Well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen. G'day, my name's Josh Williamson. I'm out here this morning, as we are most weeks, with the Open Air Mission. And we come out here today quite simply because we have a very important message for you. In fact, even though I've introduced who I am, I'm not here today to talk about myself or introduce myself to you. Rather, I want to introduce you to the most famous person in all of history. I want to introduce you this morning to a man that you've heard of, a man that you know about. Perhaps it's even a man you've used his words, maybe in a good way or a bad way. I want to introduce you to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the question we have to ask is this, even though we've all heard of Jesus, even though some people use his name in cursing, the question we have to ask is, who is he? Who is Jesus Christ? Now something I've noticed about Portsmouth is it's a very multicultural, multi-religious society. And if we were to go up and down this busy street asking people this question, who is Jesus Christ, if we were to pull out a clipboard and have a survey questionnaire, I'd probably find that each person I speak to would answer that question differently. Some people would say that Jesus was nothing more than a good teacher. Others would say he was a good religious man, a moral leader. Some might even say he was a social revolutionary. If I spoke to people of the different religions, they would have different views as well. The Muslims would say that Jesus is nothing more than a prophet. A Buddhist would declare that Jesus is an enlightened person. A Jew would say that Jesus may have been a good rabbi. The Mormons would declare that Jesus was created and the half-brother of Satan. The Jehovah's Witnesses would say that Jesus is a God, but not the God. And then other people would quite simply say, I don't know who he is. And all these people would give a variety of answers and opinions as to who is Jesus Christ. Yet what is fascinating, despite all the chaos, despite all the confusion that we see in the society about Jesus Christ, He is still the central figure in human history. Now you might say, I don't agree with that, we live in 21st century Britain, Jesus is no longer the central figure of human history. I'd simply ask you this question, 21 centuries from who? Our dating system all revolves around Jesus Christ. When you write the date, you are declaring the centrality of Christ. We are in a world that revolves around Jesus, yet so many, so often of us, don't actually know who He is. So who is Jesus Christ? How do we answer that question? Well, it's no point us doing a survey. It's no point us turning on the BBC and asking them what they think. What we need is for God Himself to tell us who Jesus is. And God does just that. Did you know when you pick up the Bible, what you are reading is God's Word? And God speaks to us through the Bible, and in the Bible, God answers the question, who is Jesus Christ? He tells us who Jesus is. And what I'm going to do is just put up a couple of quotes from the Bible that reveal who Jesus is. And the first here comes from the book of Colossians. It's in the book in the Bible, chapter 1, verse 16, that says these words, speaking of Jesus. For everything was created by Him in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him." You see, the Bible here, when answering the question, who is Jesus Christ, steps back and makes a grand declaration. Jesus is the God who creates. You see, ladies and gentlemen, the Bible says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The book of Colossians reveals to us that it's Jesus Christ who is the God who creates. Now that tells us something about you and it tells us something about me. It says that you and I are not an accident. We are not a mistake. You are not some kind of cosmic burp where the universe decided to vomit you out and here you are. No, you were created by God to know God and to love God. And the Bible says that Jesus is the God who creates. He made everything. Everything you can see and everything you cannot see has been made by Jesus. If it exists, if it has been created, then it was made by Christ. The world and all things therein. That means when you look around and you see the beauty of nature, you have to sit back and say, God is a creative God. When you look at the complexity of your life, your DNA cells, it has more information in it than all the encyclopedias put together. You have to say, Jesus is unique. He is the God who creates. So the question is, who is Jesus? The first answer the Bible gives us is that Jesus is the God who creates. The second quote from the Bible I want us to consider says these words, He, that is Jesus, is before all things, and by Him all things hold together. You see, Jesus is not just the God who creates and then sits back and watches the world as if it's some kind of giant cosmic television. That's not the Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus of the Bible looks at the world He has made, He looks at you, He looks at me, He looks at everything around us, and He has an ongoing interaction with the world. The Bible says that Jesus is the God who sustains. You see, God is near. Jesus is near even this day in that He gives you life. In Him you live, move, and have your being. The breath that you have within your lungs is a gift from the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus is the God who sustains. He's more than a prophet, more than a good teacher. No, He is God Almighty who creates and sustains all things. Now I have a picture here on the board of an atom, a nucleus of the atom. Now in the atom there are 16 particles, 8 of which have positive energy, 8 of which have no energy. And based on all the positive