Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to
follow along in your Bibles, I'm going to continue preaching
in the Gospel Narrative of John, the Gospel of John chapter 10,
continuing on beginning at verse 30. And the title of the message
is The Deity of Jesus Christ. The Deity of Jesus Christ. Here
the Lord had been speaking to religious people concerning the
fact that he is the shepherd of the sheep, meaning he's the
savior of the sheep, he's the preserver of the sheep, he gives
the nourishment to the sheep, he keeps them safe, he is the
Messiah, the Son of God incarnate. And being the Messiah, the Bible
teaches us that he had to be both God man in one person and
I often speak on this program just every program of the glorious
person of Christ because the foundation of the gospel the
foundation of the salvation of the sheep of God's elect saved
people it lies in the glorious person and the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ and as the representative, the surety,
the substitute, the redeemer, and the preserver of his people,
his sheep. And he'd spoken of that. He said
the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. And he said, the
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. He
said, I give unto them eternal life. And he said in verse 28,
neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. They'll be preserved
unto glory. to show that he's able to do
what he says here and that he is what he is according to Old
Testament prophecy, the Son of God, the Son of Man, God and
man in one person. He says, I and my Father are
one. Now that's speaking of him specifically
as the second person of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. And he being the second person
of the Trinity is co-equal with the Father and the Spirit in
every attribute of deity. But in the covenant of grace
for the purposes of the salvation of his people, the Son of God,
the second person of the Trinity, submitted himself to the Father
and was made obedient even as a servant. He became a servant.
for the salvation of his people and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. He made himself of no reputation. But that's not a denial of his
deity. That really is a testimony of
his saving power as the Messiah. So when we speak of Jesus Christ,
we're not speaking of a mere man. We're speaking of the God-man. The God-man. Well, listen to
what they said. It says in verse 31, now this
is after he had testified, and not just here, but all through
his ministry, that he is the Messiah, that he is God manifest
in the flesh, the Word made flesh dwelling among us. And he said,
I and my Father are one. Look at verse 31. It says, then
the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Well, why were
they so angry? And he says in verse 32, Jesus
answered them, many good works have I showed you from my father,
for which of those works do you stone me? Now Christ had done
nothing wrong. He not broken any laws. He neither
broke God's law or man's civil law that was in tune with God's
law. He went about doing good. He
went about preaching the gospel of grace, salvation, eternal
life. based upon and conditioned upon
Him alone? That's the kind of grace we need.
He spoke of mercy and grace and love, not without justice now. People today, they are so consumed
with their idea of God loves them. But you need to understand,
and listen friend, I preach the love of God. Anytime I preach
salvation by grace, you're preaching the love of God. Not that God
loves everybody without exception, but I preach the love of God
in tune with His justice, His truth, His righteousness, because
that's what the gospel is. It's the revelation of God as
both a just God and a Savior. God saves sinners. Are you a
sinner? Do you need salvation? Well,
read and hear what God says about that. It's based upon the blood
of Christ. The good shepherd gives his life
for the sheep. What would make a person angry
about that? Well, the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness to
him, neither can he know them, they're spiritually discerned.
Men by nature, men and women, hate the light because it exposes
their deeds as evil. My efforts to save myself are
evil because they deny the glory of God. They deny the power and
the preeminence of the Son. They exalt me and give me glory,
and God won't share His glory. That's why they're evil. They're
the product of unbelief, and that's why they're evil. So all
of this, he says, for what work do you stone me? Why do I deserve
this? And it says in verse 33, the
Jews answered him saying, for a good work we stone thee not,
but for blasphemy. And because that thou being a
man, make us thyself God. They looked upon him as being
like Nicodemus, a prophet, somebody sent from God, but a mere man.
Actually, he didn't make himself to be God. He always was always
is and always will be God But because you claim to be God now,
you know, I heard when I was in seminary, which I didn't know
the gospel I was religious but lost I had professors who said
that Christ never claimed to be God well here they're they're
getting ready to stone him because of that claim and And did he
deny it? No. He said, in verse 34, now
listen to this, he said, Jesus answered them, in verse 34, is
it not written in your law, I said, you are gods, little g, plural,
gods? If he called them gods, verse
35, if the Lord called them gods, unto whom the word of God came,
and the scripture cannot be broken, say ye of him whom the Father
hath sanctified and sent into the world, thou blasphemous,
because I said I am the Son of God. In other words, back in,
now he's quoting from Psalm 82. And I wanna read a little bit
of that to you because this scripture's a little bit difficult to understand.
What do you mean that the Lord called them gods? Well, he's
talking about the civil magistrates in Israel. He's not talking about
all believers. You know, there are false Christians
who actually believe that when a sinner is saved, he either
is made or begins to become a little God. And my friend, that is blasphemy. You know what blasphemy is? That
is taking the things of God and attributing them to man. And
that's why they said, we're gonna stone you for blasphemy because
you're a man and you claim to be God. Philippians chapter two
talks about how when Christ claimed to be God, it wasn't robbery.
