The Nature of Christ Jesus Our Lord and God
John 1:1-3,14
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created...14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only begotten Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Question: Do you really love Jesus?
Jesus is identified as the incarnation of the eternal Word. And this designation alongside the designation "Son" is very important. It means Jesus is eternally begotten. Not coming into being. Not adopted from out of humanity. Not a god and yet not The Father. He is the radiance of the glory of God. The exact imprint of God's nature. He is both God and was present with God in the beginning.
Hebrews 1:3
"The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high."
He is God's creative agent, the source of life. And he, Jesus, brings salvation, new life in eternity, into the world. And there is no redemption without this truth. Through him, Jesus, he brings redemption by making purification of sins. Without the deity of Christ Jesus there is no hope for mankind. Any diminishing of his deity delegitimizes any claim to his redemption. If he is not God incarnate, we are not recipients of any special adoption by him. Our faith is then a lie.
There you go, that's the hard truth of it.
And of course, we know that Jesus Christ is all and everything to us. His word is everything to us. His principles are everything to us.
Colossians 3:11
In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us."
Everything about Jesus is all that matters to us. And If we love him we will keep his commandments. Our behavior is connected to our motivations. If there is an all-consuming love for Jesus Christ, there will be an all-consuming love for his word and commands. When his word dwells within us, everything about us will reflect Him. This isn't simply an intellectual matter; this is about loving him. If we love him, we'll keep his commands. The more we know his word the more we know his will, but the more we love him the more we will obey his commands. This is far beyond simply defining word for word, precept for precept, this is a changed nature.
Unless there is an internal motivation beyond just knowing, there cannot be spiritual maturity. It must take us past the legalistic approach to Christ and must bring us into a love relationship with our God. Christ must become the center of focus for our Christian life. Our thoughts and affections are to be focused on him. Our God expects a genuine change in the inner person of the believer. Not simply a change in the believer’s understanding or godliness, but a new relationship with God in Christ demands our love for him. So, we must die to ourselves daily, and constantly put away our evil ways, because we love Jesus Christ.
Romans 3:22
"We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are."
So that's a lot of theology there, and a whole bunch of "must do's".
And this is why we must get our minds right about the deity of Jesus Christ. There are and have always been many false Christs being preached. There has been many aberrant Christologies taught and every one of them attempts to deconstruct the deity of Jesus. Every one of these heresies is an attack on the nature of The Lord Jesus Christ. They imagine Jesus is an apparition, or maybe an adopted good man, never God from God. And most notably there was Arianism which imagines Jesus was a created being, not begotten of and from God, but created like all created things. Though these ancient ideas and their founders have long ago been forgotten by the common church, these heresies still remain blended into many evangelical extra-Christian traditions.
Most of these modern "faith movement" teachings nowadays see Jesus as a man who was anointed by God to become a god. Just a man until he decided to be a god. They believe he is a man who became a god by growing into his perfection. And thereby what happens to this Jesus can happen to them. And every one of these practices denies the trinity.
Some expressions of these other Christian beliefs imagine God exists as one Person who shifts between three faces: one for the Father, one for the Son, and one for the Holy Spirit. It's called "modalism". Adherents to modalism believe that God is one in essence, but changes modes like some kind of transformer. He was God the Father in the Old Testament, then transformed into God the Son (Jesus Christ) in the New Testament, and now is transformed as God the Holy Spirit. And this heresy effectively destroys all expressions of God's essence because there is no distinct eternal essence in any of them. These are typically the claims and teachings of the so-called charismatic believers. And reflected in many Christian movements such as Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, and others.
And now for the truth.
The scriptures tell us that God does not transform.
Malachi 3:6
"I the Lord do not change"
Hebrews 13:8
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."
James 1:17
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."
Christology is the test. Understanding the gospels, and the Old Testament prophecies, and everything they say about Jesus is the whole point of Bible study. What people say and believe about Jesus is the basis for all true faith. If you truly love Jesus, you'll listen to him and obey his commands. If you don't you aren't listening and if you're not listening, it's because you're unconverted and likely following false teachers, and/or teachings.
John 20:30-31
"Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."
The point of all this biblical study is so that you'll believe Jesus is the Messiah. That you'll rightly discern the truth. And that by believing you may have life in his name.
The easiest method for finding out the truth of any Christian tradition is to ask them what Jesus asked:
“Who do people say the Son of Man is?” (Matthew 16:13)
If they answer as Peter did...
“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
...then they are blessed by God, and The Father has revealed this truth to them.
If they answer like Thomas...
“My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)
...then they are blessed by God, even though they only believed because they witnessed him.
And if they teach as Isaiah, Peter, and Paul did...
Titus 2:13
"Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus"
2 Peter 1:1
"To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ..."
Isaiah 9:6
"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."
...then Jesus is more than human, more than the son, he is Eternal, which means from the beginning, he is God almighty.
Period.
If he is in fact the Messiah, he is the Eternal Father, Lord God Almighty. The Scriptures are indeed filled with clear and unequivocal claims of the full deity of Jesus Christ, Lord and Father.
Thank you very much for coming today...be blessed and God prosper and bless you richly in all that you say and do for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord and God.
#JesusIsLord #JesusIsKing #JesusIsGod