugs. No sex. Money is evil. Give it all to me.” It ended up that he was using the money to buy drugs to feed to the ladies in the back room in order to take them to bed. Here was a guy who was publicly teaching asceticism, that people should give up the pleasures of the flesh. He taught that the mind was the important thing. Meanwhile in the back room he was carrying on. That’s a contradiction. But can anyone say that Jesus Christ contradicted what he taught? Did he turn around and break his own rules? Did he violate his own principles? He didn’t. This is why his life is incredible. You can look, you can pick, you can search but you will not find anything to convict the Son of God of.
He lived an incredible life. This is why we have four gospels. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John do not merely repeat each other. Each of them are parts of a puzzle. Together they give us a four-fold biography of Jesus Christ. Matthew looks at the person and work of Christ from one perspective. Mark brings in another. Luke brings in another. John brings in another. For example Matthew, which was written to the Jew, emphasizes and answers the question “What did Jesus teach?” To the rabbinic mind the first thing they wanted to know was what this guy was teaching. What was he saying? What was his view of Moses and the Old Testament and the Law? What was his view of morality? How does he handle interpersonal relationships? What does he feel about the Romans? They were interested in what Jesus taught. That is why in Matthew you have more of the words of Jesus Christ than any other gospel account. In terms of percentages if you were to remove all of the words and sayings and sermons of Jesus from Matthew you would be left with a few pages and that would be about all. Matthew thus answers the question “What did Jesus teach?”
Mark was written for the Romans who were not interested in teaching but in power. Remember they were the power brokers and conquerors. Mark answers the question “What did Jesus do?” Thus you don't find in Mark the sermons and parables and sayings of Jesus. He cuts through all of that. He simply gives you a list of all the miracles and actions of Christ and he does this in a dramatic way. As a matter of fact, the keyword of Mark is probably the word translated “straightway” or “immediately”. Jesus would cast a demon out of the man and immediately he went and healed this leper and then immediately he went and healed this woman and then immediately he went and raised this person from the dead. The picture you get of Jesus from the gospel of Mark is that of a powerful figure, a man who could get things done. This could appeal to the Romans. They weren’t interested in philosophy and talking. They wanted power and action. Mark wanted to communicate to the Romans what Jesus was like in terms of what he did.
Luke, who wrote for the Greeks, was again different. Luke is the gospel writer that gives us the answer to the question, “Who followed Jesus?” So Luke is the only one who tells us about Anna and Simeon. Luke is the only one who gives us all of these little beautiful biographies of people. He tells us in chapter 1 that, having read the other gospel accounts, he needs to go back and take interviews and do research. So he went to Mary and asked her, “What were you thinking when that angel came and said you were going to get pregnant through the Holy Spirit? What was going on in your mind?” Then he took down the notes as she would explain what she felt. Then he would go talk to some saint about another situation and ask them what they were feeling when it happened. You find in Luke all of these little biographical statements and expansive stories on the lives of people. It’s Luke who talks about the rich and the poor and the babies and the old and the Jew and the Gentile and all these races and ranks, highlighting the universality of the call of Christ.
John, which was probably written to the Christians, comes and is the capstone of this whole series. Matthew tells us what Jesus taught. Mark is emphasizing what Jesus did. Luke is emphasizing who followed Jesus. John comes along and answers the question, “Who is Jesus?” You know how he taught. You’ve seen what he has done. You looked at who followed him. Who was he? Thus John begins with “In the beginning was the Word, the Logos, and the Word was alongside of God and the Word was, as to his nature, God.”
The gospels paint a picture of someone whose life cannot be explained away on natural grounds. You can’t just say he was a nutcase. When you read the gospels, you do not have a description of a crackpot, a lunatic, some psycho or schizo running around. That’s not the picture that you get. You get the picture of someone whose life was moral and noble and true, not insane. Despite the fact that if any of you were to jump up and say “I’m God manifested in the flesh, second person of the Trinity.” I think all of us would simply show you the door. Or we would call the paddy wagon and you would be off weaving baskets at Happydale. But when Jesus Christ makes dramatic claims like “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”, it is so consistent with his teaching and with his actions with those who followed him that it doesn’t grate on us as something crazy. You cannot simply explain away Jesus Christ. Some have tried. Albert Schweitzer said that Jesus had epileptic seizures, was insane, and had delusions of grandeur thinking he was the Son of God. Well, Albert Schweitzer has come and gone and Jesus Christ still remains. I don’t think when you look at the gospel accounts that we are dealing with someone who went into catatonic states or had delusive visions. As a matter of fact, the life of Jesus Christ was so wonderful that we find him irresistible. No one has ever lived as he lived. His life was unique.