Well, if a mere man claims to be God or even a little God,
in that sense, to be deity, that's blasphemy, that's robbing God
of His glory. I know some men today who talk
about the two natures that are within man, the sinful nature
and the spiritual nature. And they say the spiritual nature
is a divine nature. And that's blasphemy. Listen,
God, when He saves us, He doesn't make us divine. He gives us life
from the divine. But we're still human. Sinners
saved by grace. But Christ is divine. He's both
God and man. He was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh, but declared to be the Son of God with power.
Unto us a child is born, that's his sinless humanity, conceived
in the womb of the virgin by the Holy Spirit. But the son
was given, Isaiah 9, 6. The son came from heaven. And
so he's God-man in one person. And so they said, well, we're
stoning you because you claim to be God. Well, he's using a
metaphor here. And he goes back to Psalm 82.
And listen to what Psalm 82 says. Hopefully this'll help you get
this in perspective. Verse one, God standeth in the
congregation of the mighty, he judgeth among the gods. Now how
long will you judge unjustly and accept the persons of the
wicked? defend the poor and fatherless, do justice to the afflicted and
needy, deliver the poor and needy, rid them out of the hand of the
wicked. They know not, neither will they understand. They walk
on in darkness. All the foundations of the earth
are out of course. Verse six, I have said you are
gods and all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall
die like men and fall like one of the princes. Arise, O God,
judge the earth, for thou shalt inherit all nations. Now, what
is that talking about? Well, it's talking about the
civil magistrates who were crooked, and they were judging not according
to the law of God, which they were commissioned to represent,
but according to their purses, money, bribes, prejudices, And
what he's saying when he says you are gods, he's talking about
how you are put in a position where you're representing God
as a civil magistrate in the affairs of men according to the
law. Over in Romans 13, if you wanna
mark this down, Paul dealt with that. Listen to what he says
in Romans 13 when he talks about civil magistrates, civil judges. that represent the law. He says
in verse one of Romans 13, let every soul be subject unto the
higher powers. That's civil magistrates, leaders. For there is no power but of
God. They're put in place by God.
If we didn't have civil law and civil magistrates and judges
and policemen, it'd be anarchy. But God has established this.
Now he's not talking about salvation here. He's talking about those
judges that are put in place that should judge according to
truth, God's truth. And he said, there's no power
but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God. And so,
whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance
of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. All of that is a testimony of
God's power in bringing these civil magistrates to a place
where they judge according to the law. And they were called
gods because in their office they determined the fate of other
men, giving down judgments. And we see that in other passages. But this is a metaphor. They
weren't deity. In other words, he's saying they're
representing God in civil judgments. And they were entitled to be
so designated because they represented, however imperfectly, the divine
will insofar as they were called upon to minister God's word.
And if he called them gods, to whom the word of God came, what
Christ is saying here, now look at it again, he said, how in
the world, if you're called gods in that capacity, as judges,
and the Pharisees were judges, the Sanhedrin, the courts, if
you're called God in that capacity, then how can you say it's blasphemy
for Christ, Jesus Christ? to claim to be the Son of God,
having done the miracles, having spoken the word, having not broken
the law, that proves him to be truly God manifest in the flesh. If God gave these unjust, imperfect
judges the title of gods because of their office, not because
of any deity in them, then why did they consider it blasphemy
that Jesus Christ, called himself the Son of God in light of what
he's been doing and what he's been saying. So the argument
here is from the greater to the lesser. If in any sense they
could be called gods, how much more could Jesus Christ be called
the Son of God? Well, look at verse 37 now of
John chapter 10. He says, if I do not the works
of my Father, believe me not. Now that's as plain as it can
be. If I'm not doing the works of my Father, then you have every
right to say that I'm a charlatan, that I'm a false prophet, that
I'm a blasphemer. But my friend, what was he doing?
Look at verse 38. But if I do, though you believe
not me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that
the Father is in me and I in him. Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, the Son of the Father, the second person of the Trinity.
How do you know that He's what He is, what He says He is? Because of the works that He
did. And that includes the miracles, that includes the word that He
preached that was in line with the Old Testament prophets who
were sent of God, The fulfillment of every aspect of his life on
earth was according to the prophecies of old. All of that. But now, the greatest testimony
of his deity was the work that he did on the cross. Now that
had not happened yet. But he spoke of that back in
John chapter 10 and verse 11. He said, I'm the good shepherd.
The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. As God manifest
in the flesh, the Messiah, Christ went to the cross as the surety,
the substitute, the redeemer of his sheep, his people, God's
elect. And he stood in their place,
suffered, bled, and died. As I said last week, he drank
damnation dry, the cup of God's wrath. He was bruised for our
iniquities, wounded for our transgressions. And all that he accomplished,
in his death was successful as testified by his resurrection
from the dead. And what did that mean? Well,
it meant that he finished the transgression, as Daniel said,
he made an end of sin, he brought forth everlasting righteousness,
he sealed up the vision and the testimony, he entered into the
most holy, righteousness was established, The justification
that God had given to his people was confirmed and established
in the ground of that justification, the obedience unto death of Christ,
God manifest in the flesh. And then he ascended unto the
Father, where he sat down at the right hand of the Father,
having finished the work of salvation, as far as the ground of it is
concerned. only left to be applied to all of his people, all of
God's elect, all of his sheep. And he's now in glory, interceding
for his people as Jesus Christ the righteous. So he says it
this way. If I do, verse 38, though you
believe me, not me. Your belief in me doesn't make
this so, and your unbelief doesn't make it not so. But if you believe
in Him, what does that say? That means that you're one of
God's elect. That means that you're one of Christ's sheep.
