Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. While there are many doctrines
of the Christian faith that even a true believer may be confused
about, a man must not be confused about the doctrine of Christ,
or he has no basis upon which his faith can stand. John clearly
recognized two errors and wrote concerning them to those churches
under his care. He even identified those who
held and promulgated these errors as deceivers and antichrists,
and cautioned the children of God to shun them. The first of
these errors arose when some said that Jesus of Nazareth was
just a man who went about doing good but was not truly God. During
Christ's earthly ministry, He spent much of His effort in showing
His disciples His deity. Every miracle which He performed,
whether turning water into wine, healing the sick and giving sight
to the blind, or raising the dead to life, served to testify
that He was indeed the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Yet because
of their slowness of heart, they were not able to fully grasp
who he was all at once. Ultimately, his absolute deity
was revealed unto them as we see Peter declare, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. And later, Thomas confessing,
My Lord and my God. Yet the time came when some supposed
teachers of truth embraced the notion that he might not actually
be the true and living God. I recently heard of a survey
that was done in which it was concluded that atheists and agnostics
had more general knowledge of the Bible and Christianity than
those who profess to be Christians. I'm not surprised at these results
for two reasons. One, many of those who profess
to be believers are such in name only and comprise that multitude
which the Lord describes in Matthew. Professions of faith and possession
of faith are not always synonymous. Secondly, those who are religious
are often well-versed in the letter of religion. The Pharisees
are a good example of men who could quote the Bible freely,
yet the Lord said they were of their father the devil. Atheism
and agnosticism are the highest forms of man's religion. Their
system of belief is at the very core of man's innate rebellion
against the Most High God, who rules in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth, and whose hand cannot
be stained. They claim to be non-religious,
but in reality are the very epitome of religion. The fool has said
in his heart, there is no God. The other error which John identified
was that of those who say that the Lord Jesus Christ was not
truly man or that he did not come in the flesh. Very few of
the world's religions deny that there was a man, Jesus of Nazareth,
who lived in the flesh. Yet they all deny that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh when they deny that he absolutely
purchased the salvation of his elect at Calvary's cross. There
is but one God. He is the Great I Am. He cannot
be seen, dwelling in the light to which no man can approach.
He has revealed Himself to men in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is eternally one with the Eternal Father and the
Eternal Spirit. Jesus Christ is the Savior of
His people, who has come into the earth in the likeness of
sinful flesh and has been made sin for His people. Upon the
fact that He is truly God and truly man rests all of the hope
of those who are His children. Were He not God, then He could
not have had the ability to carry out the redemption of His people
in triumphing over sin and death according to His own design.
Were He not truly man with flesh and blood like all other men,
then He could not have been a proper substitute to bear the curse
of the law which demands the death of all sinners. He is not
a man who became God. His humanity has in no wise enhanced
His deity. Rather, He is the eternal God
who made the worlds according to His pleasure, and did in His
own time, according to His own purpose, took upon Himself the
likeness of sinful flesh in order to fulfill His purpose in manifesting
His grace in the redemption of sinners. He has never attempted
to save some and failed, nor has He in any wise made the salvation
of any for which He bled and died dependent on any action
or agreement of their own. He has obtained eternal redemption
for all of those which were given to Him before the foundation
of the world, and for whom He specifically came into the world
to redeem. He is the Christ, the Redeemer,
who has suffered once and for all as a payment of the sin debt
of His elect bride. Those who deny that Christ has
purchased the redemption of His own must of necessity deny that
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Those who say that Christ
died to make salvation possible for any and all who will just
agree with His precepts and receive what He has done as their salvation
deny that He came to save His people from their sin. To preach
any other message is to deny the true gospel and declare a
Jesus which is not the Christ. John called them deceivers and
antichrists. From such, turn away. If you
would like a free transcript of this broadcast, email us at
forthepoor at windstream.net.