Turn back, if you will, to the
book of Matthew chapter 16. I want to read beginning with
verse 13 and read down through the 17th verse. Notice, if you
will, verse 13. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do
men say that I the Son of Man am? And they said, some say that
thou art John the Baptist, some, Elias, and others, Jeremiah,
are one of the prophets. He saith unto them, but whom
say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said
unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."
I wanted to talk about the phrase we find here in verse 16 primarily
this morning, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. This was the testimony of Peter
who was a spokesman for the disciples when our Lord was inquiring as
to whom that they say that I am, whom say ye that I am. And so Peter, speaking for the
disciples, said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. And Jesus pronounced blessedness
upon Simon because he said, Blessed. Art thou Simon Barjona, for flesh
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven, showing that some who know Christ, those who do
know him in truth and reality, knowing who he is and what he
did and where he is now, that they're blessed of God because
God has showed this unto them and they didn't get it anywhere
else. They could not get this knowledge anywhere else. without
the price the son of the living god do we believe that well i
think we do i think we believe that truth we who believe on
the lord jesus christ we rest are immortal souls upon one thing
upon one thing we build all our whole all our hope of peace all
our hope pardon and our hope of eternal life upon one foundation,
and one foundation only. We read in the book of 1 Corinthians
3 and 11, it says, for other foundation can no man lay than
that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now this one thing,
this one foundation, is thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. We believe that Jesus of Nazareth
The son of Joseph and Mary, who was crucified as a common felon
at Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago, is the Christ. We believe
he's the Christ. We believe he's God's Messiah
that was promised by God in all the Old Testament prophets. We
believe that. That's our testimony. We would
agree with Peter, thou art the Christ, the son of the living
God. Now, Peter's confession is the
foundation upon which the whole gospel is built. It's the foundation,
I say, upon which the whole gospel is built. It's the foundation
upon which the whole church and the kingdom of God is built,
and it's the foundation upon which the whole of our faith
and confidence in God is built. That's the testimony. Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now with the disciples of
old, we confess and we believe. In John chapter 6 and in verse
69 it says, And we believe. Simon Peter answered him, Lord,
to whom shall we go? the Lord had had spoken in verse
65 about his Calling and about his drawing men unto himself
and how that no man can come to him except the father It were
given to him of his father and from that time forth many of
his disciples went back walked no more with him and then said
Jesus unto them or to the twelve will you also go away and Simon
Peter answered him Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words
of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that thou art the
Christ, thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Now
that was their testimony again here when our Lord said to them,
will you go away? Like some of these false disciples
who were somewhat overcome by the strong meat of the doctrine
of God's irresistible grace when our Lord taught it. And so they
said, we believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living
God, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life because thou art that Christ. And so, beloved, we confess this
morning and are sure that this is the gospel truth that Jesus
Christ is the Son of the Living God. Well, how important is this
issue? How important is this issue? Well, I hope this morning that
the Lord will clear the cobwebs out of our minds and out of our
hearts and that we'll be able to understand the importance
of Jesus Christ being the Son of the Living God, that Christ.
And beloved, listen, if we've been taught this truth, I believe
we understand down in our hearts to some degree the importance
of this particular issue. Now, number one, let me just
give you about four things here to show you the importance of
this issue of Jesus Christ being the Son of the Living God. Number
one, if Jesus of Nazareth is not the Christ, the Messiah that
was promised in Old Testament Scripture, then he is not. He is not the Son of the Living
God. If he's not the one that was
promised in the Old Testament Scriptures, then he's not the
Son of the Living God. The prophecies of the Old Testament
plainly declare that the Messiah, when he appears, though he must
be a man of the house and lineage of David, and listen to Psalm
132 and verse 11, the Lord hath sworn in truth Unto David he will not turn from
him of the fruit of thy body will I sit upon thy throne Not
only shall he be of the lineage of David this one prophesied
in the Old Testament Not only should he be of the fruit of
the body of David, but he must also be the Son of God He must
be God's Son now to deny the deity of the Lord Jesus is to
deny his Messiahship It's to deny that he was sent of God
to come into this world to be a deliverer of his people and
to deny his Messiahship is to deny his deity because the two
of them go together. Now number two, if Jesus of Nazareth
is not the Christ, the Messiah, then his obedience to God is
of no benefit or merit to anyone. Now you listen to what I'm saying
here today. If the Lord Jesus Christ is not
the Messiah that was promised of God in Old Testament Scripture,
then His obedience to God is of no value, it's of no merit
to anyone. Though He was holy, harmless,
undefiled, and separate from sinners, though He perfectly
obeyed the law of God, though He had no sin and knew no sin,
himself if he was only a man, his righteous obedience to God
is nothing more than a good example. I'm showing you this morning
the importance of this issue. If Jesus Christ is not the Son
of the Living God, if he's not the Messiah promised in the Old
Testament, then his righteousness and his obedience to God is just
a good example that you and I ought to follow, but it has no merit
in regards to us receiving a right standing before God in it. And
it's just simply a good example. It could not be of infinite merit
to make us righteous if he was nothing more than a good man.
