Well, so we are in this series, this evening, on Sunday evenings I've been, most Sunday evenings when I speak, I've been talking about key things you need to know about Christianity. And the idea of this is so that First of all, if there's anybody who comes or listens in who's not yet a Christian, that person might be able to have a clearer understanding of the Christian faith and hopefully God would use it to bring that person to faith in Christ. But also, for those of us who are believers, so that we know the structural basis for the things that we believe. Very often we know that certain things are true but sometimes we think, oh, what's that verse? Where is it again? And so the idea is this, so that you've got the resources that you need so that when you're talking with your friends, maybe at school or at work, you've got those resources that you need to be able to deal with issues that might arise or maybe you're trying to witness to people and you want to be able to speak to people. Now, what we've been doing in more recent weeks is we've been thinking about how we know that Jesus really is the Son of God. Now, of course this morning I was saying that that, of course, ultimately it's because God gives us that revelation, that understanding. He opens up our eyes to see the truth about Jesus. But for us who believe, we know that we do have valid reasons for believing that Jesus is the Son of God. It's not just we just have some sort of blinding flash and we just believe sort of without any rational basis. Of course we do have a rational basis for saying, yes, Jesus really is the Son of God. And we do know that when the disciples went to the synagogues, when Paul, for example, went to the synagogues, he reasoned with the Jews from the scriptures. He showed them evidence that Jesus really is the Christ. And so it is important that we should know what are those scriptural bases. Now, so we were saying, we were thinking a few weeks ago about how Jesus himself taught that he is, the way he spoke about himself, he spoke, he claimed things for himself that only God could do. For example, that he's gonna judge the world, that he could forgive sins. that he grants salvation, that he is everywhere. Those are the sorts of things that only God can do. Now, as somebody once said, either Jesus was true, in which case he's the son of God and you must worship him, or he is a bad person because he's lying, or he's a lunatic because he's saying he's got delusions of grandeur. Now I think what we'll see today shows us that those last two options are not valid options. You couldn't possibly say that Jesus was bad and you couldn't possibly say that he's mad. So that leaves only one option, which is that he is who he said he is. So he wants to think about his perfect life. And then I want also for us to, if we have time, we might not have time, but think also about how his miracles showed that what he said is true. So I'd like us to think about His perfect life, first of all. And I'd like us to start with this lovely verse in Hebrews 4 and verse 15. The writer of Hebrews says, and page 1189 if you want to follow, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. That's the key thing. Jesus experienced temptation But he was without sin. He never sinned in any way, shape or form. He never did anything that broke God's law. He never said anything wrong, nothing untrue, nothing proud, nothing unkind, nothing unloving. everything he said was true and right and good and even his thought life was absolutely perfect never a single lustful thought was allowed to stay in his mind never a proud thought, never a greedy thought he never once loved an idol he was absolutely perfect in all of his thoughts as well. This is the teaching of scripture. And of course, it's because, well, yeah, and we'll just think about some other aspects of this. We won't turn to these other scriptures, but I'm sure probably many of us will remember how, do you remember when he saw the crowds? And there they were, harassed and helpless, says in Matthew 9, 36. He had compassion on them. He felt sorry for them. Or do you remember when he was, when he came before the judges, or before the Sanhedrin, and they accused him falsely in all sorts of ways. He didn't make any attempt to justify himself or to answer back. When they mocked Him, they jeered at Him. He didn't retaliate. In Luke 19, there's an account there about how when Jesus saw Jerusalem, He wept for Jerusalem. Now remember, He's just about to go into Jerusalem. He knows what's going to happen when He gets to Jerusalem. He is going to be arrested. He's going to be treated terribly. He's going to be crucified. But far from feeling hatred towards the Jews in Jerusalem, he felt pity for them because he thought they're going to suffer terrible judgment. He wept for them. And he was thinking not about himself, but he was thinking about the people who would suffer because of the fact that they've rejected him. And then you remember how, when he was on the cross, he prayed for those who were driving the nails into his hands and his feet. Father, forgive them. because they do not know what they are doing. And perhaps we will turn to our summary verse, 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 22. Page 1,000 and 2,004, 1,204. This is Peter's observation about Jesus. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. Perfect man. who never ever sinned. Now, if you were to spend about, if you were to spend less than a day with me, you'd quickly discover that I'm a sinner. You would see me maybe being a bit grumpy with somebody or being a bit rude or whatever. You'd quickly find out that I was a sinner. But Peter lived with Jesus for three years, day in, day out, and he never, ever witnessed Jesus sinning at all. So there's his testimony about Jesus. He committed no sin. Now, so this, you know, if Jesus was a liar, well, if Jesus was making it up, If he was a proud megalomaniac or some lunatic, well, that would have come out, wouldn't it, in the way he spoke? People would have said, oh, you know, somebody who's that way, we all know, we've probably, we've all met people who've got delusions of grandeur, you know, who think of themselves as, you know, more important than the President of the United States or something, you know. Well, they're not exactly nice people to be around, are they? People who've got delusions, they're actually quite unpleasant. but there's nothing unpleasant about Jesus. He says quite honestly, doesn't he, that he's meek, he's gentle, because that's what he was, that's who he is, that's it, he's kind, not harsh or unloving. Now, just before we move on, there's a very important thing that goes along with this, of course, which is that because Jesus was perfect, and he never sinned, that's how he could make a sacrifice for the sins of others. If he'd once sinned, just even once had a momentary bad thought of pride or greed or lust or something like that, even just one fleeting moment of sin, he couldn't have paid for the sins of others. Because when he died on the cross, he'd have been punished for his own sins. But because he never sinned, that's how he was able to make that sacrifice for sins. Because it meant that the father could lay onto him, not his own sins, but the sins of others. And he could punish them, punish him for their sins. So that's the first thing then that I want to think about this evening, which is Jesus' perfect life shows us that what he said about himself, that effectively he was saying that he is God, that shows that what he said is true. Now the other thing I'd like us to do is to consider how his miracles show us that he really was and is the eternal son of God who is worthy of worship. Now, I mean, obviously I can only, we've only got to have time to just sketch this and we'll probably just only look at a few of these. you've got the others listed or some of the others listed down there which you know you could you could look at when you get home but the thing which which I think is I mentioned this morning that of course there were miracles done Jesus isn't the only person in the Bible who ever did miracles you got Moses who parted the Red Sea and who brought water from the rock and who fed people from the manor. You've got Elijah and Elisha who also did some miracles which in some ways are quite similar to the miracles that Jesus performed. They were able to feed people. There's a couple of instances of people recovering from being dead. There were some miracles that Jesus did. You wanna give out one of that sheet? Sorry, that other disciples did, sorry, other prophets did. But the thing which is so striking about the miracles of Jesus is just their sheer intensity, the vast number of them. and also what you find with the with the prophets is that very often they would pray you know the Shunammite's son was ill so Elijah prayed for this this this this um was it Elijah or Elijah? I forget forgive me but he prayed and the boy got better but which one is it? All right, okay. Look it up quickly. So, but Jesus didn't have to ever pray. He didn't have to say, please, God, can you help me here? He just said it and it happened. And this is the thing which the onlookers observed. They said, this is something different. He's got authority. And it happens, and that's the thing which again and again we find in the Gospels, them being absolutely astonished that he did this. So Mark 1, let's look at some of these. Mark 1, verse 21, page 994. And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath, he entered the synagogue. and was teaching and they were astonished at his teaching for he taught as them as one who had authority not like not as the scribes and immediately in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit And he cried out, there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are the Holy One of God. But Jesus rebuked him, saying, be silent and come out of him. And the unclean spirit convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice came out of him. And they were all amazed, so they questioned among themselves, what is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him. That's the thing. He commands and they obey him. And then just going on immediately the next thing we see Simon's mother-in-law, Mark 1, 29. And immediately left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew and James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law may lay ill with a fever and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up and the fever left. And she began to serve. Now, again, it wasn't, oh Lord, please help this lady to get better. No, he just took her by the hand and up she gets. And then verse 32, that evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak because they knew him. So, no sort of, well, about 2 or 3% of the people I pray for get better, which is what some people who claim to be healers today say. No, all those who came to him just made them better. and they were made well and then you've got the paralyzed man which we referred to the other day when we talked about about Jesus forgiving sins and in Mark chapter 2 you remember the story which you know that they brought this paralyzed man to Jesus and they blowed him through the roof and Jesus said to him, take son, heart son, your sins are forgiven. And they thought he was blaspheming and then Jesus said, which is easier, to say your sins are forgiven or say rise up, take up your bed and walk? And they said, but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. He said, then he turned to the paralytic, I say to you, Pick up your bed and go home. He didn't pray for him, he just commanded him, get up and go home. And that's what happened. And like it says there, they were all amazed. We never saw anything like it. This is incredible, this is astonishing. You can just tell a paralyzed man to just go home. Just walk out of the room and off he goes. And then you've got the man with the withered hand, going on to chapter three of Mark's gospel. And again, he entered the synagogue and the man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, come here. And he said to them, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill? But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart. He said to the man, stretch out your hand. He stretched it out and his hand was restored. Again, he didn't like pull the hand or lay hands on the hand or pray about the hand. He just said to the man, stretch out your hand. And this man has had this withered hand. And he was healed. And then going on, you've got the story of course of the Mark chapter 5, you've got the story of the man with the very large number of demons inside him. Legion, his name was Legion because he had such a huge quantity of demons inside him. Legion is a thousand. And these demons were begging Jesus to be allowed to go into the pigs. Now we don't know why Jesus allowed that but in one sense perhaps it was just simply this so that we can see that he had the power to drive out a thousand demons. Because otherwise, you know, you might say, oh, he drove out a thousand demons. How do we know? Well, because you can see they went to all those different peaks, and they all ran down the hill and killed themselves. But the point is this. The demons had to do what Jesus told them to