energy, scientists say everything should be flying apart. The atoms that make up you and I should be flying apart according to science, but we're not. Why? Because Jesus is before all things and by him all things hold together. Jesus sustains you. He sustains your life. You know, I've been doing this now for over 20 years, speaking to people in different parts of the world. And oftentimes people ask this question, what has Jesus ever done for me? What has Jesus ever done for me? And often when they ask that question, they're thinking, why haven't I got the brand new Porsche? Why haven't I got that luxurious mansion? Why haven't I got that pretty wife or that handsome husband? That's what people often think when they ask that question, what has Jesus ever done for me? But ladies and gentlemen, that question can simply be answered. What has Jesus ever done for you? The life you have, the breath that you enjoy, your existence is a gift from Jesus Christ. He's more than a prophet. more than a good teacher. He is the God who sustains. He is the God who holds all things together. And right now, God is holding you together. Jesus holds you together and gives you life right now. But the question for you is this, do you acknowledge Him? Do you worship Him? Have you trusted in Him? You see, that's the problem, isn't it? Jesus is the God who creates. Jesus is the God who sustains. He does all these good things for us. The problem is what we do as humanity, myself included, is we turn our back on Him. And we live our lives in ways that shouldn't be lived. And then we have the hide to look at society and see how messed up everything is and say, well, it's your fault. No, it's not. It's our fault. We're the ones that corrupted the world. We are the ones that messed up everything. You see, Jesus made us, He sustains us, but we turned our back on Him. And the Bible says that turning our back on God is called sin. And the Bible says, for all have sinned and all have fallen short of the glory of God. It doesn't matter who you are, where you're from, how rich you may be, how poor you may be. It doesn't matter your country of origin. The Bible is clear that every single one of us has sinned. The Bible says that sin is breaking of God's law. When we lie and steal and lust and hate, when we blaspheme the name of the God who creates and sustains us, we are sinning. And the Bible says our sin brings about a consequence. I mean, think about it. We understand that out here, don't you? If you do something wrong out here, there's a consequence. And it's the same with God. When we sin against the God who created us and sustains us, there's a consequence. And the Bible says the consequence for our sin is death. The Bible makes it very clear. The soul that sins, it shall die, and the wages of sin is death. We face physical death because of our sin. We face spiritual death because of our sin. And we face eternal death in hell because of our sin. And that's what you and I deserve. Now, you may not like to hear that this morning in Portsmouth, that because of your sin you deserve hell, but it's true. But who is this Jesus who creates and sustains? He's also the Jesus who can rescue you. You see, the Bible says this, For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, making peace through His blood shed on the cross." You see, ladies and gentlemen, the Bible declares that Jesus is the God who rescues. Our sin proclaim death and judgment, but Jesus Christ in love goes to the cross and He pays the penalty that we should pay. He dies the death that we should die. And in love, this Jesus who creates and sustains is the God who comes to rescue us. The Bible says, here is a saying worthy of all acceptation, Christ Jesus came into the world to save, to rescue sinners. Now, I'm a sinner who's been rescued by Jesus. Are you a sinner who's been rescued by Jesus? Have you been forgiven this day? Have you trusted in Jesus who died and rose again? Have you turned from your sins and trusted only in Him? You see, ladies and gentlemen, Only the Jesus who is God, the Bible Jesus, can rescue us. Because He is the one who took our full punishment on the cross. He died. He rose again. And now He calls on everyone to repent and believe. You see, our starting question is, who is Jesus Christ? The Bible makes it clear. He is the God who creates. He is the God who sustains. He is the God who rescues. And in love this day, He offers you rescue. He offers you forgiveness of sins. He offers you a brand new start. No matter who you are or what you've done, because of what Jesus has done, you can be completely forgiven and made brand new. But there's another question you need to answer. And that question is, do you know Jesus Christ? Do you know Him? You might say, well, how am I meant to know a historical figure? Well, the Jesus who creates and the Jesus who sustains is the Jesus who's right now here in this city centre of Portsmouth. holds out His hand of forgiveness and says, you can know Him if you would turn from your sin and turn to Him, trusting that He died and rose again. And if you would do that, you would be completely forgiven and made brand new. You would know the God who creates and sustains. Ladies and gentlemen, we're out here today because we love you and we care for you and we know that Jesus loves you and Jesus cares for you and wants you to know him for yourself. So we have a free gift here that will help you understand who Jesus is. It's the Gospel of John. It's the biography of Christ. I'd love to give you one of these free of charge so that you can discover Jesus for yourself. Discover the One who creates, sustains and rescues. Discover Jesus, the One who in love died and rose again and offers forgiveness of sins to all those who would turn and trust in Him. God bless you.