Key Text: "In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1
If I had only three sermons to preach the remaining days of my life, I would preach these three big issues. Issue number one--The Bible is the Word of God. Issue number two--Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. Issue number three--The Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment.
Last month in our series on these three big issues, we presented the sermon on God's Word. This month we will consider who Jesus is. Where did He come from and why did He come? Was Jesus a deceiver? Was Jesus Himself deceived? Was Jesus Deity? We believe, based on the Bible, that the Lord Jesus Christ (His full title) is the eternal Son of God. He was neither a deceiver, nor was He deceived. He was Deity. He was neither a liar nor a lunatic. He was Lord. He came from the heavenly throne to earth and during His ministry, He gave witness of heaven and evidence of creation. "For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father." John 16:27,28. "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." John 17:5.
The correct and positive identification of Jesus, the Son of God was important in the days of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It was important in the time of the early church in the book of Acts, and it was tremendously important during the Dark Ages.
During the time when the Christian Church went through the Reformation, Jesus was preached as the sinner's Redeemer. The Holy Spirit guided and led Martin Luther to see and understand that forgiveness of sin is by grace through faith in the Son of God and not found just by being a member of a certain church.
Here is Luther's text, "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith." Romans 1:17. Friends, the faith Luther lived by was faith in the Son of God. Luther's faith brought grace, mercy and peace. And through that one German preacher, the Reformation burned brightly and ignited the fires of many.
This teaching is needed in our generation. During Easter week of this year, three national journals made an attack on Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God. Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report printed articles attacking His virgin birth, His death on the cross and His resurrection.
Satan is working hard because he knows that his time is almost up. "He is making the world believe that the Bible is uninspired, no better than a storybook, while he holds out something to take its place; namely, spiritual manifestations.
"Here is a channel wholly devoted to himself, under his control, and he can make the world believe what he will. The book that is to judge him and his followers, he puts back into the shade, just where he wants it. The Savior of the world he makes to be no more than a common man; and as the Roman guards that watched the tomb of Jesus spread the lying report that the chief priests and elders put into their mouths so will the poor, deluded followers of these pretended spiritual manifestations repeat and try to make it appear that there is nothing miraculous about our Savior's birth, death and resurrection...Satan laughs as he sees his plan succeed so well and the whole world taken in the snare." Early Writings by E.G. White, pp. 265-266.
How can we identify the true Saviour? Here are some ways:
The four gospels deal with the earthly life of Jesus, but each one presents Him in an entirely different character. Matthew portrays Jesus as the Son of David, King of the Jewish race and Heir of Israel's throne. In Mark Jesus is seen as the servant of Jehovah, the perfect workman of God. Luke presents Jesus as the perfect man contrasting Jesus' perfect humanity with sinful man. John, writing the fourth gospel, views the Lord Jesus Christ as the Heavenly One come down to earth, the eternal Son of the Father made flesh and dwelt among men.
The theme of John's gospel is the Deity of the Saviour. Presenting
Jesus as the Son of God, the eternal One is the burden of John's
gospel. Friends, there is no greater subject in the Bible, no
greater message to preach to a lost world than Jesus, Son of God.
Let us continue our study with six tremendous facts about Jesus
of Nazareth as the Son of God.
"In the beginning..." John 1:1. This phrase tells us
the Lord Jesus Christ is eternal. He was in the beginning. Whenever
that was, He was there. In Genesis 1:27 we are told, "So
God created man in his own image, in the image of God created
he him..." So, there was a beginning and there was a time
(the beginning) of creation and the Trinity was present, The Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit were all there at the beginning.
Here is a great Biblical truth that separates the true Christian
believer from the cults. Cults believe Jesus was a created being.
The true Christian believes Jesus is eternal, and there was never
a time when Jesus was not. You see, the cults will ask you to
believe something. The true Christian will ask you to receive
Someone. That Someone is the Son of God.
There are many beginnings referred to in the New Testament:
But the beginning in John 1:1 precedes and supersedes all beginnings. If Jesus was at creation (and He was) then He had to be back before Creation. He had to be back in the first eternity.
A little fellow invited his unchurched friend to Bible study class
and the church services. The choir came in led by the music director,
and the pastors walked on the platform. The music director motioned
for the choir to sit down and later to stand. The little visitor
asked his church-going friend, "What is he doing with his
hands?"
And the other little boy replied, "The music director is
asking the group to stand as they sing."
