*This is the message I preached this morning...
So I heard a story the other day about a preacher, who was up late at the church on a Saturday, working on his message for Sunday morning. On his way home from the church he hears a loud noise coming from his car…suddenly, among rattles and smoke, the car comes to a stop. As he walks down the street to look for help, he comes across Jim, an atheist and a childhood friend.
Jim is dressed in rags, a bit in disarray – he looked “down on his luck” so to speak. The preacher asks Jim how it’s going and he gets a long sordid tale of a lost job, bad investment decisions and utter failure. The preacher, feeling terrible for his troubled old friend, tells him to get into the Bible – in fact just open it up he says and you’ll find the answer.
A couple months later the preacher runs into Jim. He’s clean cut with a new suit and fancy sports car. The preacher is excited and tells Jim how great he looks since the last time they saw each other. “I owe it all to you” exclaims Jim “I opened the Bible and found my answer in the first two words I read”. The preacher, a little bewildered that two words could make such a drastic change asked “What did you read?”
Jim looked at the preacher with a wide smile and explained ”I closed my eyes, opened the Bible, slapped my finger down on the page and read….Chapter 11”
That’s kind of a sad reality of our society…looking for a quick fix…neglecting accountability…being short sighted.
The truth is…had Jim, the atheist, trusted in the Word, seeking God AS the answer rather than just reading the Word seeking God for an answer – he would have been far better off!
You see, to believers in Jesus Christ, The Word is FULL of truth…FULL of answers.
But to the unbeliever The Word IS ..THE ANSWER.
John 1:1-5
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
The unbeliever, in darkness, can not comprehend the answers found in The Bible. The unbeliever can not discern the truth the Word of God contains.
But when the lost believe in Jesus Christ…the light, shining, brought forth from God helps to unlock a number of truths that have the power to not only shape a life in the here and now but also into eternity.
To the unbeliever, Jesus Christ, The Word…is the answer. The Bible…The Word of God…is full of answers. The Bible is His Word, God’s Word…The Word of Jesus Christ.
The deity of Jesus Christ and the Bible being His word is an essential truth. Why is this so important?
The deceiver is active and wants nothing more than to take this truth from us…from Christians. There are many Evangelicals who dismiss this as a side argument…not having to do with the main thing, the main thing being eternal salvation.
Sometimes something is so simple…so elementary…that it gets marginalized…it gets dismissed…it becomes irrelevant to a discussion. That’s exactly what the deceiver is trying to accomplish with the deity of Jesus Christ. I’m here to tell you it IS the main thing, it DOES have everything to do with eternal salvation…and those in Christ that dismiss preaching His deity to the lost simply can’t see the Forest through the trees.
The alpha and omega for Christians is the rock solid foundation that Jesus Christ is God…and being God, He is the answer…He is the all in all.
We must take great care, to guard ourselves against the onslaught of the world…the onslaught that tries to humanize Jesus Christ. It is true, He WAS fully man…but before he became man…before all things were made…in the beginning was Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ was with God and Jesus Christ was God…without Jesus Christ nothing was made that was made.
The Word of God, The Bible, is His Word….
The Gospel of John was written to introduce the reader to Jesus…and it starts out by emphasizing the preeminent characteristic of His person…He is God.
The stumbling block for the world is how could this carpenter be God? This question focuses on His being human, just a man.
We would do well to point out that our all powerful God became the carpenter.
Above all else, Jesus is God.
Before Jesus is Savior….He is God
Before Jesus is Redeemer….He is God
Before Jesus is King of Kings….He is God
Jesus is Lord of Lords….Because He is God
Immanuel…God with us.
Jesus…God is salvation
| Many profess to believe in God…but in what God. Absent of Jesus, there is nothing. Believing in God is equal to believing in nothing unless that God is Jesus Christ. No Jesus/No God. "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! Now…God does not change…He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Hear, O Israel…could be Hear O America, Hear O Bismarck, Hear O First Evangelical Free Church…The Lord our God, the Lord is one! It is crucial to recognize that Jesus Christ is not “A” God…He is the God…and God is one. Any attempt to make Jesus out to be a god among another god is to have other gods in His presence which violates the first commandment. Jesus points this out in Mark 12
To have more than one God is to have other Gods before Him, in his presence, in company with Him. Notice that the scribe answered wisely…the wisdom is in the fact that there is one God and there is no other but He. Also notice, that Jesus responds by saying “You ARE NOT FAR from the kingdom of God”…while he recognizes God is one…he doesn’t recognize that Jesus is God…No/Jesus…No/God. The world sometimes labels Christians as Polytheists – having more than one God because we hold to a triune God. However, we do well to point out that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not in addition to one another…that would be to say 1+1+1=3, which is how the world does the math, but the truth is Father, Son and Holy Spirit are multiples of the one true God…that is to say 1x1x1=1. |
John 14:4-6
4 And where I go you know, and the way you know." 5 Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
I believe this passage speaks of much more than going to heaven…especially right now, in this dispensation, in this moment in time - having the luxury of looking back on the Cross – the luxury of being able to invoke the name of Jesus Christ…no one is able to pray to God, no one is able to approach God, offer up petitions to God without first believing in Jesus Christ. No one receives the Holy Spirit without first believing in Jesus christ.
If you Know Jesus….only then do you Know God.
John 14:7-11
7 "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
During His ministry, people were trying to understand who Jesus is – through all the miracles, the World – the disciples – Philip - was trying to understand “Who is this man?” That is the stumbling block of all stumbling blocks...”this man”.
To the World…Surely, God is not a man…not this carpenter from Nazareth. Surely, God is not of the flesh.
But, to the Christian, Surely God was a man, surely God did take on flesh…surely God became the carpenter…only God could live a sinless life, without spot or stain, becoming the only lamb without blemish, the only lamb worthy of being sacrificed for the sin of the World. The Shepherd, the Good Shepherd IS the lamb. Do you understand? God….became a man.
It makes sense because to Know Jesus is to Know God. It makes sense because the Word gives many answers…one, that God reconciled himself to man through Jesus Christ…the world needed an offering for God that only He could provide.
Ronald Reagan once said:
Meaning no disrespect to the religious convictions of others, I still can't help wondering how we can explain away what to me is the greatest miracle of all and which is recorded in history.
No one denies there was such a man, that he lived and that he was put to death by crucifixion. Where...is the miracle I spoke of?
Well consider this and let your imagination translate the story into our own time -- possibly to your own home town. A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father's shop. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of his father's shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside, walking from place to place, preaching all the while, even though he is not an ordained minister. He does this for three years.
Then he is arrested, tried and convicted. There is no court of appeal, so he is executed at age 33 along with two common thieves. Those in charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing -- the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial place for him so he is interred in a borrowed tomb. End of story?
No, this uneducated, propertyless young man who...left no written word has, for 2000 years, had a greater effect on the world than all the rulers, kings, emperors; all the conquerors, generals and admirals, all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who have ever lived -- all of them put together. How do we explain that?...unless he really was who he said he was."
Now…I love that quote…except for saying he “left no written word”…I believe He has!
The World, to this day, is still trying to come to grips with His claim. The World promotes Jesus as an incredible teacher, a prophet, a good man, a spiritual leader.
The World highlights the words of Jesus in red…those are the words that “this man” Jesus spoke.
While the words our Lord spoke as a man are faithful and true – we realize, every jot and tittle of the Word is faithful and true. We realize that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. To Know Jesus…To Know God…is to know that if you are going to highlight His words in red…then the whole Bible should be highlighted in red...it is His Word.
Three verses really sum up the power of Knowing Jesus/Knowing God
Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."
How important is His deity?
John 8:58
Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."
This is ONE of the strongest affirmations Jesus gives in regard to His deity..
John 17:3
And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Simple…Powerful…Mighty is God…Mighty to save!
The application for unbelievers
Maybe you doubt the claim Jesus made of himself. Get in the Word. The Word is the answer. Maybe you’ve been struggling with the carpenter who claimed to be God…focus on a loving God who became the carpenter. This church is filled with people just like you…people who HAD doubts. The Bible is also filled with people just like you…people who had doubts…like doubting Thomas.
John 20:24-29
24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."
26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!" 27 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
The resurrection is the reason – the reason Christians share the Gospel. Had Jesus died on a cross – never to be seen again, humanizing him like everyone else who dies may seem to make sense.
But Him being raised from the dead, in victory over death so that you may have that same confidence – it tends to change things - doesn’t it?
The Application for believers is simple
1. Let us guard the deity of Christ, first and foremost – possessing it as the most precious truth.
2. Let us guard against the “humanizing” of Jesus while holding close the truth that while fully God, He was fully man.
3. Let us not squander the ability we have, as believers, to comprehend His Word and take every opportunity to study it and draw closer to Him.
4. Let us treat other Christians who respond, as did Thomas “My Lord and My God”, with grace.
5. Let us take joy in all who Know Jesus….in all who Know God.