If that's all he was, just a good man, then there could be nothing
in his obedience that would provide infinite merit to the elect or
to all of those chosen of God that would be saved by His obedient
life and His death on Calvary. It's the deity of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's the deity of the Savior
that makes His obedience to God as a man meritorious for us. It's who He was. He was God in
flesh. It's who he was that makes his
obedience unto the law of God to be a fulfilling obedience
toward God in order that we might have a righteousness established
in which we could stand in it by faith and thus ourselves fulfill
all of the demands of the law by faith. are standing in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now if Jesus, number three, I'm
showing you the importance of this issue. If Jesus of Nazareth
is not the Christ, then his death on the cross has no saving efficacy. I showed you that his obedience
would be worthless and meaningless to us as sinners. Now I want
you to see that his death would be absolutely of no saving power
or effectiveness if he was not the son of the living God, if
he's not that Christ. The blood of one man, however
innocent, cannot atone for the sins of many. It cannot atone. Only that man who is himself
God can make atonement for and redeem a multitude of lost sinners. Only that one who is God himself
can die a vicarious death on the cross and provide a blood
atonement that will wash sinners free from the condemnation of
sin. For the transgression of my people
was he smitten, saith Isaiah. It was for the people of God
that he went to the cross that he died on that gory tree and
praise God. It's an effectual Atonement because
this was God that laid down his life on that tree Now listen,
he must be a man or he could not suffer and die but he must
be God or he cannot satisfy the justice of God in his death He
must be God. This must be very God of very
God hanging on that cross. Or else the justice of God still
to this day is not satisfied. And God still in vengeance looks
upon all men, having nothing to propitiate or satisfy Him
in His wrath toward sinners. Now then, fourthly, it follows
then if Jesus is not the Messiah, the Christ, then we're all yet
in our sins, and we're all yet on our way to hell. Beloved,
if we do not believe, do not agree that thou art the Christ,
the Son of the Living God, if we do not confess with the disciples
of old, we believe and are sure that you're the Christ, the Son
of the Living God, then we're in our sins. We have no hope,
we have no pardon, we have no righteousness, because we simply
do not have a Savior. We have none to save us. from
the awfulness of our guilt and sin and we're right for hell
and we must surely go there and spend eternity in that place
where God will forever turn His face away and just show us, if
you please, the backside of Him for all eternity because we cannot
look upon His face. We have had no atonement made
for our sins unless He be the Christ, the Son of the living
God. And praise God he is. Now you
look with me at John 10 and verse 33. Turn with me in the scriptures
if you have a copy of the Bible. I want you to follow with me
this morning and look at these scriptures, John 10 and verse
33. And look at what this says. Well,
maybe we could back up just a little bit to verse 30. Jesus said,
I and my Father are one. Now get that I and my father
are one. Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone him. And Jesus answered them, many
good works have I showed you from my father. For which of
those works do you stone me? The Jews answered him saying,
for a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy. And because that thou being a
man, makest thyself God. Now, we take note here in verse
33 that this charge that is leveled against our Lord by the Jews
was a fully justified accusation from this standpoint that all
that he taught plainly asserted his Godhood. Look at verse 30. He said, I and my Father are
one. Granted, there's many mysteries
about the Trinity that nobody can explain, but Jesus said,
I am the Son of God, equating himself with God and
saying that I am the Son of God. And he taught all through the
scriptures, like verse 36, say of him whom the Father has sanctified
and sent into the world, thou blasphemous because I said I
am the Son of God. Are you telling me that I'm blaspheming
because I said I'm the Son of God? That I came out from God?
I and my Father are one? Are you saying that I'm blaspheming? Now Jesus Christ is not God. If He be not God, then He fully
deserved to be put to death for He declared to all that He is
God. He said, I am God. He said, I'm
the Son of God. I and my Father are one. Anyone
who denies The eternal Godhead takes sides with the Jews and
says, this man deserves to be crucified because he must be
a blasphemer. If he said he's the son of God,
if he said that he's equal with God, if he says that he came
out from God, if he says that God is his father, if he be a
liar, then beloved, he deserves to die on the cross, he deserves
to be crucified. Now listen to me. The deity of
Christ is not a matter of controversy among the redeemed of the Lord.
No, it isn't. It's not a matter of controversy
in the Lord's church. It's not a matter of speculation.
It's not a matter of debate. It's not a matter up for discussion
among the Lord's living family. All God's people, all those that
have been redeemed of the Lord, all those that are blessed with
Simon Peter and have had their eyes opened by the divine Spirit
and have been enabled to see Jesus for who He is, there's
no speculation, controversy, or debate or argument about the
Lordship and the Godhood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen,
no one can be called a Christian who questions the fact that Jesus
Christ is God. No one can be called a Christian
that questions the Messiahship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every
once in a while we'll have some Jewish individual that'll make
a statement that sounds Christian. But yet they do not believe that
the Messiah has come. The Jewish people as a whole,
they do not believe. There are some Jews that have
been converted and have been brought to believe that this
Jesus is the Christ and that he is the Son of the Living God.
But those who do not believe that he is the Christ, the Son
of the Living God, listen, they question this fact. They cannot
be called a Christian if they question this fact, and that
is that Jesus is God. Now throughout the scriptures,
our Lord Jesus Christ is plainly declared to be God, and we believe
the testimony of thus saith the Lord, the redeemed of the Lord.
Believe this testimony, that in each passage of the scripture
that, and I want to read just a few of them, they unquestionably
refer this morning to the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, let
me read Psalm 46 and verse 5. It says, Thy throne, O God, is
forever and ever. The scepter of Thy kingdom is
a right scepter. Take note, he says, Thy throne,
O God. And that's speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Isaiah 9 and 6, for unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor, get it, the Mighty God. Speaking, of course, of
that son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that one who would be given
by a sovereign God as a gift unto his people. Now Isaiah 45
verse 22 and 23, look unto me and be you saved all the ends
of the earth for I am God and there is none else. Speaking
of the Lord Jesus, listen further. He says in the next verse Verse
23, I have sworn by myself the word is gone out of my mouth
in righteousness and shall not return that unto me every knee
shall bow and every tongue shall swear. Does that not remind you
of the verses in Philippians where it talks about every tongue
shall confess that Jesus is Lord? And every knee shall bow, confessing
that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's where
it came from. It came from that scripture there
in the book of Isaiah. And so I want you this morning
to take note that these verses unquestionably refer to the Lord
Jesus Christ and to His Godhood. Now listen to John 1 in the New
Testament. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, the word was
God, 1 John 3 and 16. Hereby perceive we the love of
God because he laid down his life for us. God himself laid
down his life for us. Now reading these scriptures
in their context, beloved, we can draw only one or two conclusions. Either Jesus Christ is God or
the Bible is a book of lies. He's either God or this testimony,
this scripture is not, it is not reliable and you cannot count
on it. And you're in your sins this
morning and you're lost if Jesus Christ be not God. Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. Now Jesus Christ is Emmanuel,
God with us. It's what that means God in our
nature God manifests in our flesh He is overall God blessed forever
the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ is the living God
and he's the true God That we must know in our hearts or be
lost We must know him and praise God the Lord says in 1st John
5 that he's come and given us an understanding that we might
know him that is true and even the true God, Jesus Christ. Now all who are born of God look
to Christ by faith and confess them with promise of old in John
20 and 28 where he said, my Lord and my God. My Lord and my God. And so we confess that this morning,
and that's the testimony of the Church of the Living God. That's
the testimony of God's family, of God's people, and those that
have come by the way of the cross, and those that have come out
of their sin unto the Lord Jesus Christ, coming out of their bondage
unto Him, those that have been delivered by Him, their testimony
is, Thou, my Lord, My god, you're my god now then I want you to
look in Colossians chapter 2 Colossians chapter 2 and Look at verse 9
if you will. I want to go ahead on here with
this subject I believe that the Lord will bless it to your hearts
if you ever really think on it meditate it on it as you should
look in verse 9 Colossians chapter 2 in verse 9. It says for in
him I That is, in the Lord Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him which is
the head of all principality and power. But that ninth verse
there, it's so interesting and such a tremendous challenge to
our hearts. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Now what this means is all the
fullness of the Father, all the fullness of the Son, all the
fullness of the Holy Spirit, it dwells in the body of our
Lord Jesus Christ. And beloved, listen, it helps
you to understand what Philip was talking about in John chapter
14. And if you want to turn there, I wish you'd turn there. I'd
like to read verse 7 down through verse 11 of John chapter 14. This is so necessary to see this. It's so clearly brought out here
in these verses that all of the fullness of the Godhead bodily
dwelt in the Lord Jesus Christ while he was here on earth. If
ye had known me, John 14 and 7, ye should have known my Father
also, and from henceforth ye know him and have seen him. What language? Listen to verse
8. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth
us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I
been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father, and how sayest thou then, show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak
unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth
in me. He doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father,
and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very work's
sake. Now, beloved, If you read these verses here, you see that
the Lord Jesus took it as it were for granted that Philip
understood that if, he says here in verse 7, if you'd known me,
you should have known my father also. I mean, it's impossible,
Philip, for you to know me and not know my father. And henceforth,
he said, you know him and you've seen him. And old Philip saith
unto him, Lord, show us the father and it'll satisfy us. Philip
just couldn't understand what he was talking about. But Jesus,
it appears, took it for granted that he ought to understand this,
that he was the fullness. of the Godhead, and that it all
dwells bodily in Him. Now this is mysterious, and I
can't explain all of this, but what I'm telling you is that
Jesus is... ...you can get, hast thou not
known me, Philip? I've been with you a long time. He that hath
seen me hath seen the Father. And this is because that the
fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in the person of the Son
of God. All the perfections and all the
attributes of the infinite, incomprehensible triune God resides in the body
of the man Christ Jesus. For that man Christ Jesus is
God. He is God. If we can get a hold
of this in our hearts, I think it'll help us to worship. And
that's the thing that I, the further I go and the older I
get as I try to preach to people, that's the thing I'm interested
in is get them to worship in truth and reality the God of
the Bible through Jesus Christ our Lord in whom dwell all the
fullness of God. Now listen to me now. Even in
his greatest humiliation as a man, Our Savior fully possessed all
the attributes of deity. Now did you get what I'm saying?
In all the humiliation that he suffered as a man, he fully possessed
all the attributes of deity. My friend, even when he was tempted,
he is holy. Even when he was hungry, he possesses
all things. Even when he was weak, he was
almighty. Even when he was in agony, he
is faithful and purposeful. Even when he was arrested, he
rules all things. Even when he was forsaken by
God, he is God. Even when he died upon the cross
and his body slept in the dark, damp tomb for three days, Jesus
Christ is life. He's alive even when he's in
the tomb. I'm telling you that even in
the darkest hours of his humiliation, when he was at his weakest, he
had every one of the attributes of God Almighty because he was
and is God. He is God over all, blessed forever.
He immutably and eternally possesses all the attributes of divinity. He does. Now let me go on here. It is true that our Savior wrapped
up His deity in a human body and He did, and as it were, He
hid His radiant glory as God for a time when He walked this
earth and when he walked here in the paths of human beings.
It's true that his radiant, glorious God was laid aside or hid for
a time, but he never lost. He never gave up or laid aside
one particle of deity, not even when he died as our substitute. And that's so very important
for you to understand because we've got such what I call Mickey
Mouse preachers on television and other places today that will
tell you that the Lord Jesus Christ laid aside his omniscience
and his omnipotence He laid it aside in order that man's free
will might be dominant, that he just laid it aside. Well,
beloved, there ain't any truth to that. There is absolutely
no truth to that. I'm telling you he never lost,
gave up, or laid aside one particle of his attributes. Even when
he died as our substitute, he was and is God. Well, let me
ask you some questions and try to answer them. Is God self-sufficient? So is Jesus Christ. In Him, we read in John 1 and
3, in Him is life. Now, beloved, if you find Him
in whom there is life and who is life, self-sufficiency is
there. There's no, I'm not life. I mean,
I'm dependent on someone who has life. And God has life and
Jesus Christ in him is life. And that's because he's self-existent. Is God eternal? Without beginning
of days nor end of years? Is he? Well, so is Christ. The
one who was, who is, and is to come, the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end, the
first and the last. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so, beloved, He's without beginning or without end. He's
eternal. Now, is God omnipresent? That
means, is He everywhere? Yes, He is omnipresent. Well,
so is Christ. While here dwelling, now you
listen to me, while here dwelling upon the earth, He was in the
Father's bosom in heaven at that time. Now listen to me, and though
he is now seated in heaven, he is God present with his people. And he's in heaven. He said,
I'm with you always, even to the winding up of the ages, to
the end of the world, I'm with you. I'm with you. And then the
book of the Revelation pictures him as walking in the midst of
his churches, even though he's seated at the right hand of eternal
majesty and glory, there making intercession for us. But yet
he's here too, meeting with us this morning. We hope, we trust,
we believe. And walking in the midst of his
churches and empowering his churches to fulfill and carry out the
Great Commission. Now then is God omniscient. Now that means he's God all-knowing.
Well, I believe he is. And so is the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me show you that. I'm just
showing you that he had all the attributes of God. Now listen
to me. He ever knew what was in man? He said, I have no need
that you testify of man. I know what's in man. Now that's
omniscience. I know what is in man. Nobody has to tell me. I know
what's in him. And then he told the Samaritan
woman all that she'd ever done. Told her everything about all
of her past life. Told her it all. How could he
do that? It was because he is omniscient
and he knows everything. And he exposed the secret thoughts
of his enemies. There's an interesting verse
in John 6 and 64. If you want to turn back there
with me, John 6 and 64. Just listen to this. But there
are some of you that believe not." Now listen to this, Jesus
said, there are some of you that believe not. And then he goes
on to say in explaining that statement, for Jesus knew from
the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray
him. Now to me that means that Jesus
Christ is omniscient, that he's all-knowing. Because it said
there were some that believed not and explains it by saying
that these that believed not, that Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not. And who should betray? Isn't
that omniscience? Well I mean to me that's omniscience. To me only God can know from
the beginning Who they are that believes and who they are that
don't believe But God can know because he went on to say in
that very next verse there in John 6 Therefore I said unto
you that no man can come to me except it were given to him of
my father I know who they are because they can't get to me
unless the father Calls them unless the father draws them
unless he gives it to them to come they can't get to me And
so therefore the Lord Jesus Christ is omniscient He knows everything,
and so He's God. Now, is God omnipotent? Is He
omnipotent? By that I mean, is He all-powerful? Well, so is Christ. You know
what He said? He says, I have all power in
heaven and in earth. I've got it all. I'm not delegating
any of it, I've got it. I've got all power in heaven
and in earth. The church, it's my church. I
say to you, go, I've got power, and I'll endure you with power
if it won't happen, because it's my power. I have the power. By his own power, he creates
and sustains and rules all things, and is able to subdue all things
unto himself. Look at these interesting verses
in Colossians chapter one. Look at this verse, Colossians
chapter one. We'll take note here of verses
15 through 17 and it's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and
who is the image in verse 15 of the invisible God the firstborn
of every creature and For by Him were all things created,
that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before
all things, and by Him all things consist. And he is the head of
the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell. I read a couple extra verses
there. Because the theme just goes on. It pleased the Father
that in Him should all fullness dwell. But it's evident that
He is before all things and by Him all things consist, and so
therefore He has power. And then, you know, beloved,
there's a verse in Philippians 3 And it's verse 21 that you
ought to look at too. I'm talking about the Lord Jesus
and about Him having the attribute of omnipotence. Listen to verse
21. Who shall change? In verse 20,
our citizenship is in heaven from whence also we look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall change our vile body? that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is
able even to subdue all things unto himself." You talk about
omnipotence. The Lord Jesus Christ, He said,
I have all power in heaven and in earth and He's able to subdue
all things unto Himself And he's able to take these vile bodies
and make them like unto his own glorious body because he is omnipotent. He's omnipotent. Well, then I
ask again, is God immutable? Well, of course, the answer is
certainly God is not. God is unchanging. And that's
what the word immutable means. He's unchanging. God is immutable. He is unchanging. Well, so is
Jesus Christ. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse
8 says He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Sounds to
me like He's immutable to me. It sounds that way to me. I don't
know what you get out of that, but I believe He's immutable.
All that God is. Jesus Christ is fully and completely,
and absolutely. That's the point I'm making,
and that's what I've been trying to show you. All that God is,
Jesus Christ is fully, completely, and absolutely. Yes, the man
Jesus Christ, who is our Savior, is Himself the eternal God. Now, if you will, turn with me
as we get along here toward the end of the message. I want you
to turn with me to the book of Hebrews, chapter 1. Chapter 1
of Hebrews and I want you to look at verse 6 And we'll put
together some things here and and and close out the message,
but Hebrews chapter Chapter 1 and verse 6 and again when he bringeth
in the first begotten into the world He saith and let all the
angels of God worship him Now this first begotten, of course,
is the only begotten son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. When he
brought him into the world, he saith, and let all the angels
of God worship him. Now the fact that our Lord Jesus
Christ is the proper, the proper, what we would say, object of
worship, demonstrates to me that he is God. He's the proper, now
this is very important, he's the proper object of worship. Now that if Christ was a mere
man, or even say that he was the highest creature of God,
if he is anything less than God himself, it would be idolatrous
and damning for men and women to worship. worship the Lord
Jesus Christ. I say it would be idolatrous
and damning for men to worship the Lord Jesus Christ if he is
not God. Now listen to me, but both the
angels of God and all men are commanded in the scripture to
worship and to honor the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 5 and 23
it says that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the
Father. And he that honoreth not the
Son honoreth not the Father that sent him. And so we have, beloved,
on the authority of the Word of God, this command that we're
to honor the Son as we honor the Father. And the reason is,
is because the Lord Jesus Christ is God. He is God, and you cannot
honor the Father apart from honoring Him, because the Father sent
Him, and He is God. Now listen to me. There's four
things that I just want to quickly give you. that I think will help
you to appreciate what I'm talking about, about Him being, about
the fact that He's the proper object of worship, demonstrating
that He's God, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. The
Lord Jesus Christ Himself instructs us to exercise faith and confidence
and hope in Him. Now, was He leading us to idolatry? I mean, if he's
not God, then we'd be idolaters to worship him and to trust him
and to bow down before him and to seek his face. In John 14
and 1, he said, let not your heart be troubled. You believe
in God, believe also in me. The reason is obvious. He is
God. So believe in me, Jesus said.
He commands us to trust Him because He's God and so He's worthy. He's worthy. Now you settle it
in your mind. Jesus is God and everything He
says is gospel truth or else He's the biggest fake and imposter
that ever lived on the face of the earth. And you've got to
make up your mind which one it is. Because if you're ever to
miss hell and go to heaven, you must believe that He's the Christ.