You can study the life of Plato. I remember translating some of Plato’s dialogues in a Greek course I was taking. Arbitrarily they said to open up the book to any page and translate it. The page I turned to had Socrates describing a love affair he had with a young man in a gymnasium. So I raised my hand and said, “I’ve always heard that Socrates was this great philosopher. This guy was a fag.” The teacher said, “Well, yes I guess that’s true.” I said, “Look what it says! I’m translating it from the Greek. ‘When I saw him my heart burned within me. I had to have him.’ Do you know what that does to my estimation of Socrates?” She said, “By the way, Plato was his lover. That’s why Plato wrote the memoirs of Socrates.” I know what happened to Schopenhaur. I know that Nietzche died of syphilis in an insane asylum, using a crayon to sign the name Jesus Christ to the letters he wrote. So I know there’s allot of problems. But, just think about these great names we have in history. They lived lousy lives! Socrates had to commit suicide and drink the hemlock. As he got ready to kill himself, he shut the door and brought in his young men. His wife stood outside the door knocking and crying out to be let in. He would not let her in, responding to her cries that he should only be with the people he loves. She was for procreation, the others were for love. You look at these lives and you can look at others like Mohammed. Mohammed took another man’s wife and married a girl who was 6 or 7 years old. You can look at all the things that he did which violate principles of morality. You can go through all the great historical figures. If you look close enough you get disillusioned. Some of you who know about John Lennon and the books that have come out about him revealing the immorality and the drug abuse and the insanity that was in his life. People say “Oh no! you’ve defamed the Beatles!” Hey, the truth is the truth. Why should we think that these people had beautiful lives when it was actually a facade to cover up iniquity.
People have been looking for 2,000 years, they have been making accusations for 2,000 years against Jesus of Nazareth but no one has ever proven, demonstrated, or shown anything that would show that Jesus Christ was a fraud. In terms of what he taught, what he did, and who followed him, he was the Son of the Living God. For example, let’s look at Matthew’s emphasis in terms of what Jesus said. The Lord Jesus is irresistible. He lived an incredible life on the basis of what he said. Remember the incident in the life of Jesus where the High Priest said “I’ve had enough of this joker.” He sent the guards to pick up Jesus.
The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, "Why did you not bring Him?" The officers answered, "Never did a man speak the way this man speaks." The Pharisees therefore answered them, "You have not also been led astray, have you? "No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he? "But this multitude which does not know the Law is accursed." (John 7:45-49, NASB)
When the guards returned they were asked “Why didn’t you bring him in? This guy’s fomenting trouble. He calls us a bunch of hypocrites. He calls us snakes in the grass. He calls us whitened sepulchers. We are the respected religious leaders of this society and culture. He doesn’t have any respect for us at all. He doesn’t obey us. Instead he calls the shots as he sees fit. Why didn’t you bring him in?” Look at what the guards declared. “No man speak as he does.” Now when you think about it that’s not too good of an excuse. They were sent to bring in this guy, beat him up a little, bruise him, rough him up. they come back and say they couldn’t do it. Why? They heard him preach. So what. They had heard the high priest preach before. They could only say that it was really good preaching. He spoke as nobody else ever spoke. The power of what he said, the way he said it, was such that they didn’t have the heart, they didn’t have the courage, they didn’t have the nerve to lift a finger against Jesus. They couldn’t do it! Of course, the Pharisees were so upset at this they asked if he had deceived the guards. They asked the guard if any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in him? No! Who is it that believes in this joker? The mob. The Greek says the common people, the rabble, the little middle-class, low-class people out there. They are the ones believing him. Not the rulers. Not anyone who is important. Don't you understand that there is a curse on them? That’s why they’re suckers doomed to be deceived by such crackpots. You see that we could say the same thing today. There are those who would say “I would like to be a Christian. I would like to love the Lord Jesus and be obedient to him but... look at Cher. She doesn’t follow Jesus. How can I dress like Cher and name the name of Christ? How can I go here and go there? What about the really rich people?” Hey, that doesn’t make any difference. Once you listen to what Jesus said, you will understand like these soldiers, no one ever spoke the way he did.
