Years ago, in Berkeley, I picked up a hitchhiker. His first words to me on entering my car were, "Do you know Jesus?" Jesus was important to him and he wanted to talk about Jesus. The men who wrote the Apostles creed were men to whom Jesus was important. 2/3 of that creed is about Jesus. A modern doctrinal statement used by many evangelical groups makes half of its statements about the nature and work of Jesus. He is central to who we are, what we do and what we believe. When I looked over the topics of this sermon series I noted that 7 out of 13 messages are specifically about the person and work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Important as a starting place in thinking about Jesus is this. He was a man. The writes of the New Testament had to battle a group within the church who denied the humanity of Jesus. These people believed Jesus was so spiritual he could not have died on the cross. They believed that if you had followed him down the road he would not have left footprints. In John's letters he strives to make it clear, Jesus Christ came in the flesh. We do Jesus no favor if we forget his humanity. As the Author of Hebrews says, "He was tempted in all ways like as we are." Jesus knows our needs and can met them because he has been there too. He was a man

Jesus was fully human. He ate. He drank. He was thirsty. He was tired. He felt pain. He felt compassion. He knew friendship and frustration. He was completely human. But he was not merely a man. The shortest description of the other truth about his nature is in the word, "Emmanuel." Jesus was and is God with us. The tragedy of his story was stated in the first chapter of John, "He came to his own and his own received him not." Jesus was God come to be with us and his own people, the chosen people of God, did not recognize him. God reached out in love and was despised and rejected of men.

Still, he was God in human flesh. He made statements no one else could make. He would say to a sick man, "your sins are forgiven." And those about him would respond, "Who can forgive sins but God?" They had the right :question but the wrong conclusion. Where they could have recognized him is God among us they instead rejected him as a blasphemer.

His enemies sought to kill him because "He called god his Father making himself equal to God." Curiously it was his enemies who understood the claims he made for himself. They saw that he was telling everyone that he was God come in human flesh. His friends had a hard time understanding this. It may be that their strong monotheism blinded them. they believed God was ONE GOD. How could Jesus be God. And yet, at the last supper, Jesus told them, "I and the Father are one."

Jesus is the only-begotten Son of God. The authors of the Nicene creed found it necessary to add the words, "begotten, not made." some had begun to say that Jesus was the first of all creation, but he is not. He preceded creation. Some parts of God's word indicate that he was active in creation. But nothing in God's word would say that he is created. He is "in the beginning." As we read tonight, "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." In Jesus the "word became flesh and dwelt among us."

Let us pause a moment and review. Jesus is the son of God. He is fully human and fully God. He is the second person of the trinity, "God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit." He came into the world to bring salvation and forgiveness of sins. He is "God with us."

It may be you affirm all this. It is scripture. It is the historic belief of Christ's Church. To be a church member means accepting these teachings. Many have not accepted them. Some remained Jews. Some became Unitarians. Some joined cults, usually ones which hold a lesser view of Jesus. But we believe, Jesus is God come to earth in human form.

The song, He's Everything to Me includes these words, "I will celebrate nativity, for it has a place in history. Sure he came to set his people free, what is that to me?" We need to move from the questions of doctrine to the question of application. The creed writers refer to Jesus Christ as "Our Lord." The key is not what you affirm but what you do with what you believe. The men who gathered to write these statements of Faith did not write, "We believe that Jesus Christ was God's only begotten Son." they wrote, "I believe IN Jesus Christ God's only Son, our Lord."

Knowing the Bible is not enough. Believing the Bible is true is not enough. Accepting the facts taught in the Bible and by the church isn't enough. Salvation is only though faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. John wrote, "Whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." What you believe is important. But who you believe in makes the difference between life and death. Jesus came to set his people free. You need to ask, "What is that to me?" You need to come to him in faith and receive him as Lord of your Life.

Is Jesus your Lord? Paul wrote, "If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For believes with his heart and so is justified, and confesses with his lips and so is saved." Rom 10:9-10. If you agree with all that the Bible teaches that is wonderful. But have you made him Lord of your life. Sometime we sing, "Living for Jesus a life that is true striving to serve him in all that I do." The church which knows Jesus is Lord will strive to serve him in all that we do. The person who knows Jesus as Lord will strive to serve him in all that you do. Is he your Lord?

And we need to answer this question today. Paul said, "now is the day of salvation." A ruler named Felix heard the claims of Christ from Paul. He was interested. He said, "go away for the present, when I have a convenient season I will call for you." As far as we know, Felix never had a convenient time to receive Jesus. If you wait for a convenient time, you might never receive him. If you believe these things about him, why not believe in him. Let him be your Lord.