the son of the living God. Now, baptism, now let's look
at this just quickly. The believer's confession of
faith is what baptism is. It's to be performed in the name
of Christ, which is the same thing as performing it in the
name of the Holy Trinity. Our Savior told us to baptize
all who believe the gospel in Matthew 28 and 19 in the name
of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Yet when
the Apostle Peter commanded his Hearers those that were listening
to him preach to obey Christ. He said repent and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ and You'll receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost in Acts chapter 2 and verse 38 and
so making the name of Christ I believe synonymous with that
of the triune God I believe that the name is synonymous. I think
we can baptize in the name of Jesus or baptize in the name
of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost and both are correct and
both are right because Jesus is the proper object of worship
because He is God. Now number three, our Savior
commands every believer to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the memorial supper in remembrance of Him. Now the Lord Jesus said,
you do this in remembrance of me. Well, now then, no man would
do that, would he? No man would do that, but in
remembrance of him. Now in the worship of God, we're
given this visible symbol as the only ordinance of worship
to be regularly practiced by the Lord's Church. It is a blessed
and solemn part of public worship by which our hearts draw near
to God in Holy Communion and it is done in remembrance of
Jesus Christ only. Was he not God? It would be a
piece of idolatrous superstition if he was not God. But because
he's God, he's a proper object of worship and we should remember
him at the Lord's table. Now fourth, and our Lord Jesus
teaches us to pray in his name. Get that. He teaches us to pray
in his name. In John 14, 14 he assures us
that if we call upon God in his name that we'll have the petitions.
that we ask of Him. Now beloved, listen, His name
has power with God because He is God. Was He not God, His name
would have no more power, now hear me out, have no more power
with God than the name of the devil. Do you get me on that?
If He was not God, you could not address the Father in His
name. His name wouldn't be worthy for
you to address the Father in if He's not God. But because
He's God, we can approach the Father in His name, in Jesus'
name, because He is God. Now the fact that He is the proper
object then of faith The proper object of obedience, the proper
object of worship and prayer shows that Jesus Christ is Himself
God. That He's the Son of the Living
God. Now let me close by saying these
things. This is so important. I hope
that you'll listen and I'm going to let you go in just a moment
here. But our eternal election and
we rejoice in the doctrine of Unconditional election, but our
eternal election stands or falls with the eternal Sonship of Jesus
Christ because Ephesians 1 4 says we were chosen in him Before
the foundation of the world if he's not the eternal son of God
He was not with the father before the world was that's a bunch
of rubbish. And so our eternal election is fallen by the wayside. Secondly, our redemption stands
or falls with this doctrine of the eternal sonship of Christ,
for He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Brother, sister, mark it down. He was there He was there before
the foundation of the world, and He was slain already in the
mind of God before the foundation of the world. Our redemption
stands or falls in this doctrine of the eternal Sonship of Jesus
Christ. And our eternal preservation
stands or falls with the eternal Sonship of Jesus Christ. For nothing can survive to eternity
but that which came from eternity because I live Jesus said ye
shall live also meaning that because I live and I've always
lived he would mean to say and because I always lived and always
will live you live and I'm telling you that we couldn't have any
any of this being saved forever apart from
the eternal sonship of our Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom
we are in union with. Our Lord said it. Jesus Christ
is very God of very God, and we believe it and bear testimony
to this truth. And this is the one thing, this
is the one foundation upon which our hope, our eternal life, our
pardon, our acceptance with God stands this morning. This is
the one foundation upon which the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is built and which it stands. I hope this morning that
these things have been a blessing to you and they've been interesting
to your heart and that you're able maybe just to worship a
little bit better, stand in a little bit more awe at the lovely Lord
Jesus Christ having heard these things this morning. Let's have
a word of prayer and then Michael lead us in hymn. Father, we do
thank thee for the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten, the
first begotten of your love. And we thank Thee that You were
willing to spare him, You were willing, our Father, not to spare
him, but You delivered him up for us all, that we through him
might have acceptance with You, and that we might be forgiven
all trespasses, and that we might be accepted before You in a state
of no condemnation, having forever our sins forgiven and put behind
your back as far as the east is from the west never to be
remembered again. We thank thee and praise thee
for your marvelous loving kindness toward us that moved you to give
up your son for our souls. Blessed now we pray and give
us all a right understanding and a remembrance of these blessed
truths of Scripture. We pray in Jesus' name and for
His sake. Amen.