He was incredible in what he said. For example, the beauty of it. All you have to do is pick up the beatitudes in Matthew and read them. Read the Lord’s Prayer. The beauty is obvious. “Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” The beauty of his sermons, prayers, stories, and illustrations was incredible. There was a beauty about what the Lord Jesus Christ said, in his preaching, in his teaching. There was beauty in it, not ugliness. There was order and not chaos. There was consistency and not inconsistency. There was also wisdom. That’s why when Jesus went home to preach the people complained. Instead of believing in him they rejected him. They said he was incredible but they still didn’t believe him.
And coming to His home town He began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they became astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom, and these miraculous powers? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his home town, and in his own household." And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. (Matthew 13:54-58, NASB)
He was also gracious in the way he spoke. That’s why in Luke 4 they rejected him to the point of taking him to the brow of a hill in order to throw him off the cliff. The things he said were full of beauty and wisdom and full of graciousness. Then why did they want to kill him? Because his speech was full of those things. People love preachers who tell them what they want to hear. “You are all God’s children. You’re all going to heaven. I’m ok. You’re ok. We’re all ok. There isn’t really such a thing as sin. Live as you please. You have it within you to do as you want to do. Listen to the inner voice. It will tell you what is right and what is wrong.” People love such preaching. When someone comes along like the Lord Jesus Christ and says “I have depth and insight. I’m going to tell you what you’re really like. I’m going to tell you that what is is. If you don't alter it I’m going to tell you what’s going to happen to you in the future.” They were ready to throw him off the cliff. Even though he spoke incredibly doesn’t mean that people would respond. Remember in John 3 Jesus says people in darkness hate the light.
There was also a wonderful wit in Jesus’ teaching. We often have a wrong view of Jesus. We picture that he was this sober, somber, sourpuss, dour, strict, disciplinarian type. Maybe you had a father who was one of those who could not ask for something, but rather barked their orders to their family. You get the idea that Jesus was always barking at people, he never had any fun, never laughed, never had a smile, always pious, his hands were folded, he had his locks twisted. No. If you study what Jesus said he had an amazing wit. He had allot of fun with people. He had allot of fun with his enemies particularly. He had a quick wit. He had a way with words and could use them well.
And when He had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him as He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?" And Jesus answered and said to them, "I will ask you one thing too, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. "The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?" And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Then why did you not believe him?' "But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the multitude; for they all hold John to be a prophet." And answering Jesus, they said, "We do not know." He also said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. (Matthew 21:23-27, NASB)
For example, in Matthew 21 the priests and elders challenged Jesus about his teaching. “Could you repeat to us the rabbinic authorities by which you teach these things? Who gave you this authority?” There was a whole crowd there listening. It’s was like open air preaching and someone is objecting. They are shouting out their questions. Jesus said “Oh, ok.” A smile came across his face. He said “I’ll answer your question as soon as you answer just one question for me, ok?” Remember that they had just embarrassed the son of God. You’re trying to speak and these people rush in shouting “By what authority are you saying this?” Jesus asks, “John’s baptism, where did it come from? Was it from heaven or from men?” Now who was on the hot spot. The tables were turned and now they were the ones who were embarrassed. They quickly had a little huddle to discuss their answer. They said “If we say John’s baptism came from heaven then he is going to ask us why we don’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah. If we say it is from men and God was not behind it then the people here are going to turn on us because they think he was a prophet. What are we going to do? We’ll say we don't know.” So they come back and Jesus says “Yes?” “We don't know! Whether from heaven. Whether from earth. One says this. One says that. We don't know.” Then Jesus said, “Then neither will I tell you by what authority I’m doing these things.” What do you think the crowd did? They guffawed and laughed and the priests turned red and they left. Did he do it other times? Yes, he had a wit about him. He knew how to handle situations. What could have been a terrible situation was turned around with the whole crowd laughing about it.
I remember one time preaching in New York City on Wall Street. When you have hecklers in open air preaching you have to have wit and have to answer these kinds of questions in such a way as to silence the heckler. “Where did Cain get his wife? Where did Cain get his wife?” He kept shouting about this. You have to say “Cain found his wife. I can’t find one for you. If you’re looking for a wife you’ll have to look elsewhere.” The heckler responds, “I don't mean that. I mean where Cain got his wife.” “Ladies and gentleman, another man’s wife who has been dead for thousands of years supposedly stands between this man and salvation. Is that sane?” The whole crowd laughed and the heckler walked off. What would have been the wrong thing to do was attempt a theological discussion with the heckler in the midst of the crowd. Was he really asking or was he challenging? Were these Pharisees really asking or were they challenging? Jesus used wit. When you look at the gospel account you can see the smile on his face. He dueled with words and he won every time he took the sword out.
Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them. "And they tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. "But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments. "And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called by men, Rabbi. "But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. "And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. "And do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. "But the greatest among you shall be your servant. "And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from men; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, even while for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you shall receive greater condemnation. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.' "You fools and blind men; which is more important, the gold, or the temple that sanctified the gold? "And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering upon it, he is obligated.' "You blind men, which is more important, the offering or the altar that sanctifies the offering? "Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. "And he who swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. "And he who swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. "You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. "Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets. ' "Consequently you bear witness against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. "Fill up then the measure of the guilt of your fathers. "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of hell? (Matthew 23:1-33, NASB)
His truthfulness is incredible. His nemesis, the Pharisees, came in for some rough words. Look in Matthew chapter 23 and you will find a list of seven words he gave against the Pharisees. He was not afraid to tell people exactly what they were, who they were, and where they were going. If Jesus Christ said to you, “Go to hell”, I’m afraid that’s where you’re going to go. When Jesus would say to someone, “You are under the wrath of God”, that person should be concerned. Here Jesus was preaching to the crowds. Remember that Matthew divides the dispute between Jesus and the Pharisees here. The confrontation in the temple which we just read marked the starting point of all out war between Jesus and the Pharisees. After that argument the Pharisees decide they have to kill Jesus. They reason amongst themselves “We can’t out preach him. We can’t outwit him. We can’t out argue him. So we’ll outlaw him and put him to death.” Then Jesus returned in kind in chapter 23. How do you think the people in the crowd responded to this? “Yeah, that’s right. Oh, he’s naming names. He’s saying what we’ve known to be true but no one has ever dared say before.” Notice in the context where he is teaching he has other people standing there. He turns over and says “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees. You hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourself do not enter and you will not let enter those who are trying to. Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees. You travel over land and sea to win one convert. When you win your convert you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.” Wow! How would you have loved to have been a Pharisee? Hypocrite was one slug. Now your converts are twice as much children of hell. Bang! When you go through this chapter he tells it like it is.
Even in the midst wasn’t there beauty? “He who exalts himself will be humbled. Whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Beauty! Wit! Wisdom and graciousness and truthfulness. That’s why in chapter 15, the disciples came to him in verse 12 and said "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?" But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit." Jesus told people the truth and did them a great favor because he gave them the opportunity to repent and turn from their evil. Like Nicodemus who was a Pharisee turned from his evil.
Not only the truthfulness but the morality of it is incredible. The morality of the Lord Jesus Christ is the highest code of morality the world has ever known, exemplified in his life. You find that he did not come to take men’s money or their wives. I don’t care if it’s Joseph Smith who had 42 concubines including a married woman whose husband he told that God said she belonged to Joe. Or Reverend Moon or whoever else you look at, there’s always a problem. But when you look at the Lord Jesus Christ you don't find any immorality. Isn’t that marvelous? Did he come as a money grubber? Did he come to be rich and live in a palace like Maharishi and have the limousines lined up? No! If he didn’t get the women and he didn’t get the money then why was he into religion? For the souls of men. For God and his truth. You mean that he had no racket? No, he had no racket. Didn’t he get anything out of it? Yes, he got a pole ride out of town and a death on the cross.