That means that He died for you on the cross, He was buried for
you, He was raised again for you, and that He now intercedes
on your behalf. That's what it means. Every aspect
of His deity, who is Jesus Christ? Remember over in Matthew 22,
he was being questioned by some religious people. And they brought
up questions that are no consequence, just religious people, curiosities. And he answered them, and they
were trying to trap him. And when they were finished questioning
him, he said, I've got a question for you. And he asked him this,
he said, what think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? What do you
think about the Messiah in the Old Testament? Whose son is he? And they were kind of perplexed,
and here's how they answered. And they answered correctly,
but in their answer, even in their correct answer, they revealed
their ignorance. And here's what he said. He said,
what think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? And they answered,
he's David's son. Well, that's the Messiah is David's
son. And that refers to his humanity.
He was, Romans chapter one, verses one through four, talks about
the gospel of God, which lies in the person of Christ who was
made of the seed of David, according to the flesh. He came through
David's seed, David's earthly seed, physical seed, as to his
sinless humanity. He was born of the tribe of Judah,
the kingly tribe, see? So they answer correctly. He
was son of David. The root of Jesse, David's father. the branch of Jesse. And so they
answer correctly. But then he followed up his question.
He said, okay, you're right. How then did David call him Lord? Now, what he's saying there is
how did David call him God? If he's David's son, David's
seed, how could David call him God? And it says in Matthew 22
that no man was able to answer and they didn't ask him any more
questions. See, this is the fundamental truth in the gospel of the glorious
person of Christ. How could he be both David's
son and David's God? Well, there's only one way. He
was made of the seed of David according to the flesh meaning
his sinless humanity, which was conceived in the womb of the
Virgin by the Holy Spirit, born into this world, the humanity
of Christ, we do not deny his humanity, his humanity was necessary
because he represented and he was made surety and substitute
and redeemer of humans, his brethren, his sheep, God's elect. Hebrews
2.17 says that it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren. So he is David's seed according
to his sinless humanity, not conceived in the womb of the
virgin by man, but by the Holy Spirit. Back in Genesis 3.15,
he's called the seed of woman. And so all down through the Old
Testament, it testifies of him being the seed of woman, not
being born of man, not falling in Adam like we are, we were,
and not born of human beings in that sense. But he's also
God. Romans 1 says, he was sent forth
the son of David, made of the seed of David according to the
flesh, but declared to be the son of God with power. And it talks about his resurrection
from the dead. The power he was talking about
here is the power to do miracles, the power to keep the law, the
power to preach the truth without any shade of lies or mistakes. Everything he did up to this
point, was a clear testimony from his works that he is God
manifest in the flesh. So how could he be both David's
son and David's God? He's both God and man in one
person. And my friend, that is a fundamental,
fundamental doctrine of the gospel. You cannot believe the gospel.
without believing in the deity of Jesus Christ, you cannot believe
the gospel without believing in the sinless humanity of Jesus
Christ. Now his deity and his humanity
equipped him for the work that he was sent to do. And so that's
the second fundamental of gospel truth is the finished work of
Christ. the finished work of the God-man.
And in order to finish that work, he had to be both God and man
in one person. You see, what did he have to
do? Well, he had to keep the law perfectly unto death. God
cannot die. But this person who is God did
die on the cross, and that death is to be attributed strictly
to his humanity but it was an act of his entire person. Man
cannot create and give life, but this person who is man without
sin did create and does give life, and that's to be attributed
to his deity, but it's an act of his entire person. It's mind-boggling,
isn't it? Jesus Christ, God manifest in
the flesh, and part of His finished work is not only saving His sheep
from their sins and bringing forth an everlasting righteousness
by which God has justified all of His people, Another part of
that work is to preserve them unto glory. And that's where
we go back to John chapter 10 when he said, in verse 20, well,
look at verse 27. He said, my sheep hear my voice,
I know them, they follow me, and I give unto them eternal
life, they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. So his
finished work is to make an end of sin, finish the transgression,
bring in righteousness, seal up the vision and the testimony,
enter the holiest of all, intercede for his people. When we sin,
John says, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous. and He's able to save to the
uttermost them that come unto the Father by Him. Paul wrote
in 2 Timothy 1.12, I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded
that He's able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against
that day, the day of judgment. And what have I committed unto
Him? My whole salvation. So he tells them, you believe
not because you're not of my sheep and all of that testifying
to the deity, the humanity, and the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is the gospel wherein the
righteousness of God is revealed, and it's the righteousness of
the God-man, the Messiah. Hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia, 31707. Contact us by
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our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.