do. And they had to go where he told them to go. Or gave them at least permission to go. Then you've got the story of Jairus' daughter combined with the paralyzed woman, which is in chapter 5 and verse 21. You've got these two stories mixed up together. And so you've got this synagogue ruler, Jairus. His daughter was really, really ill. And so he sends for Jesus and asks Jesus to come. And he was really urgent, really begging, please come and make my daughter better. And then on the way over, there's a hold up. Because there's this woman who's had been hemorrhaging for years. And she thinks to herself, if I just touch the hem of his robe, I'll be made better. And so she goes and touches the hem of Jesus' robe, and lo and behold, she is made better. But Jesus knew that power had gone out from him, and so he said, who touched me? And she came forward and she admitted what she'd done. And he said to her, your faith has made you well, go in peace, be healed of your disease. Now you see, be healed. He commanded, be healed, and she was healed. And you can imagine, poor old Jairus, he said, come on, come on, come on, my daughter's dying, come on. You know, last thing he wanted was this hold up. Well, well, you know, well, well, Jesus deals with this woman, not just, I'm sure he would have felt sorry for the woman, you know. So they, of course, then by the time they get there, the girl has died. And what happens? Well, Jesus goes in there, and he takes her by the hand, and he takes, he says these words, talithakumi, which I think would be Aramaic, which means, little girl, get up. He just tells her, this little girl, come on, come on, wake up. And you can just imagine like a little child, come on, wake up time. But she wasn't asleep, she had been dead. But he just tells her, get up, she gets up. And notice again what it says, they were immediately overcome with amazement. How can anybody do this? They just command and it happens. And then you've got the feeding of the 5,000 in chapter 6 and verse 30. And you've got this vast crowd of people and they've got no food. And Jesus tells his disciples, you go and you give them something to eat. Of course, they think, well, we haven't got anything to eat. We've only got five loaves and two fish. And then he gave thanks to God for the food. Notice he didn't ask God to make the food, but he just gave thanks to God for the food. And then he started, and then he He gave it to the disciples to set before the people, and the food just keep on, on, on, on, growing. And then you've got the Jesus walking on the water, Mark chapter 6. And the disciples were in the boat. and Jesus was to stay behind, and they got into a storm, and they were really in great difficulty, and then Jesus walked towards them on the water, and they cried out, And he said, take heart, inside, do not be afraid. Then he got into the boat, and then the wind ceased. And it says they were utterly astonished, absolutely amazed at what had happened. And so we see again and again and again, Jesus doing these amazing and wonderful miracles. And of course, you've got the example, of course, as well as about how he told Lazarus to come forth from the grave as well, and many other examples. So we see then that Jesus ordered, he commanded miracles to happen. and they happened. Now, Peter refers to all these miracles in, in Acts chapter 2, and perhaps it would be worth just turning to this. Acts chapter 2, in verse 22. He says, "'Men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth He says, was a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know. It's on page 108. Jesus was attested to the people of Israel by these mighty works, wonders and signs that God did through him. So God was basically saying, yes, this man is true. Now remember what we were saying a few weeks ago, some of us were here. What has he been saying? He's been saying he can, he's going to judge people. He's saying he's got the power to forgive sins. He's saying he's got the power to save. He's saying he's going to be with everybody, to all his disciples, to the end of the age. He's not actually saying he's God. And the Father is saying, yes, those things that he said are true by authenticating Jesus' miracles. And then also, John chapter 20, 21, no, sorry, chapter 20, Verses 30 and 31, John writes, now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written, things like the water into wine, raising of Lazarus, the blind man able to see and so on, the man who was paralyzed, now able to walk. These are written. that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Just very much paralleling what we saw this morning, Peter's confession. He's the Christ, the Son of the living God. John says, these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name. Now, this is important because a lot of people misunderstand the miracles of Jesus a lot of people when they read the miracles of Jesus these days they say ah here's a textbook on how to do miracles just as Jesus did miracles we can do miracles but that's not what the scripture says was the purpose of the miracles he didn't do the miracles saying oh yeah look this is how you do a miracle no he did the miracles to show that He's different from us, to show that He is the Son of God. That's why there are all those miracles there. That's why these are a completely different order from what we experience. Of course, we experience the supernatural of God. Of course we do. Mainly in terms of people being born again. Sometimes also, there are amazing answers to prayer that we see. Of course we do. And sometimes we pray for people who are not well and they get better, which is wonderful. But what the signs and wonders that Jesus did are of a completely different order because he commanded and they happened. And in such intensity. One New Testament scholar reckons that essentially disease would have been eradicated from that whole area. Because anybody who's ill, they knew exactly where to go. And so, for a period of time, there's hardly any illness in that whole area. Because Jesus was there on tap, as it were, to provide that healing for anybody who needed it. So, what should we draw from this? How should this affect us? Well, first of all, we should get rid of any doubt in our own mind that Jesus is the Son of God. If He lived this perfect life, and if He did these great miracles, then let's eradicate from our mind any thought, oh well, I wonder if He really is. He is the Son of God. We should also repent of our sins. And we should trust Christ for salvation. And having trusted Him, we should serve Him in our lives. Well, I hope that's helpful to us and may God write his word upon our hearts.