He was moral in the way he lived and everything he said. For example in John 4:16 in dealing with the woman at the well who wanted to argue about religion. Jesus cut right through the argument and said “Let’s talk about your husband. Go get him.” You can see her eyes darting on either side. “Ah, I don't have a husband.” “You said it baby. You’ve had seven of them and the one you‘re living with now is not your husband.” Her mouth fell open and she immediately knew this guy was a stranger. No one else was there. How in the world did he know all there was about her and her immorality? Before he was through she became a believer and through her testimony many other people became believers. Her life was changed from an immoral shacking up to an upstanding citizen. I can match convert for convert in modern day stories and biographies. I like to say to atheists, “I’ll debate you. I want you to have on the program people who embraced atheism and skepticism and as a result, they were prostitutes and now they are good upstanding family members, they were thieves and now they are honest people, they were drunkards and now they are sober, through your message of atheism, skepticism, and unbelief.” You’ve got to remember when Sir Robert Ingersoll was speaking on atheism and a drunkard stumbled in and shouted in a drunken slur, “We’re countin’ on ya. We’re countin’ on ya.” Why? Because he’s counting on that there isn’t a God so he could live that way. No atheist has ever taken up the challenge.
The teaching of Jesus Christ led to morality and honesty and good values. It does not turn people into evil people. It turns people into the good. That’s why in places like the Soviet Union you read statements tucked away in the party reports that when you have a group of religious people, there is not as much theft. It should dawn on them why this is true. When I was in seminary there was a caterer who would hire us seminary guys to do the catering. I asked the owner why he wanted to use seminary guys to cater for him. He said the silverware doesn’t get stolen. Why is that? It’s because Jesus Christ made a difference in what he taught.
In terms of practicality, his teaching was practical. It was real. It wasn’t some crazy, loony views. One can think of the cult called the breatharians. The breatharians believed that you didn’t have to eat. They thought you could stand out in the sun and get all the nutrients you needed by taking deep breaths. That’s not very practical and they aren’t around today. I wonder why? For example in Luke 17 Jesus is dealing with people. He said to His disciples, "It is inevitable that stumbling blocks should come, but woe to him through whom they come!” Could you ask for anything more practical than that? He’s saying “It is inevitable in a fallen world that your are going to blow it.” Now if you believe in sinless perfectionism and it’s possible to live in this world without sin coming down your road this verse is a shock, because he said it is inevitable! But he said “I’ve got to warn you here. Woe to that person through whom they come. If your brother sins rebuke him if he repents forgive him.” In the other gospel accounts this is where Peter jumps in and wants to know how many times he should forgive. Once? Twice? Jesus said “Seven times...forgive him” The response of the disciples is “Lord increase our faith.” He’s saying don't live with bitterness and anger. Release it when you forgive.
Jesus’ teaching is authoritative. Rabbinic authority in those days was the citation of other rabbinic authorities. So if you pick up the Talmud and read it you find that Rabbi So-and-so says one thing while someone else says another. You find that you can take an issue and the Talmud would give you a different opinion for every rabbi. So the authority by which you said something was based on tradition and rabbinic lore. But when Jesus taught he didn’t do that. He cut right through it because he had divine authority as the creator.
He was scriptural in what he said. "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished.” (Matt 5:17-18, NASB) Law and the prophets is the code name for the Old Testament. He came to fulfill it, not destroy it. Throughout his ministry he said “as it is written.” He would quote scripture. When he confronted the devil he quoted scripture.
His words were prophetic. In his speech he was able to predict what was going to happen. He predicted how he was going to die and from whom and what circumstances. He predicted in Matt 26:31-34 that Peter would deny him three times. He predicted in Matt 24 that the temple would be destroyed in such a way that not one of those blocks of stone would be left on top of another.
He was incredible in the way that he taught and what he said. As you read the gospel accounts there is beauty, wisdom, graciousness, wit, truthfulness, morality, practicality, authority, and scripturality, and there’s prophecy. No wonder they said, “This man talks and preaches like nobody else.” For he was the son of the Living God. This is why Matthew loves to answer the question “What did he say. By what authority? Who said so?” So that the Jew in the first century would say, “This man is speaking from the throne of God. He must be the Messiah, the Christ of the Living God.” Has he reached you by his speech? Has he touched your heart and revealed to you your desperate need of salvation. Have you come to know him and found him irresistible? Not that you sentimentally say “I believe” but that you dedicate your life to Jesus Christ. “I’m going to try as much as fallible people can to live according to his law to please him because I trust him, I love him, I want him as my Lord and my Savior.” That, my friends, is the first step to understanding who Jesus was. Answering the question “What did he teach? How did he teach? What did he say?” We find that his life was incredible. He is indeed irresistible because of what he preached long ago.