Why are people unable to face Jesus? True but hard to accept!!

1. FACING THE MESSIAH

2. GRACIOUS JESUS
(MATTHEW’S PERSPECTIVE WITH GOSPEL PARALLELS)
1. Presenting the King (Matt 1-4)
2. True Blessedness (Matt 5:1-12)
3. Kingdom Lifestyle – Part 1 (Matt 5:13-
48)
4. Kingdom Lifestyle – Part 2 (Matt 6)
5. Kingdom Lifestyle – Part 3 (Matt 7)
6. Master Strokes (Matt 8)
7. The King Calls (Matt 9)
8. The King Commissions (Matt 10)
9. Signs, Sinners and the Saviour (Matt
11)
10. Power Games and Names (Matt 12)
11. Hidden Wisdom (Matt 13:1-43)
12. Hidden Treasures (Matt 13:44-
14)
13. The Gall and the Glory (Matt 15-17:9)
14. Winning Others Over (Matt 17:10-
18:35)
15. Kingdom Values, Kingdom Wealth
(Matt 20)
16. The King Enters Jerusalem (Matt 21)
17. The Chosen Few (Matt 22)
18. The King’s Glorious Coming (Matt
24:1-44)
19. The Final Countdown (Matt 24:45 –
25:46)
20. The King’s last days (Matt 26)
21. Desertion (Matt 26:36-75)
22. God’s Lamb Sacrificed (Matt 27: 1-50)
23. The King Conquers (Matt 27:51-28)

3. HIDDEN TREASURES
(MATT 13:44-14:36)
61. Unmatched value
62. Good fish, bad fish
63. The Treasure House
64. Facing the Messiah
65. Unlimited Provision
66. Walking on Water
67. Eternal Food

4. OVERVIEW
Bible Passages: Mathew 13.53-58; Mark 6.1-6a; Luke 4.16-30
He grew up with them
They were in denial
He faced them with the truth
Why could they not see?
They missed out
Are we facing the Messiah?
Are we missing out?
Are we ready to face Him?
Are we ready to follow Him?

5. Matthew 13:53 When Jesus had finished
these parables, he moved on from there. 54
Coming to his hometown, he began teaching
the people in their synagogue, and they were
amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom
and these miraculous powers?” they asked.
55 “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his
mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers
James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?
FACING THE MESSIAH

6. FACING THE MESSIAH
Matthew 13:56 Aren’t all his sisters with us?
Where then did this man get all these things?”
57 And they took offense at him.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not
without honor except in his own town and in
his own home.”
58 And he did not do many miracles there
because of their lack of faith.

7. BACKGROUND
Dr. Ron Charles, tells us that the place Jesus
chose to grow up was rough, uncultured,
uneducated largely, and people of low morals.
Yet God chose to place Him there.
The prime occupation for decades was garbage
collection. Around 30% were in the construction
business – as was Joseph Jesus’ father. The place
had a rich limestone deposits which the Romans
used for their constructions. Centuries before,
when the business dropped, many resorted to
being the officically appointed garbage collectors
of the area.

8. BACKGROUND
While even His family did not recognize Him in the early
stages, we know some brothers and mother did come to His
saving knowledge later in life after Christ’s resurrection. We
hope others from His hometown followed suit.

9. FACING THE MESSIAH
Luke 4:16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on
the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He
stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to
him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[f]
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat
down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on
him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is
fulfilled in your hearing.”

10. FACING THE MESSIAH
Luke 4:22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words
that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me:
‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your
hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”
24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his
hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in
Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there
was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to
any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And
there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet,
yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.
29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of
the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30
But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

11. HE GREW UP WITH
THEM
One of the saddest passages in the Bible. The
rejection is progressive as we see in Luke 4:16-30
They were amazed at his wisdom
They took offence at his power and claims to be
the Messiah
They were furious as he mentioned of similar
hardness to great prophets like Elijah and Elisha
They planned murder as he continued to explain
how the former prophets got better response with
the Gentiles.

12. THEY WERE IN
DENIAL
They could not face the
Messiah.
As conviction dug
deeper into their hearts,
they shut it out by trying
to kill the most
harmless, gentle loving
person who lived with
them for decades.

13. THEY WERE IN
DENIAL
Some were
unbelievers
Some were future
believers
But their blindness
and hardness at that
point made them do
the unthinkable

14. HE FACED THEM WITH
THE TRUTH
Rejection didn’t bother Jesus
He spoke the truth anyway
He explained the situation however hard it was
He always tried to win the few He could irrespective of the
consequences
He could face the entire crowd with the truth
They could not face Him

15. WHY COULD THEY
NOT SEE?
Was it overfamiliarity?
Was it Christ’s simplicity?
Was it wrong expectations?
None of these!!!
No matter how brilliant the logic,
only the Father reveals Jesus to
those He chooses.
He chooses those whom He
know will obey and follow Him
to the end.

16. WHY COULD THEY
NOT SEE?
“All things have been
committed to me by my
Father. No one knows the
Son except the Father,
and no one knows the
Father except the Son
and those to whom the
Son chooses to reveal
him. Matthew 11:27

17. WHY COULD THEY
NOT SEE?
No matter how
brilliant the logic, only
the Father reveals
Jesus to those He
chooses.
He chooses those
whom He know will
obey and follow Him
to the end.

18. THEY MISSED OUT
They missed out on
the miracles but
that was the least
of it
They missed out on
the Messiah
Himself in person,
living among them.

19. ARE WE FACING THE
MESSIAH?
This is history repeating
itself.
Right from the time
Moses was seeking the
face of God
The rest were building
their own images of gold
They were the chosen
people of God, delivered
from Egypt

20. ARE WE MISSING
OUT?
True most of us are
believers
But are we shutting out
God’s full glory out of
our lives
And trading it for the
temporary gains of this
world?

21. WE ARE FACED WITH
A CHOICE
When we face the Messiah
We face the power of
transformation
Deep inside everyone knows
it.
When we face the Messiah
We know we have to change
or turn away
We have to choose His way
or our way.

22. ARE WE READY TO
FACE HIM?
As I write this, in April 2022, the school I was going to
Clarence High School, Bangalore one of the few Christian
schools left is facing national controversy.
There is prayer and a short message at an assembly and a
Scripture class – weekly or so.
It is registered as a Christian protestant school for more than
a hundred years but now the nation is shouting over the
teaching of the bible in this little school.
Only Christ and His word can arouse so much opposition.
Because everyone knows His power whether they admit it or
not.

23. ARE WE READY TO
FACE HIM?
Throughout the centuries it is the Jews and
Christians who have come under attack the most.
Just as Jesus faced the threat of death.. That day
as Jesus eventually died under the onslaught,
His enemies never know that in 3 days they would
be
FACING THE MESSIAH… FOREVER

24. ARE WE READY TO
FACE HIM?
To see Him eye to eye
And allow His reflection to shine
through us?
Are we ready to let the conviction hit
us again and again to break and
mould us to be like Him?

25. TURN YOUR EYES
UPON JESUS
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full on His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow
strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.”

26. ARE WE READY TO
FOLLOW HIM
Are we then ready to go out into the
world
And speak the truth they need to hear
So that God could open the eyes of
even a few
To see the glorious light of the
Messiah.

27. DISCUSSION
1. Given people’s unwillingness to
face Jesus, how do we help them?
2. How can we try to win people over
instead of throwing them off – with
our approach?
3. In what aspects are we in denial?
What can get us through?

28. FACING THE MESSIAH