After the special music, the pastor walked to the pulpit, placed
his Bible on the desk and pulled off his watch and laid it on
the desk. The little visitor leaned over and asked, "What
is he doing pulling his watch off and laying it down by his Bible?"
The church-going boy said, "Oh, that doesn't mean anything.
He does it every week, but time doesn't matter to him. He might
preach until the middle of the afternoon." Friends, this
is the way it is with the Lord Jesus Christ. Time matters not
to Jesus because there was never a time when Jesus was not.
"All things were made by him..." John 1:3 Jesus is the
Creator. You see, friends, Jesus is not only our Saviour, He is
also our Creator, and this brings out the fact that He is absolute
Deity. Creation is ascribed to Him and none but God can create.
Neither man nor angels can create. Not even Satan. Man with all
his knowledge and boasting is unable to bring into existence a
singe blade of grass. Just as He was before all things, and therefore,
eternal: so was He the Originator of all things, and therefore
Omnipotent. Let us not confuse signs, wonders and miracles with
creation. Satan can do the former, but only Deity can create.
Candy corn is my favorite candy, and one of the most enjoyable
times our family experienced while the girls were growing up was
visiting the shopping mall when I came home from a trip. The girls
always knew we would visit the candy story, and they knew for
sure that dad would buy some candy corn. I often held candy corn
in my hand and drifted back in memory to the old cornfield by
our home where I grew up. That shelled corn and the corn from
the store looked almost the same, but there is a difference. Candy
corn will not grow on the farm.
New on the job, a custodian took the water sprinkling bucket and
began to water the flowers on the first floor of a high-rise office
building. As the receptionist watched him she realized no one
had told him that the flowers were not real. She politely walked
up to him and explained that the flowers were artificial. The
man replied, "Well, they sure look real."
Now friends, man is capable of making candy corn, artificial flowers
and other things that appear to be real, but they have no life.
Candy corn will not grow; neither will artificial flowers. Only
the Creator can give life.
"He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But
as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name." John 1:11-12.
Let us notice a sequence in the first five verses of John 1.
Verse 1 - The Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth is the Word and the
Word was in the beginning.
Verse 3 - The Son of God was at creation and He is the Creator.
Verse 4 - The Son of God is life. He is creation life, and He
gives eternal life.
Verses 4 and 5 - The Son of God is the Light in darkness and lights
the pathway of His people.
"...that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."
1 John 1:5. Now, in God's light, we see light. The children of
God see spiritual light because they have been given light. That
is our relationship to the light. A physically blind person cannot
see the sunlight; nor can a spiritually blind person see spiritual
light. A spiritually blind person must be given the capacity to
see the light. Jesus is the Light. Darkness cannot comprehend
it and rejects it, but darkness cannot put out the light. The
striking contrast between light and darkness is a great study
in the gospel of John. "Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a
little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light,
lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth
not whither he goeth." John 12:35.
"He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and
the world knew him not." John 1:10. The world (worldly men/society)
knew Him not. The nations as a whole did not have the teaching
because the world had not been given the information found in
the Old Testament. They knew Him not because they had not studied.
They were ignorant of the prophecies. The Jewish race or Israel
received Him not. Israel had heard, been taught and admonished
by the Old Testament prophets concerning the first advent of our
Lord. The coming of Jesus the first time had been passed down
in writing from one generation to another and yet Israel received
not her Messiah. But His coming the first time was not in vain.
"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."
John 1:12.
Jesus is the WAY, but they would not walk with Him. Jesus is the
TRUTH, but they would not believe Him. Jesus is the LIFE, but
they crucified Him.
"...to become the sons of God,..." John 1:12. Jesus
gave them a free gift. He gave them authority. He gave them adoption
whereby they became sons of God. "Which were born, not of
blood, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but
of God." John 1:13. He gave them the new birth. This new
birth was not the blood line and inheritance from the family tree.
This new birth was not the will power and strength of the individual.
This new birth was not the will power of one person over another
person.
"It is impossible for us, of ourselves, to escape from the
pit of sin in which we are sunken. Our hearts are evil, and we
cannot change them, 'Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
Not one.' 'The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.' Job 14:4. Romans
8:7. Education, culture, the exercise of the will, human effort,
all have their proper sphere, but here they are powerless. They
may produce an outward correctness of behavior, but they cannot
change the heart; they cannot purify the springs of life. There
must be a power working from within, a new life from above, before
men can be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ.
His grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul,
and attract it to God, to holiness." Steps to Christ,
E. G. White, p. 18.
Someone has written of the Lord Jesus: